Line #32 Awesome/ThePunisher2017


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_punisher_awesome.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Frank [[ShoutingShooter comes ]] [[CurbStompBattle to]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge collect]].]]
3	->''"Goddamn, Frankie. I love to watch you work."''
4	-->--'''Billy Russo''', saying what the audience is too ashamed to say, ''"Home"''
5
6	[[InAWorld In a world]] filled with absolutely horrible people, watching Frank Castle PayEvilUntoEvil is a very satisfying experience.
7	----
8	[[foldercontrol]]
9	!!Season 1
10	[[folder:Episode 1 - "3:00 am"]]
11	* In the very beginning of the first episode, Frank's RoaringRampageOfRevenge montage against the last remnants of the Dogs of Hell, Kitchen Irish, and Mexican Cartel.
12	** Notably, when the ''very'' last Cartel member makes it safely to Mexico, he's bragging to his friends about escaping the Punisher, and if the Punisher comes to Mexico, they'll kill him. The whole thing is seen through the scope of a sniper rifle. The guy goes upstairs to celebrate with some "entertainment" provided by some ladies, and Frank puts a bullet in his head. The camera zooms back to reveal that Frank was shooting from ''[[ImprobableAimingSkills El Paso, Texas]]''!
13	*** Since we mostly see him in Close-Quarters-Battle and/or urban combat, it can be easy for viewers to forget what his actual MOS in the Marine Corps was: 0317 Scout Sniper. He’s good at all forms of violence, but he actually ''specializes'' in making very long-range rifle shots.
14	* After an entire episode of Frank enduring his {{Jerkass}} co-workers while trying to leave the Punisher behind, we finally get to see him cut loose again when they're about to kill the one nice guy there, pummeling faces with a sledgehammer and giving a taste of what we're in for in the rest of the season. Then he dumps the bodies of all involved into the cement DrowningPit they threw the nice guy in, throws a rope down so the nice guy can climb out, and anchors it with their ill-gotten goods labeled, "LEAVE TOWN." All the scum just vanishes.
15	** Frank's {{Ironic Echo}} during the above sledgehammer fight: "[[PreMortemOneLiner I'm gonna]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown find a home for this]]."
16	** Bonus points to the talented editor who synchronizes Franks' [[CarryABigStick sledgehammer-fu]] with the crashing beat of Music/TomWaits' ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fju9o8BVJ8 Hell Broke Luce.]]''
17	* Finally, Frank comes out of six months' retirement swinging. Seven mobsters, a table full of various guns. Frank's alone, with a half-empty pistol... and access to the building's power. One DarkenedBuildingShootout later, the bodies of six mobsters are cooling on the basement floor. As a bonus, he made the seventh mobster shoot himself in the face with his own weapon, so the news reports, "Seven Italians die in murder-suicide." Like he was never there.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder:Episode 2 - "Two Dead Men"]]
21	* You have to give Carson Wolf credit. He gives Frank a hell of a fight despite being a JerkAss and being about a decade older.
22	* Frank's BatmanGambit following that scene as well. Knowing full-well that he wasn't likely to get information from Wolf through a typical interrogation session, he leaves his hands loose, as well as only loading one bullet into the gun. When Wolf "disarms" Frank, he proceeds to monologue about how they set him up, giving Frank everything he needs before turning the tables back on his target.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Episode 3 - "Kandahar"]]
26	* Frank's team is caught in an ambush courtesy of "Agent Orange" not caring that his intelligence pretty much shows it is an insurgent trap. [[OneManArmy He annihilates dozens of insurgents single-handedly]], [[CombatBreakdown going from assault rifle down to secondary weapon (a shotgun), side arm, captured weapons]] and eventually ''his fists and a rock''. It's no wonder Colonel Schoonover was willing to speak so admirably of Frank at his trial, even if it was partially to deflect Frank's suspicions.
27	* Frank punching "Agent Orange" so hard ''his eye basically explodes''. Agent Rawlins carries the scar and a milky, possibly completely blind eye, for the rest of the season. It took ''three'' other soldiers to pull Frank off of him, and this is after Frank is bloodied, beaten, and exhausted by the Crowning Moment listed above.
28	* David getting the better of Frank with a [[CrazyPrepared tranquilizer in a pen]], revealing the whole time Frank was trying to break him David was luring him into a false sense of security so he can demonstrate [[IfIWantedYouDead he's really not the enemy]].
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Episode 4 - "Resupply"]]
32	* Madani and Frank's car chase, which, in quite a rarity for this day and age, is done entirely with real cars.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Episode 5 - "Gunner"]]
36	* Frank and Gunner taking on Rawlins' fully-equipped hit squad using nothing but a bow and arrow, weaponry later acquired from the operatives, as well as Gunner's traps and Micro's support from above.
37
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Episode 6 - "The Judas Goat"]]
41
42	* Lewis killing O'Connor, while Lewis turning to violence is tragic, it's hard to argue that O'Connor didn't [[AssholeVictim have it coming.]]
43	** And before that, Curtis going into BrutalHonesty and telling Lewis that O'Connor is "a fraud and a liar, and doesn't deserve [Lewis]'s respect" is quite awesome too.
44
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Episode 7 - "Crosshairs"]]
48
49	* Rawlins barely responding to Frank's sniper shot bouncing off the bulletproof glass an inch from his face. The calm and stoic response he has to being a single pane of bulletproof glass from death is amazing.
50	** And right before his attempt at Rawlins' life, Frank mutters a phrase under his breath. That one phrase, that motivated him to continue to kill.
51	-->'''Frank''': One batch. [...] Two batch. [... ...] ''Penny and dime.''
52	* Frank continuing his trend of treating opponents to a MookHorrorShow, taking on Russo's men and dragging them one-by-one into the fog like the goddamn Boogeyman.
53	* Credit to Russo for knowing Frank's tactic and turning off his laser sight so Frank can't find him.
54
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Episode 8 - "Cold Steel"]]
58
59	* The warehouse shootout between DHS and Anvil.
60
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Episode 9 - "Front Toward Enemy"]]
64
65	* The fight between Lewis and Curtis, it's made clear that the latter only lost because of his prosthetic leg and because he was only trying to subdue Lewis as opposed to maiming or killing him. Even ''after'' Lewis rips his leg off, he's still fighting back and arguably only loses because he's flat on his back without any way to get back up. Even more, Curtis successfully keeps Lewis away from his prosthetic leg for quite some time, expertly defending his main weakness.
66
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Episode 10 - "Virtue of the Vicious"]]
70	* Frank, after being shot and having numerous cops on his trail, making an escape down the stairwell with a ''fire hose''.
71	** Doing so ''dislocates his shoulder'', yet he still manages to save Karen and escape a building packed full of cops... ''[[CrazyPrepared by sliding one-handed down a zipline to another opposite building]]''. Oh, and he has a piece of shrapnel the size of a tea saucer embedded in the same arm. Honestly, this version of ComicBook/ThePunisher is redefining MadeOfIron.
72	** Not even mentioning the fact, that, prior to the stairwell escape, Billy ''shot him in the head.'' It was a grazing wound yes, but '''damn''', it didn't even slow Frank down.
73	* Frank using his knowledge of Lewis from the last episode and his rapport with Karen to non-verbally direct her in disarming the bomb strapped to Lewis, all the while keeping him talking and distracted.
74	--->'''Frank:''' We're creatures of habit, Lewis. Right? We like to do the same thing over and over and over again. It's just like women and their goddamn bags, right? I mean look at her. After everything she's been through she's still got that bag around her neck. Ms. Page, imagine you tell me everything you have in that bag, right?\
75	'''Karen:''' Yep. (''Reaches for the bomb's wires'')
76	** Doubles as one for Karen, as even when put in a truly horrifying situation as Lewis' hostage, she is still able to keep her wits about her and disarm the bomb as Frank silently coaches her to.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Episode 11 - "Danger Close"]]
80	* Frank preps the hideout for an assault by the conspiracy, even going so far as to spray paint his bulletproof vest with his signature skull. When the [=PMCs=] arrive, Frank proceeds to systematically slaughter all of them with traps, explosives, and good old-fashioned gun skills. The Punisher is back with a vengeance.
81	** He begins the firefight by throwing the fucking ''head'' of a merc towards his comrades. With a grenade attached to it. Which then '''explodes.'''
82	** Not only is it awesome, it's practically a CurbStompBattle in Frank's favor, and a testament to what a tactical genius he is. He's only put on the back foot ''once'', and it turns out he's prepared for that moment, anyway. Outnumbered twenty-to-one by heavily-armed, former military mercenaries, and he obliterates them with almost contemptuous ease.
83	** After he's done, he picks up one of the phones the mercs had with them to call Billy. Billy does not sound surprised in the slightest.
84	--> '''Billy:''' Beat "Fraaaank..."
85	* After an entire season of DirtyBusiness, Deputy Director Marion James, Rawlins' direct superior, subverts this trope: when she learns the extent of Rawlins' dirty business, and that Rawlins has a plan to use Russo as a scapegoat to take the blame and keep the CIA clean, she reluctantly agrees, then says that afterwards, Rawlins will ''immediately resign'' from the agency, saying that there is no place for him there anymore. Rawlins initially says that this gives him no reason to comply, then James turns it around on him: if he doesn't, she will ''personally'' turn Rawlins over to the Department of Homeland Security, whatever consequences to herself, the agency, or the country be ''damned''. William Rawlins is the archetypical evil spy that people associate with black ops CIA, but Marion James is ''not'' that person.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Episode 12 - "Home"]]
89	* Rawlins hits Frank with a loaded glove so hard that his tooth falls out. What does Frank have to say in response?
90	--> '''Frank''': "You hit like a bitch, Rawlins! You hit like a bitch."
91	* Frank setting the camera in the hideout to stream and record everything, by faking submission.
92	-->'''Billy:''' (''Legitimately pissed'') You sneaky son of a bitch...!
93	* Doubles as NightmareFuel, but when Russo cuts the lock on Frank's wrists... you know Rawlins is '''fucked'''. Gruesome as it is, the sheer CatharsisFactor is worth it. The look of sheer, pants-filling righteous fury on his face edges into NightmareFuel, but god''damn'' it is satisfying.
94	--> '''Frank:''' [[note]]''(in response to being told he's a dead man by Rawlins earlier while being tortured, and referencing Micro thinking that the skull of his outfit isn't a threat to others but a ''memento mori'' for himself)''[[/note]] You're wrong. ''(stabs Rawlins rapidly and repeatedly in the throat)'' ''I'm a reminder.'' ''(BAM)''! ALL! ''(BAM)''! MEN! ''(BAM)''! DIE! ''(BAM)''! ''(BAM)''! ''(BAM)''! ''(BAM)''! ''(BAM)''! ''(slowly glances at Russo, who silently nods, then firmly plants his thumbs into Rawlin's eyes, and digs DEEP, before letting loose an animalistic roar, and then collapses)''
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Episode 13 - "Memento Mori"]]
98	* Villainous example when the episode starts: Billy, despite being injured, taking out every agent sent after him, set to Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival's "Penthouse Pauper". Doubles as NightmareFuel of the worst sort.
99	* The fight between Billy and Frank. Jesus, the amount of Punishment it takes to bring these two down is fucking terrifying. Not to mention it's ''Series/{{Daredevil\|2015}}''-level of choreography, devolving from tear gas and assault rifles to pistols to knives to bare hands to broken glass.
100	** It's undeniably dark, but Frank leaving Billy alive but hideously mutilated could qualify. Billy is ''begging'' Castle to kill him, but Frank is going to [[CallBack make good on his promise]]: destroy everything he loves in his life and leave him alone in the ruins of it.
101	---> '''Frank''': [[note]]with Billy at his mercy with a knife over his throat, before sheathing the knife[[/note]] I'm not gonna let you die today.
102	---> '''Billy''': Please...
103	---> '''Frank''': Dying's easy. ''(kicks Billy face-first into the broken mirror)'' You're gonna learn about pain. ''(grabs Billy by the hairs on his head and smashes him into the mirror)'' You're gonna learn about loss! ''(SMASH)!'' Every morning...I look for 'em, Bill. I look for 'em...but then I remember. It's gonna be the same for you. ''(grabs Billy by the head again)'' When you look at your ''ugly, mangled face''. You're gonna remember what you did. You're gonna remember, Bill! ''(SMASH)!'' YOU'RE GONNA REMEMBER ME! ''(SLAM)!''
104	** Also consider the fact that Frank was on the brink of death no more than a day before, with a myriad of injuries including a ''punctured lung.'' Despite this, and taking several bullets to the armor in his chest, he still manages to take down someone who is arguably the second-most badass character in the series. Frank is one tough son of a bitch.
105	* The fact that Madani took a bullet to the head and lives is pretty awesome.
106	* Curtis wakes up to Billy sitting by his bed with a gun, doesn't freak, just puts his leg on and gets up to make coffee. Opens a few curtains, hands Billy a mug... Billy realizes just in time that Curtis set him up to get shot in the head by Frank. Curtis almost walked him right into a bullet with nothing more than an offer of coffee. Don't underestimate Curtis.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	!! Season 2
110
111	[[folder: Episode 1 - "Roadhouse Blues"]]
112	* Frank's first fight with the Mooks who try to take Amy. He basically slaughters ''almost all'' of them.
113	** Hell, the first three that he takes on in the bathroom of the bar he [[CurbStompBattle curb stomps]] using nothing but just his belt as protection from the knife attacks. When he first sees what's going on, it takes him all of two seconds to start taking off his belt.
114	-->'''Marlena''': [[MuggingTheMonster Dumbass]]. You're so far over your head you can't even see the light.
115	-->'''Frank''':[[BringIt Is that right?]]
116	** Plus Amy saving Frank by knocking out one of the goons.
117	** What makes the BarBrawl even more awesome is that Creator/JonBernthal did it with a broken hand. ''And he didn't tell anybody about it until afterwards''. He ''is'' Frank Castle.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder: Episode 2 - "Fight or Flight"]]
121	* Frank effortlessly wasting Olin's mercenaries.
122
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder: Episode 3 - "Trouble the Water"]]
126	* Frank slaughtering Pilgrim's men in the woods, using marksmanship, speed, and cunning to wipe out a small army of henchmen. He's so silent and stealthy, one of the goons actually shoots another, thinking he was Frank. Frank then [[OffhandBackhand nonchalantly]] puts a bullet in his head before he even realizes his mistake.
127	* Sheriff Hardin refusing to turn Castle and Amy over to Pilgrim and his Mooks, even though doing so would spare him and his fellow officers a lot of pain.
128	** Deputy Ogden also gets points for his WhatTheHellHero speech to his fellow officers for even considering handing Frank and Amy over.
129	-->'''Ogden''': How the hell can any of you ''live'' with yourselves? I took the same oath as all of you, and I intend to keep it.
130	* You might wonder how many cops get killed during the siege on the precinct on a show as dark as this. The answer? Zero! One came close, but got the medical attention he needed.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder: Episode 4 - "Scar Tissue"]]
134	* Russo killing the child molester that injured him as a kid.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder: Episode 5 - "One-Eyed Jacks"]]
138	* Frank taking on the Russian gang in the gym and, using the weight equipment, takes them all out. Frank may not be as good a hand-to-hand combatant as Daredevil, but he’s still pretty damn good in a fight when needed.
139	** How Frank fights deserves a mention. He takes hits, sure, [[ConservationOfNinjutsu and gets pretty battered from being heavily outnumbered]], but he fights dirty, and uses the momentum of every blow he takes to launch an attack on someone else.
140	* At the beginning of the fight with the Russian gang, a huge Mook squares up with Frank, implying that he's going to give him a tough fight. [[CurbStompBattle Frank beats him down in seconds]], then moves on to the rest of the gang. To his credit, the first thug recovers and goes after Frank again...only for Frank to give him one of the most gruesome kills in the series, crushing his skull to the point that the man looks like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]].
141	** While Frank took the guy down quickly initially with a dirty shot, once he realizes Frank is playing for keeps, the big guy fights just as dirty, and nearly punches Frank's ticket for good.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder: Episode 6 - "Nakazat"]]
145	* Amy manages to switch from the look of a waitress to that of a schoolgirl to become LostInACrowd. What makes this change so impressive is she does so without breaking stride, in seconds, and while being followed by someone else, [[MasterOfDisguise all while making it seem easy]].
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder: Episode 7 - "One Bad Day"]]
149	* The manager of the coin bank Russo's gang target is a little old lady who stares Billy down without a shred of fear throughout the entire ordeal. Even when Billy pulls out a ''grenade'', she doesn't flinch; she just taunts and dares him to try, knowing that the teller windows are designed to keep something like that from getting through to her side.
150	* Slaughtering several of Russo's goons in a gun battle on the streets ala ''Film/{{Heat}}''.
151	** "Russo! You shoulda stayed in your hole!" Cue Frank "The Punisher" Castle chucking his disguise to reveal yet again the famous white skull flak jacket… the very same one he wore when he thrashed Billy Russo last time around. [[NotWearingTights The series holds off on "The Skull" quite often]], so whenever you see it is a [=CMoA=] in and of itself… but they always manage to pick just the right moments to bust it out.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder: Episode 8 - "My Brother's Keeper"]]
155	* Russo single-handedly holding off an army of cops with a machine gun.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder: Episode 9 - "Flustercluck"]]
159	* At one point, Frank is confronted by a group of thugs, intent on claiming the bounty on his head. When the leader points out that there are 6 of them, and one of him, Frank guns them all down in about 2 seconds.
160	* Amy is being held at gunpoint by a bounty hunter. The instant she gets the opportunity, she employs the disarming move Frank taught her, relieves the bounty hunter of his HandCannon, and with barely a second's hesitation, shoots him in the chest.
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder: Episode 10 - "The Dark Hearts of Men"]]
164	* After Russo and his goons beat Frank half to death, Russo tells them to finish him off. You think lying in a pool of his own blood slows Frank down? Hell no, he gets up and slaughters his way through Russo's goons in a truly awe-inspiring sequence.
165	** Alternatively, since we know the real trap was to convince Frank he'd killed innocent women, the awesome is that Russo convinced his men to let Frank kill them to let the real trap close. We saw him talking them into it...
166	* Curtis deserves one as well for not only winning his rooftop shootout against multiple attackers, but for doing so ''while shooting to disable and not kill.'' Bonus points for sparing the lives of his opponents once they realize they're outclassed, and even attempting to save the life of the one who was too injured to flee.
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder: Episode 11 - "The Abyss"]]
170	* Mahoney managing to catch Frank and Madani as they try to escape, hold them at gunpoint, and finally drive off with Frank handcuffed in an ambulance. Not too shabby for a guy Madani previously dismissed as "an NYPD dick who can't catch his breath."
171	-->'''Mahoney:''' You're not the only one who gets to be [[CrazyIsCool crazy!]]
172	* Amy gets away from Pilgrim during his fight with Curtis. She doesn't run away, she hides in the trunk of his car so she can find his hidey hole.
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder: Episode 12 - "Collision Course"]]
176	* Madani throwing Krista out a window for trying to kill her.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder: Episode 13 - "The Whirlwind"]]
180	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3487ffdc_fb9e_48d6_ba86_ffda249aff20.jpeg]]
181	[[caption-width-right:350:''I’ll dance with you.'']]
182	* Frank and Pilgrim beating the crap out of each other in the junkyard. Determinator vs Determinator, Dented Iron vs Dented Iron. It is slow, it's brutal, it's gory.
183	* It's easy to miss, but when Frank grabs Pilgrim's gun and tries to shoot him, it just clicks. Pilgrim kidnapped Amy and held her hostage with an empty gun.
184	* Madani managing to put several bullets into Russo, mortally wounding him and leading to him bleeding out in Curtis' basement. Frank arrives to see Russo begging for his life and trying to talk to Frank, but Frank is in no mood to listen to any more of Russo's sob story and finally finishes him off with two bullets.
185	* Frank and Amy dealing with John Pilgrim's psychopathic Christian extremist bosses (who are the reason Amy has been on the run). Frank shoots the mother for trying to stab her with a knife, and then lets the father know that he recorded his rant about threatening to kill everyone close to him and says he has two choices — either he lives and all of his dirty laundry gets aired in public, or he commits suicide. He chooses the latter.
186	* The final scene of the episode and of the series as a whole has Frank fully embrace the title of The Punisher. He lures two gangs to an empty building and, as it looks like they are about to start a fight with each other, Frank walks up in his signature long black jacket with the Skull symbol exposed and proceeds to release a load of bullets onto them as the screen cuts to black.
187
188	[[/folder]]

Context Awesome / ThePunisher2017