After a splendid season premiere, Banshee continued its finale season last night with "The Burden of Beauty" on Cinemax. It was another excellent episode, well structured. The investigation on Rebecca and the others murders is moving forward and new enemies are coming in the way.
The writing, acting and the direction were all perfect in "The Burden of Beauty". Banshee has reached a high level of quality over its four years on TV. It makes me even sadder it’s the final season, the show is just too good !
The investigation on the murders moved forward in "The Burden of Beauty", we now have three suspects : the Boedickers, Proctor and Hood. Of course, we can rule two of them quite quickly.
Once again, Banshee has used flashbacks in "The Burden of Beauty" to tell its story and revealed Rebecca and Hood past connection, that could be a lead to her murder. Rebecca sought Hood’s help after her deal with the Boedicker turn bad, and they decided to sell meth in Banshee.
When Hood refused, because he was retired, angry and hairy in his cabin, Rebecca went to the farm by herself. Rookie mistake. She was soon overrun by the Boedickers, got seriously punched in the face and almost got bitten by a crazy dog. But she got Boedicker’s son instead near the dog and its attack was fatal to him. I really loved that fight scene, Banshee choreographies are definitely one of the best on TV. And the bite was pretty gore. Luckily for her, Hood came to her rescue and saved her by slicing Boedicker’s hand in half ! Rebecca wasn’t done until she burnt the meth lab, getting Hood seriously shot in the chest in the process. Her plan to get medicines for him was brilliant. I’m so glad we’re having this flashbacks with Rebecca, I’d have missed her so much. She’s a pretty awesome woman !
So Hood’s blood got on her SUV, that led to Bunker and Brock finding it and putting Hood's name on the suspect list. They both don’t really believe he could be the serial killer, but Brock as the sheriff has to be sure. He can’t rule out anyone. A member Boedicker family is a far more likely suspect, that’s why Hood interrogated his nephew after Brock and Bunker failed to arrest him. Hood was probably a better sheriff than Brock, how ironic.
Anyways, the poor guy knew nothing about Rebecca’s death. He was her fuckbuddy but that was pretty much all. He only pointed it out that the person she was the most afraid of was her uncle. Could Proctor have killed her ? I don’t think so. He cared too much for her to do that, even if he found out about her side business, he would have beaten her but not killed.
Plus, he put Hood in charge of finding the murder, so he would have no interest in doing that if it was really him. The Hood and Proctor scene was again one of the best moment of the episode. It’s so great to have them working together, despite everything that happened between them. And when Hood revealed that Boedicker’s nephew as involved with Rebecca, Proctor’s face became even colder. He was full of jealousy and anger, so he went and killed the man, with his guitar’s chord. That was cruel.
And Proctor might have new enemy coming against him very soon. "The Burden of Beauty" really showed how much Proctor is controlling Banshee now he’s the Mayor. When he found out Mr Bunker (Calvin, not the hot police officer) was running a side porn business, involving underage actresses, he got Sheriff Brock and the Banshee sheriff's department to arrest those filmmakers. And after threatening and warning Calvin, and also raising his price, he got the DA to drop all the charges against Bunker’s accomplices.
Proctor runs everything in Banshee, he uses the police and the justice to protect and grow his business. Proctor never ceases to amaze me. There’s nothing that could stop him. Rebecca’s death has affected him, he’s more angry, seeking revenge so he could make a mistake but I don’t think the brotherhood and Calvin are that much of a threat to him. I’m confident he can quickly win the war against them, he just need not to be reckless.
Just like Carrie wasn’t reckless, but well organized. She’s the surprise of the finale season for me. The time jump really helped her character, she’s in a very interesting place, as an isolated widow, desperately trying to get her children back and being a "concerned citizen" at night for Banshee. As the DA was under Proctor’s control and freed the porn director using underage actresses, Carrie,with the help of Bunker (the hot one) decided to make justice herself. She studied his case and went to stop him at his home, as he was prepared to drug a couple of teenage girls and probably abuse them. Not surprisingly, she kicked his ass, put a her knife between his leg and told him she would be watching him over. Awesome ! I really love that new side of Carrie.
My favorite part of the episode was Carrie and Hood’s scenes together. Anthony Starr and Ivana Miličević have so much chemistry on screen, it’s crazy. Those long silences and the looks in their eyes, are so meaningful. It’s very interesting to see that since Job’s disappeared, Carrie and Hood are both broken. Hood went to seclusion in his cabin, Carrie in her new house and they’re both alone. Deva was back for a very brief moment on screen, as Hood revealed she went to visit him, but she didn’t tell her mother about it. Their only big difference was about Job, as Hood was resigned to his death and Carrie kept looking for him. And she was right as they finally revealed Job was still alive, with hair (so many hairstyle changes this season !) . I can’t wait to see Hood, Carrie and Sugar teaming up to rescue Job.
"The Burden of Beauty" was another great episode of Banshee. We got a first real suspect for Rebecca’s death, but how the Boedickers tie in with the two others murders ? Carrie continued to be awesome and Proctor got a new fierce enemy : the brotherhood. Exciting, I can’t wait to see how those storylines will evolve, there are 6 episodes left !
What did you think of "The Burden of Beauty" ? What was your favorite moment ? Do you think the Boedicker are involved in Rebecca’s death and the other one ? Are you afraid of the Brotherhood Vs Proctor ? Hit the comments !
