This series is completely insane... Not insane in the sense that it is bad but Insane in the sense that almost every episode makes you ask... “How did things get this bad again?”.
Banshee follows an unnamed ex-convict who has just been released from prison after serving 15 years for a diamond robbery.. He travels to the small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania, looking for his former lover and criminal partner, Anastasia but before he can reunite with her, he discovers that the town's new sheriff, Lucas Hood, has been killed... So what does he do?... He takes the dead man's identity.... and somehow, it works... At least for a while.
The man becomes Lucas Hood and begins working as the town's sheriff while trying to hide his real identity but things become complicated because Anastasia is now living in Banshee under the name Carrie Hopewell.. She has a husband, children and an entirely different life.
So Hood is not only trying to protect the town.... He is also trying to reconnect with the woman he lost, hide from the criminals hunting him and deal with his own criminal instincts and that is a lot for one man to handle..
The Main Character, Lucas Hood is not a traditional hero... He is a criminal pretending to be a lawman... He can be brutal, selfish and reckless, but he also has a strong sense of loyalty. He does terrible things, yet he is often the first person willing to step into danger when someone needs help and that contradiction makes him interesting but he is not trying to become a perfect man... He is simply trying to survive, protect the people he cares about and deal with the consequences of his past and the man can fight...
Honestly, Lucas Hood doesn't fight like a police officer... He fights like someone who has spent his entire life preparing for violence.
The action scenes are some of the most brutal I have seen in a television series. The punches feel heavy, the injuries look painful, and the fights often continue long after a normal person would have stopped.
The supporting cast is another major strength.
Ivana Miličević plays Carrie Hopewell, Hood's former lover, and her character has a very complicated life. She is trying to be a wife and mother while carrying the secrets of her criminal past.
Carrie is not simply waiting for Hood to rescue her... She is capable, dangerous and has her own story.
Job is also fantastic.... He is intelligent, sarcastic, stylish and completely unpredictable... He brings humour into the series but he is also extremely capable when things become serious.
Honestly, Job is one of those characters who can insult you, hack into a system and save your life in the same conversation.
Frankie Faison as Sugar Bates brings warmth to the show. His character becomes one of Hood's closest allies, and their friendship is one of the more grounded relationships in the series.
Then there is Kai Proctor, played by Ulrich Thomsen.
Proctor is one of the most memorable villains in the show.
He is a former Amish man who has become a powerful crime boss. He is calm, intelligent and terrifying in a very controlled way. He doesn't always need to shout or threaten people because his presence already tells you that something bad is coming.
The relationship between Hood and Proctor is one of the central conflicts of the series.
They are both powerful men who believe they understand how the world works.
And neither of them is willing to back down.
The Action
If you are looking for a series with action, Banshee delivers.
There are shootouts, prison fights, robberies, car chases, assassinations and hand-to-hand combat but the action is not always clean or glamorous.... It is messy, violent, painful and that makes it feel more intense.
The series also has a very strong modern-western feeling. Banshee is a small town, but it is filled with competing criminal groups, corrupt people, family secrets and individuals fighting for control.
Lucas Hood arrives like a stranger entering an old western town, except instead of riding a horse, he is driving a police car and carrying a badge he has no right to wear.
At its core, Banshee is about identity... Lucas Hood is living under a false name, Carrie is also living under a false identity and Both characters are trying to escape their past, but their past keeps finding them.
The series explores whether people can truly change or whether they are always trapped by the things they have done... It also deals with loyalty, revenge, family, redemption and the difference between justice and revenge.
Hood is supposed to represent the law, but he often uses criminal methods to achieve his goals... That creates an interesting question:
Does doing the right thing still count if you use the wrong methods?
The show doesn't always answer that question clearly, but it keeps bringing it back through Hood's decisions.
Now, Banshee is far from perfect... The biggest problem is that the plot can become extremely exaggerated... Some storylines are difficult to believe, and the amount of violence sometimes becomes cartoonish.
There are also moments when the series introduces too many conflicts at once. One episode may involve the police, the Amish community, a crime boss, a Native American casino, a gang, a personal betrayal and an international criminal organization and you're just sitting there thinking “Can these people please have one peaceful afternoon?”...
Some characters also make decisions that seem designed mainly to create more drama.
The show can be over-the-top, and it definitely isn't for everyone. It contains graphic violence, sex, disturbing scenes and very mature themes but strangely, the exaggerated nature is also part of its appeal..
Rating: 70/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
