Summary
“My Brother’s Keeper” brings increasing frustration and a melancholy note to Frank’s crusade, as even his allies seem to be turning against him.
This recap of Marvel’s The Punisher Season 2 Episode 8, “My Brother’s Keeper”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
We begin in “My Brother’s Keeper” right where we left off, with Frank – fully kitted out in his comics attire – pursuing Billy through the streets of New York. Billy might not remember everything about what happened to his face, but he certainly remembers that iconic skull. His minor breakdown here results in a massive standoff between him, Frank and the police, but his boys are able to bail him out while Curtis – who nabbed a sniper rifle earlier – is able to free Frank from Brett Mahoney, who gets clobbered over the head for his trouble.
It turns out that the cashier Billy and his crew kidnapped from the check-cashing place was in on the heist all along, but Billy shoots him and one of his dissenting crewmen just to let everyone know what time it is. It’s around this point that Frank realises Billy’s amnesia is genuine, and that the shock of seeing the lack of understanding in Billy’s face caused him to freeze. That lack of understanding also leads Billy, somewhat predictably, back to Dumont.
Amy, meanwhile, is bored senseless waiting for Frank and Curt to return, so she hatches a scheme to test out what Frank taught her about disarming gunmen by… trying it on him as he comes through the door. This is a remarkably stupid idea, but it’s actually kind of typical and charming when you consider Amy’s age and burgeoning admiration for her protector. Needless to say, Frank goes spare and terrifies Amy, and then, in a particularly bad mood, goes to take his frustrations out on Jake.
Everyone is frustrated in “My Brother’s Keeper”. Mahoney is frustrated that Madani (who tipped him off about the robbery) keeps defending Frank, whom he wants her to give up – but is she really defending Frank, or justifying her own actions? Curt is starting to get in trouble with the missus and draw parallels between an increasingly unstable Frank and Billy, and Billy goes absolutely apeshit at Dumont because he’s so profoundly offended that Frank, his brother in arms, would have been the one to ruin his face. Skull notwithstanding, there are clearly some things he’s forgetting about.
Everyone is mostly able to get through to everyone else, though. Madani, moody as ever, turns up at the trailer where Amy and Curt are bonding to convince them to give up Frank, but no dice. Billy talks his crew into investing their loot into building a bigger army of disillusioned vets and chasing larger scores, and all the while Frank is sat teary-eyed at the graves of his wife and children, presumably considering what he’s about to do next.
