By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
The problem with most network crime shows is that no matter how dark the story gets, they can’t show too much violence, which turns climactic fight and action scenes into bloodless affairs with comical overacting. Premiering on Cinemax in 2013, Banshee never had that problem, and features at least one bloody brawl in every episode that on NCIS, would be a season-ending showstopper, but in the small rural Pennsylvania town, it’s Tuesday.
However, Banshee is now the answer to a trivia question: “What show was Homelander (Antony Starr) on before The Boys?” That does a disservice to how the series plays out like a mini-action movie in every episode, and thanks to HBO Max, it’s perfect to rip through over the course of a weekend.
Small Town, Big Characters
Antony Starr’s Lucas Hood isn’t as villainous as his breakout character, Homelander, but he’s not exactly a good guy either, especially since he’s not really Lucas Hood. He’s an ex-con who takes the Sheriff’s identity after the well-meaning lawman is killed in a shakedown gone wrong (and notably, has a bullet-sized hole blown into his hand) one day before he was to meet anyone in the town of Banshee.
The new sheriff picked the rural town, which has both a very large Amish population and includes a Native American reservation, because his ex, Ana (Ivana Miličević), is living there under a fake name and raising a family.
That alone would be enough for CBS to greenlight as a procedural, but Banshee goes further and makes sure the small town is stocked with a never-ending parade of colorful residents. There’s Sugar Bates (Franke Faison) the retired boxer who knows Hood’s secret, Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) the former Amish man turned local crime lord, Jon (Hoon Lee) Hood and Ana’s androgynous “man in the chair” who can hack everything from ATMs to CIA satellites, and Rebecca, (Lilli Simmons) the young Amish girl who rebels against the community and finds her way by embracing a life of crime.
Every season finds new and fun ways to bash the characters up against one another, and every episode includes at least one moment that will make you stand up and shout. Take, for example, the third episode, “Meet the New Boss,” when an MMA fighter comes to town for an exhibition fight at the local casino. After he assaults one of the cocktail waitresses, Hood gets into the Octagon for a bloody brawl that drags on for several minutes, and just when you think someone’s lost, it keeps going like a real-life version of Peter Griffin versus the Chicken.
It’s absurd, it’s over the top, and it shatters the belief that Hood would remain Sheriff, but in the middle of it all, there’s a single moment that’s echoed later in the season, and it shows for all the blood, guts, and skin on display, Banshee knows exactly what it’s doing.
Banshee Has A B-Movie Action Film Crammed Into Every Episode
That one moment, a simple blocking motion, comes back during flashbacks later in the season to Hood’s time in prison, so while it’s not Shakespeare, Banshee has enough depth to keep it interesting. Best of all, the four-season run doesn’t end on a cliffhanger; instead, the story reaches a definitive conclusion, making the journey to get there well worth it.
The series was also well-received by critics and audiences during its run, earning a 90 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92 percent audience rating. To put it in perspective, Banshee’s rating is higher than both Daredevil: Born Again and The Boys.
Despite the love from critics and those who have seen it, Banshee has remained outside the conversation when talking about the best crime shows on cable, a discussion that often includes Max’s own The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire. While the Amish-crime family of the Cinemax original can’t compare to either of those two, it’s not trying to.
The series is doing its own thing by embracing every B-movie action trope under the sun, tossing them into the small-town setting, and letting fans enjoy the resulting mess. It deserves to be more than a part of Antony Starr’s IMDb trivia, and there’s no better time to take a trip to small-town Pennsylvania than right now.
