DAREDEVIL/PUNISHER DIALOGUES (DAREDEVIL: SEASON 2)
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(Episode 3: “New York’s Finest”)
“This another one of your missions? That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? How many will this make? I’m guessing you’ve done this, what ten, maybe 20 times? How long’s it been? Six months, a year or your whole life? Something tells me you don’t take breaks. You know, no one else has to die. You could stop now. Walk away.” “Walk away? Could you do that? Could you walk away?” “What is that, midnight?” “St. Matthew’s.” “You a Catholic?” “Once.” “From New York?” “Once.” “You still go to Mass?” “Stop now, Red.” “Stop?” “Stop digging.” “You know, a funny thing about New York few people are actually from here. The ones who are they don’t leave. They can’t, they, uh they feel like the city’s a part of them. You know? Until one day, something changes. Maybe they get older. And then they have to leave, they have to get out. See the world, maybe. Maybe they enlist? Where’d they send you?” “You a shrink, Red? Now, come on, you must be something when you’re not wearing the long johns, right?” “I’m just a guy.” “Yeah? You ever been to war?” “No.” “Yeah then don’t talk about it.” “I’ve seen some fights.” “Sure you have.” “Well, I almost had you beat.” “You talk about trading hands on a rooftop, Red. I’m talking about shit, okay? Shit that you ain’t been in.” “I know one thing.” “What’s that?” “War changes people. Sometimes they see things they can’t unsee. Come home to find home’s not there anymore. It changed. Or maybe they did.” “Yeah, fair enough.” “I’m just saying, I know it can be hard.” “Do you? You know it can be hard? You run around this city in a pair of little boy’s pajamas and a mask. You go home at night, right? Take that mask off, maybe you think… it wasn’t you who did those things, maybe it was somebody else. Well, see, soldiers we don’t wear masks, yeah? We don’t get that privilege.“ "You know what I think?” “What’s that?” “You’re still at war.” “Oh, for crying out loud. So, you charge by the hour, doc, or what?” “Why am I here?” “Everything you do out there in the streets, Red, it doesn’t work. Did you know that?” “Oh, and what you’re doing is better?” “What I do, I just do. It’s out of necessity.” “Come on. You know you’re not the only one, right? Who did you lose? Huh? Was it someone you loved? Well, boo-hoo. Let me tell you something, buddy. Everybody’s lost someone. Doesn’t mean you have to do this.” “Well, loss doesn’t work the same for everybody, Red.” “Yeah, that’s right. It’s clearly not working for you.” “Maybe not. We don’t get to pick the things that fix us, Red. Make us whole. Make us feel purpose. My moment of clarity? It came from the strangest of places. What kind of name is The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, anyway? I mean, really?” “I didn’t ask for that name.” “I’m sorry, I don’t see you running from it.” “I don’t do this to hurt people.” “Yeah, so what is that, just a job perk?” “I don’t kill anyone.” “Is that why you think you’re better than me?” “No.” “Is that why you think you’re a big hero?” “It doesn’t matter what I think or what I am. People don’t have to die.” “Come on, Red. You believe that?” “I believe it’s not my call, and it ain’t yours either.” “Somebody ask you to put on that costume or you take it upon yourself? You know what I think of you, hero? I think you’re a half-measure. I think you’re a man who can’t finish the job. I think that you’re a coward. You know the one thing that you just can’t see? You know you’re one bad day away from being me.”
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“I’m not a bad guy, Red.” “You wanna explain that to the orphans and the widows of the men you killed?” “For Christ’s sake, that’s what you think? I’m just some crazy asshole going around unloading on whoever I want to?” “Yeah, that’s exactly what I think.” “That it?” “You think you’re anything else?” “I think that the people I kill need killing, that’s what I think.” “You left men hanging from meat hooks!” “They got off easy, in my opinion.” “You shot up a hospital” "Yeah, and nobody got hurt who didn’t deserve it.” “Oh, yeah. What about you, Frank? What happens the day someone decides you deserve it?” “I’ll tell you what, they better not miss.” “Come on, you run around this city like it’s your damn shooting gallery.” “Yeah, what do you do? What do you do? You act like it’s a playground. You beat up the bullies with your fists. You throw ‘em in jail, everybody calls you a hero, right? And then a month, a week, a day later, they’re back on the streets doing the same goddamn thing!” “Yeah, so you just put 'em in the morgue.” “You’re goddamn right, I do.” “You ever doubt yourself, Frank?” “Not even for a second.” “Really? Really? You never think for one second, ‘Shit, I just killed a human being’.” “That’s being pretty generous.” “A human being who did a lot of stupid shit, maybe even evil, but had one small piece of goodness in him. Maybe just a scrap, Frank, but something. And then you come along, and that one tiny flicker of light gets snuffed out forever.” “I think you’re wrong” “Which part?” “All of it” “I think there’s no good in the filth I put down. That’s what I think” “And how do you know?” “I just know. Look around, Red. This city, it stinks. It’s a sewer. It stinks and it smells like shit and I can’t get the stink out of my nose. I think that this world, it needs men who are willing to make the hard call. I think you and me are the same!” “That’s bullshit, Frank, and you know it!” “Only I do the one thing you can’t. You hit'em and they get back up. I hit'em and they stay down! It’s permanent. I make sure that they don’t make it out on the street again. I take pride in that.” “Let me ask you this.” “What’s that?” “What about hope?” “Oh, fuck.” “Come on, Frank.” “You wanna talk about Santa Claus? You wanna talk about Santa Claus? “I live in the real world too, and I’ve seen it.” “Yeah? What have you seen?” “Redemption, Frank.” “Ah, Jesus Christ.” “It’s real. And it’s possible. The people you murder deserve another chance.” “What, to kill again? Rape again? Is that what you want?” “No, Frank. To try again, Frank. To try. And if you don’t get that, there’s something broken in you you can’t fix, and you really are a nutjob.” “What did you say?” “You’re… you’re unhinged Frank. You are. You think God made you a one-man firing squad. But you’re wrong. There is goodness in people, even in you. And you’re gonna have to kill me, 'cause I’m never gonna stop coming for you, until I take you down. You wanna know why?” “Why’s that?” “Because you’re insane.”
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(Episode 11: “.380”)
“Get off me! Just couldn’t let me have it, could you? You just couldn’t let me have it. One second in peace. It was right there. You had to sweep in. You feel good about yourself? Piece of shit.” “Oh, come on, Frank. It wouldn’t have been the truth, and you know it. I can’t let you start a war for the wrong reasons.” “Maybe a war is what I need. Maybe I need that. These people, they took my children from me. They killed my kids! Don’t you get that?” “Then do right by them! Help me, work with me to find the man who gave the order.” “And then what, Red, we gonna bring them in for justice, is that what we’re gonna do? Your way’s bullshit, Red, it doesn’t work, I need them dead, I need them gone! It’s gotta be permanent, it’s gotta be finished!” “I-I understand. You’re right. My way isn’t working. So, maybe just this once. Maybe yeah, your way is what it’s gonna take.” “Red, just this once? No. No, no, no, no, no, Red. That’s that’s not how it works. It’s just you cross over to my side of the line you don’t get to come back from that. Not ever.”
