While Madani and Dumont debate Frank and Billy, the Punisher enacts his plan against his former friend, and John Pilgrim spirals downward.
The episode opens with a flashback to Frank and Billy's military days, when they were going through a sort of hazing and expressed their strong relationship.
In the present, Curtis and Frank stake out "Valhalla" and discuss Rachel's dreams and the bounty; Frank says it's unimportant because he'll soon kill the one who made it. Curtis says this is what caused their situation, but doesn't think it's necessary to talk about Frank's issues; as he scopes the building, Billy watches them from another. Things cut back 24 hours to Dumont and Madani's chat, where Madani is suspicious of the former's attempts at being friendly. She feels she owes it to her dead teammates to get Billy, but Dumont claims she is in a sort of waking death due to almost dying. Finally convinced to talk, Madani admits Frank was at the carousel. Though pausing momentarily, she continues that you have to understand Frank to understand Billy. On their rooftop, Frank tells Curtis he wishes his friend hadn't been pulled into this, but would want no one else helping. Curtis brings up Billy and they laugh that while he was good in a firefight in the past, they now know it's because he's crazy. Frank admits even if he knew, he wouldn't have cared; he misses the relationship he had with their mates on the battlefield. He bemoans not seeing Billy's issues and helping, and when Curtis says Billy doesn't ask for help, he admits to being the same. He continues that while he and Billy were trained to kill, Curtis learned to heal, but his friend says he's not the same as Billy, who is empty and doesn't care about people. In a way proving this, Frank reveals he remembers everyone he killed, and feels like all he has are their ghosts.
A bloody and shaking Pilgrim has returned to his hotel, snorting cocaine and drinking. He painfully recalls the ambush attempt at the bar earlier.
After praying for his foes, he defeated each, sustaining multiple injuries, including a knife wound and a dislocated jaw; he drops a pair of teeth seemingly from an enemy. The boss's attempt at grabbing him from behind led to him pummeling the man with a pair of brass knuckles, and he shot the young man as he tried to escape. Stowing the knuckles, Pilgrim then walked through the carnage to down the drink he turned down before, and left with the bottle, gun, and cocaine. Back in Dumont's apartment, Madani says there's no logic in thinking Billy can be saved; Dumont counters that humans work by instinct and emotion, not logic. Madani says men are better at doing this and justifying their actions, and Dumont says they dragged her into their war but she can still choose a side. The two debate whether Frank is the same as Billy and who decides who's innocent, with Madani saying he's done plenty of good and Dumont bringing up his murders. Madani counters that he's risked himself to save women and kids, but Dumont says this is archaic chivalry, and Madani says he's exempt from being similar to Billy because if he'd done what Billy has, he'd feel like he's burning in Hell. Ignoring a phone call, Pilgrim finishes his cocaine and visits his noisy neighbors, a man and some hookers who are doing drugs, and forces his way in with the gun. Frank, meanwhile, returns to the roof with supplies as Curtis fakes an illness while talking to Linda, and jokes about his friend's misfortune. Curtis says he'd like the world to be in one piece when they're done, and they turn to look at Valhalla, which Frank says has a tunnel out back. Curtis tells Frank about an assassins group called the Hashashin, who followed a man because he provided quality things like food and women, much like Billy is doing. Frank says Billy's followers, who won't like the attack, will just have to get over it, and explains that while he's got 15 men in there, Billy's always really alone.
As one of the hookers pleasures him, Pilgrim philosophizes about brotherhood being a way for people to avoid their own weaknesses, but your comrades reflect you.
Sometimes, he says, you have to shatter the mirror and understand yourself and what you need to change. Suddenly seeing the hooker as his wife, he tells her to leave. Curtis tells Frank things are normal at Valhalla with the girls arriving, and Billy watches as they ready up. Curtis assures Frank Billy will show, as the men need their general. Frank decides to move into position and Curtis fears how he'd feel if Frank died. They embrace and Frank leaves. Pilgrim hallucinates about his proposal to his wife, when he revealed his past and admitted his real name is Robert. Though he says he's killed and committed every sin, she assures him he's loved and urges him to finish the job and get home. Madani asks Dumont if she always wanted to do her job; Dumont explains she was inspired after saving an injured bird her father had deemed a lost cause. Though she feels Billy deserves a chance and was affected by his bad childhood, Madani places the blame squarely on his greed, saying Dumont only sees him as a person needing help, not how she sees him. Madani wonders if successfully convicting Billy would even mean anything to him, but Dumont says the question is if it's good enough for her. When Madani admits she wants to kill Billy, Dumont asks how this makes her any different from Billy and Frank, who answer everything with violence. As Curtis gives Frank the signal, Billy prepares his gang, saying how they banded together while old member Bobby thought he was better than them. He says Frank thinks similarly and wants to judge and kill them despite not being a cop or judge, and cares only about himself. While he admits the situation is personal and he wouldn't risk Frank killing them to get to him, the others band together and say they're with him. Pleased, Billy says Frank is alone while they have each other, and declares he wants Frank to suffer, rather than die quickly. With Billy having prior knowledge, things don't go as expected when Frank storms the hideout, and we later see how Billy came to the conclusions he did.
My favorite aspect of this episode had to be that we finally got to see some brutality from Pilgrim, especially since I was just mentioning wanting it.
There isn't a whole lot, but we see Pilgrim take on a whole group of men, and after a bit, he seems just dead inside. He's already a creepy dude, and the look on his face was obviously because he was upset about falling back into old habits, but it makes him seem more menacing that he keeps such a blank expression while killing the men. For the rest of the episode he's mostly in a daze, and his conversation with the hooker seems to match how the gang boss said he used to be talkative. Pilgrim's disdain for brotherhood could seem to talk about simply his own past and the men he's just killed, but it could also mean he's about to turn on the Schultzes. While he knows nothing about Billy, his words also have meaning for the wider parts of the show, as Billy is now only confident because he's surrounded by people with problems like he has, while alone he struggles. He shows off some impressive manipulation skills this episode, convincing his fellow veterans that Frank is some sort of monster who's merely alone and judgmental. For all his words, though, he seems convinced he knows Frank completely but doesn't realize that, like Frank says, they're similar in struggling to ask for help. Both sides mention that the other is really alone in the end, and Billy is definitely heading that way if, like he says, Frank kills everyone to get to him. For all Dumont and Billy's musings about how similar he and Frank are, in the end Madani hits the nail on the head by pointing out Frank's conscience. Even if he's extreme, Frank has reasons for doing what he's doing other than simple greed, and often times he's trying to help others, even if we've seen he truly likes the brutality of being the Punisher as well. Frank does see himself different from the others, but I'd more say it's Billy who thinks he's better than those around him. With technical aspects, I enjoy how throughout the episode we get strange flashes of what's to come during Frank's assault. Not much info is given whenever the flashes occur, but it's a nice way of flipping the tables by having it match the nightmares Billy had about the Punisher skull. The only complaint I really had about technicals this episode was during Billy's speech: there is a moment where you can hear a shift in the audio between cuts. Other than that, though, I liked finally getting some more action from Pilgrim, and the way this episode examines Frank and Billy and gives us some climactic action.
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