Line #37 Recap/ThePunisher2017S02E10TheDarkHeartsOfMen


1	As Madani and Krista debate who's worth saving, Frank prepares to storm Russo's territory. A brutal encounter pushes Pilgrim back into old habits.
2	----
3	!!Tropes
4	* AfterActionPatchUp: At the beginning of the episode, we cut back and forth between Pilgrim tending to his wounds and the fight with the Nazis which show how he got said wounds. This includes pulling [[TheToothHurts teeth out of his scalp]] after a [[UseYourHead headbutt]] he gave a punk earlier in the night and resetting a dislocated jaw.
5	* TheAnticipator: Billy is shown to be watching Curtis and Frank as they watch the warehouse his men are in. He then waits till Frank attacks and lures him into his trap.
6	* AssholeVictim: Nobody is gonna shed a tear for the Nazis that Pilgrim brutally slaughtered.
7	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Krista Dumont manipulates Madani into thinking that she wants to become her friend, when in reality, she is simply collecting information about Frank for Billy.
8	* BlatantLies: After Pilgrim killed off his old Nazi gang, Danny, who set Pilgrim for an ambush, claims he had no idea they'd try to kill him.
9	* BlindedByTheLight: Frank is lured into a dark room, then disoriented with strobe lights. We also get the audio version as incredibly loud music strobes on and off.
10	* BrutalBrawl: Pilgrim is confronted with his former Nazi gang who try to kill him. It doesn't end well for all involved.
11	* BondVillainStupidity: Billy has Frank dead to rights and doesn't finish him. Turns out to be justified, he had something much worse in mind.
12	* CruelMercy: Billy doesn't kill Frank when had the chance because he wanted to trick him into thinking he'd killed a trio of innocent women who were still in the building.
13	* DownerEnding: Frank fails to kill Billy, who escapes again. Even worse, his attempts to kill Billy led to him believe he'd accidentally killed innocent people, so he makes no attempt to flee the police when they come to arrest him.
14	* {{Flashback}}: Of Billy and Frank as young men in the military, being given some kind of initiation beating by their comrades. Repeated later when Billy has his men give Frank a brutal beat down.
15	* {{Foil}}: Pilgrim shows himself to be Frank's equivalent in terms of taking and dealing damage, and a self-righteous prick who believes his code puts him above the law.
16	* HeroicBSOD: Combined with MyGodWhatHaveIDone, when Frank sees that he accidentally killed a bunch of innocent women. He is so shocked that he doesn't even react when the police come to apprehend him.
17	* HeroicSecondWind: Russo's men ambush Frank and begin beating him. He gets a second wind once his bulletproof vest is stabbed. He then proceeds to [[ManBitesMan bite the guy]] who stabbed him, then get up and slaughter the rest.
18	* HookersAndBlow: The already high and drunk Pilgrim takes over an orgy from a neighbor at whatever seedy hotel he's based at.
19	* InVinoVeritas: Dr. Dumont shares a bottle of wine with Agent Madani and starts asking her about Castle and Russo.
20	* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Up until now, Krista Dumont only appeared to be a somewhat reluctant accessory to Billy's crimes. At the end of the episode, she is revealed to have deliberately manipulated Madani in order to get the secret out of her on how to break Castle - by making him accidentally kill innocent people.
21	* MadeOfIron:
22	** Frank, of course, being stabbed, kicked and brutalized in various other ways by a huge number of Billy's men and still managing to kill them all.
23	** Pilgrim could give Frank a run for his money with how much damage he is able to sustain.
24	* ManHug: Curtis and Frank share one before they take on Billy.
25	** In a flashback to their training in Special Forces (which involves them running through a gauntlet of fellow trainees hitting in the face), Frank and Billy shared one too.
26	* ManipulativeBastard: Krista calls Madani to her place to talk and gather information about Castle so Russo can finally punish the Punisher.
27	* TheMedic: Frank points out that Curtis trained to put people back together and not to kill, like the rest of them. He later tries to patch up a man he's shot, to no avail.
28	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
29	** Frank suffers from a HeroicBSOD when he believes that his attempts to kill Billy led to him killing three innocent people. He doesn't even attempt to flee the police who came to arrest him.
30	** Pilgrim tells the prostitute giving him a blow job to GetOut after he hallucinates the dying wife he left behind.
31	* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Frank doesn't attack until the girls have left the Valhalla headquarters. Turns out Billy is keeping other girls in an upstairs room, which he tricks Frank into firing into.
32	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Pilgrim kills the leader of the Nazis by ''brutally'' bashing his head in, with his bare hands (more specifically, ''one'' hand).
33	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Repeatedly pointed out by several people in regards to Billy and Frank.
34	* NotSoSimilar:
35	** However, both Madani and Curtis point out that there is still a ''lot'' that separates Frank from Billy, most notably his unwillingness to hurt innocent people.
36	** Madani and Krista appear to form a bond until TheReveal that the latter is just using the former to find out Frank's weaknesses.
37	* OffTheWagon: After the brutal fight with the Nazis, Pilgrim finally has a glass of scotch after refusing to drink in the previous episode. Then he steals some cocaine from a dead Nazi. Then he goes into the hotel room next to his and steals a prostitute away from the poor sap who hired her. Essentially, he goes right back to his old habits due to the massive amount of pain he was in.
38	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The episode opens with the normally hands-off Pilgrim coated in blood, the normally ''pious'' Pilgrim doing a line of coke off his hand. The episode continues to show him going off the rails, doing a full HookersAndBlow orgy before finally coming back to his senses thanks toa hallucination of his dying wife.
39	* PriceOnTheirHead: Curtis mentions someone could do a lot with the $5 million bounty on Amy and Frank's head.
40	* ResignationsNotAccepted: The Nazi gang didn't take kindly at Pilgrim for leaving them.
41	* RightThroughTheWall: The person in the hotel room next to Pilgrim's draws his attention by partying with a prostitute.
42	* RousingSpeech: Billy gives a good one to ensure Valhalla are willing to take on the Punisher.
43	* TeethFlying: Inverted: Pilgrim headbutts one Nazi so hard that after the fight, he pulls ''two of his teeth from his scalp'', where they'd lodged after the impact.
44	* TryNotToDie: Before the confrontation with Russo, Curtis tells Frank not to get himself killed.
45	* UndyingLoyalty: Russo's men are now ready to die for him. Which turns out to be literally, because he's setting them up just to lure Frank into his trap. Curtis even compares them to UsefulNotes/TheHashshashin.
46	* VillainHasAPoint:
47	** While Dumont is obviously in no position to judge, given her affiliation with Billy, she does have a point about Frank, in that what he does is still clearly not right, no matter his motivations.
48	** Irredeemable scum though they are, the Nazi leader does have a point when he chastises Pilgrim not for just leaving, but taking a hefty chunk of their money with him, too. Did he really think they'd just let that go?
49	* WhatMeasureIsAMook: A great deal, in Curtis' eyes, as he warns several of Billy's men not to come closer and then just wounds them, telling them to run away. And Philip, the only one that actually dies, really gets to him.

Context Recap / ThePunisher2017S02E10TheDarkHeartsOfMen