Your role as C.W. Moss in "Bonnie and Clyde '67" is one that any quality character actor would wish to possess: a cinematic icon that movie buffs continue to reference.
Your uniqueness, however, filtered into other productions, including "Dick Tracy '90"; "Jigsaw '68"; "Roxanne"; "American Gothic '88"; "Season of Fear"; "Split Second"; "Roxanne"; "Summer Magic"; "Scrooged"; "The Legend of Frenchie King"; "Tango and Cash"; "Sleepaway Camp III"; "Melvin and Howard"; "Dirty Little Billy"; "Little Fauss and Big Halsy"; "Four of the Apocalypse"; "Hannibal Brooks"; "The Patriot '86"; "The Wild Angels"; "The Odyssey '97"; "The Arrival"; "Dark Angel"; "House of 1000 Corpses"; and "The Ray Bradbury Theater: the Handler".
One of your best roles came via classic "Star Trek" in Adrian Spies' "Miri", where you redefined the delinquent concept, but you took your quirky edge to even greater heights with a recurring role as Mr. Mxyzptlk on the fan favorite, "Superboy".
You were a special, one-of-a-kind guy, Mr. Pollard, who brought enormous joy to whatever role you played. Your legacy will endure and strengthen, your presence carved-in-stone forever and always.
Now that Netflix has axed "Daredevil", "Luke Cage", "Iron Fist" and "The Defenders", one would presume the same fate awaits "Jessica Jones" and (you guessed it) "The Punisher". So much for that fruitful, adult-based, Marvel miniverse...
It's remarkable, therefore, that the latter received a 13-episode sequel, premiering Friday, Jan 18. I'm particularly pleased that Jon Bernthal is back as Frank Castle. He's a riveting actor and one of the huge reasons why "The Walking Dead" earned our devotion.
On the other hand, I wasn't as pleased with the solo series' concept. My heart went out to its beleaguered veterans, but the theme's execution (making them look so stressed, fickle and unstable) felt wrong...unpatriotic.
Nevertheless, we at least witnessed the creation of Castle's main antagonist, Billy Russo, aka Jigsaw, played by Ben Barnes, who's back for Season 2. That can only be good. Alas, Ebon Moss Bachrach's Micro has bowed out, but (thank goodness) Jason R. Moore's empathetic Curtis Hoyle re-enters, and there's Deborah Ann Woll, Amber Rose Revah, Floriana Lima, Giorgia Whingham and Alexa "Man in the High Castle" Davalos (who was also Bernthal's "Mob City" costar) to compensate with some hardy, feminist eye candy.
Season 2 also presents John Pilgrim, the Mennonite, played by Josh Stewart. The Mennonite is culled from veritable Marvel sources and for this track, acts as its wacky, Christian fundamentalist. That probably means ample Christian bashing. If so, I'd rather pass. Then again, the character does appear to exude an intriguing air of anguish, which should play well off Castle and Russo's. We'll see...
Unfortunately, with there being little or no chance of a Season 3, it's hard to get excited about this one. Whether good, bad or somewhere in the middle, "The Punisher: Season 2" should've been something to embrace for its long-term prospects. Sure, it's still worth a watch (how could any Marvel fan turn a blind eye to it?), but no matter how one slices it, this follow-up feels like a misconceived title steered solely by default. Bloody shame...
