2019 GRADE A MOVIES / MAVERICK REVIEWS / NETFLIX

MAVERICK REVIEW: Punisher Season 2: Enneagram Breakdown (Spoilers)

Let me jump straight out of the block and say that the entire Punisher series on Netflix has been Grade A-plus material. Season 2, especially, has been outstanding. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out before you continue reading any more of this review. It’s that good. I don’t want to spoil anything. Out of all Netflix’s Marvel shows, it’s probably my favorite. It hasn’t been canceled like it’s other brethren: Luke Cage, DareDevil and Jessica Jones. And I’m really hoping there’s a 3rd Season of the Punisher because it’s honestly one of the few good shows on Netflix. Let’s face it, there’s more bad than good on Netflix.

Before I jump into the review, I wanted to point out that commercial video streaming, in particular, Netflix and Amazon, has changed the face of storytelling forever. With Netflix or Amazon, directors and writers have been given a storytelling freedom they never had. There’s no need to cut to a commercial. There’s no need to limit story arcs to 120 minutes. They just need to make sure their story is told in x amount of episodes, usually 13 or so. Episode length isn’t even an exact science. Professional video streaming is uncharted territory.

Now onto the review – Maverick style.

For this review, I’m not going to dive in depth into any scene in particular. Everything is great with this series.

I really just want to focus on the carefulness the writers took on creating great characters, and how it applies to the Enneagram. If you have not read up on how I use the Enneagram to create stories, please go here. If you’re not aware of how the Enneagram works, this review may not make much sense to you.

FRANK CASTLE (The Punisher): Type One – Unhealthy “Reformer” with a heavy 2 “Helper” wing.

Castle was a textbook Unhealthy Type One. Compulsively critical of everyone, including his kids, living in a box of rules. He was argumentative like and carried around a black and white playbook to judge others, with no gray areas. He respected every law in the book, except for murder, because in his book, those who crossed his imposed line or morality, needed to be off this earth, no questions asked. His greatest fear? Doing wrong, being a monster. He only killed monsters, never the innocent, and that’s how he slept soundly at night.

The Two Helper Wing is obvious because he also had an itch to always to play savior to those in need, even it if meant jeopardizing his own personal safety.

When many people first begin to analyze personalities using the Enneagram, they quickly jump to the conclusion that any violent, lawbreaker, or anyone they find offensive is a Type Eight Challenger. But many times, that’s not the case. If Frank Castle was Type Eight, his sense of justice would mostly be limited to those just who are friends or family. Type Eights do not need to change the world for the greater good. They are usually selfish and believe they need to change circumstances just to benefit themselves, because they must be more powerful.

BILLY RUSSO: Type Three Unhealthy “Achiever” and possibly an Eight “Challenger?”

In real life, you usually don’t find personalities that are of two different types, except when they are mentally ill. And that’s exactly what Billy Russo was. When he was healthy, he was more of your typical Type Three Achiever, charming, image-oriented, with a knack of achieving whatever he put his mind to.

But instead of deteriorating towards a natural Type Nine Peacemaker, who would feel paralyzed with fear and scattered if the didn’t think of a viable plan, Russo deteriorated to an unhealthy Type Eight Challenger, who just wanted to be vengeful.

So, in this case, Billy Russo is not an accurate personality type on the Enneagram, maybe not in real life. But, that doesn’t make it wrong. This is a fictional world. As a writer, you can make up any character you want, blend personalities in which way to make things interesting.

Leadership styles of Eights versus Threes are much different. Three’s will charm your socks off, while Eights will operate more like a Drill Sergeant, and break you down to build you back up. Russo was both and that’s what made him a bit scary. You didn’t know which side of him would show up because he was crazy. Would he charm you into being a better person or put a bullet in your head for being weak?

There was also a bit of six in him. The paranoid, sense of abandonment, personlity type.

CURTIS HAYLE AND AGENT DINAH MADANI: Type Nine “Peacekeeper” with strong One “Reformer” Wing.

Peacekeepers are exactly as advertised. They want to keep everything peaceful – with themselves and everyone else. They want to avoid conflict all cost. Both Curtis and Agent Madani are your run-of-the-mill Type Nine “Peacekeepers.”

Curtis never fired his weapon in war and never killed anyone. Both Agent Madani and Curtis had a strong sense of moral right and wrong, just like the Punisher, who is a type one, but they stood on the sidelines. Agent Madani pursued her investigations, but when it came to making the very tough choices, she left that to The Punisher, as did Curtis. Both characters had to embrace both their Eight Wing, to jump into action.

This is an important note to remember, not all personalities need to follow their growth lines in order to become healthy. Many times, it’s a matter of embracing their wings, in order to grow.

Dr. Krista Dumont: Type Two “Helper”

Most doctors in real life are usually Type Twos. They are there to help at all cost, holding the well-being of others higher than their own. When Type Twos are healthy, there are no strings attached to their generosity. But when they are not at their best, they tend to put every good deed they’ve ever done into a box, and then take those deeds out at their convenience, and demand something in return. When they deteriorate, they can act very much like unhealthy eights, vengeful, dominating, and retributive.

Dr. Krista Dumont’s character is a work of art. There are layers upon layers that you can analyze here. Let’s start at the beginning.

Dr. Dumont spent her entire life helping patients. She never held anything against her patients, but more against society, as it left her alone to deal with her problems. She had a bone to pick with the world and when Russo came knocking, she used him to get what she wanted – which was a chance at love, something she wanted and yearned for. Watching Dr. Dumont slowly disintegrate from a law-abiding criminal psychologist into a self-serving criminal mastermind was very entertaining. In the end, the Doctor was cunning, an evil genius, who manipulated Russo to help get what he wanted, and what she wanted.

Dumont brilliantly planned the execution of three innocent girls to convince The Punisher that he was no different than Russo, so she could finally have love. Ironically, Russo was very bothered that these girls were executed for their happiness, yet the Doctor, slept well because she knew her love interest had found peace and was rehabilitated.

Dr. Krista Dumont succeeded in fixing Billy Russo. They were on their way to start a new life and would have succeeded if it weren’t for Agent Madani getting in the way just as the season came to a close. It’s kinda of sad actually.

And yes, the foundation of her character is of the Type Two Helper Personality, right down to the triggers. In this case, the Director/Writer chose to push this Type Two Personality, over the cliff and into oblivion.

John Pilgrim: Type One “Reformer”

Yes, the assassin was also a Type One, just like The Punisher. These type of characters are always interesting to watch and write because they have a morale code that they operate by.

In real life, you would find a lot of Type One’s in the world working as ministers, in all areas of the law, as activists, and many times in politics. Senator Rand Paul is Type One, as President Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and possibly Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They all have their own set of morals they operate by.

John Pilgrim was an assassin with a rule book. Again, just like the Punisher. Every kill was for a reason greater than his own. He believed it was for a cause, greater than his life, greater than the people who ordered each hit.

These types of characters, by the way, are probably the easiest to redeem, because they actually have a moral compass. They just need a nudge in the right direction, and they can easily and believably, become anti-heroes in any storyline.

David and Eliza Schultz: Type One “Reformer”

If you’re getting the feeling that The Punisher was littered with Type Ones, you’re 100% spot on. Almost every character in this movie had in some way, their own philosophy on how the world operated. And many thought there was a greater purpose, other than their own. It came down to their decisions and how they operated in moments of desperation.

The Schultz’s wanted to reform America, at any cost.

Amy Bendix: Maybe…a type Four “Individualist” possibly a type Five?

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much to Amy’s character. She is really just a victim of everyone. Someone who’s been in the wrong place at the wrong time and made the wrong choices.

Type Fours, typically, are your wanderers in life who are always on a mission, to find themselves. They operate much with the heart, feeling their way through situations, rather than thinking rationally. There are many different types of fours out there, because they are always trying on different identities as one does hats. And if they don’t embrace their three wing, they may be stuck wandering with world, now knowing what the purpose of life is – for eternity

We don’t really learn much about Amy. We don’t know anything about her relationship with her parents, or if she even misses them, or if any of them are alive. She’s just always on the run from the time the series starts.

So I would say…Maybe a Four? I would write her as a Four and give her some artistic hobbies such as writing poetry, or sketching. She could be wandering the world tying to find herself. Also, maybe a Type Five Intellectual, as she is the quiet observer in the back corner, and is great at one thing – computers. But honestly, you could write her as any number and it would probably still fit because the script is not giving us much to work with.

Right now, she’s your simple and thin “Damsel in Distress” character.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Directors and Writers involved with The Punisher are top shelf talent. They created characters that have layers upon layers that actors to love work with, and audiences love to watch. These characters are so beautifully made that there’s no doubt, that the story literally wrote itself. And the acting is gold, all the way.

GRADE: A+

Steve Young

Steve Young

I go by either "Steven" or "Steve" it really doesn't matter. I'm not a professional screenwriter anymore, so there's no need to suck up to me and send me your latest script. I have zero ambition to work in the entertainment industry. I'm now just a regular guy who knows a bit about storytelling, wants to share that knowledge to inspire new writers, and to share my work with everyone!
Steve Young