Marvel's The Punisher (2017) s01e02 Episode Script

- Come on, Dad.
Do it.
- All right, all right, all right.
Once upon a time, in the middle of the night, two dead men, they got up to fight.
Back-to-back, they faced each other, they drew their swords and they shot each other.
Stupid.
What do you mean, "stupid"? It's not stupid, it's nonsense.
- Nonsense is different from stupid.
- Yeah, then it's stupid nonsense.
Stop that.
Hey, Lis, do the second verse.
Show him how it's done.
One was blind and the other couldn't see, so they chose a dumb man for a referee.
The blind man went to see fair play, and the dumb man went to shout, "Hooray!" Oh! Attagirl.
See, before smartphones and all that Internet crap, this is how people got by.
- So boring.
- It's not boring.
Hey Look! There it is! I read at school that she represents everything good about America.
That's about right.
Is that why you have to go and fight? Dad goes away so he can kill lots of hajjis.
- How many have you wasted anyway, Dad? - Hey! Don't you ever say that again.
You got that? Do you got it? Yeah, that's good.
I appreciate it.
Ma'am, excuse me, but, um just get a little bit of that coffee? Thank you.
No, no.
Just, uh three eggs, over easy, some bacon, sourdough toast, yeah? You moving into the neighborhood? - Depends on the eggs.
- We don't get many hipsters around here.
- Yeah, well, you still don't, lady.
- Mm-hmm.
I need, uh, three eggs over easy, side of bacon and some sourdough toast.
Yeah? Hipster! It's for you.
- That can't be.
- I'm telling you.
This guy just described you like he was standing beside me.
- Don't be all day on there.
- Yeah.
- You got the wrong guy.
- Yeah, I don't think so.
Unless I'm not talking to Frank Castle? You know, let's not waste time.
You're Frank Castle, right? Frank Castle, the dead man? - Makes two of us now.
- You're more right than you know.
You're not the only ghost in this town, Frank.
Hey, did you ever get that disk that I left for you at your house? Yeah.
Yeah, I got it.
Did you watch it? "Micro.
" What is that? Is that Is that some sort of name? Sure.
That'll do for now.
You got something you want to discuss with me, why don't you Why don't you come on down here, huh? Buy you a cup of coffee, talk about it.
You know, I don't think that would end so well.
You need to understand first.
You need to really know why you can't kill me.
Then we can meet.
Delicious.
Hey! Shit.
Mmm.
Hey.
What time is it? No! - What's he saying? - Nothing useful.
We sure he's got anything? You questioning my intelligence, soldier? Please, I'm not a terrorist.
I have a family, children, I have Do it.
Morning, Frank.
So what brings you here? Curt there's somebody who's coming after me.
Somebody knows I'm alive.
He calls himself Micro.
- You wanna know if he got it from me? - Look, it's a short list.
- I'm not saying - Come on, Frank.
- I would never give you up.
- I know that.
I just Anything.
Did something slip? Anybody hanging out, anything slide? - Anything? - No, nothing.
Not a peep.
What does he want? Guy says he's got answers that I need.
Schoonover you know, when I put him down, he said something to me.
He said that what He said that what happened to Maria and the kids, it was because of something that I did.
Something something I did in Kandahar.
Schoonover Dirty bastard would've said anything to stay alive.
Doesn't mean it's not true.
Come on, talk to me.
What were you into? Yeah There was a group of us.
We got sheep dipped to CIA.
It was interrogation and assassination.
It was It wasn't war.
Not like we knew it.
Truth is, Curt I was past caring.
That shit follows you home no matter how hard you try, it follows you home, and Maria, she knew it.
She knew it.
The kids knew it, the Sometimes I'd catch 'em, they They'd be looking at me and they'd have this look.
Look at me like they didn't even know who I was.
Come on, Frank.
Come on, you you didn't kill your family.
What if I did? It keeps hitting me, being back here.
All the big stuff we take for granted and don't even think about, but we obsess on things that don't matter.
Think about what happened here on 9/11.
People bounce back so damn quick.
- We let ourselves forget.
- We choose to forget.
Easiest thing for me now would be to forget Ahmad Zubair and what happened in Afghanistan.
Why do you think Zubair was killed by our people? I was sent a video file of his murder by an anonymous source.
He was interrogated and shot in the head by Americans 'cause they knew he was a cop.
Holy shit.
- Why haven't you shown Wolf the video? - Because I don't have it.
It was stolen in Kandahar.
So, Schoonover and Castle were on this tape? They all wore masks.
All right, look, say it was them.
All your suspects are dead.
Then who stole the tape? And why am I back here? There were seven men in the room with Zubair.
Wolf knows about this? Well, why request me and then treat me like shit? I think he's been told specifically to keep me away from it.
I found a guy from Castle and Schoonover's old unit in the city.
Guy called Billy Russo.
Wolf's never gonna let you talk to him.
We'll see about that.
Okay, that's it.
I look forward to reading the report.
Sir? Madani.
How can I help you? Sir, I was going through the deployment reports and special response protocols.
You got a great team here.
You were in the field plenty yourself as I understand it.
I was always happy being the first one through the door.
The problem with rank is they don't let you do that anymore.
Of course.
It'd be great for me to get some physical training with the unit.
You expect me to sign off on sending my team to Brunswick on a getting-to-know-you exercise purely for your benefit? Absolutely not.
I thought we could organize something up here in New York, via a private contractor.
There's a company, Anvil, that have all the facilities we'd need.
I want you to be confident that you can trust me if I'm the first through the door.
What the hell, why not? Send me a proposal later and I'll take a look at it.
Thank you, sir.
Say, lady.
I'm real hungry.
You got any change? Please? Thanks, Karen.
You're still all heart, huh? Things got this bad, Frank? Wanted to say hello.
I thought I'd try my luck out here and not get my head blown off.
- You still got that hand cannon? - You better believe it.
- Attagirl.
- What the hell are you doing here? Can we talk? Drink? Sure.
- I wasn't sure if you'd still talk to me.
- I wasn't either.
You look well.
Rocking the whole, uh hipster thing.
Been flirting with the idea of going full man-bun.
You, uh, think I could pull that off? Where have you been? I had business, Karen.
I had to finish.
And you finished it? Look, Karen, there's, uh there's somebody that knows I'm still alive.
- I need to know if you said anything.
- God, no.
No, Frank, you should know me better than that.
I would never You want to say no, you say no, but I could really use your help.
You want me to help you find them? I do.
Look, this guy calls himself Micro, right? Like that's supposed to mean something.
He's been watching me.
I think he's some kind of spook and he's gotta be a good one, 'cause I didn't see him coming.
And all you got's a name? He said something about us both being dead men, right? About me not being the only ghost in New York.
How do I contact you? - You bought me flowers? - Yeah.
I'm an old-fashioned kinda guy.
I was thinking if you had something, you could put the flowers in the window.
I'll call you.
Okay.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Thanks, Karen.
Thanks for the beer.
You know, hey - Just really good to see you.
- Mmm.
It's good to see you.
Be careful.
Okay.
Uh, yeah, these can go back downstairs, but wait Uh okay.
All that can go downstairs now, thanks.
Hey.
- Good, you're here.
- Dare I ask? Well, our system has an entry for an unpublished article from a year or so ago, but I can't find the actual report on the system.
The only other mention I could find is a website, but that's not working.
- And what was the article about? - Computer hacker.
Hey, would the name Micro ring any bells for you? A government agent maybe, but I'm not really sure.
Where is this, um Where's this story coming from? A source I trust.
He gave me a name, told me to dig.
- And, uh, who who is this source? - It's a source.
- Tell you if it turns into anything.
- Ah, well, um there there was a story, brought in a while back by a stringer, a real seat-of-your-pants radical.
Just paranoid.
Saw conspiracies in everything.
But supposedly he had a lead on an NSA analyst who was leaking secrets who went by the name of Micro.
And? And I decided not to run it.
- Because? - 'Cause I'm an editor.
It's what I do.
- Part of the job description.
- No.
No, Ellison, don't get sarcastic with me.
I know that play.
- Why? - Well, he had no evidence, Karen.
I mean, his only source was this guy from Homeland who refused to go on record.
And then special agent in charge for New York, Carson Wolf, stopped by personally and asked me not to pursue it.
So then the story is true? According to him, if we ran the story, it would interfere with his investigation.
He was afraid we'd screw up his chances of catching everybody.
- And you agreed with that? - I decided to wait for the bigger story.
- And make a friend of Carson Wolf.
- Oh, my God.
Ellison All right, look I'm sure that I still have that article in my office so if I give it to you, will you stop looking at me like that? But I don't care if Jason's mom said he could go.
You're not going, Zach.
I already said I could go.
Yeah, before you asked me.
Because I thought it would be okay.
That was your first mistake.
No one asked for your opinion.
No one obviously asked me for mine, either.
It's just a movie.
Dad would have totally let me go.
When? When you were ten? Because your father hasn't been here for a year, which sucks for all of us, but his memory isn't some bargaining chip that you can just throw out there in an argument.
You understand? I'm sorry, Mom.
- He didn't mean it like that.
- Hey, Zach! Zach, get back here.
Come here.
I get it.
Maybe it is just a movie.
Maybe it is no big deal.
But I need to know what's going on with all of us, or I can't I just need to know, okay? Control freakery is a coping mechanism.
I get that.
Yeah, maybe it is.
You know who I learned it from? Your father.
It is just a movie, Mom.
- Please? - I'll think about it.
- When are you gonna think about it - Just Hey! Quit while you're ahead, little brother.
I love you, Mom.
Oh, baby.
I love you.
Me too, little bunny.
- Are you finished with your math test? - Yeah.
- Please, don't shoot! Don't shoot! - It's a hostage.
God damn it.
I saw the guy coming at me and I just I figured he was a hostile.
Shh.
Don't beat yourself up.
If we got out of a situation like this with only one hostage dead, - it'd be a win.
It's never this clean.
- Very true.
The real thing is always messier.
- I'm Billy Russo.
- Dinah Madani.
Sam Stein.
- This your operation? - Yes, it is.
We rent a different space every time and they're a little rough and ready, - but it keeps people on their toes.
- Well, it worked great.
Sam, you did everything right.
You can't legislate for that one terrified hostage who doesn't listen.
Once somebody says go, it's all just a percentages game.
I'll keep that in mind.
Please.
Anvil would be happy to give your people more training.
- Thanks.
- There's none better.
All my operators and instructors are former Special Forces.
A government contract here, on US soil, would be a big deal for us.
Where are your guys now? - Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly.
- Ah.
Close protection work.
Convoy security, that kind of thing.
We do good work.
- We're growing fast.
- I just got back from Afghanistan.
I was the Homeland Security attaché over there.
Madani.
So, you're what, Persian? American.
I was born here.
But, yeah, my folks came over in '79.
Can't have been easy doing your job out there.
The rules are simpler in many ways.
You know what they are, at least.
Sure.
Afghanistan's the simplest place in the world, once you stop trying to change it.
My last tour before I went private.
Ah.
Uh, what unit? Interrogating the help, Madani? Sir, I didn't know you were here.
Mr.
Russo, Carson Wolf.
- Impressive setup you have here.
- I'm glad you approve.
If you want to come by the corporate office, I'd be happy to discuss tailoring a program Talk to procurement.
Kandahar's in your rearview.
Don't forget that.
Yes, sir.
Just making conversation.
I assume you can talk about whatever you like off-duty? Over a drink? I wanna know what you're gonna do if you find Micro.
You found him? I found something.
Makes sense with what you told me.
- Who is it? - Look, I gotta be real clear here.
I wanna help, but not if it's gonna get someone killed.
Hey, look, I didn't go looking for this guy, all right? He came to me.
For all I know, this guy has something to do with what happened to my family.
So what do you want? If this guy isn't dirty, if he's not dangerous, he's got nothing to worry about from me.
Please, just just help me, Karen.
Help me.
You know what? Or don't, all right? Leave my ass in the wind if that's what you gotta do.
Just do it, all right? For Christ's sake.
What is this? It's an unconfirmed story about an intelligence operative that got caught leaking covert information.
- Called himself Micro.
- Micro? You got a name? David Lieberman.
And here's the kicker.
Officially Lieberman was shot and killed trying to escape arrest by Homeland Security.
I know, he said that.
He said that he was a ghost.
- He said that.
- Yeah.
How come I couldn't find this? - Well, the story never ran.
- Why? Because that guy, Carson Wolf, got it shut down.
You know what? It's all in the story, Frank.
Just read it.
Hey, can I be honest with you? This guy, he's - he's scaring the shit out of me.
- What's he got on you anyway, huh? Nothing.
Right.
- Thanks for this.
- Yeah.
Hey, when am I gonna see you? You want to? It'd mean you're still alive.
Believe it or not, I actually care what happens to you which makes precisely one of us.
Just, uh be careful.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
I am so sorry.
I didn't even see you.
- Stay down.
Stay down, um - Okay.
Yeah.
- I'm gonna call the paramedics.
- No, no, no.
It's all right.
Sir, I really think you should stay down.
Just wait for help.
Yeah, no, look, there's nothing broken.
- I think we both got lucky, you know.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Kinda came out of there.
I didn't give you much of a chance, so Your head is bleeding.
No, no, no, no, no.
No.
Where are you going, Sarah? No! No, no, no, Castle, you asshole.
Shit.
Thanks for that.
As good as new.
Um, I was making myself a pot.
So Wow.
Uh, you didn't have to do that.
- Oh, please - Thank you.
It's the least I could do after spilling yours all over my windshield.
I'm fine, I tell you.
It's - It's good.
I'm, uh - It's a mess.
I'm Pete, by the way.
Castiglione.
- Uh, Sarah.
Lieberman.
- Pleasure.
You got a good-looking family, Sarah.
Thank you.
What line of work's your husband in? Uh, he works for the government.
He, um he actually passed away.
A year ago.
Sorry to hear that.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I don't know why I was gonna lie.
You know, I get it.
Uh Must be difficult.
You got a strange man in the house and he's not I'll take off, all right? I'll just set this coffee No, no, no, no, no.
It's okay.
Please, sorry.
Um finish your coffee.
Okay.
I'm sorry about your loss, Sarah.
Oh.
Uh I'm sorry, it's just the the whole knocking you down and I mean, you think you think you're okay and then something just brings it all back.
Yeah.
Uh, I didn't mean to ambush you with the whole dead husband thing.
It's just, you know, new people, do I lie? But then that feels so disloyal to his memories.
You must think I'm crazy.
Knocking you down and then No, no.
Hey, hey.
I don't, uh Not at all.
Sarah, you know, I, uh I lost my family.
All of 'em.
It wasn't It wasn't too long ago.
Not a day goes by, right? You wish things were different.
You wish that you had done something different.
And and you feel guilty.
You know, that you're still here and they're not.
Your husband, was he, uh Was he ill? Uh, no.
Um, David David died doing something very brave and really stupid.
On my good days, you know, I'm proud of him for what he did.
And on my bad ones, I just wanna scream in his face for being so selfish.
Honestly, if he walked through that door right now, I don't know if I would kiss him or slap him.
Yeah.
Come on, Frank.
Come on.
Yeah.
- Are you sure you're okay? - As good as new.
Thank you for the, uh For the coffee.
Take care of yourself.
You, too.
God damn it! - Hey.
I'm I'm okay.
- Hey.
Yeah? - Yeah.
I'm really all right.
Yeah.
- You sure? If you got any tools in there I could take a look.
Yeah.
Yeah, that'd be nice.
How lucky can one guy be? I kissed her and she kissed me Like the fella once said Ain't that a kick in the head? The room was completely black I hugged her and she hugged back Like the sailor said, quote "Ain't that a hole in the boat?" My head keeps spinning I go to sleep and keep grinning It's just like the fella said Tell me quick Ain't love a kick in the head? Tell me quick Oh, ain't love a kick? Tell me quick Ain't love a kick in the head? Cut your shit.
I know you're awake.
Who are you? Whoever you are, this is the stupidest thing you've ever done.
And it's getting stupider every second.
You do know who I am, don't you? You're the guy who's gonna tell me about David Lieberman.
Who? Lieberman.
The hacker.
A man you put down.
I know a little bit about this.
I spent some time at Guantanamo, in torture.
It doesn't work.
Not really.
Any information given is suspect.
If you were a professional, you would know that.
There's many ways to get the truth out of a Look, Lieberman was a traitor.
He was selling secrets.
He was killed resisting Ah, shit! God damn it! Way I see it, there's no way a guy like you kills a suspect in a case that big.
No way.
Not unless you're dirty.
So either someone paid you to do it or you were working with Schoonover already.
I swear to God, I don't I don't know anybody named Schoonover.
Nothing about heroin from Kandahar either, is that the case? You just answered your own question.
Is that right? Shit! So no matter whoever's makin' you afraid to talk, I promise you, whatever you think Freeze.
Don't even think about it.
Get on your knees.
Do it! And put your hands behind your head, now.
Holy shit.
You don't know how to die, do you? This is rich.
You gonna read me my rights? No.
I don't think I'm gonna do that.
Tonight's the night you're gonna die, Frank.
The third time's the charm.
The fricking Punisher? You're pathetic.
I almost feel sorry for you.
We knew exactly where you'd be.
Exactly where to go to get you.
You bored your squad shitless talking about your homecoming tradition.
Picnic in the park, Frank? You really were your mama's little apple pie, weren't you? What're you saying? You killed my family to get to me? Misdirection.
A good player hides his hand, Frank.
We figured if there were enough dead bodies, nobody would really care to look close enough at any given one of 'em.
It was a calculated risk.
You understand, right? And Lieberman, what about Lieberman? Who's he? We thought you were the one that sent him the tape.
Now close your eyes, Frank.
I'm gonna do you a favor.
You're gonna see your family real soon.
No? Suit yourself.
Gun's empty, asshole.
It's just you, me and the truth now.
This is where you bring a girl when you're trying to impress her? This is where I bring a girl when she's gonna see through all that.
I can't decide whether that's a compliment or not.
Are you the kind of woman that takes offense at those? Depends who they're from.
The last time I saw glasses this dirty, I was in the NCO's mess at Bagram, saying my farewells to Afghanistan.
Sounds like you miss it.
- I had unfinished business.
- There's no end to anything there.
Afghans have been fighting invaders for a thousand years.
For us, it's a mission.
For them, it's just life.
I finished my last tour and I knew I couldn't go back.
Not in uniform, anyway.
You never said who you were with.
Why do I get the feeling that if I name the right unit, you're suddenly gonna get a lot more interested? Marine Force Recon.
Scout sniper specialist.
134 confirmed kills.
Three tours of Iraq.
One in Afghanistan.
You read my file.
I like to know who's paying me compliments.
Am I a suspect for something? Not according to your discharge records.
Is that why you came to Anvil for training? You figure I can help you with this unfinished business of yours? I hope so, yeah.
Excuse me.
Well, I'm not about to throw shade on my friends.
In all due respect, Dinah, you're a cop.
Soldiers can't question legality or morality in the moment.
That's a way to get yourself killed.
Ask your questions.
You served with Frank Castle.
Yeah, Frank Castle was my best buddy.
I guess that wasn't in my file, huh? A lot of those kills I got in one night side by side with the guy, holed up in a house in Basra with no backup.
We spent the night trying not to die.
One of the best nights of my life, if I'm honest.
It was just them or us.
Who was better? There was nobody better than Frank.
I'm sorry that he's dead.
He took a lot of people with him.
What? Drug dealers? Gangsters? Good.
You shipped out.
Castle didn't.
Did he get dirty? Stay in any war long enough, it'll get dirty.
Unless you've got something good to hold onto.
Frank had that taken away.
Could he have been involved in drugs there? If you knew the man, you would know how dumb that question is.
I think that the system let Frank down in a big way.
So he did what he was trained to do.
So if someone killed your family, you'd do the same? Well, I don't have one.
I like to travel light.
What about you? I think some of us get to have the family life and some of us get to protect it.
So you're single.
Uh not worried that'll get kind of lonely? I'm not lonely.
Are you? Not right now.
I've gotta go.
- Never off-duty, huh? - Ah, sorry.
Maybe we could do this again sometime? Yeah.
I'd like that.
Well, you know where to find me.
Good night, Special Agent Madani.
Happy hunting.
- Good night? - Show me.
Well, this is gonna sober you up real fast.
I'm not drunk.
Okay.
I'm not judging.
Holy shit.
Holy shit indeed.
I never liked the guy, but still this does not look like a fun way to go at all.
They're waiting for permission to move the body.
You're the ranking agent now.
Thank you, ma'am.
So, let me guess.
You're, uh you're outside, sunbathing on a roof.
Oh, that's, uh funny.
Almost.
Let me ask you something.
How are the eggs over at Pete's Diner and Grill in Sunnyside? Any good? - Smart work, spook.
- You know, uh, I I gave you this phone so I could contact you.
You understand that, right? I know why you gave it to me, but I wasn't gonna leave it on.
See, thing is, is I, uh, got a shave, hurt my leg.
Got myself a limp.
I guess it messed up your gait recognition, huh? Yeah, I was wondering how long it was gonna take you to catch on to that.
Only thing I can't figure out is how you knew which cameras to check.
Oh, that was easy, Frank.
I waited for a bunch of bad guys to turn up dead and then I just checked nearby.
Pretty smart, Lieberman.
You know I did you a favor, right? I wiped those feeds clean after.
Boy, oh, boy.
I'm, uh - I'm real grateful.
- So, uh here we are, couple of smart guys chewing the fat, huh? I gotta ask you, why'd you go to my house? You know something, David? Your wife, she's, uh she's real cut up about your death.
They have nothing to do with this.
Bullshit.
You know what? You're an asshole.
You're a man who put his family in danger and you didn't do it once, you did it again.
I'm gonna make that right.
She's only safe if she thinks I'm dead.
You brought this shit on yourself.
You wanted to play Deep Throat, right? Your buddy, Carson Wolf, - he told me everything.
- Did you kill him? It's what you wanted, right? What did he say? - You still want to talk? - Yeah.
I do.
- Here's what we're gonna do - No, no, you stop talking.
I'm sick of hearing you talk.
I'm calling the shots now.
I'm going offline.
In exactly one hour, call me with a cell phone number I can reach you on.
You got that? Here's how it works.
I give you a destination and a time to be there.
If you're late or if I spot tails, we're done.
Twenty minutes, under the Pulaski Road Bridge.
- Yeah.
- 41st Street dock, 20 minutes.
Greenpoint Terminal, 20 minutes.
Another 20 minutes, Mount Zion Cemetery.
Hurry up, Lieberman.
Asshole.
Hey, Frank.
Your boy's on his way.
He's clean and alone.
2002 blue Chevy Impala.
Yeah, he's not expecting any high-speed chases, that's for sure.
Yeah.
I don't need to tell you where to come, do I, David? - Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Who are you? Castle has you in his crosshairs right now, buddy.
If you shoot me, you will be next.
Why isn't he here? He decided he doesn't like what you're selling.
Frank's in the wind.
If you try to find him again, he will visit Sarah.
He said you'd know what that meant.
Hold on.
Hey Hey! Castle! You need me! No, no, no.
Think, think, think.
Come on.
Come on Think, think, think.
What's going on? What are we doing? What are we doing? Frank.
No.