Welcome to Banshee

Okay. So this show is bat shit crazy and mostly awesome if you ignore the Skinemax premise and don't get too invested in realism. I mean that last episode--his deputy, nor anyone else in the crowd, was like "Maybe this shouldn't be happening. Maybe someone should stop this. Hey, I'm the deputy and I have a gun, I could just go over there and put it to his forehead and the fight would be over!"

But then, of course, we wouldn't have had that cringe inducing last fight move. Yikes.

I like it so far. I mean, the main character is way stupid. If you're trying to keep your identity a secret, maybe don't keep doing things that cause people to record you and put you on youtube?

Yeah, this is one of my favorite new shows. Alan Ball has hit another one out of the park, IMO.

I feel like the elevator pitch for Banshee is "It's like Justified, except he's only pretending to be a cop." Which is okay by me, cos it means he can go nuts!

Main character looks like Scott Speedman with a mouthful of acorns he's storing away for winter, but, man, they're like ANGRY acorns! So he looks mean!

Totally called the henchman being a psycho. He just looks like a psycho!

I like the bad guy, too. Nice subtle accent and he varies widely between being mildly sympathetic (I kind of felt bad for him in the end, cos he certainly didn't ASK for his fighter to be a rapist) to being cold and evil (like last week with his dog and the drug dealer) but he keeps his calm no matter what he's doing. Lots of good work on a show that is ultimately as subtle as a kick to the balls.

I've only seen the first episode so far, but it caught my interest enough that I should check out a few more. The main character was kind of meh, but badass hacker Lafayette and some other supporting cast seemed good.

I look at the show as if Raylan, from Justified, didn't have a way to conceal his rage. First episode of Justified via Wynona: "You're the angriest man I've ever known." Latest episode of Banshee: "You've changed. You used to be kind. Now... you're just angry."

The female deputy was awesome in this episode. "So, just like the old boss then." *cage fight*, Faux-Sheriff beats the shit out of a trained MMA fighter, and debilitates him for life. When the woman Sanchez beat and raped and "used the champaign bottle", and seeing the look on the mystery Sheriff's face, I knew exactly what he was going to do. The passing comment after the fight, "meet the new boss" was just icing on an already fucktastic cake. This man literally gives no fucks, ever.

There's also a very brief moment when Procter confronts him (all beat up), at the bar, where his face relaxes and shows a bit of fear. Great bit of acting, and needed no words. This is my new favorite show.

edit: one thing this episode solidified for me is that Faux-Sheriff has an incredibly angry reaction to women being hurt, taken advantage of, etc. It was a great bit of character development, and we got a taste of that in the last rave episode with Deva (sp?). He really, really, dislikes any infliction upon women, and he puts principle before death. I like this guy.

Yep. I just like the guy. Con with a Code. Like I wrote in the Winter Shows thread, it ain't perfect, but the script is decent, the acting is good and it pushes all the right buttons with me. I can look past its faults because the rest of the ride is so enjoyable.

So no mention of the Amish villain dude's hot niece? I request she be in every episode going forward. For obvious reasons.

Also the fight with the sheriff and the MMA dude literally got me yelling at my tv screen. KICK HIS ASS SHERIFF!

I didn't think Hot Niece (Rebecca) even needed to be mentioned. I also hope she sticks around.

Was sort of unsure on this until the sheriff went all Sleeping Dogs on that dudes arm.

Picked up for a 2nd season already!

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/20...ampaign=Feed: Tvbythenumbers (TVbytheNumbers)

Yes.

Yeeeesssss.

OK, tell me if I should watch this if:

1) I liked Six Feet Under a whole lot, even if I thought it was uneven.

2) I thought True Blood was terrible but entertaining trash for the first couple of seasons until it dissolved under the weight of it's own stupidity.

All of the above. And more.

edit: go back through the thread, but seriously, this is the best new show on air right now. The first episode alone had me hooked. Where it's going? Don't know. But so far: awesome.

Watching this show , is like being on receiving end of this kick to the chest, but the feeling is of awesomeness!



ALSO the show has its own gif shop! Some NSFW.

http://bansheegifshop.tumblr.com/

He's only producer on this series, he hasn't written any of the episodes. It's a lot more focused than True Blood. It does have the requisite Alan Ball flamboyant queen though.

Caught up.
Ulrich Thomsen is great as Kai, and the sheriff is just one pissed off dude. That fight was brutal.

I like.

My wife's name is Rebecca. I am not sure exactly how yet, but her continued presence on the show and sharing my wife's name is going to pay dividends.

I actually really like the show so far. Yeah, it's not realistic in the least, but whatever. If I want a good dose of realism, I just drive to work.

Now that was some well executed violence. Satisfying to the point that it clearly goes over the line. What I don't quite get is why the Fox guys got raked over the coals at TCAs and nobody brought up Banshee. Jesus. Plus, the episode made it past the title card before disrobing. That's an achievement all by itself.

Hyphens, Brian. I'm starting to lose faith.

Time To Titties in this episode? 5 seconds. Impressive, show. So far this has had the most sex of any of the other episodes. Very interesting stuff going on with the characters, but I was bit annoyed that the shared video bit from last episode was totally ignored. Also, after the failed painting heist, Hood tells the bartender ex-con that it wasn't a total loss, but that was never revisited. No Rebecca, either, although the Hood/Kat sex scene was hilarious. I hope the next episode does more of what we saw in 1-3 (4 was still good, but lacked.. something). Highest point of everything was Jobe (sp?), and his eventual arrival in Banshee. That character is just awesome.

I just saw five minutes of an episode, and it made me want to see more. Cool.

My thoughts exactly.
The show also gets in trouble whenever it leaves Banshee.
I get hiding in some podunk town, I get wanting to be near the girl you love, and I accept te premise of "oops, guess I'm the sheriff now". But last episode he was hande 10 million worth of diamonds, so why the fuck s he stealing paintings?

And if he's the kind of person who'll shot at police without blinking, why does he care about Banshee and bringing Proctor to justice?
But still a fun show although they're really heavy on the "look, we've got tits and ass!"

I loved every damned bit of him taunting the neo-nazis. I was laughing my ass off.

"He's one of us - his wife is white!"
...
"Thanks"

That line had me laughing for a couple minutes straight.

So awesome.

I hate to admit it, but I will. The scene that is seared into my brain is Ivana Milicevic standing in the bathroom doorway glistening. I guess when people go into auditions for a Cinemax drama, they show up knowing what they are getting themselves into.

EDIT: Interesting. She started as a stand-up comic making jokes about her time in the modeling world.

She was Riley Finn's wife for one episode of Buffy!

It kind of bugs me that the reviews of Banshee are almost universally positive with the caveat of 'you have to get past the almost laughable sex and nudity'. So why do they bother? Do they really think that it was the titty shots on the Sopranos that made it a great show? Do they have so little faith in their writing? I mean, we see Emmy Rossum's naked body occasionally on Shameless, but never so frequently that it starts to get boring and it's rarely gratuitous. Sure, it's gratuitous on True Blood for the most part, but Banshee is making True Blood look like Little House on the Prairie.

It wasn't a total waste because Anna came to save him, and still cares about him. Even though she had logical reasons for doing it (Rabbit would find her), she did it because she was worried for him (in his head at least).

Red Alert 3 anyone?

Well, there you go. If you've ever masturbated to RA you should be aware that Tim Curry shows up nude in Banshee.

So this show gets better every episode. It's Justified with less thinking and no Olyphant being Producer ensuring that nobody dies anymore.

I loved how much screen time they gave Deputy Kelly in this episode, and the very un-subtle evidence envelope on her desk that Hood left her with all the bikers' rings in it. This show is fucking awesome, and now that Job is in town, makes it even better. This is, by far, my new favorite show.

edit: make sure you stick around after the credits. Every episode has an extra scene. In this one, we get Kelly standing in front of a mirror, staring down, before she looks up at herself in the mirror with MURDERFACE. I think it's perfect, because at the beginning of the show she didn't really know how to feel about Hood's violent tendencies, but after all the shit that happened to her in this episode, I think she's going to end up a total badass.

Great episode! Although, she was a terrible shot. Also, I thought the Proctor speech in the courtroom was pretty weak. That whole scene fell flat for me. Except Hood saying "shut up".

Minor complaints aside, this show keeps delivering.

"when it is time for you to spend the night, it won't be to protect me". Hot!

The juice boxes didn't deserve that!

Also it was a fantastic episode. :) AMISH GIRL NIECE :D

As much as I love Ulrich Thomsen, that courtroom scene was kinda flat. He looks great, but I find most of his scenes rather pedestrian.

Also that post credit scene wasn't just murderface, it was also her fondling that rather nasty scar we've seen glimpses of before - this one has an interesting past.

The courtroom scene was flat for me because they haven't really established the Big Bad as to how he relates to the regular people in town. From what they've implied, everyone knows he's into some bad shit and if you cross him you're dead, so he's got to be bad news for everyone. Which is why I didn't buy people being like "YEAH! BRING IN THE MURDEROUS THUGS OF THE LOCAL MAFIA GUY!" What? If this is the sort of guy that shakes down local families/businesses for "protection" where the fuck was he to begin with? Or is there a local folk-hero status attached to him that we just haven't seen?

Either way, that scene was stupid.

The courtroom scene was indeed flat and out-of-place.

As for Procter, it's been suggested a lot of times that he supports a lot of Banshee's infrastructure, and maybe it's possible that a lot of these people just don't know that he's a lunatic drug-peddling mafia boss. Or, more likely, the writers just didn't give a shit and wanted that scene in.

Everybody in this show is a bad shot, except for the one time Fake Hood shot the guy in the back at a party, and Anna shooting juice boxes.