‘The Punisher’ Recap: ‘The Whirlwind’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

You know, this season of Netflix’s The Punisher has been a strange one to say the least. After all, when I first started watching it, it was nothing more than season two of Frank Castle’s journey through a world of violence and pain and well, imagine my surprise when Netflix dropped the announcement a month after said season was released that year two would signal the end of this series. Because now, the finale that I was powering toward would be the last leg of Frank’s journey on television, at least for now, and that’s a realization that hung heavy over the events of ‘The Whirlwind’.
 
Because now, my mind would judge this particular tale differently, for every fan of television out there has certain standards and expectations for a series finale and mine were simple for this particular one; I needed Frank to complete his emotional journey, and I needed every storyline introduced this season to be dealt with in satisfying fashion and that was my worry to be honest. I wondered if cliffhangers and setups for season three were going to be present here in the hopes of forcing Netflix’s hand toward a renewal. But as this story rolled on, it became apparent that this finale was going to meet my criteria after all, since it wasted no time in bringing together every loose plot thread from this season.
 
Case in point, the whole mess with the Pilgrim, because minute by minute, he and The Punisher came closer to squaring off in the grand showdown we’ve all been waiting for and that my friends, did not disappoint in the slightest since it was one hell of a beatdown for both men. But that all important slug fest, allowed for Frank to once again show us his better side since the Pilgrim asked for mercy when it came to his sons, and rather than let more children go without a parent in their lives, Frank gave John his freedom before handling the Schultz family in his own special and violent and oddly satisfying way since they finally paid for their crimes and the hell they brought down upon Frank and Amy and with those monsters out of the way, the story had one more loose end to tie up…Billy Russo.

---

​Who oddly enough, saw his journey begin to come to an end early on in this tale since his little showdown with Madani ended poorly since she was able to put three slugs into him, and despite his best efforts to get healthy without going to a hospital, he quickly found himself alone and destitute and dying. Which eventually prompted him to call Curtis so that he wouldn’t die alone, and after dealing with this mess for so long, Curtis realized that there was only one man that Billy should spend his final moments with and just like that, Billy Russo came face to face with Frank Castle once again and before he could say what was on his mind, Frank put two in his chest, effectively closing the book on a story that seemingly had no end for The Punisher.
 
Which brings us to the growth aspect for Frank in this tale. Because with this madness behind him, we finally saw Frank open up to Amy a little bit as they said their goodbyes since Frank knew she would never be safe rolling with him and well, this was just a beautiful and tender sequence to watch. Because Frank was a father once again, and he was able to show her how much she means to him with a simple embrace and even he went so far as to offer her some sage advice and it was just nice to see that Frank Castle, the man, is still buried in there somewhere behind that chilling Memento Mori. But despite the wonder of seeing Frank’s human side, one can never forget that Castle’s story has always been a grand tragedy since Frank thrives in that grey area where he finds good in committing violent acts and that made the final moments of this saga fitting and satisfying as he embraced his role as The Punisher…
 
So, there we are ladies and gents, Frank Castle’s story has come to an end on television and while I’m not exactly happy about it, because this was the finest exploration of the character, I’ve ever seen on either the small or big screen, it is what it is. But the good news, is that he definitely went out with a bang, and we were able to see a complete arc for Frank Castle over the three seasons he was present in the Marvel/Netflix alliance and really, you can’t ask for much more than that. And my hope is that someday, this show is revived with Jon Bernthal back in the role (because he’s the best Punisher I’ve ever seen on screen) to explore this dark and complex character further. But in the meantime, at least I know that if I ever need my fix, I can always return to Netflix to watch these powerful adventures once again, so if anything I suppose it’s simply goodbye for now when it comes to this series, and I am thankful that I was finally able to bear witness to a quality version of The Punisher, after slogging through decades of mediocre iterations…

---