- "So are we gonna warn Morty Bennett that Frank Castle might be coming for him?"
"Morty has the instincts of a rat and the courage of a rabbit. We tell him Castle is still living, one of two things happen. He runs or he talks." - ―Billy Russo and William Rawlins
Crosshairs is the seventh episode of the first season of the television series The Punisher.
Synopsis[]
Lewis struggles with the ramifications of his actions. Frank and Micro pursue another face from the past. Madani and Sam go bug hunting.
Plot[]
Washing away O'Connor's blood, Lewis Wilson drives back home, taking his gun with him. Inside, Wilson bumps into his father, who expresses his concern about Wilson's condition and offers him some help, but Wilson says that there is nothing he can do. Regardless, Clay tries to comfort his son and gives him some pills that he was taking after his wife passed away. Wilson goes to his room but seeing blood on his hands make him go through another mental breakdown, during which he almost kills himself but stops himself at the last moment.
Billy Russo visits the Homeland Security Headquarters to meet with Dinah Madani. Russo tells her that he tried to use his contact to reach out to Frank Castle but got nothing, concluding that as far as he knows, Castle is dead. Madani argues that he is alive, telling Russo about the only survivor from a firefight in Kentucky, so he promises to dig deeper in his search for Castle. Sam Stein is angry that brought Russo into the investigation but still refuses to tell Rafael Hernandez, critisizing Madani's bias towards Russo. Later, Madani realizes that Gunner Henderson had been killed right after she and Stein identified him as a possible lead in their investigation, telling Stein that there might be a bug in her office.
Castle and Micro work on the plan to infiltrate Fort Bryon where Morty Bennett is stationed and use him to find Agent Orange. Micro assures Castle that he analyzed Bennett's daily routine throughly and he will be present at the base when Castle gets there. He is worried that Castle might lose control and kill Bennett in his hunt for Orange, which greatly annoys him. Castle then remarks how absurd it is that he has to break into the U.S. military base and worries what he would have to do if some of the soldiers would try to stop him.
Russo meets with William Rawlins at the CIA Safe House and fills him in on Madani, saying that without Henderson, she has no viable leads. Rawlins is displeased that Russo missed his chance to kill Castle when he could, stating that the country and Russo personally has too much to lose for Castle to expose them. Russo then reminds Rawlins that if not for him, Castle would have killed Rawlins that night in Kandahar and all of his efforts would be for naught. Aware that Castle is going after Bennett, Rawlins decides that they should not warn him, as Bennett might run away or speak if Castle gets to him.
Bennett spends time with his mistress at his residence, while Castle enters the compound with Micro's assistance from behind. As Castle confronts Bennett, the mistress raises an alert signalling a team of Anvil agents led by Russo, that were waiting in an ambush. While Micro hacks into Bennett's phone, Castle uses a smoke bomb to blind the room and silently incapacitates the Anvil agents in masks without killing anyone. As Micro finishes installing the tracker on Bennett's phone, Castle escapes from the residence, while Russo desperately tries to shoot him and fails. Extracting from the compound, Castle gets halted by a soldier, so he is forced to shoot him non-lethally, so he could escape.
While watching TV together, Clay tries to comfort Wilson again, as he wants him to just live a regular life. Wilson tells his father that during the war he has done things he does not know about but Clay tells Wilson that the war is over and now he has to fight for himself. Wilson later goes to the general store and buys nessessary equipment for the bombs that he makes at O'Connor's house.
Russo brings Bennett to the safehouse, where he confronts Rawlins, furious that he was used as a bait to draw out Castle. Bennett asssures Rawlins that he did not tell Castle anything and did how Russo instructed, covering the incident at the base as a training exercise. Rawlins tells Bennett that he now has to retire and he will be relocated under a new identity, so Castle could not target him. Bennett leaves his phone at the safehouse and leaves with Russo, while Micro tracks the phone and gets the location of the safehouse.
Madani and Stein search the office and find the bug, disguised as a shelving mount, that someone used to spy on both of them. Drinking outside of the office, Stein remarks that he missed a date, so Madani tries to cheer him up but says that being a Homeland Security agent is not compatible with friends or family. Stein remarks that Madani is somewhat similar to Castle but she replies that they are nothing alike, although she cannot tell for sure what drives Castle.
While driving to their destination, Micro is excited to end his self-exile, hoping that his family would forgive him for pretending to be dead for a year. Meanwhile, Russo brings Bennett to a safehouse, where he suddenly findsthe body of his mistress with her throat slit. Realizing that it was a trap, Bennett then gets killed by Russo, who then reports to Rawlins about that. As Rawlins stands in front of a window, Micro brings Castle to the safehouse, concerned that they are targeting a CIA facility. Castle takes position with a sniper rifle to zero on Rawlins and takes a shot. However, Rawlins is saved due to the bulletproof glass, while the compound goes to full alert, forcing Castle to flee.
Cast[]
Main Cast:
- Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as David Lieberman/Micro
- Ben Barnes as Billy Russo
- Amber Rose Revah as Dinah Madani
- Daniel Webber as Lewis Wilson
- Paul Schulze as William Rawlins
- Michael Nathanson as Sam Stein
Guest Stars:
- Andrew Polk as Colonel Morty Bennett
- Tim Guinee as Clay Wilson
- Ilfenesh Hadera as Mistress
- Ramon O. Torres as Soldier
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Fort Bryon
- CIA Safe House
- Kentucky (photo)
- Afghanistan (mentioned)
Events[]
- Rawlins Conspiracy
- Operation Cerberus (mentioned)
- The Rumble in the Jungle (footage)
Items[]
- Micro's Drone
- Punisher's Arsenal
- Homemade Explosives
- Billy Russo's Hidden Blade
- One Batch, Two Batch (indirectly mentioned)
Vehicles[]
Creatures[]
Organizations[]
- United States Department of Homeland Security
- Anvil
- CIA
- United States Army
- United States Department of the Army (logo)
Mentioned[]
- Doc Rhodes
- Lewis Wilson's Mother
- Gunner Henderson (photo)
- Rafael Hernandez
- Sarah Lieberman
- Zach Lieberman
- Leo Lieberman
- Maria Castle
- Frank Castle, Jr.
- Muhammad Ali (footage)
- George Foreman (footage)
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Serenade, Op. 15: No. 7 | Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra & Béla Bánfalvi | Morty Bennett sits down to dinner with his mistress. Morty is spanked by his mistress when Frank Castle arrives. |
| Just in Time | Tyler Bates | Frank Castle heads into the military base with Micro. David aids Frank with drone surveillance. |
| Chique Image | Paul Williams & Norman Percival | Lewis Wilson shops for hardware supplies. Lewis builds a shrapnel bomb with a pressure cooker. |
Trivia[]
- Billy Russo tells Morty Bennett "You know, without us, Frank Castle would have your balls wired to a car battery by now.". This is a reference to the "Long Cold Dark" Punisher MAX comic where Castle tortured Barracuda by doing the same thing to him.
- While Russo talks with William Rawlins, Russo questions him on how he should've gone about killing Castle by asking if he should've "killed him on the pier right in broad daylight, right in front of a calzone truck?". This is a direct reference to Castle's "death" in the 2004 film, The Punisher.
References[]
External Links[]
Crosshairs on IMDb- Crosshairs on Disney+
- Crosshairs on Marvel Database
| Season One | 3 AM • Two Dead Men • Kandahar • Resupply • Gunner • The Judas Goat • Crosshairs • Cold Steel • Front Toward Enemy • Virtue of the Vicious • Danger Close • Home • Memento Mori |
| Season Two | Roadhouse Blues • Fight or Flight • Trouble the Water • Scar Tissue • One-Eyed Jacks • Nakazat • One Bad Day • My Brother's Keeper • Flustercluck • The Dark Hearts of Men • The Abyss • Collision Course • The Whirlwind |