In the Banshee recap, Hood and Dawson get closer to the serial killer and the serial killer ends up getting much closer to Brock while Carrie pays for her vigilante activities…
By Michael Stets — Staff Writer
The creators of Banshee have a penchant for putting the pedal to the floor in order to ensure a season ends in full-blown chaos. They’ve done it three years running in gloriously violent and blood-soaked splendor. But to conclude the series it seems they’re placing a cinder block on the pedal and letting it drive straight into obliteration.
This show isn’t going to fade away by any means. It’s going to go to be put to the torch and go out as fast as possible, as evidenced by Episode 6, which had the kind of impact that the last three season finales had, if not more. This installment set the wick to the bomb that awaits us two weeks from today and the message from the Season 4 promotional poster is clear, “It only ends one way.” And all signs are pointing to the town being left in remnants and ruin.
The first-ever episode directed by Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper had it all folks: Full-frontal male nudity, a severed head, non-consensual sex, self immolation, and a bat-sh*t crazy home invasion shoot out. It was intense from the disturbing opening scene right up until its shocking twist and climactic ending.
I’m Burnin’, I’m Burnin’, I’m Burnin’ for You
We knew from the last few episodes that Declan Bode was an evil and sadistic man. What we didn’t know was how powerful and influential a leader the satanic cult leader truly was. Boy did he ever have a plan for cult member Gail, who he broached with an important task at the end of Episode 5.
That turned out to be Gail leaving her career as a florist behind in exchange for doing her best Thich Quang Duc imitation and setting herself aflame inside the Banshee Police Department, which she did after delivering a personal message to Sheriff Lotus, of course. However, she was not in a meditative state of Buddhist enlightenment, so her shrieks and screams were echoing throughout the walls of the BSD while she burned alive until Deputy Bunker mercifully put her burning corpse out with a fire extinguisher. Mr. Bode has people that will sacrifice themselves in his name and that is a very dangerous enemy for Brock, Hood, or anyone else in the town to take on.
The Sheriff learned that first hand as he was attacked by Declan in the back alley behind the BSD. The satanic serial killer could’ve ended his life then, but gave him a warning instead. Brock, of course, invited this attack after issuing a challenge to him with his impromptu press conference last episode.
“Close your eyes cop,” Bode tells Brock. “Close your eyes. Cherish the darkness, for soon you will bear witness to his plan and only then will I take your miserable life.”
No sooner did he finish those words did Declan disappear leaving Brock lying on his back completely freaked out at how close he just came to meeting his maker.
Bunker Junk and a Severed Head
If Gail setting herself on fire wasn’t unsettling enough for you, too bad, because the following scene cranked the uncomfortable meter up to 11. Maggie awakes in bed to see a bloody and very naked Calvin in the door way. It seems killing his father-in-law as got him all worked up and sexually charged. Maggie is quite disturbed at A) his behavior and B) that he’s covered in someone else’s blood. Calvin wants action and reveals they haven’t had sex in months, which we know is due to her affair with his brother that he isn’t yet aware of. Maggie is reluctant to allow it, but Calvin has his way with her by turning her over on her stomach and forcibly entering her from behind as she looks away in horror.
Maggie—with her son Hank in tow—head over to the Banshee Police Department to speak with Kurt. The Deputy can tell something is very wrong and when he hears her say she thinks Calvin killed her father, Kurt realizes the severity of the situation has increased tenfold. Brock oversees the conversation and figures out pretty quickly that the two are having an affair. He lets Bunker know if it’s that easy for him to figure out he’d better be careful. He also offered his house as safe haven for Maggie and her son.
Kurt heads home only to find Calvin sitting on his front porch demanding to know where his wife and son are. “Somewhere safe,” Kurt tells him. As Calvin blocks his brother’s path, Kurt gives him a warning as his eyes burn a hole through him that he better be gone because if he’s going to come back out and it won’t end well if he does. Calvin reminds him of a story their father told them both a long time ago how a dogfight never ends in a tie, it only ends one way. This is obviously a metaphor for their relationship, which is headed straight to the land of kill or be killed.
Calvin and a few of his cronies are occupying Proctor’s office when the Mayor returns to City Hall. Calvin being as bold as ever by sitting in the Mayor’s chair fit with his feet on the desk. He informs Proctor the brotherhood are done working for him. When Proctor refers to Watts having something to say about that, Calvin produces his father-in-law’s head and places it on his desk. Proctor is playing it cool and remaining calm due to being in City Hall and he allows for Calvin’s newfound bravado and entertains his tough talk and chest puffing. It’s clear that Calvin has no idea what Proctor is capable of. He’s taken a few punches from Clay, but is unaware of what Proctor is truly capable of or that he could likely take out him and his three lackeys himself if he wanted to. Whether it’s his brother Kurt or Proctor, Calvin is going to meet one, if not both head on.
Dawson, Hood and Acceptance
There is uniqueness to the budding relationship between Hood and Agent Dawson. She knows there is more than meets the eye with the former Sheriff as does he with her. I liken it to the characters Ben Sanderson and Sera from the movie Leaving Las Vegas, played beautifully by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. If you haven’t seen the film, it’s about the relationship between a hooker and an alcoholic. They accept each other for who they both are without judgement. The more Dawson is around Hood and vice versa, the more flawed they each realize the other is. Hood wakes up in Dawson’s hotel room and notices her pipe in her bag. She tells him about her days of undercover work and he cuts her off and tells her she need not explain herself or habits. He did ask if he needed to worry, which Dawson found endearing.
After paying a visit to Dr. Quick, who is handling the underground body modification in the back of Sunrise Dry Cleaners, Hood steals a digital camera, which has a slew of pictures of the doctor’s clients. Hood and Dawson take that to the S & M club they visited last episode and show the bartender, who points out the man with the horns, Declan Bode. They head back to the hotel to make some calls and low and behold it turns out Bode has a prior conviction from 15 years ago for a statutory rape. However, they have to wait a day for the name of the victim to be unsealed. As Hood paces impatiently in Dawson’s room, she begins to tell him her gut feelings about him based on what she’s been privy too so far.
“I know you can’t sit still,” Dawson tells Hood. “I’m guessing you were once made to for a very long time and you didn’t like it. You check the corners every time you enter a room. That’s not police training. That’s survival. Your demeanor towards me is… complicated. You have trouble making eye contact. It’s not lack of confidence. You’ve got a secret, or secrets.”
She is so accurate in her assessment that it infuriates Hood. We know it hits close to home because he was imprisoned for 15 years, pushed to the brink years prior to that by Dalton when he was put in the Black ops military unit and has lost several loved ones along the way. Hood grabbed Dawson’s arms and pulled her toward him and fired back saying:
“You think you know me. Let me tell you something. You have no fucking idea. Yeah I check the corners because for as long as I can remember there is always someone there waiting there to get the jump on me. And I don’t stay still because every time I do someone close to me fucking dies.”
Finally the tension between hits its peak and they begin kiss passionately and undress, but as this is going on, Hood begins to have thoughts of Siobhan and he can’t continue on with Dawson. Instead of being annoyed or bothered she immediately offers comfort to him and holds him as they lie on the bed while Hood begins to break down and cry. This scene was one of the most powerful scenes in the show’s history. Here they are, two incredibly flawed and damaged souls in a random hotel room that barely know each other and yet Dawson can provide unconditional love and comfort for Hood, who felt safe enough to cry in her company. It’s clear he never truly grieved after losing Siobhan and it’s been slowly creeping up on him. This moment was a true example of complete and total acceptance for another person and it was beautifully executed by Eliza Dushku and Antony Starr.
Home Invasion
We knew after last week that Deputy Cruz, who doubles as Proctor’s insider, was inching closer to Carrie being the town vigilante who recently destroyed Proctor’s meth warehouse on top of viciously assaulting a vast majority of the Aryan Brotherhood. Cruz informs the Mayor, who sits down next to Carrie at court hearing. In a cryptic conversation, Proctor lets on that he knows it’s her while Carrie all but admits as much. Proctor issues a threat and let’s her know she has “much to lose.”
Back at Carrie’s new house, Job is trying on clothes and trying to get back to being normal when he hears someone has broken in the house. He comes down the stairs to find Deva raiding the refrigerator. They share some small talk and Job reminds her how much her parents care for her. Carrie comes home and is both happy and shocked to see Deva. She reminds her daughter due to court restrictions and her no longer having custody, she cannot be there.
That would end up being the least of their worries as Cruz and a bunch of Aryan henchman (clearly sent by Proctor) storm the house and begin opening fire. Job protects Deva upstairs and hands her a gun and tells her to run and hide. He kills the two goons upstairs and Carrie handles the others downstairs before squaring off with Cruz in another classic battle wonderfully choreographed by Marcus Young that featured rolling armbar attacks, punches through drywall, gun shots and a circular saw blade. We saw this fight coming for a few episodes and it definitely delivered. Cruz ends up jumping out a window and escaping as Carrie and Job unloaded their guns at her. They run to find Deva, who after being dragged out from under the car in the garage she was hiding under, successfully killed her attacker with two shots to the chest. Carrie finds her daughter who is distraught and overwhelmed with fear at the realization of killing someone in order to save her own life. Carrie holds Deva and they both cry as she tells her daughter over and over she’s sorry.
Now, this follows true to the message this show has always sent in that there are always consequences for one’s actions in the town of Banshee. Carrie didn’t need to mess with Proctor or any of the criminals in the town, especially after losing her husband last season in the shootout at Camp Genoa. But her need to fulfill what her husband was trying to do when he was Mayor and rid the town of all its crime almost cost the life of her daughter. You reap what you sew and Banshee does not discriminate when it drops its hammer of karma on those due to receive it.
Hood gets the call and flees the hotel to get to Carrie’s house and checks on Deva. He lights into Carrie for getting involved with Proctor because Deva could’ve obviously been killed. Carrie yells at Hood and tells him to leave, but he grabs her and hugs her as she breaks down in his arms. The chain of reaction is sure to follow, as Hood should be headed straight for Proctor now that his daughter was almost killed. Hood will never let this slide without taking action. The town was always too big for both he and Proctor, but they managed to make it work. It appears those days are now over.
The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
Dawson receives the address and name of the girl who involved in Bode’s statutory rape case and heads out to speak with her, but does so without Hood. In a shocking twist, that girl is none other than Lilith Bode! After a conversation over some iced tea, you are pretty much convinced she is going to be snatched. But, Dawson makes it out of the house to her car and as she goes to make a phone call, Lilith swings a bat through her window. A scene that had probably had most jumping backwards. Dawson wakes up in the basement with her hands bound as the episode ends.
A crazy ending to a pulse-pounding and wild episode that really pushed the envelope even for existing Banshee standards. It will assuredly go down as one of the best in the show’s four-year run. Now Hood will have to rescue Dawson before Declan and the Satanic ritualists (sounds like a indy metal band) make her the next sacrifice. Meanwhile, Proctor will have Hood coming for him, Calvin too, and most likely the Cartel after he informs them the three-ton shipment of meth he promised to deliver will be delayed. And let’s not forget Calvin and Kurt are bound to butt heads at any time also. With only two episodes left the possible endings and outcomes are still numerous. It’s probably best to not bother guessing and just enjoy the madness at it unfurls. Talk to you next week Fanshees. Be sure to tune in to “Television’s Most Wanted” this week as Damon and I will break down this episode and what may come in the final two episodes.
Memorable Quotes
“Do I need to worry about you?”—Hood
“Kurt, I think he killed my father.”—Maggie
“Well I could use a shiny new life myself, you want to hook me up?”—Deva
“What’s up doc?”—Hood
“I suppose we both should be more careful.”—Proctor
“I’m also the bitch with the badge.”—Dawson
“I saw you on TV. I didn’t ask for this. He chose me.”—Declan
“There’s only ever one way that a dogfight ends.”—Calvin
“I’m sick and tired of fighting for my motherfucking life.”—Job
“I heard you were looking for me.”—Declan
Music
The song playing in the closing credits is called “Government” by No Money Kids.
