Marvel's The Punisher

- Hi, Katie. -Hi.

- How is she today? - Same.

Okay.

-Thank you. - Sure.

Your therapy lamp arrived.

That's great.

I told them you weren't getting enough sunshine.

And I know that you, um... Well, I know how that upsets you.

Oh, good.

Good. They're cleaning your teeth.

I pay 'em extra for that.

Gotta look after those teeth.

Very important to have a good smile in your line of business, right?

Keep those customers happy.

Nothing like a nice smile to let 'em know that you give a shit.

I've had a tough week.

This...

this old friend of mine is back in town.

A smile is not gonna be good enough for him.

This guy's been... Well, he's maybe the...

the only real friend that I ever had.

And now I think that...

Well, he thinks that he wants to take away

everything that I've worked so hard for all these years.

Do you know that you are maybe the only person in the entire world

that I can be truly honest with? Do you-- Do you know that?

I mean, I gave this guy...

I gave this guy... a choice.

I mean, I gave him a chance for things to go down differently.

-You know? And... -

Shit.

- -

- -Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Getting a little lively there, don't you think?

Well, I guess you would have a strong constitution

when it comes to narcotics.

Would you change anything?

If you could?

Because, you...

you had a choice.

Me, I never did. You saw to that.

And yet...

here I am.

You know, all those years in those group homes...

gives you a lot of time to think.

And now I'm returning the favor.

Maybe you did me a solid, you know?

I mean, the way I see it, you want weak kids, give 'em everything.

But if you... If you want 'em strong...

treat 'em hard.

Easy. Easy. Easy.

- -That's it.

You know, I'd have given you...

the world.

I'd have given you... anything that you ever wanted...

if you'd just wanted me.

See you next week, Mom.

Uh... hey, Frank?

-Huh? -You wanna come here?

I've been running the image from your scope.

-Mmm. -Found him.

Holy shit.

-Yeah, you did. -William "Bill" Rawlins III.

He's the director of covert operations for the CIA.

Now it's starting to make sense.

This is not some field agent running rogue.

I mean, it takes a guy like this to pull it all together and make it stick.

"Injured in the line of duty." That's from me smashing his eye in.

Son of a bitch used it to climb the ladder.

No, he didn't. He was born at the top of the ladder.

The Rawlinses are practically royalty. They're the power behind the throne.

They're old, old Virginia money. Plantations, shipping and industry, arms.

I mean, who knows what else they have their hands in.

Sounds like you got a crush on the guy.

He's the director of covert ops, Frank.

I mean, for all I know...

-Shit. -What is it?

For all I know, he's been waiting for somebody to look for him.

And by searching his file, I've just blown us.

There could be a team on its way right here.

-Wait. -Give me a second--

No, you give me a second.

You've been on that CIA site all day, right?

You seen anything about us? Any chatter at all?

-What... No. -Have you?

-No, right? -No.

You're saying the guy's got unlimited resources.

You're saying he's the kinda guy,

he farts, the president catches a whiff. That's what you're telling me?

Uh, yeah, actually.

Okay, David, CIA and the FBI, they're not coming after us.

You didn't see anything on there about Kentucky, right?

Nothing about me being on an army base?

Yeah. I mean, the Bulletin ran a piece

about Bennett turning up stabbed to death in a motel upstate, but that's it.

They killed him. That's good.

Look, the point is they're not coming after us.

I mean, I took a shot at this guy, you didn't read anything about it.

You're scared, David, and I get that,

but think about how this Rawlins prick feels.

I think that you and me, we are sitting pretty right now.

I'm going to make coffee. Want me to get you something?

Yeah. Yeah, I'll have some chamomile. Thanks.

Some chamomile, huh?

Frank!

This guy. What?

Um, the cameras in my house are down.

- What's that? -I can't...

I can't access the feed to my house right now.

You need to get over there now and check on my family.

-Wait a second. David, I just-- -You need to check on my family right now!

All right. All right. All right. Christ's sake.

- What? -

-What happened there? -

Paintball. It was from a training exercise.

That is what a real battle scar looks like.

AK-47, through and through.

Thank you.

What about this guy? Hmm?

Appendix, right?

Knifed by an angry lover.

You are so full of shit. Do you know that?

All those battle scars, and not one on this pretty face.

What about Big Nasty here? Can't believe you didn't brag about him.

Let me guess.

Your chute didn't open. You got dragged behind the plane.

You had to cut free. Fell through a tree, hitting every branch on the way down.

- -And sewed yourself up.

There was this good Samaritan used to volunteer

at the Ray of Hope Group Home.

It's where I was placed at the time.

We used to play stickball, hoops, whatever.

He'd been going there for years. We all thought he was so cool.

I guess I must've been... ten, eleven at the time.

When a grown man tells you that you're pretty...

you know nothing good is coming.

Let's just say I wasn't interested in... in the kind of games that he had in mind.

So I went after him with the stickball bat.

Caught him good a couple times, too.

Then he broke my arm.

Got pissed off, ripped my rotator cuff in three places, so...

Your face.

I didn't know you grew up in the system.

Is that not in my file?

Guess I deserve that.

I can see it right now on your face,

that sudden middle-class guilt for growing up in a place like this.

You know what? I'm not exactly sure where I was born.

But the way that I see it,

even if your meth head mother safe-havens you at a fire station in Albany...

you're still born in the greatest country in the world.

Sorry you had to go through that.

Yeah.

You know, it means something. You shared this with me.

We gotta be careful.

We're in danger of having a real conversation.

-It's getting kinda personal here. -Yeah, wouldn't want that.

No.

Then we would have to admit that maybe you like me.

Do you ever look for her?

Who? My mother?

Nah.

No such thing as a fairy-tale ending, Madani.

That shit is for the storybooks.

- Hey. -Jesus!

I didn't mean to scare you.

I tried the front there. There was no answer, so I, um... I just...

I don't know. To thank you. You know, apology, whatever. You could...

You could pick.

Maybe I could trade? Great. Thank you.

All right, that's for you.

-What do I do with these? -Uh, trash cans are over there.

-Thank you. -Sure.

Do you, um... You wanna join me for a drink?

Mmm... Sure, yeah.

-Really? -Okay.

Uh, okay.

The glasses are in the cupboard over there.

-Oh. -Hmm.

-Cheers. -Yeah.

Mmm.

-You a wine guy, Pete? -A wine guy?

Uh, I drank the Boone's Farm, you know, Mad Dog till I was 20.

So, yeah... I'm quite the connoisseur.

Okay, so you... You're not gonna judge me

for appreciating a little rosé all year round, huh?

I'll do my best to hold off.

Hmm. It is a rare treat...

...to enjoy a glass of wine in the middle of the day.

Is that why you unplugged?

-Get a little peace and quiet, huh? -Yeah, no, not exactly. Um...

I was trying to punish Zach for acting like such a little shit.

- -Trying to make a point.

-Did it work? -It might've...

but I, um... I let him go out with his friends.

I just... I couldn't bear the prospect of listening to him bitch

about being unplugged from the Internet all day.