The Punisher S01E01 "3 AM" Recap

Frank Castle is in rural Alabama chasing after some gangsters riding motorcycles. Still in his truck, he runs them over. It is all part of his quest to avenge the deaths of his wife and children. He continues his mission in Juarez, Mexico by taking out another gangster with his sniper rifle. After finishing taking out the last of them in Texas and at JFK airport.

Six months following the completion of his mission, Frank keeps a low profile as a construction worker using the name 'Pete Castiglione'. He works longer hours than what he is paid for just as a way to pass the time and vent his frustrations and unresolved traumas. Some bullying men at the construction site lash out at Frank because his extra work means they miss out on more hours.

A new worker named Donny Chavez is nice to Frank, even offering him a sandwich when the bullies at the site ruin Frank's lunch. He shares about his own rough upbringing but Frank isn't interested in opening up about his own past. The only person that Frank maintains contact with is Curtis Hoyle, a friend from the military who now runs a PTSD support group for veterans.

Agent Dinah Madani works for Homeland Security and is working at the New York field office. She lost her former partner Ahmed Zubair and is determined to track down the people responsible but her boss warns her to stick to her assigned jobs and nothing else. Zubair had been investigating American soldiers that were suspected of smuggling heroin before he was killed. Her investigation has led her to investigate Frank Castle, who is still believed to be dead. His connection to Schoonover makes her suspicious.

Donny wants badly to fit in and get along with his co-workers, who bring him along to rob a poker game full of gangsters including one from the Gnucci crime family. Donny fumbles the bag of cash and drops his wallet which exposes his driver's license to all the criminals present. The group runs away with the cash and head back to the construction site. The men begin to badly beat Donny, believing he needs to be killed to save themselves from being caught and killed by the men they've just robbed. They throw Donny down into a cement mixer that is being gradually filled. Frank is still at the site and orders them to turn off the machine. When they refuse, a fight breaks out and Frank easily beats them with his combat training and powerful swinging of a sledgehammer. One of the men tries to shoot Frank but he manages to hide behind a pillar until the men runs out of bullets. Frank steals a gun from another one of the men and goes after the final man, whom he shoots dead before returning to kill the last man.

Frank rescues Donny from the cement machine and orders him to get out of town for his own good, or else the criminals will find and kill him. Then, Frank goes after the loan shark and all of his associates, all the while being unaware that a mysterious person is watching him on surveillance cameras.

The Punisher is available for streaming on Netflix.