Judging by the preview, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a sequel or prequel. Judging by this episode, it looks to be a bit of both. We are given a more in depth look into Frank's pre-tragedy life via flashback, with more focus on the family, but we also pick up where the second season of "Daredevil" left off.
If you're wondering why Frank was never considered when the Defenders were embarking on the war for New York, this gives you an answer; he wasn't there. It seems Frank's quest for vengeance brought him all over the country. He even takes down criminals who managed to cross the border into Mexico. It's pretty impressive for a "street level" vigilante/hero.
Rather than spend the whole season chronicling Frank's desire for vengeance against those who killed his family, the episode's prologue wraps that aspect up, with Frank having killed everyone connected to said incident.
This allows him to close the book on the "punisher" concept. Where Frank's war in the comics is much akin to Batman's in that it never ends, this iteration is taking cues from Nolan's interpretation where there was a clear endgame and the moniker was a temporary measure. It does give Frank an arc as we see him attempt to live a more peaceful life before being dragged back in by circumstances around him.
It was interesting to see Frank try to adjust to living a normal life. He's operating under an assumed name working a construction job. On the plus side, using a sledgehammer to tear down walls does give him a nice outlet for his rage and frustration, but his coworkers are jackasses who seem to give him crap for no discernible reason.
It's sad to see Frank not really standing up for himself, but it is a testament to his restraint and shows that he is able to focus his violent tendencies on criminals. Of course, this just makes it all the more satisfying, when said jackasses become criminals and he is able to cut loose and dish out some payback in the manner that we have come to expect from Frank Castle.
It makes for an exciting finish to the episode. The fact that the whole scene is set to a Tom Waits song was a pleasant surprise.
Barring that, the episode is largely dialogue driven, which is par for the course with the Netflix shows. It actually works well here. The conversations are well written and have a point. It doesn't feel like the script is just spinning wheels to pad out the run time.
The characters all get off to a good start in terms of development. Some of the dialogue was a bit heavy handed (see Madani's boss), but by and large scenes were fairly balanced and didn't feel like the writer was lecturing you about a certain issue.
The closest it ever came was with the vet claiming that the white Christian patriots were oppressed. Oddly enough, some of his dialogue did stand out for other reasons. I did get a kick about his talk about an oncoming war for the city (psst, you kind of missed it, buddy) and his talk about the role soldiers play took on an interesting angle given that this is a world populated with superheroes and vigilantes. I don't know if the show will explore that, as it likely wants to be its own self contained thing, but we'll see.
Overall, this was a solid start to the series. Bernthal continues to do a great job in the role and allowing him more screen time has certainly paid dividends so far. I'm looking forward to seeing where the show goes from here.
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