‘Banshee’ Season 2 Finale Recap: ‘Bullets and Tears’

Hood and Rebecca set off for the reckoning with Rabbit, Deputy Yawners leaves town, Rebecca proves her worth to her Uncle and we find out Hood was once a soldier…

By Michael Stets — Staff Writer/Co-Host Charming’s Most Wanted podcast

Banshee has been known to push the envelope at times during its first two seasons, but in the Season 2 finale it went ahead and shoved it down a flight of stairs. The town’s reputation is intact as a place where blood will be shed, nothing is taboo, and there are dire consequences. The latter, of course, has always been the common underlying theme.

To reach the ending of Season 2, writer Jonathan Tropper decided to turn the page back 15 years to the origin of why Hood and Carrie are in this whole mess with Rabbit to begin with. The two are already seeing each other behind the Ukrainian gangster’s back, and now that he wants the next score to be 10 million in loose stones from Capital Diamond, Hood (Identity back then still to be revealed) is trying to assure Anna (Carrie’s real name) this is the time to take the money and disappear from Rabbit for good.

Hood decides it’s time to take Anna to meet Job, since he will be the man responsible with creating their identities for their new lives after the Capital Diamond job is complete. In one of the most hilarious scenes of this Season, the two go to a drag show in the city and we see Job dressed as a Geisha dancing and lip synching to “You make me feel mighty real” by 70’s disco group Sylvester. Hood introduced Anna to Job and he shows them what their identities will be: Tom and Carrie Palmer. Anna obviously took the name Carrie when she went to Banshee after the Capital Diamond job went awry and Hood went to Job.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be here all week.”—Job tells the crowd, after his drag show performance.

Back in present day, Hood and Carrie are roaming through China Town to find Fat Al, who Hood helped once upon a time and he is hoping the illegal arms dealer will remember and return the favor with firepower to take on Rabbit and his crew at Yulish’s Church. After beating up a few of the lower level henchmen, Carrie and Hood are brought to Fat Al by gunpoint. It takes him a second to remember Hood, but Fat Al finally does and he hugs him and calls him ‘Soldier Boy.’ Carrie tells Fat Al what guns they need and as Hood starts to tell him about payment, the arms dealer cuts Hood off and tells him his money is no good and that he thinks about how he saved his life every day.

“Your money is no good here. You risked your life to save me. I think about it everyday. A few pieces of hardware doesn’t begin to make us even.”—Fat Al tells Hood.

As they leave, Carrie asks Hood about the nickname ‘Soldier Boy.’ Hood reveals he was once a soldier before he knew Carrie. A pretty big reveal, as Hood is still the man with no name who assumed the identity of a dead Sheriff. He was a soldier, a master thief and now a Sheriff. “How many lives have you lived,” Carrie asks him.

Flipping back again to the past, the tension and paranoia leading up to the Capital Diamond heist are shown in detail. Anna has an awkward meal and conversation with her father, Olek (Rabbit’s right hand man, who Carrie killed last season) is asking Hood odd questions and also tailing him and Anna swears to Hood that her father knows. We then see how the night of the Capital Diamond robbery went down. Anna is pleading to Hood that they don’t have to go through with it, as he convinces her it’s the only way if they want to be together. We than see Olek make the call to report the robbery, which led to Hood’s arrest and 15 years in prison.

“Why did he call you ‘Soldier Boy?”—Carrie asks Hood.

Carrie and Hood arrive at Yulish’s church in New York City armed and ready for war with Rabbit’s soldiers and to take out Rabbit once and for all. The two work in unison, taking out several henchmen on guard on the outside of the church using guns with silencers and also, throwing knives. However, things take a turn for the worse after seeing Yulish inside, as a large number of men armed with AK-47’s come storming out to greet them. The Sheriff and his former flame refuse to surrender and take harbor behind two of the churches pillars amidst the pews.

Finally they both run out of ammo and are quickly running out of options. As Rabbit’s men start to close in, Hood begins to have flashbacks of the Capital Diamond job (the clips have been shown many times throughout both seasons). Suddenly for him, 15 years ago seems like present day as the parallels of both time periods come full circle. Just like he did on that night 15 years ago when he told her would draw the police off, he tells Carrie to make a run for it and that he will draw fire from Rabbit’s men so she can escape. He kisses her and tells her he will be right behind her.

Hood runs out like a mad man armed with only a knife as Carrie cries thinking he is running into certain death. Rabbit’s men start to fall one by one, riddled with gunfire. Fat Al and Job to the rescue! Those two, along with a couple of Fat Al’s cronies mow down all of Rabbit’s men, saving both Hood and Carries lives. The gang exchange pleasantries and Yulish comes out of nowhere shooting recklessly, until Hood empties his clip into his chest and kills him.

“Seven guys with machine guns and you are going to stab them? You really are fu**ed in the head.”—Fat Al tells Hood.

Now there is only Rabbit left to kill.

In another terrific back and forth sequence, we see Rabbit on the bench outside of the Church, 15 years prior. He gets a visit by Special Agent Racine. He really did know a ton about his most sought after subject. The agent told Rabbit he knew by Olek’s voice on the call that reported Hood and Anna’s Capital Diamond robbery in progress, that he had some part in it. Rabbit warned him his patience would one day run out.

The scene returns to present day and Rabbit is sitting on the same bench drinking from a bottle of vodka. Carrie and Hood approach him. Knowing it will be the last moments of his life he tells them this:

“There’s a part of you that always knows it will end like this: bullets and tears. But you keep telling yourself you will find a way out, but there is no way out because of who you are.”—Rabbit tells Carrie and Hood.

Carrie hands Rabbit her gun, so that he can take his own life, kisses him on the forehead and says goodbye. Rabbit tells Hood he will one day sit in the same place as he is. He then turns the gun on himself and ends his life. Sadly, Ben Cross will no longer be part of the show. He really turned in some fine work in all the small scenes he was part of in the first two seasons and will be sorely missed.

They both return to Banshee, Hood to The Forge and Carrie home to Gordon. Hood goes to see Siobhan and almost leaves after talking to her. Could be a place of vulnerability for him after all that has happened, or he may actually be allowing himself to have feelings for someone other than Carrie. Killing Rabbit could have potentially put closure on their story after 15 years and also allow him to accept that Carrie has her family with Gordon and they cannot ever be together. Hood embraces Siobhan and kisses her.

One would be inclined to think that the shootout in the Church and the subsequent death of Rabbit would be suffice for a season finale, right? Not on Banshee. There was indeed, another surprise in store in “Bullets and Tears.”

Alex Longshadow is hanging at the council headquarters and in walks Rebecca. Alex, of course, kissed her at the slaughterhouse last episode and told her he will be taking part in the downfall of her Uncle Kai. Before you know it, these two are hot and heavy on the desk. Alex has let his hubris and ego cloud his judgment and severely underestimate what Rebecca is capable of. As he is going down on her, she reaches in her purse for her gun. Alex realizes this and begins throwing her around the room. While the Kinaho chief starts to strangle her with both hands, she grabs the knife of his belt and stabs him in the neck. He begins bleeding all over her and takes the knife out of his neck and starts to walk after her. She shoots him three times and kills him.

Spliced into this blood-soaked scene, we see Yawners and his wife at a Maryland rest stop, obviously heading down to Florida. In one of the more shocking and unexpected scenes this season, this would unfortunately be as far as they would get. A van pulls up and the door slides open to reveal one of Matt Sharp’s crewmembers armed with a machine gun and obviously out for retaliation. He opens fire on Yawners and his wife and kills both of them.

Rabbit returns home in a taxi and is obviously free from prison. Rebecca shows him photographic evidence of Longshadow’s death and tells him she did it for him. They then share another awkward moment with Proctor coming out of the shower naked and the two hugging one another. If there is one complaint to be made about the show, this is it. I’m not sure where they are going with this particular angle but it’s just plain weird. She has seen him have sex and made eye contact with him while he was doing it, they have seen each other naked, and he killed Jason Hood for having sex with her. What it is supposed to mean and where it is headed is anybody’s guess, but it’s bizarre and uncomfortable to watch.

Deva comes to the Cadi to see Hood and greets him by saying, “Hello Dad.” Hood is obviously taken back by hearing Deva has found out that secret.

The season comes to a close in a random warehouse in New Orleans, where Chayton Littlestone is taking part in an illegal fighting circuit. He wins his fight and breaks his opponents neck, killing him. He is then handed a phone. As he gets off the phone, he tells the men with him that Longshadow is dead and they are headed back home.

Much to digest from the Season 2 finale #Fanshees. Three major deaths, two that will have major influence on the story line going forward into Season 3. Yawners (Demetrius Grosse) did a great job as the former football player turned Deputy. They will most likely replace him with another Deputy, as the BSD isn’t exactly chock-full of cops.

Alex Longshadow (Anthony Ruivivar) will set forth a chain reaction within the Kinaho tribe. George Hunter will want his seat as Chief. If that happens, Proctor will have trouble doing any illegal business the way he had with Longshadow, but now that the Kinaho Chief is dead, he can’t testify against him. Also, his sister Nola should turn up wanting revenge, as will Chayton, who is already heading back toward Banshee. Rabbit’s death was due to happen, and was just a matter of time. Proctor will now, most likely, be the main antagonist for Hood going forward, although the writers never cease to surprise, so another threat may surface in Season 3.

Hood and Carrie share a daughter, and the fact that Gordon and Deva are now aware of that fact, should complicate things and add plenty of tension to that plotline next season.

Ten installments of Banshee came and went and not once did it disappoint. An Amish town inside of Pennsylvania with sex, blood, lies, secrets, criminals, ex-cons and skeletons inside of everyone’s closet. This guilty pleasure of a show reigns supreme!

Extras:

The last scene with Chayton was really the extra scene this time around. The traditional post-credits scene was just a chess piece spinning, which was part of a flashback scene with Rabbit slapping a chessboard off a table after talking with Anna.

The fighter that gets killed by Chayon Littlestone is played by UFC heavyweight Todd Duffee.

Music:

The song that plays in all of the scenes that Carrie and Hood are in together is aptly called “Carrie/Lucas Theme” by Methodic Doubt.

The song that plays in the closing credits is “Outlaw” by Martin Harley.

That will do it for recaps until Season 3 begins. However, keep it locked to Nerdcoremovement.com for all Banshee news and cast announcements leading up to next season.