The Punisher recap: 'The Judas Goat' 

If there’s one thing you can count on when watching a Marvel/Netflix series, it’s that you’re going to get a “The Plot Is Moving Too Quickly, We Need To Sideline Our Hero” episode — an hour that slows down the season’s momentum. Unfortunately, I must report that’s exactly what “The Judas Goat” is; however, a last minute twist makes this a necessary episode. Although one wishes they could’ve found a more exciting way to build to that reveal.

Frank is in rough shape after last episode’s trip to Kentucky, and David’s novice-level (at best) medical skills aren’t doing the trick. Seeing no other option, David turns to Curtis for help, so Curtis follows Frank to the bunker and helps patch up the multiple wounds he sustained while out in the woods. As Curtis works his medical magic on Frank, you start to realize, “Oh god, Frank is going to be bedridden, or at least close to it, for this entire episode, right?”

Speaking of a bed, that’s where we find Dinah and Billy when we check in with them in this episode, on day two of their new whatever-this-is between them. Unfortunately, whatever-this-is gets derailed before it can pick up much speed once Billy discovers Dinah’s huge file on Frank. Naturally, Billy feels like she was just using him; Dinah doesn’t say she wasn’t and actually responds to this confrontation rather coldly, telling him to put on his pants because he looks ridiculous.

But Dinah doesn’t have time to think about that once she gets to work. Sam tells her that Gunner was found dead on a mountain in Kentucky, so the two of them venture out into the woods to examine the scene of the shoot-out. It doesn’t take long for Dinah to realize that (a) Gunner was with someone else out there, who was also wounded, and (b) Gunner and his buddy were attacked by a covert hit squad. They find some blood, which obviously turns out to be Frank’s.

As Frank recovers in David’s lair, he observes David as he watches the feed from his family’s home and can’t do anything as his family continues to suffer. On the feed, David’s son punches his sister after she tells Sarah about the stolen skateboard. It’s hard to feel any lingering resentment toward Ebon Moss-Bachrach for

Desi in moments like this because his wordless performance conveys Micro’s pain and longing to be with his family.

Later on, Frank, in a surprising move, opens up to Micro about how he can still see his wife whenever he closes his eyes, and the two of them share their memories of Thanksgiving with family. Unfortunately, this relative peace is disrupted by the fact that Billy has started calling for Frank over the radio waves, using his code name, which is curious because he doesn’t actually know that Frank is alive, right?