The Punisher: Gunner (2017)
Written by Michael Jones-Morales
Directed by Dearbhla Walsh
Starring (in this scene): Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Micro)
Note: This video is mislabeled at source. This is S01xE05, not S01xE03.
Chef’s Note: Out of all the pain and difficulties Frank has had to face this is one of the moments in which I empathized with him the most.
We’ve all been there, after all. You sit down at a restaurant and peruse the menu. After much deliberation, you make what you think will be the best choice for your hunger. Only to then spend the meal staring at your dinner companion’s choice, wishing you had ordered it yourself.
Given their history, I must also credit David here with how calmly and casually he takes out his epic hoagie sammich and starts eating … and then keeps eating. He doesn’t even offer Frank a bite.
“I thought you liked those things.”
They say “revenge is a dish best served cold”. They never said what the dish was, though.
Now we know: a cold pouch of poorly mixed Starkist Tuna Creations® Lemon Pepper.
Chef’s Note: So, yes, we know the sad meal Frank is having. What about David’s epic sammich? I was all prepared to do my normal scholarly investigative work when I was fortuitously tipped to the following:
This is the kind of thing comic book food archaeologists dream about: the explicit identification of a food stuff and its place of origin by a direct participant. Thank you kindly, Mr. Moss-Bachrach!
Update: Just came across The Literary Significance of Sandwiches in Netflix’s The Punisher, which provides some keen insight into the scene above-
Micro mixes up what looks to be a Charlie’s Tuna Creations pouch for Frank, and after he passes it off, Micro pulls out a full sub sandwich. Frank is understandably affronted. Coming from a military background and having experienced so little of his actual life before it was ripped away, Frank took whatever was available. When asked where Micro got the sub, he responded, “I made this. This stuff was all in the fridge, you know?”; in the bunker, not Frank’s own space, Frank reverted to a tactical mindset—he didn’t even think to look for such a luxury. Micro, however, has only been underground for a year with most normal commodities. Micro has never actively been on the run, unable to cook for himself, or in need of much of anything, and he was never unaware of what his family was up to, thus never much disconnected from a domestic lifestyle. This is further solidified when Frank jumps Gunner’s fence to go in and Micro sets himself up on a log with the other half of his sub and The Life of Pi. Frank’s a soldier who went through an unspeakable tragedy; Micro is merely a displaced NSA analyst who got caught with the wrong video at the wrong time.
Chef’s Note: Happy National Eat a Hoagie Day!*