{"id":937,"date":"2014-03-15T16:40:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=937"},"modified":"2014-08-10T16:58:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-10T20:58:07","slug":"banshee-finale-recap-bullets-tears-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/03\/15\/banshee-finale-recap-bullets-tears-breakfast\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Banshee’ Finale Recap: ‘Bullets and Tears’ and Breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Banshee<\/em>\u2019s finale effectively utilizes flashbacks throughout, something the series\u2019 showrunners have mastered since Episode 1. We see a young Rabbit (or a Rabbit who is exactly the same but with dyed black hair\u2014not that this is a complaint, I prefer it to using shadows or computers to obscure age) do Rabbit things\u2014lovingly hold peoples\u2019 faces, using formalities, then slitting the throat below the face he\u2019s holding\u2014in what we\u2019d find out is 15 years plus the first two seasons\u2019 worth of time previous to \u201cnow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revelations are made: Oleg, Anastasia, Rabbit, and \u201cHood\u201d chum it up over cigarettes, chess, and vodka; the longing we thought Oleg possessed for Ana becomes the longing we totally know Oleg possesses for Ana; Oleg and \u201cHood\u201d bond in the most Banshee<\/em> of ways\u2014kicking the shit out of each other then laughing about it (\u201cThat was a good shot. I see stars.\u201d \u201cYou crazy motherfucker.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s why they pay me the big dollars!\u201d crack up in unison<\/em>); \u201cHood\u201d was just as good at hand-to-hand combat as people paid to do it for protection even before his 15-year stint; no one in Rabbit\u2019s crew can use (or at least think to use) a non-Ukrainian accent when tipping off the police; the soundless lovemaking scene between “Hood” and Ana that\u2019s been interspersed throughout the series was their last sexual foray before the 15 years, and the conception of Deva; and the biggie, not that it\u2019s a complete surprise: Rabbit set Ana and our hero up for withholding their relationship from him.<\/p>\n

After two seasons catting it up too often from the sidelines, the finale (and the penultimate episode) gives us yet more reason to love Job. On top of his teaming up with Big Al (we\u2019ll get to him, too) to save the day, Job\u2019s badass credentials were furthered by the knowledge of his success as a transexual cabaret club owner, performer, defender against senseless hate, and his ability to take a punch (from the bumper of an NYC taxi driving way too fast in front of a church\u2014although, as Big Al says, \u201cThis is one fucked up church\u201d).<\/p>\n

As for Big Al, what\u2019s not to like? In typical Banshee<\/em> form, he\u2019s somewhat anomalous: the head of a Triad sect, black, an illegal arms dealer, badass, effeminate, jolly, and a lover of breakfast.<\/p>\n

Once our team thwarts the goons and Rabbit\u2019s brother, Ana and Hood find their target sitting in the church\u2019s garden, where he married Ana\u2019s mother, and where Hood and Ana probably should have started their search, no? He\u2019s accepting of his impending doom, and apologetic: \u201cI hope in death I can give you some of the peace I stole from you in life.\u201d To which she\u2019s appropriately cold, handing him a one-bulleted pistol and telling him \u201cTime will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although his character is crucial to the story, and actor Ben Cross did quite the fine job of looking threatening behind a put-on Ukrainian accent, I\u2019m absolutely ready for Banshee<\/em> without Rabbit. Despite being the \u201cworst\u201d of them, and setting up his own daughter, he\u2019s the flattest of the show\u2019s bads. His existence has been holding our leads from moving forward with their lives, and where they go from here has become one of the more intriguing parts of the show. How Hood reacts to his being absolved of Rabbital pressure will tell us (and hopefully him) more about him as a man, what he values, and how he\u2019s changed since the start of his 15-year bid.<\/p>\n

The last 15 minutes of the finale also give plenty reason to clear some space on the Banshee<\/em> Bad Guy Shelf. After teetering in both directions, Rebecca seems to have finally tipped to Kai\u2019s side, using her (over)abundance of feminine wile to seduce and reduce Alex to a bloody half naked pool in his office. Of course, her \u201cevil\u201d doesn\u2019t come with its own complication: in the most rewatchable scene of the series, Rebecca saves Juliet\u2019s life from the grasp of Burton\u2019s neck wire just in time. Shot in slow motion, the scene floats music, an airy voice singing over reverb-y, Western-sounding electric guitar, which, when combined with the peculiarities of Banshee (the town) and its people, and its permanent cloud of violence and death, transported me to a bizarro, more serious Twin Peaks. Another note on Rebecca: since catching Juliet servicing Kai from her knees, his niece has had an obsession with dominating, or being \u201con top,\u201d for lack of a better descriptor, as evidenced by her encounters with the real Hood\u2019s son and elsewhere. She should be interesting to watch next season.<\/p>\n

Speaking of interesting to watch and next season, the final note of the second season rings from the booming voice of Chayton Littlestone, fresh off handing out a merciless underground Fight Club<\/em> beating. He\u2019s found out Alex Longshadow is dead. And he sounds pissed. Which isn\u2019t that big a deal because it seems to be his default setting. Still, next year should be fun to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Banshee\u2019s finale effectively utilizes flashbacks throughout, something the series\u2019 showrunners have mastered since Episode 1. We see a young Rabbit (or a Rabbit who is exactly the same but with dyed black hair\u2014not that this is a complaint, I prefer it to using shadows or computers to obscure age) do Rabbit things\u2014lovingly hold peoples\u2019 faces,<\/p>\n

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