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.

Another episode with a lot of discussion but it’s also the episode that so far has shown what this season should have been about. By simplifying the season to just be Russo vs. the Punisher it could have better focused.

The episode touches on two key things. What made Billy Russo the person he is? The second is about the vets who have rallied around him. Why have they? Both of those things would be an amazing examination of toxic masculinity as well as looking at how we fail our veterans.

The episode starts off with Fight Club and then repeats Fight Club about half way through. A bunch of hyper-masculine men who are lost in direction and feel lost. It’s all about the toxic masculinity here. Focusing on that, vet issues, you have a framework to make for an amazing season. But instead we have Pilgrim, some religious nuts, the Russian mob, Nazis. There’s too many distractions.

And then… with 14 minutes left, the action of Frank’s assault begins. Again, the episode sticks to the 2/3 1/3 split of each episode for action versus talking. It’s beyond predictable and a little too formulaic. The action though, like all the action this season, is solid and brutal.

It’s an episode that shows potential then falls into the usual pattern. It teases how great of a season this could have been.

Overall Rating: 7.25