There's A Major Countdown Happening On 'The Punisher' & Here's What You Need To Know
Something ominous is ticking down towards the end of The Punisher, but what is it? After squaring off against the shady Operation Cerberus for the bulk of the new series, Frank Castle finally comes face to face with his former commander William Rawlins in the last few episodes. And if that meeting was not already stressful enough, there's a clock counting down to something big in the background. So what's that timer counting down to on The Punisher? Let's just say Micro still has some tricks up his sleeve, even when he's not around.
Spoiler alert: This post will discuss details up to and throughout Episode 12 of The Punisher, "Home." After watching nearly a full season of Frank Castle, Micro, Dinah Madani, and pretty much everyone else hunting down the man behind the crooked Operation Cerberus, the team finally finds William Rawlins towards the end of the season. Having already figured out that Castle's former buddy Billy Russo is actually working for Rawlings, Castle and Micro devise a plan to finally get the Punisher a face-to-face meeting with the man they have realized ruined both of their lives. Castle and Russo set up a hostage exchange, offering themselves up in exchange for Micro's wife and children. The swap seems to go horribly wrong when Madani and her Homeland Security agents show up and shoot Micro, but we soon see that this was the plan all along. Micro was actually wearing a bulletproof vest to make it seem to Russo like he had been killed, but he was actually rescued along with his family by Madani. This leaves Castle as the only hostage Russo and his team now have, which is exactly what Castle wanted.
Russo takes the Punisher to Micro's hideout for a bit of an intimidation and torture appetizer before the main course finally walks out: William Rawlins. The two men have already poked around the computer-packed basement and noticed an alarming countdown on one of Micro's big computer screens. According to Russo, the only reason that they are keeping Castle alive at this point is so that he will tell them what the countdown means and how to stop it. This was another reason that Castle wanted to fake Micro's death (again), since he knew he could hold up against the torture better than his more squeamish sidekick. Plus, he wanted to finally come face-to-face with Rawlins again after realizing all the messed up stuff he did over in Afghanistan.
Though the Punisher feigns ignorance as to what the countdown means, we know that he actually does know... since Micro explained it to him (and to all of us) in one of the early episode of the show. Remember back when the Punisher first discovered Micro's hideout, and he tied him to that chair until he was sure he could trust him? The countdown played a major role in that episode as well, when Micro revealed that if he didn't enter a certain code into the computer at certain intervals, the timer would reach zero and release the video tape of the Operation Cerberus troops killing an innocent Afghani police officer to the public. Since Castle is on that tape, he of course didn't want that back then, but it's much worse for Russo and Rawlins now.
After a whole lot of hard-to-look-at torture, the Punisher eventually does enter the code to stop the countdown, but it also gives him the opportunity to pull out a concealed knife and attack Rawlins. Oh, and it also lets him signal one of Micro's security cameras to alert Micro and Madani about what's going on. I guess Frank Castle did manage to learn a thing or two from Micro!
