The Punisher recap: 'Gunner' 

Remember Gunner Henderson? That cheery Southern soldier who introduced himself to Frank in Kandahar a couple episodes ago by jokingly quoting the Book of Proverbs at length? This episode is where we find out what he’s been up to since Afghanistan, because it turns out Gunner is actually pretty important to the plot: He is, after all, the one who filmed the Ahmad Zubair interrogation and sent it to Micro in the first place.

Although they pulled off their resupply operation successfully, Frank and Micro are still at odds — but with two such stark-opposite personalities as these two, conflict is probably inevitable. Micro doesn’t think it was a good idea to let Dinah Madani learn Frank is still alive. Frank responds by mocking Micro’s family situation, saying Sarah probably doesn’t even want him back. (We know that she

does want to spend more time with Frank, though, since she invites him for Sunday dinner after he fixes their car. I wonder what Frank is playing at with this; it’s almost like a Cyrano de Bergerac situation, since Micro was the one insisting Frank help fix his wife’s problems for him.)

All the mess over that incident at the docks inevitably draws the attention of our favorite local reporter, Karen Page. She meets with Dinah first, and interestingly says the same things about Wolf’s death (“he was dirty”) that Frank told her when she lay in the wreckage of her car. Soon, Dinah turns things around and asks how Karen got so connected to Frank Castle. Karen insists that she has nothing to fear from the Punisher, and that she doesn’t see him as a psychopathic killer; she sees Frank Castle’s story as a tragedy, one deserving of empathy and understanding.

After talking with Dinah, Karen goes to see the man himself. Frank gives her an update on the last time they talked — he found David Lieberman and learned the same people were after both of them. But Karen pushes back when Frank declares his intention to kill the people responsible for what happened to them. She says that a vigilante killing government officials like Agent Orange would just make them into martyrs, and that exposing the truth of their illicit activities with the help of Karen and Dinah would work much better. But Frank disagrees, saying that these men control what the “truth” even is. Funny enough, it sounds almost like a debate over revolutionary praxis (do you improve the system from within, or overthrow it violently?). Karen insists that she wants there to be an “after” for Frank, some place behind the violence and revenge and death. This is why I’m really growing to like Karen’s presence on this show. Not only does it grant a connection to the other Marvel/Netflix properties without undercutting this show’s gravitas, but it also gives Frank a genuinely opposing view to push back against him. Come to think of it, I might prefer Karen Page in The Punisher to Karen Page in Daredevil. (Recap continues on page 2)