Where was Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) for the entirety of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2? That’s a question that inevitably kept popping up as the Punisher’s absence throughout Wilson Fisk’s war against vigilantes became more glaring. Shouldn’t one of New York’s most infamous vigilantes be number one on the Anti-Vigilante Task Force’s list? Especially after he brutally murdered a bunch of them for wearing his insignia at the end of Season 1? But no, apart from a mention every now and then, Frank was a non-entity for the second season of Born Again.The Punisher: One Last Kill, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and penned by both Green and Bernthal himself, seemed like it would answer this question. But instead, the 44-minute TV special delivers both more and less than what fans may have expected — it’s both an intense, intimate character study, and a relentlessly action-packed gorefest. But one thing is very apparent for both parts of One Last KillI: it’s way too short.Bernthal is excellent but underserved in One Last Kill. | Marvel StudiosThe Punisher: One Last Kill takes place concurrently with Born Again Season 2, but follows Frank Castle during a two-day window in his life. He’s finally slaughtered everyone that was involved with the murder of his family — the last ones being the members of the Gnucci Crime Family. But now, Frank finds himself at a loss for what to do next. And unexpectedly, he comes face-to-face with the violent consequences of his actions: the destruction of the Gnucci Crime Family has left a hole in the criminal underworld, which is now running amok in the poorer New York neighborhoods, including the one that Frank is living in. When the final surviving member of the Gnuccis, Ma Gnucci (Judith Light), confronts Frank with the revelation that she’s put a bounty on his head, Frank must fight his way out of the dark emotional pit he’s fallen in, as well as physically fight his way out of the rundown apartment building where all of New York’s criminals are descending to murder him.The problem inherent in Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is that he arrived basically fully realized in his debut in Daredevil Season 2. Bernthal, whose brawny, raw performance lent real depth to the infamous anti-hero, was perfectly cast from the get-go. And Frank Castle’s whole arc in that first half of Daredevil Season 2 basically set the stage for the Punisher to go on doing Punisher things in future appearances. But then, in Season 1 of his Netflix spinoff, he went through the same arc again. And again. By the time he popped in for his brief appearance in Born Again Season 1, it was almost a relief that he spent most of it brutally knifing cops when he wasn’t tenderly pining over Karen Page or yelling at Matt Murdock. But now, when given the spotlight again in a TV special, Frank Castle, of course, does the same thing he always does: mourn his family, struggle with his PTSD, then murder a bunch of bad guys.Frank is confronted with visions from his past. | Marvel StudiosIn a way, One Last Kill acts more like a coda to the Netflix era of the Punisher than it does a bridge between his appearances in Daredevil and the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It nods to the absurd amount of people involved in murdering Frank’s wife and kids, and centers itself on the war that Frank is always fighting internally — between his trauma, his need for revenge, and his need for that eternal peace that he’s constantly denied. It even asks the most intriguing question: what happens after the war is done? What more does Frank have to live for? The majority of One Last Kill delves into Frank’s fast-crumbling psyche, as he’s confronted by all the people in his past — his wife (Kelli Barrett), his veteran friend Curtis (Jason R. Moore), and of course, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) — and tearfully tries to redeem his biggest sins and overcome his worst impulses.And in that way, One Last Kill is a bit of a ballsy move — to make more than half the TV special a surreal series of visions that Frank is tormented by, feels like a direct blow to fans who demand canon explanations and Easter eggs. But by making the special half-chamber piece and half non-stop actioner, Green and Bernthal deprive One Last Kill of the kind of substance that will make One Last Kill stick. It has only a vague sketch of a plot and is more a vehicle to show off Bernthal’s dramatic and action chops. Though when the action does kick in, and One Last Kill essentially becomes Marvel’s version of Gareth Evans’ The Raid movies, it does get undeniably awesome.But despite a ruthlessly kinetic and blood-soaked second half that threatens to top any action sequence that Marvel has ever done before, One Last Kill is a bit of a disappointment. It retraces the steps that every other MCU Punisher story arc has done before, and offers nothing else new. But hey, at least it seems this time Frank Castle is finally going to wear that Punisher symbol.The Punisher: One Last Kill is streaming on Disney+ now.