Frank has to take control when Pilgrim assaults the police station, and Russo makes a move when his rage finally boils over.
John Pilgrim is chopping wood as his wife Rebecca (Allie McCulloch) watches, and a sermon monologue plays of their preacher talking about getting into heaven.
Cutting to the church, Eliza Schultz (Annette O'Toole) steps in to talk about how their community banded together, and so shall reap rewards; she seems to look at Pilgrim. Pilgrim talks to Anderson Schultz (Corbin Bernsen) about Rebecca's condition and the treatment Schultz provided; Schultz says he knows of a problem needing "special attention," and that "one of ours has been thrown to the lions." Pilgrim returns home and Rebecca wonders where he's going this time; he chooses to not say but explains he'll only be gone a few days. He goes to change his clothes, revealing several faded Nazi tattoos, and we cut to him sitting outside the police station holding Frank and Rachel. Inside, Frank and Marlena Olin (Teri Reeves) bicker while Rachel talks to Deputy Ken Ogden (Brandon Gill), and weasels him out of $5. She feigns innocence again and asks about Frank and Marlena, but Sheriff Roy Hardin (Joe Holt) enters and reveals her prints matched multiple aliases. When she still won't cooperate, he treats her as 18 and wants to toss her with Marlena, so she admits the woman is after her and Frank saved but also tied her down. Hardin goes to the cells and runs through Marlena's rap sheet and how she's former military, but continues that "Pete's" squeaky clean record and no military service seems strange, guessing that he's a marine. After Hardin demands the truth, Marlena mocks and threatens him, and Frank warns of danger coming, knowing her people will come to clean up the loose ends.
Meanwhile, Russo is jittery during a session with Dumont, and reveals he hasn't been taking his sleeping pills, feelings he doesn't need help due to his military training.
He starts pacing as she looks through his journal and explains they're treating his nightmares like a spiderweb: tugging gently, rather than forcefully, which would fail. He becomes enraged again demanding to know why she won't help because nothing makes sense to him, and she stops the guards who enter to restrain him. When she tries to calm him down, he gets physical, so the guards step in, and he brutally beats both of them, then forces Dumont to lead him outside. He becomes angry she didn't call for help, and she explains she didn't want him hurt and he's not okay to be on his own yet, suggesting they try to fix what he's done. He merely removes his mask, saying it can't be fixed, and runs off. Back in the cells, Frank confirms he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and explains to Marlena he's been wondering why he helped, just like she is, and they both know they can't stop things from happening now. In the main area, Pilgrim and Anderson Schultz arrive to extradite Frank and, to Hardin's surprise, Rachel. He becomes suspicious because of Pilgrim, then more when Schultz wants to skip their arraignment process, which isn't for a few days. Hardin refuses to even let them see the two, suggesting they go home, and Pilgrim intervenes about oaths he and Hardin made to God. Noticing him watching Rachel, Hardin asks his name; Pilgrim merely delivers a threat through a bible verse of "He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind," and leaves. Outside, he tells Schultz to leave and motions to someone, who cuts the power; Rachel urges the officers to do something, but their phones and radios don't work. As Frank and Marlena agree things are finally happening, Rachel still refuses to talk, Hardin arms himself with a rifle, and Pilgrim leads a group with guns to the building.
Having gotten word of Russo's escape, Madani goes to the hospital and finds Dumont waiting for a detective; though this isn't her case, she reminds the doc she's been coming for months waiting for Russo to slip up.
She is surprised to learn Dumont doesn't think he was planning this, but rather reacted out of fear, a primal reaction to cognitive and emotional triggers. The two butt heads over who knows Russo's current state better, and Madani asks for any clues as to Russo's whereabouts. Dumont doesn't want to say, believing Madani to be the reason for his scarred face, and Detective Sergeant Brett Mahoney enters, pointing out he banned Madani from the hospital due to the possibility she'd ruin a case against Russo. He chastises her for her department's work involving Russo, then moves for a statement from Dumont. She storms out, angry that they both believe Russo. In the hall, we see she swiped Russo's journal, then pulls out her phone and calls the police station Frank contacted her from. At the station, Hardin leads Frank to the main area to be handcuffed as Rachel steals a soda from the vending machine. Frank has realized the phones are out and surmises there's a radio jammer outside, then gives the entire story of what's happened so far. Hardin notes the oddity of him defeating 13 trained killers, and asks why he got involved; Frank continues his vague answers about defending oneself. Frank also claims he tied up Rachel because she lacks respect, but Hardin believes he wanted to use her as bait; Frank says he'll have to give them to the people outside. One officer wants to consider it, but Ogden suggests they make a run for help, which Hardin agrees to let him do, against Frank's advice. Of course as soon as Ogden tries, Pilgrim shoots him with a sniper rifle, and as they get him to safety, Pilgrim walks in unarmed. Giving Ogden 2-3 hours, Pilgrim demands Frank and Rachel, not caring about Ogden's situation and saying they'll leave carefully when they have what they want. The episode reaches its bloody climax as the untrained officers struggle to decide what to do, forcing Frank to take control of the situation.
This episode gives us some insight into John Pilgrim and shows us more reasons to believe he shouldn't be messed with.
It's not said how recent the flashback at the start of the episode is, but the code "one of ours has been thrown to the lions" seems to mean Marlena. There isn't too much specifically stated, but it's clear he's part of some kind of organization, and of course we see he at least at some point was a Nazi. This explains a bit about why he's so vrutal, but at the same time it brings up more questions about his past and why he seems to have left part of it behind. I was glad to see that the cops here are actually pretty competent, especially Hardin, seeing through Rachel's BS and Pilgrim and Schultz's lies. It's rather funny that he's dealing with Rachel and Frank in such a strange situation, because with the girl already lying, the truth sounds more suspect. People involved already find it strange enough that Frank intervened, and now Hardin, who doesn't even know what's true, is supposed to believe it. The question of why Frank did so has been a big part of the past two episodes, and while he insists it's due to his old-fashioned nature, there's clearly more to it. Last episode, Rachel pointed out he seemed happy to be fighting, and this time around both Marlena and Hardin don't understand it. What I guess, since a part of this season is Frank being pushed toward his Punisher life, is that he's experiencing a problem similar to Lewis Wilson's in season one. Back then, Lewis struggled to return to normal life, with the others takling about how it feels like you have no purpose when in the military things were clear. Frank talked about this at the end of the season, saying he was scared he didn't have a war to fight, so maybe now he's relishing the opportunity to have one. We get a different side to his military training in this episode, as after he takes control in the police station, Ogden wants to help everyone fight, and he has to calmly explain that while he was brave, he is only going to bleed out if he doesn't sit. Rather than the brutal militaristic thinking we normally see, this is a good showing of Frank's leadership skills as he defuses the situation and keeps Ogden safe. While Frank showed a more caring side in this episode, Russo is on the other end of the spectrum, showing his brutal, shattered mind. What he went through with Frank has clearly had a large impact on him, and his confusion and frustration with his situation is easy to see. It's strange to see him more broken like this, considering how put together he generally was last season, and he is essentially a different person if he has amnesia. Madani is going off the rails a bit now in her firm belief that he's faking, but so far I really don't know if I she's right. She seems desperate to be able to prove him a liar again, which is negatively impacting her life, and even if he's a good liar, what we've seen suggests he's honest. Along with his complaints about pain, his description of Frank's attack shows he has some memory of the event but suggests he doesn't recall it fully. This makes me feel like he truly doesn't know what happened, and his memory will return later after Frank dons his Punisher armor again, as he'll recognize the skull. His frustration stems from his inability to understand what's going on, and when you consider how far back his earliest memory is, this makes a lot of sense. It's gotta be alarming to wake up and not be able to remember years of your life, and this has happened to Russo along with his face being badly scarred. Much like people not understanding Frank could just be a good enough guy to jump in, Russo doesn't understand why Dumont didn't call for help during his escape. In his mind, he's someone who simply held her at tazer-point, yet she still wants to help him, which simply confuses him. He's certain that there's no fixing his condition, mostly because of his face, and likely also because her ideas have been ineffective. With Russo on the loose and Frank finally facing John Pilgrim head-on, things are heating up over whatever Rachel got involved in.
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