Front row alert with lots of spoilers!
A few trailers before the show's premiere shows that this season focuses on the two stories of The Punisher and the Hand, and what I've been worried about is how the show will fit these two unrelated stories into the show. In the same drama, in fact, the two story lines of this season are basically parallel, and there is no intersection between the two except DD himself. But what's even worse is that the writers don't seem to have a good grasp of the importance of the two storylines. The first four episodes of this season are about the Punisher. The story line of the hand union has not officially started since the fifth episode, but since this episode, the focus of this season's story has been constantly shifting on both sides, and the screenwriter is on the side. When the story develops to the key plot, it will always deliberately reduce or even ignore the story on the other side. The two story lines of the drama do not achieve an equal two-line narrative. Especially obvious.
Another problem with the narrative is that many plots and contents are deduced by the characters themselves through large monologues, the ending of episode 4 and the memories of the punisher in the following episodes, the memories of the general in the court trial, and the old man telling the origin of the hand. Wait, these are all actors reading their lines to the camera. Compared with the story of Jin Bing in the first season, it was presented with a lot of flashbacks and hallucinations from the character's first perspective. In the second season, these similar contents did not even have basic character interactions, and they were all acting. Many of these episodes in this season are really like sitting on pins and needles, and it is very easy to get distracted.
The story of The Punisher this season runs through the whole season, and the length basically accounts for half of the whole season. It is completely to move the origin story of this character to the DD episodes. Its story is gradually depicted and revealed through multiple angles. In fact, the progression of the Punisher's storyline this season is more dependent on other characters, especially the heroine Karen, the audience's backstory to the character of the Punisher and the role A lot of what I know about myself is simultaneously displayed through Karen's perspective, which is a point that surprised and impressed me a lot. No matter how famous the character of the Punisher is in the original book, the show is always a DD episode, so when you put the Punisher character and even his origin story together, you can't leave the world of DD. The way the writers tied his story to the character Karen was more surprising to me than the character itself.
Also, one of the things I was concerned about before the season started was the writer's handling of the Punisher character. Judging from the concept of the first season of DD, the character of the Punisher is definitely a villain, so I am more worried that the screenwriter will change the character setting to make him more suitable for DD's dramas, but from the actual performance, I still worry too much. Well, the writers didn't make any compromises in handling the character. The Punisher is the villain of the show in the first three episodes of this season, and his behavior is very extreme, especially the chase in the hospital is written as a pure villain. In a scene in the restaurant at the back, Karen and the waiter were present, and he still executed two gangsters who had already been subdued, which really shocked me.
However, another story line this season can only be summed up in four words, so it is a mystery. The story of the Hand Union spent most of the season paving the way, digging a hole (really digging a big hole) until the end, and there are still many problems that have not been explained at the end. And the embarrassing thing is that, with so much foreshadowing, when the story reaches its climax, it is still inexplicable. The revelation of Erica's identity in the 12 episodes can be said to be one of the worst twists and turns I've ever seen. This scene is dominated by the villain's letter and his hand, but there was no narrative perspective from him before the show, which made this scene. The appearance of the scene is extremely unconvincing, and there is absolutely no thrill of revealing the suspense after watching it. Of course, the reason why this scene turned into a disaster is the problem of the old man and the shaping of Erica's character itself, which will be discussed later.
Another problem with the story line of the Hand is the change in the tone of the story. Although DD exists in the world of the MCU, it is still a realistic style series, and the story of the first season and this season of the Punisher is the same. , while the Hand is strongly mysterious and even surreal. Although the seventh episode of the first season has a very different style, it can be said to be a relatively independent chapter and has nothing to do with the whole season. The change in style brought about by the enlargement of this part of the content in the second season cannot be ignored. The screenwriter seems to be a little undecided in dealing with this point, and put the hand union as the main story line in the second season, but at the same time, he does not want to describe them too much, so that the style of the show changes too quickly, resulting in some plots and content. It looks bad.
In addition to the hand meeting, what I regret about the story this season is that some of the content has not been spread out. In the first 4 episodes, the screenwriter throws out the pros and cons of the extreme behavior of the punisher and the possible consequences, as well as the frequent appearance of such vigilantes (Jessica Jones is mentioned in the play) The impact on the entire judicial institution and system , in the trial part at the beginning of episode 5, I thought that the episode would discuss these topics at length, but here the writers seem to be so focused on the Punisher's backstory that they completely forget the two issues mentioned earlier. In the first season of DD, a lot of pen and ink were used to describe the corruption of the entire system and the various characters in it who were indifferent to the living beings, but these contents were not continued in the second season, which is really a pity.
In terms of characters, the portrayal of various characters in the first season of DD can be said to be the most outstanding point of the series. There are many characters but they are very vivid. The main characters in the second season were reduced to 5 people, but the handling of the characters was much worse than that in the first season. The most three-dimensional character in this season is the heroine Karen. She is brave, kind, sharp and witty. Her fragility and confusion have been shown in detail. Bai Tian's role is fundamentally different. Also transformed is DD's good friend Fudge, who played the role of DD's follower and Karen's spare tire almost throughout the first season, and became more independent and mature in the second season. There are several scenes in the drama that show his intelligence led by Fudge, such as the first meeting with the prosecutor at the beginning and the opening statement of the court trial, etc. The appearance of these episodes not only enriched the character of the character, but also greatly improved his charisma. However, as the most central character of the show, DD's role modeling is far inferior to his two friends.
The second season almost completely stripped DD of his side as a lawyer and an ordinary person, making this dual identity person indifferent to his official duties, which is largely divorced from the one created in the first season. Contradictory characters. And even so, the screenwriter didn't portray the other side of him well, and the entire season's portrayal of DD himself was not only far inferior to the first season, but even Fudge, who had a reduced role, was inferior. The dramatic reduction of DD's inner drama this season resulted in the lack of sufficient reasons to support the changes in the characters' behavioral motives and ideas. Therefore, when a confrontation between DD and Jin Bing in episode 10 changed the character's principles, the screenwriters used it in the first season. The kind of contradictions and entanglements that lingered on the edge of the bottom line that I tried my best to portray have become a joke. It can be said that the DD in the second season exists almost as a functional character, where it is needed where it is needed, and there is very little depiction of the characters themselves. Most of the time, the role is to talk about love and dance.
This season's other main character, Erica, can be said to be the product of the screenwriter's ambivalence. Obviously, this character will have an important role in future stories, so the screenwriter introduced this character this season, but still did not want to Too much description of her. If Karen is the witness of the Punisher's story line this season, Erica is completely tied to DD itself. All of her scenes are basically performed with DD, and the whole drama is almost She did not give her a personal play and description, so when the final role was reversed and inner contradictions were aroused, it was extremely unconvincing. In contrast, the screenwriter still arranged for Claire, whose role has been greatly reduced this season, to show her personal qualities after the hospital attack, which is a high judgment. The fifth episode of Erica's official debut this season is the one that handles the characters best. Through the two feelings of the two story lines of flashback and reality, it has created two female characters with completely different personalities, and also showed DD's own dual character. It's a pity that this way of creating characters through strong contrast did not continue after the episode. The role of Erica's later role is the same as that of DD, and only love and dancing are left.
In the first season, the most interesting character written by the screenwriter was the villain Jin Bing. In the second season, this guy who only officially appeared in two episodes is still the most fascinating character in this series. This season's Kim has continued the awakened state of the first season finale. His confusion and confusion, immaturity and impulsiveness have been completely replaced by his forbearance and foresight. In the ninth episode, he was threatened face-to-face by the local snake in the prison at this time. He chose to bow his head and wait for the opportunity, and then used the punisher to come and borrow a knife to kill and help him ascend to the throne of the king of prison. In the 10th episode, facing DD's threat and provocation through Vanessa, Jin Bing chose to fight back in the same threatening way. Compared with Ben's fate in the first season, this change is undoubtedly very huge. It is also worth mentioning that, also as an excessive episode, the 7th episode of the first season of the first season of the old man seems to be out of tune with the whole season, and the 9th episode of Jin Bing’s return this time is well integrated with the story of the Punisher. , the handling is much smarter.
Finally, I will mention the action scenes of the episode separately. In the first season, it can be said that literary dramas are not enough, and martial arts dramas come together. The action scenes of the DD dramas are not only very, very exciting, but also act as a filler or adjustment between multiple episodes, which is what Jessica Jones, who is also produced by netflix, lacks the most. One of the little advantages. The weight of the action scenes in the second season has been greatly increased, but there are not many impressive passages in the whole season. Compared with the many fights between DD and Xin this season, they are not as exciting as the only showdown in the first season, especially this season. In the second half of the season, there were a lot of battles with the Hands and Hands Association, and it was a bit of aesthetic fatigue. The increase in action scenes this season has also affected the story of the show and the shaping of the characters to a certain extent, and even a bit overwhelming. In my opinion, a small-screen drama can only rely on action scenes and visual spectacles at the end. To captivate the audience, the series is not far from the end.
But having said so much, this season's action scenes are still worth watching. If DD is a kind of elegant violence, then the Punisher shows the original animal nature. The wanton killing in episode 9 and the crazy blood-spraying are not only very enjoyable to watch, but also the display of this completely different style of action is really impressive The eyes lit up, including a scene in the restaurant afterwards. Not only did The Punisher save the season's relatively bad story, so to speak, but its very different action style from DD was one of the most interesting parts of the season.
Personal rating: 7 points
+:
The Punisher's Tale
The Return of Kim Bing-
:
The Hand's Story
Characterization
Narrative Issues
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