'The Punisher' Recap: ‘Virtue of the Vicious’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

When we last left Frank Castle on The Punisher, the situation was…worrisome. After all, thanks to Lewis and his plans to take on the world and the establishment, Frank was once again in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and sharing the title of Public Enemy Number One with dear Lewis. Which meant, we were all left wondering what exactly was going to come next for the character since every single person in law enforcement was going to dedicate their time to finding and arresting Frank. 
 
Well thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long to find out what was waiting on the horizon for the Punisher, because ‘Virtue of the Vicious’ wasted no time in advancing the plot since Lewis jumped right into the next phase of his plan by making Senator Ori his next target and really, the first thing that made this episode so incredibly interesting, is how it told its story. Because rather than let what would come to be revealed as a final showdown between Lewis and the Punisher unfold in standard storytelling fashion, the whole mess was revisited by way of memory, hours after Lewis made his move and well…that allowed for a couple of magical things to happen.
 
First and foremost, it allowed for several simmering plot points to come to a head before the action went into overdrive, specifically anything and everything involving Agent Madani. Who returned to work in this tale and promptly let her boss know the details behind everything that’s happened to date, and she even came to realize that Billy was likely involved in Stein’s death, something that he surprisingly copped to in his own way in the midst of the chaos that came shortly after Lewis went after the Senator and well, it was nice to finally see all of this come together and know that Homeland Security is ready to move on Rawlins, and that they need Frank’s help in the matter. 

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Speaking of Mister Castle, his storyline made for the most satisfying journey of the episode by far. Because at long last, The Punisher finally looked like a hero. Of course, Senator Ori had a different story when it comes to that, since he fully believed that the Punisher was working with Lewis to see him dead. But thankfully, Karen Page’s cooler head and honest nature revealed the fact that Frank took several bullets for Ori, and that he was with her every step of the way when Lewis took her hostage, and really, it was damn impressive to see Frank do everything within his power to save lives in this story.
 
But alas, one can never forget that the Punisher is an anti-hero, and he believes firmly in punishment for the wicked and that was completely on display in his final showdown with Lewis in the kitchen of the hotel, wherein Frank helped Karen outwit Lewis to the point where the young and troubled man felt he had no recourse but to take his own life and it was a tad chilling to see Frank watch and make sure that Lewis went through with it to atone for everything that he had done on this dark day. But despite that disturbing moment, Frank was still a hero on this day, and unfortunately, the broken narrative that exists from this incident, may keep that fact under wraps.
 
In the end however, holy cow, what an amazing episode. Despite the fact that it was told in a ‘reflective’ fashion, it was still an ‘edge of your seat’ affair as you watched and waited to see how everything unfolded at the hotel and I love the fact that Billy’s evil deeds are finally out in the open and that at long last, Frank has an ally in Agent Madani and really, with the Lewis storyline having finally come to a resolution, I have no doubt that the hunt for Rawlins is about to resume and judging from the intensity of the past two episodes, I’m also fairly certain that the story is only going to continue to ramp up as we come to the end of season one of this magnificent show. So, with that in mind, it’s time for me to start the next episode of Frank Castle’s harrowing journey. Until next time. 

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