Former Marine Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) is haunted by the murder of his family and his work for a secret off-the-books CIA operation in Afghanistan. He is assumed dead by everyone. He works at a construction site but even there, he cannot retire from his Punisher duties. He is found by tech-savvy David Lieberman, another member of the secret CIA operation, in hiding after a corrupt cop presumably killed him. Agent Dinah Madani from Homeland Security is tracking Frank Castle, not believing in his death. Frank insinuates himself into Lieberman's family. The two 'dead' men join forces to take down the corrupt CIA apparatus. In season 2, he is roaming America with a new identity from the CIA. He rescues a girl from a team of military mercenaries. She turns out to be a grifter with many aliases and being hunted by a powerful political family. Meanwhile, Billy Russo has escaped with the help of his therapist and Madani asks for Castle's help.

The first season is a dark, brutal story of PTSD and violence. Jon Bernthal is perfect. It is the darkest of the Marvel Netflix universe that rival Jessica Jones' issues. I really appreciate something more than comic book action. The second season has a few problematic issues. I don't the portrayal of the side character Brett Mahoney. He is supposed to be a dedicated good NYPD cop but the story simply stacks up his incompetence as his dedication becomes nothing more than arrogance. If the audience is to have any sympathy for Mahoney, he needs more in-depth reasoning and understanding. There is also no reason why Castle wouldn't simply explain some of the Schultz case to Mahoney or quite frankly Madani. Sure, he's a man of action but a few words would help here or there. There is room for improvement in the writing. Otherwise, I love the Schultz case, the Ghost, and the Girl. At first, I was concerned about Krista Dumont from the Billy Russo side of the season but her twisted nature is a nice highlight. The only problem with that half of the story is again Mahoney who seems utterly uninterested in recapturing a rampaging killer. The audience should see him as a reasonable man in an insane world. Instead, he's abandoning fellow cops during a shootout to chase after a ghost. He is self-righteous when he is the character with the least information and that always makes him look stupid and arrogant. I don't think he's supposed to be stupid and arrogant. It's a problem in the writing in an otherwise compelling season. Of the Marvel Netflix shows, this is one of the better ones.