Daredevil is one of the like three TV shows I actually watch. After binging Season One in three days, then promptly watching it again, I was incredibly excited for Season Two. Did it live up to my expectations? Maybe.

The fight scenes are still excellent, having a blood-soaked and desperate nature that’s like a toned-down version of The Raid or Oldboy. Speaking of blood, this season isn’t something you should watch if you’re squeamish about gore or torture- the lack of cable censors is taken advantage of frequently, with shankings, impalement, and shotgun blasts to the face.

The writing is still pretty good most of the time, but there are some parts, especially near the end, that made me frustrated more than anything else. This review’s going to veer into spoiler territory now, so don’t read past this if you haven’t seen this season yet and you want to.

The season starts out strong, with John Bernthal turning in a better performance than any version of The Punisher shown onscreen before (other than maybe Thomas Jane in the Dirty Laundry short). His scenes where he cleans house are awesome to watch, while his dramatic scenes are legitimately good, with the graveyard and diner scenes being a highlight of the season for me.

However, the season starts making a downturn in the latter quarter or so, with the focus on Elektra, Stick, The Hand, and The Blacksmith. The Blacksmith plot’s still pretty interesting, especially since it’s more Punisher and has the drill sergeant guy from Starship Troopers, but it takes a backseat to the frustratingly vague plot about The Hand.

The show’s afraid to show why The Hand is evil, and their attempts to make it vague and intriguing made the show lacking in stakes or tension- if it was handled better, the following questions might be a way to drive the plot forward- here, they’re simply annoying. What is Black Sky? What makes Elektra Black Sky? What’s the purpose of the ridiculously deep hole? Why didn’t the Punisher use the minigun to mow down like a hundred ninjas?

I’m not asking for the showrunners to explain away every single part of the story, there has to be some unanswered questions to keep us wanting more, but the sheer number of questions raised and the show’s crippling fear of answering them grows tiresome after Stick says “It doesn’t matter Matt, I’m a snarky old man who fights ninjas why do you need to know more” for the fifteenth time.

Despite its shortcomings, the show’s still fantastic TV, and if they kept the same quality that was in the Punisher’s plot in the sequences involving The Hand, the season would’ve been incredible. Unfortunately, it’s a season with a great start out of the gate that winds up stumbling and tripping its way to the finish line.