In the latest Banshee recap, Carrie goes on a vigilante case and Brock eyes Hood as a suspect in a murder case…
By Michael Stets — Staff Writer
Banshee is as layered in mythos as it is in the guilty conscience. Those who dwell within the walls of the Pennsylvania town—model citizen or lifetime criminal—are burdened with each and every choice they’ve made in their life. Some were born into it, others sought refuge, but all who reside there have a story with many chapters.
The pain and regret eats away at the minds of many for they’ve either seen loved ones die from their mistakes, or they’ve severely compromised a relationship with a friend or family member.
For Lucas Hood, there are many things he’d like to go back and change or take back, but what is done is done. He can’t change the fact that he left Banshee for almost two years and stopped looking for his missing friend Job, but now that he is back, he is determined to find out who killed Rebecca Bowman.
For Carrie Hopewell, she still lives with the guilt of Hood taking the fall during their diamond heist and serving 15 years in prison so she could get away and lead a normal life. And now, of course, she is dealing with Job’s kidnapping, the death of her last husband, Gordon, and losing custody of her two children thanks to the fiasco at Camp Genoa last season.
Guilt and grief are pulsing through the veins of Proctor, Sugar and everyone else for that matter. It’s par for the course, for those that take residence in Banshee. And as the seasons and episodes have gone by, we’ve learned more and more about each and every one of them.
Season 4 began with a series of flashbacks that are the building blocks, which piece together the last two years after Season 3 concluded. Job is still missing and presumed dead, Brock is now the Sheriff, Hood has just returned after disappearing and Proctor is now the mayor. Rebecca’s killer is still out there and it’s believed to be a serial killer. The first piece of the puzzle was finding out Rebecca’s car GPS coordinates match the location of the cabin Hood was staying in, while he was in seclusion. Brock suspects Hood, but he also suspects Proctor, who is Rebecca’s uncle. Proctor is providing Hood with leads and names to check, except Hood is no longer a law man. That didn’t stop him from paying a visit to Aaron Boedicker—who was dealing meth and working with Rebecca behind her uncle’s back—and beating information out of him.
In true Banshee fashion, casualties come before clarity, so things are going to get messy in the next several weeks.
Bound By Blood
Episode 2 “The Burden of Beauty” opens with a flashback from three months prior, where a bloodied Rebecca enters an emergency room and collapses to the floor. The business arrangement she had with Aaron Boedicker(cooking and dealing meth behind her uncle’s back) was breached when some of that meth was being dealt inside Banshee. Her uncle would not take kindly to it if he were to find out. She wanted to put an end to it, so she sought out Hood’s help by paying him a visit at the cabin. Hood, of course, refused, but Rebecca went to confront them regardless. She nearly got herself killed and her face bitten off by a dog, but managed to survive long enough for Hood to come to her rescue. Before she burnt the hidden meth lab to the ground, Hood ate a partial shotgun blast. Rebecca drove them both to the hospital and when she was tended to, stole supplies and fled so she could tend to Hood.
“I’m going to do you a favor. I’m going to remove the burden of beauty.”—Aaron Boedicker tells Rebecca
Bunker hands Brock the test results from Rebecca’s SUV, and the blood samples are a match with Hood. This leads Brock to suspecting Hood even more, but he won’t pull the trigger on his arrest just yet. Both Brock and Bunker—who doesn’t think for a second Hood is guilty—have no idea the blood is from when Hood got shot while saving Rebecca. Brock is certainly going to turn up the heat with this new piece of information.
Nazis, Porn and a Warning from the Mayor
In addition to running Proctor’s meth operation, Calvin Bunker has had a secret side operation running a porn business. Turns out the director is using underage girls and drugging and raping them. Proctor gave his insider, Deputy Cruz, an anonymous tip so that the Banshee Police Department could shut it down and they do. The raid was a fun action sequence, where we see the hand-to-hand skills of Banshee’s newest Deputy, Nina Cruz (Ana Ayora), who apprehends one of the assailants via flying armbar. Marcus Young’s fight choreography never ceases to be impressive. With five of the Neo-Nazis locked up, Proctor and his trusty side kick Burton, pay a visit to Calvin. He informs the Aryan leader—after Burton lands a few punches on him—that the raid of his porn studio serves as a warning. Calvin pleads for the director and the other cronies to get released. Much to Brock’s and the DA’s chagrin, the five men get released.
Calvin’s anger is boiling over and he has made it clear to the brotherhood that a move of major impact is imminent. He is just waiting for the right time to strike. Calvin is dangerous and could pose as a serious and credible threat for Proctor or any innocent bystanders. And there is also the tiny issue about his brother Kurt nailing his wife. He is a wildcard and it looks like he is going to go all Edward Norton from “American History X” and be responsible for at least one death before this season ends.
More Therapy for Carrie and a Visit from Hood
Hood pays Carrie a visit and he apologizes for “everything.” He tells her he shouldn’t have turned his back on her. She lets him know he didn’t do that to just her. While in the house Hood sees her map on the wall noting all the information and searching she has done to locate Job while he was in hiding.
Carrie is still seeing her psychiatrist, Dr. Hubbard, but she is growing more and more frustrated from being forbidden from seeing her two children. Later on Carrie is at the court when the five men from the porn raid get released from custody. Now we know where Carrie gets her leads so she can dole out her own brand of vigilante justice when the sun goes down. She finds the director in his studio mixing a lethal cocktail to drug the two unsuspecting girls who think they are there for an audition. Carrie ties him up and beats him, but doesn’t kill him, telling him she won’t let him off that easy. It appears this kind of therapy behooves Carrie more than speaking with Dr. Hubbard. She returns home, places her weapons back in a hidden passage and sleeps in her daughter Deva’s bed lonely and sad.
Hood Continues his Investigation
The former Sheriff got his first lead last week on finding Rebecca’s killer after Proctor suggested he pay Aaron Boedicker a visit. After a swift beating, the meth maker gave up his nephew LJ, who was romantically involved with Rebecca. Hood tracks him to a dive car where his band is playing. Before he can make it in the bar, Bunker and Brock show up and force him to back off. After LJ flees, Hood intercepts him and heads to The Forge, where he conducts an impromptu interrogation. LJ admits to having a relationship with Rebecca, but that Hood should ask Proctor if he wants to find out who really killed her because she was frightened by her uncle. Hood lets him go after he’s done questioning him. Sugar lets Hood know that Job deserved more effort than he is putting in to find out who killed Rebecca. Sugar never needs to say much to be effective, does he? He is clearly still dealing with losing Job too and knows that even though they haven’t seen each other in two years he still has Hood’s ear.
“Seems this girl’s ghosts got you all out of sorts.”—Sugar tells Hood
Hood pays Proctor a visit and lets him know he doesn’t think the Boedicker’s are responsible for Rebecca’s murder, but tells him his niece was sleeping with LJ. Now, in case you forgot, Proctor and Rebecca had a very awkward and uncomfortable to watch relationship throughout the first few seasons. Case in point, during a flashback we see Rebecca thank him for her new office and kiss him. Proctor is dealing with the death of Rebecca as is Hood, except we don’t know if he is dealing with the grief of killing her and demanding her killer be found to keep the heat off of him. Proctor finds LJ at the club getting his equipment and strangles him with a guitar string, most likely just for sleeping with his niece and not because he thinks he killed her. This scenes sole purpose is to remind you that Proctor is still legit nuts.
Proctor has a New Business Partner
One thing the Banshee writers have always done well is throw in an unforeseen surprise. It’s not enough for us to digest Rebecca’s death, wonder about Job’s whereabouts and Proctor’s impending showdown with the Neo-Nazis. No, no, no. Jonathan Tropper and Greg Yaitanes need to test the boundaries on how far they can push the envelope. They always pull it off too, so the latest curveball just seems to fit in quite nicely. After all, the show has always been an open canvas with an unlimited palette of color for them to paint with. In a private airplane hangar Proctor meets up with Mexican cartel leader Emilio Loera. Proctor wants to become the exclusive East Coast supplier for the cartel, but in order to do that he must make good on three tons of pills in 14 days and failure to deliver is not an option. Banshee + The Mexican drug cartel= yes please.
“I’ve heard the stories. You are a dangerous man, but a dangerous man in Banshee to the cartel is nothing but a mosquito.”—Loera tells Proctor
Job is Alive!
In the final scene of Episode 2, we see Job lying naked in captivity. His captor greets him with a “good morning” before spraying him down with a fire hose as he screams.
There you have it Fanshees, two down and six more to go. The existing narratives are picking up steam, Job is alive, and now Proctor has struck a deal with the Mexican cartel. And we still haven’t gotten to Eliza Dushku’s debut as FBI agent Veronica Dawson. We’ve only just begun. Talk to you next week.
Music
The song playing in the closing credits is called “Love lives in this house” by Sivu.
