Does Karen Page Appear in PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL? Eric Diaz | amznusa.com

Karen Page, played by Deborah Ann Woll, wasn’t just a big part of the Daredevil series, but also The Punisher. She was the one who reconnected Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) and Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) in Born Again season one. So there was some question whether she would appear in the new The Punisher: One Last Kill Special Presentation on Disney+. Well, Karen does appear, in a manner of speaking. In a scene halfway through the special, Frank believes his friend Karen comes to see him after contemplating ending his life. Except, this Karen is just a figment of his fevered imagination. And one that isn’t particularly nice to him.

Karen appears to Frank after a confrontation with the grieving mafia wife, Ma Gnucci (Judith Light), who informs him that, as payback for the murder of her entire family, she’s put out a massive hit on him. This isn’t long after Frank visits the gravesites of his family, and nearly kills himself right then and there in the cemetery. He doesn’t see a reason to go on now that his revenge is complete. When he gets back home to his Spartan apartment, he sees that his old friend Karen Page is there, in a nondescript black hoodie and jeans. But is this the same Karen Page he recently reconnected with on Daredevil: Born Again, who convinced him to help out Matt Murdock? Turns out, not so much.

Although she may look like Karen, this version berates him, telling him that he never really wanted a family in the first place. He was far more comfortable being a Marine, a paid killing machine for the United States government. She tells him that his playing suburban dad was always a facade, a costume he can now drop entirely now that his whole family is dead. She screams to him that he failed them. Karen also calls him a coward for not finishing the job with the Gnucci family. “You failed the city like you failed your family.” Even Frank knows this doesn’t sound like Karen Page, and asks if she’s real, or all in his mind.

Hallucination Karen calms down, and tells Frank that she is truly there, as she embraces him. She tells him she’ll always be with him, and it looks like the two are about to kiss. She reminds him that he has another job to do very soon, and vanishes. As Frank assumed, she was indeed a figment of his tortured imagination, a manifestation of his own guilt. It’s then that the assassins employed by Ma Gnucci came to Frank’s apartment building and started looking for trouble. Dozens of dead bodies later, Frank makes good on his promise, and rids the city of more criminals.

Deborah Ann Woll only makes a brief cameo in One Last Kill, barely a minute long. Not even as the real Karen Page, either. Yet it serves to remind the audience of an important emotional connection Frank Castle still has. Karen remains as one of his last tethers to his own humanity. And she’s still alive out there in the real world, and not resigned as a figment of his imagination. If (when) the Punisher reappears in his own project again, we hope Deborah Woll appears as the real Karen this time.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is currently streaming on Disney+.