Some guys just can’t stay out of trouble. Take Frank Castle. He murders his way through the streets of New York City, taking bloody revenge on the men responsible for the deaths of his wife and children. He leaves the killer – his former best friend and marine corps buddy – pulverized and in a coma. After a deal with Homeland Security he gets a new name and disappears. Then one day he walks into a bar in Michigan. Frank Castle can change his name, but he can’t change who he truly is, and he’s not about to let a bunch of Russian gangsters execute a teenaged girl if he can help it. What follows is a conspiracy that Frank can’t pull himself out of. Naturally, the streets of New York are going to get bloody again. And just when it was looking like he might be able to start over with a new ready-made family. But Frank Castle is not only the Punisher, he is also the punished. A man doomed to a vicious circle of paying for his actions by being forced to perform them. There is no happiness for Frank Castle. Only trouble.

Jon Bernthal returns to the role of Frank Castle for Punisher’s second season, having first met him in the watchable half of Season Two of Daredevil. A lot of criticism I’m seeing is regarding Bernthal’s “uncharismatic” performance. I’m not sure it’s right to think of the Punisher in terms of charisma. It’s not a word that is usually associated with people who try to keep a low profile. Bernthal’s Castle is reserved, introverted, cold. He’s not interested in getting close to people because those people will only get hurt – a mistake he makes in the season’s first episode. But he’s also really good with kids, very intelligent, and he has a huge heart. He’d be the perfect blind date if he weren’t a mass murderer. Jon Bernthal portrays Frank Castle as a tired man who must protect and avenge those who can’t protect themselves. When he’s not, he feels dead – just as Frank Castle should be portrayed, and Bernthal knows it. I admit, his Punisher is not far removed from the performance he gave as the Big Bad in the first two seasons of The Walking Dead. I never liked him on that show. There were times I wasn’t sure Bernthal understood the words coming out of his own mouth. He gets Frank Castle, though. The pain, hell, and hope that Castle lives with every day is expressed in every line on Bernthal’s face. This is the first time we’ve seen a live-action Punisher presented as a fully developed character and not just a comic-book anti-hero.

Season Two gives Frank a sidekick of sorts. Giorgia Whigham plays Amy Bendix, a homeless teen who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once Frank saves her from the Russian assassins, they’re stuck together as they fall into a conspiracy that reaches all the way to the U.S. Senate. Amy is scared, confused, and she has no idea who she can turn to. She doesn’t exactly trust Frank, she just seems smart enough to have weighed her options. To both Frank’s and Amy’s surprise, their unwilling partnership develops into a loving friendship. Frank eventually gets to play the father figure again, and it’s a tight bond that the two characters form. It’s a while before they’re able to gain that trust with each other, though, and the journey there forms the emotional core of the season. The strength of this season is largely reliant on the chemistry between Bernthal and Whigham, and fortunately, pairing the two looks like the most natural decision in the world.

Season One of The Punisher was an unmemorable scattershot of decent television. The conspiracy behind the murder of Frank’s family eventually had my eyes glazed over. It was just too much for only a handful of interesting characters to follow in the first place. Season Two’s conspiracy stays relatively tight with a greater emotional investment, oddly enough. The motives behind all of the villains’ actions this season are as clear and misguided as the force that drives Frank. Josh Stewart is John Pilgrim, an unstoppable, Bible-quoting assassin in a preacher’s outfit. The killer preacher is a tiresome trope, but he becomes more sympathetic as more of his story is revealed. There’s also the return of Billy Russo, Frank’s former best friend and the killer of Frank’s family. While he was one of the more memorable parts of Season One, he still left very little impression with me. This time, though, Ben Barnes is able to pull out all the tragedy behind the character, and it’s hard not to feel his pain. Billy awakens, scarred and with amnesia. He doesn’t remember what he did to Frank, only that he has paid for it, and he wants revenge. Except he finds it hard to take that revenge. He considered Frank’s family to be his own family. He loved Frank and if Frank tried to kill him, he must have done something awful. And nobody will tell him what. We’re constantly asked to compare Frank’s motives to those of the “bad guys”, and then ask who is and isn’t a criminal. It’s the most respectful way to present the character, as well as the braver choice. “Frank is not a criminal,” a key character tells us at one point. Make no doubt about it, I believe she is wrong.

There are a number of nice, little details that made the season stand out. I liked that Amy never outright swore; she’d creatively cover it up. “S-H-1-T.” There are some great fight scenes, including a nice, early one set to Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee. Annette O’Toole and Corbin Bernsen. But as much as I like the portrayal of Billy this season, he’s also where the story falters the most. It’s not Barnes’ fault. The scars on his face are the product of some fantastic makeup work, but they’re also very aesthetically placed, making Billy more ruggedly handsome than the scar-covered horror who becomes Jigsaw in the comics. His face is much too smooth considering how Frank essentially ripped half of it off in Season One’s finale. More troubling is the relationship between him and his doctor, Krista Dumont (Floriana Lima). It grows from doctor/patient to loving soulmates, which is fine. In order to get there, though, we have to sit through yet another rape of submission. The man attacks. The woman very clearly tells him to stop. He doesn’t. He kisses her. She’s unwilling at first, but his manliness is too much, and she gives in. She must now have him. The next morning she’s glowing and they’re in love. I haven’t seen that particular scene in quite a little while. I was hoping it had died off in the 20th Century.

As of this writing, Netflix has not announced the cancellation of The Punisher, but everybody’s expecting it. I do hope we get Bernthal back in the role somehow. And when Frank Castle returns I want Amy with him. I grew as fond of her as Frank did. This season ranks among the best television that Marvel has produced, and at times it compares to the best scenes that Marvel has brought us in any medium. There is a hug at one point, shared between Frank and Amy. It is one of the most poignant moments I’ve seen anywhere. It brought goosebumps. In many ways this season is a platonic love story. I’ve got a feeling if I watch it again, I’ll discover even more. That’s something I’m looking forward to.

The Punisher is streaming on Netflix.