After the shocking death of Sam Stein in the previous episode, Punisher episode 9 hikes things up with Lewis' explosive entrance.
Episode 8 ended disastrously for Madani's forces, taking heavy damage despite killing all but Billy Russo during their sting operation. Most horrific for Madani, however, came when Russo killed Sam with no witnesses, leaving Sam unable to tell Madani of their true enemy. Madani has retreated home in shock, and refuses to return to work or make statements despite mounting pressure due to her falsified paperwork. Outside, Frank and Micro watch Madani and her mother with a sniper rifle, trying to decide how best to handle her. Before they come to any conclusion, however, a building is damaged by Lewis' pressure cooker bomb from episode 7. Later, after watching a news report with a cell phone video of the explosion from within the building, Frank, disgusted at Lewis' "cowardly" use of bombs, stalls the plan to contact Madani. Lewis sends a message directly to Karen Page to get his mission plan public, as he believes she will see him as similar to Frank, but she calls him a coward and terrorist. Over with the police, Madani is in hot water with Rafael Hernandez, who wants to know why she did what she did, but she gives him nothing when he says he can't help if it is about Kandahar. On a radio station, Karen again denounces him, even after he calls in directly and threatens her. Frank, who was listening, becomes enraged that Karen is being targeted, and realizes it is Lewis because of the young man's use of the phrase "sic semper tyrannis." Knowing he heard it back in Curtis' group, Frank demands that Micro track down Lewis, saying Karen is family to him. Curtis, having also recognized Lewis, heads to O'Connor's house and discovers his dead body and Lewis' bomb supplies. Lewis walks in and the two talk, but he eventually attacks and is able to knock Curtis out by yanking off Curtis' prosthetic and beating him with it. Frank has, meanwhile, checked Lewis' house, and calls Karen to tell her to stay out of the situation, when Micro tells him of Lewis' whereabouts and Curtis being there. Over at Madani's, a failed attempt at sex with Russo to feel better has led to a conversation about blaming oneself. Russo states that he has experienced plenty of deaths, which, if thought of negatively, could lead him to a mindset of blaming himself for not preventing them. In reality, the enemy is the true one to blame, or maybe even the victim, slipping in a jab that Sam somehow got stabbed when he had a gun. Russo is also hired to protect a gun control advocate, whom Lewis had previously specified as an opponent. Frank, arriving at O'Connor's, finds Curtis hooked up to multiple claymore mines, and Lewis, watching from outside, calls Curtis' phone to talk to Frank. The two argue viewpoints and Frank bounces between berating Lewis and calmly trying to convince him to say how to disarm the bombs. Curtis, trying to get Frank to leave, explains that despite what he typically says, he often feels hopeless and sometimes thinks it would have been better to just die rather, than lose his leg. As the episode comes to a climax, Frank must find a way to disarm the bomb before police arrive, Lewis having called them to witness the explosion. At the same time, Madani, has decided to speak at Sam's funeral and tell the truth no matter the cost, and Micro, when telling Frank of Lewis and Curtis' location, seemed about to make contact with Madani. This episode finally brings to light the building opposing methods of handling seemingly the same problem, as well as hypocrisy and opposing ideology. One of the biggest examples of this comes with gun control advocate Senator Ori, as he quickly becomes a target for Lewis. In particular, Ori hiring Russo for protection is an interesting development, as Russo would be known for using guns. Russo himself says it's funny that, for all his beliefs, Ori is more than willing to shell out money to hire security with opposing views to his. Ori clearly knows this, and reminds Russo that, because of the storm that could be caused if an attacker were killed with a gun, he wants protection in other forms. The unstable Lewis is an interesting look at a more twisted version of Frank's path, as Frank points out that, despite Lewis saying they are the same, he was willing to beat Curtis, a US marine, and strap him with bombs. Similalry, as Karen says on the radio, Lewis' claim that he is going after corrupt people is weakened due to his first victims being regular working-class people. Though this is a clear examination of how not everyone agrees with Frank's methods and could see him as a terrorist, the differences are all to clear. With Frank, the main issue with what he does could by that while he often kills people for corruption, people don't always know of the corruption, and therefore see him as just someone killing members of the government or military. Frank has his moral code, however, and makes sure to save people and try to prevent casualties, like when he clipped the young soldier at Rawlins' compound rather than taking a kill shot. Lewis, meanwhile, has become convinced that American rights are being trampled on by anyone who opposes him, not noticing some of his own hypocrisy. Lewis says that he needs to show people like Karen they can't just say whatever they want, a clear disregard for free speech despite his adamant advocacy for gun rights. In his own mission to take down corruption, Lewis is obviously becoming little more than a terrorist as Karen said, willing to hurt or kill whoever opposes him. A smaller important development comes from the talk between Madani and Russo, when Russo insults Sam and mentions how he died. Given that, as Madani said, Russo shouldn't have been there, it would be odd to someone like Madani that Russo would know Sam was killed with a knife, or even that he had his gun. This is just further evidence that, despite how he and Rawlins control so much, Russo isn't always too bright, unintentionally dropping clues for Madani that he is lying. With Frank now dealing with both Lewis and police, Madani likely about to spill everything she knows, and Micro intending to meet her, everything is beginning to get tangled together. As everyone continues in their own goals, it is clear there are big confrontations coming in future episodes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|