Deborah Ann Woll Breaks Down Frank and Karen’s Reunion in The Punisher Episode 2 

’s second season waiting thirstily for every intense second of screen time between Deborah Ann Woll’s layered Karen Page and Jon Bernthal’s tortured Frank Castle,

is like a long-awaited reward. Their reunion in Episode 2 is an emotionally complex treat for fans of "Kastle," as Frank quietly approaches Karen on the street—after being presumed dead for months—and asks her for help.

“As much affection and respect as I have for Frank, I also know that he\'s unhinged,” says Woll, speaking in the first person as Karen, “and any information that I get for him could have terrible repercussions, and do I really want to be a party to that? Do I want to be complicit in that? And do I trust him? It’s really complex, that scene where I\'m walking down the street and he catches my attention, because my first instinct is ‘thank God he’s alive, thank God he’s thought of me,\' but then it opens up a whole can of worms. I think in some ways, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be to him.”

That conflict is clear in Woll’s tightly-controlled performance through the scene; even when she invites Frank into her apartment she’s on her guard, trying to appear unaffected and neutral, keeping several feet of physical distance between them at all times. But when it turns that he\'s brought her flowers—because he\'s an old-fashioned kind of guy, and also because she can put them in the window to covertly communicate with him—she can\'t entirely suppress a smile.

And then finally, her composure breaks. As Frank is turning to leave, Karen rushes at him and hugs him so tightly. He\'s startled, but hugs her back with barely a second\'s hesitation. It honestly might be one of the best embraces ever put on screen, even before Karen finally pulls away and tells him, through repressed tears, "It\'s really good to see you."

“So much of those early episodes are digging into Frank’s grief and his past and by the time we get to that moment, I feel like the audience is going to want to give him a hug too,” says Woll, accurately. “You want to reach out to him in some way, and Karen can represent that. In that scene she can be exactly where the audience is and say hey, you\'re a killer and a terrifying person, but I also feel for you, and that makes me uncomfortable and it puts me on edge and that\'s okay.”

Oh, and then Karen looks at Frank like this as he leaves:

It remains to be seen whether Frank and Karen’s relationship is going to move beyond deep, deep friendship—Woll certainly didn’t rule it out in our full interview with her—but no matter what, we will always have this hug to watch on a loop.

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