WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's The Punisher, streaming now on Netflix.
In the ninth episode of Marvel's The Punisher, Frank Castle frantically asks tech guru Micro to search online for the identity of a troubled veteran who's already set off three bombs and is now targeting Karen Page. That spurs Micro to ask what viewers have wondered since Daredevil's second season: "What's the deal with you two?"
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It's a deceptively complex question, answered by Frank (Jon Bernthal) in his typically straightforward manner: "The deal is, nobody goes after her, OK? Not on my watch. [...] What would you do if it was Sarah? There's a maniac who is coming after her; what would you do?" When Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) points out that Sarah is his wife and family, Frank fires back, kicking the chair as punctuation, "Listen! I'm only going to say this once, OK: So is Karen! If something happens to her, I --"
Frank is unable to verbalize what he would do, perhaps because he can't allow himself to imagine such a scenario. He resorts instead to slamming his hand on the table, and then begging Micro to find details about a guy named Lewis who drives a cab. It's notable that Frank doesn't attempt to clarify that Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) is like family; no, when Micro says, "Sarah's my wife, Sarah's my family," Frank responds "So is Karen." There's a lot to unpack in those three words.
Their complicated relationship of course dates back to the second season of Daredevil, when Karen championed Frank's case while working for Nelson & Murdock. She was the first, and perhaps only, person who saw that The Punisher was more than a bloodthirsty mass murderer, that he was a man traumatized by the loss of his family, and perhaps more, and that he was someone worth saving. Frank was nevertheless convicted and sent to prison, but promptly escaped with the help of fellow inmate Wilson Fisk. Seeking to clear his name after being framed for additional murders by the drug lord the Blacksmith (better known as his former commanding officer Ray Schoonover), Frank sought out Karen, and saved her life in at least three instances (from the Blacksmith and his men).
After months in hiding, Frank resurfaces to again seeks out Karen on The Punisher, as she's one of the few people who knows he survived the explosion in Daredevil Season 2. His stated reason is that he needs help finding information about this Micro who has tracked him down, but it's obvious he requires more: a human connection; family. His Marine buddy Curtis Hoyle can give him advice, and lend him books, but Franks longs for something more. Not romance, necessarily, just ... more.
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He knows Karen, probably better than Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson do. He knows she still carries "that hand cannon" in her purse (knowledge that becomes crucial later in the season), but that she's also softhearted enough to stop and give a "homeless" person some money. However, Karen knows Frank, too, enough to realize she cares more about his well-being than he does. She also understands that for Frank Castle there can't be a happy ending, and it tears her up inside.
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"So, where does that end, Frank?" she tearfully asks in Episode 5, referring to is quest for revenge. "Because I look at you, and my heart breaks, because all I can see is just this endless, echoing loneliness." When Frank dismisses the suggestion that he's lonely, Karen forcefully responds, "Bullshit! We're all lonely! I sometimes think that's all that life is, that we're just ... just fighting not to be alone."
But Frank and Karen aren't alone, not entirely. They have each other, a notion that's as problematic as it is comforting. Karen's proximity to Frank places her in as much danger as anything she might right for the Bulletin. He rebuffs her offer to help expose the people who killed his family, saying, "Look, I ... I can't go after these men and keep you safe. I can't do both at once. [...] What do you mean, I don't have to keep you safe? My famiy's gone because of what I know -- they're gone! ... Hey, come on, I cannot let that happen to you, you got that? I cannot let that happen. Please."
There again, Frank conflates Karen with his family, because in his mind, that's precisely what she is. It's not that he views her as some kind of surrogate for his late wife Maria, who still both haunts him and brings a smile to his face. No, Karen is perhaps the only person with whom he can display tenderness, and honest-to-goodness human emotion. She embraces him -- a bit too long, she realizes -- in their initial reunion, and he chastely kisses her on the cheek in Episode 5.
It's the danger posed to Karen, and not to some liberal senator or the good people of New York City, that later pulls Frank from his mission to stop Lewis Wolcott, the troubled young veteran who becomes fixated on overthrowing a government that, in his view, refuses to protect its citizens' Second Amendment rights. Lewis sees in Karen a possible ally -- after all, she was sympathetic to The Punisher -- but when she publicly ridicules him for killing innocent people by setting off a series of bombs in Manhattan, she and an anti-gun senator become his targets.
In one of the strongest episodes of the season, the Rashomon-like "Virtue of Viciousness," Frank risks public exposure, arrest and death to save Karen, who's interviewing the senator in a hotel suite guarded by Anvil, the private military company owned by Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), the ex-Marine believed by Frank to be his best friend. It's an episode that not only makes the public aware that The Punisher is still alive, but finally reveals to Frank the involvement of Billy in the conspiracy. But the events of Episode 10, the last time we see the two of them together in the season, also demonstrates the strength of Karen, and of her bond with Frank.
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Taken hostage by Lewis as he tries to escape the hotel, Karen remains (relatively) calm, even when faced with a bomb connected to a dead man's switch, intended to detonate the explosives strapped to the veteran's body should he be killed. Frank cleverly communicates to Karen to yank the white wire from the detonator as she shoots Lewis with the gun he knows is in her purse.
"It's just like women and their goddamned purses," Frank tells a frantic Lewis, referring to people being creatures of habit. "After everything she's been through, she's still got that bag around her neck. Miss Page, I imagine you could tell me everything you have in that bag, right?" She yanks the wire and shoots Lewis in the foot, giving Frank the opening that he needs. And when the police arrive, Karen once again plays hostage, giving a convincing performance that hides Frank's injuries and provides him with a chance to escape.
Alone in the elevator, few words are exchanged as Frank returns the gun to Karen, and plans his exit through the rescue hatch. They simply press their foreheads together and then stare at each other for a few, fleeting moments before Frank breaks the silence with, "Take care." Nothing more needs to be said because, again, they know each other; they're family.
Now available on Netflix, Marvel's The Punisher stars Jon Bernthal, Ben Barnes, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amber Rose Revah, Deborah Ann Woll, Daniel Webber, Jason R. Moore, Paul Schulze, Jaime Ray Newman and Michael Nathanson.