I'm five episodes in and this might be my favorite of the Marvel Netflix shows. With the caveat that a lot of these have in common that they slow down a bit around the halfway mark, so I'll hold off judgment until I've seen all of the episodes.
I think it's one of the best ensembles they have gathered for the Marvel Netflix shows. Jon Bernthal is a great Frank Castle but I'm talking the supporting cast too, right down to the smaller roles. I love Ebon-Moss-Bachrach, but I think the woman who plays Sarah Lieberman is even better than he is as David Lieberman. And Amber Rose Revah is divine in her role. I was even delighted to see Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as the deputy director of the C.I.A.
I've seen all thirteen episodes now. It's good, though I'm a tiny bit disappointed that the quality of the five first episodes wasn't maintained throughout. It did slow down a bit in the middle episodes, like most of these Netflix Marvel series have done, but I found that stuff (about the troubled young soldier and about Lieberman's family) more interesting than what we have gotten in the other series. I thought the failure, in so much as it was one, was to be found in the last two episodes. They were underwhelming compared to what had come before. In spite of this, "The Punisher" still manages to just about edge ahead of "Daredevil" season two as my favorite of the Netflix Marvel shows. My revised ranking: 1. The Punisher 2. Daredevil - season 2 3. Daredevil - season 1 & Jessica Jones (still cannot choose between these two quality-wise) 4. Luke Cage (this show started very strong but tailed off considerably in the second half of the season) I haven't seen either "Iron Fist" or "The Defenders".
BTW, am I the only one who thinks that the bulletproof vest with the Punisher logo on it is unnecessary fan service? If Hugh Jackman doesn't need the yellow spandex to effectively embody Wolverine than surely Jon Bernthal doesn't need the skull logo to be the Punisher?
Just finished 6th episode I think. Good so far. I know this is stupid but for some reason I'm not diggin' the cajun rock intro/out music. Just seems out of place and bugging me.
I think that logo is a lot more emblematic of the Punisher than Wolverine's tights (either version). And it's a pretty badass symbol, so...nah, I don't have a problem with it. Sure it's fan service, but hey, nothing wrong with that, the Marvel shows/movies are full of fan service.
I don't know. I think the way Frank Castle is presented, he is about revenge, evening scores. It seems slightly out of character for him to focus on iconography. It's something that probably works better in the comics than it does in a gritty TV adaptation.
I finished it today. I pretty much agree with what @Belgian guy said a week or two ago. This is probably the strongest overall Marvel Netflix series. It didn't slow down or drag like most of the other shows did at some point. There wasn't a subplot that I felt should have been removed to free up four or five episodes. It held together very well. All of the characters were well portrayed - Russo was a compelling bad guy, you wanted to root for Madani and Curtis and Micro and his family, etc. I seem to have become inured to the level of violence in these shows - I was surprised at how bloody the first season of Daredevil was, but apparently now I'm used to it, although a couple of scenes in the last two episodes made me a little squeamish - the eyeball incident and the mirror thing at the end. But there was a lot of physical punishment, bloody brains on walls, etc. that I barely noticed.
I took a long break after watching the first two episodes, just finished it over the last week. Agree that it might be the best Marvel Netflix series so far to to bottom, well written and acted, and got surprisingly deep in its focus on war, PTSD, and related issues. But holy crap was it gory, those last two episodes in particular veered close to torture porn. I can live with that though, even if I have gotten more squeamish in my old age (my teenage self would've loved that aspect). And back to the iconography issue, he actually talked about the skull outfit in the one episode and said it was intended to frighten his victims, that made sense to me as it made it part of the mission rather than just a costume.