Warning: Fullfor the episode follow…

Loading

Željko Ivanek in Banshee.

One of the giddiest, grimiest, pulpiest shows on TV is back for a second season. Banshee kicked its sophomore year tonight with a bit of a left turn, as far as the show goes. Not only was "Little Fish" almost fully dedicated to the direct (and somber) fallout of the Season 1 finale, but it introduced a new character in the form of Željko Ivanek's Agent Jim Racine who all but took over the whole episode. In fact, by the end of this season opener, I was more intrigued with Racine's time-crunch quest to bring Rabbit to justice than I was with Hood's meandering malaise. And had we ended the episode with Hood, it would have just been him getting laid again.Not that there's anything wrong with a sex scene featuring Odette Annable, but it had just become clear, due to a bit of newfound sexual tension, that Hood will also (most likely) wind up bedding Siobhan. So he's now only one brunette away from nailing every hot chick in town. That being said, Nola is pretty badass. She's not a fully formed character yet, and much of her motivations still remain a mystery, but any gal who can thwart Hood's plans to rob an armored car while dressed up like a John Woo-style motorcycle rider is okay with me."Little Fish" wasn't Banshee's strongest outing, but I did appreciate the fact that the chaos the ensued back in "A Mixture of Madness" wound up having very real consequences. Because let's face it, "Madness" ended the way a lot of classic (sometimes cheesy) action movies did. Like Roadhouse, for example. A citizen basically taking the law into his own hands and murdering the arch villain. In movies, the credits role and we just leave the theater assuming everything turned out fine and that no legal action was taken against the hero. But here, even though the outcome wasn't as bad as it could be, Racine punished Hood, Ana, Brock and the rest. With their only saving grace being that they had the privilege of going up against a "big time" player who was way more important to the Feds than they were.And aside from the daredevil freeway armored transport heist (and subsequent sideways-f***ery by Nola), this episode was more contemplative. With Gordon leading a memorial service for the now-deceased Mayor, Ana pleading with Gordon to let her back into his life, and Sugar and Job trying to convince Hood that he should pick up and blow town. In fact, the way Job phrases it to Hood, it almost sounded like he was addressing the premise of the show itself. Something along the lines of "How long could this fake Sheriff s*** last anyhow?" So basically both Hood, and the series, are taking a thoughtful pause about how to proceed.Racine's cancer may have been sheepishly foreshadowed by his chain smoking (and lack of concern about where he's allowed to do it), but he still wound up being the most interesting element of this premiere. Not only is Ivanek an amazingly sharp actor, but it came a surprise to me that his character wound up sticking around. Having not read any details about Season 2 casting, I thought there was a good chance that he was doing a one-ep guest spot as a story device used to give the audience a Season 1 refresher. So turning him into a dying man hellbent on bringing down Rabbit (for what are now undisclosed reasons) was a nice jolt of electricity. Julian Sands popping up at the end as Rabbit's brother, a rather hard-hearted priest, was a nice touch too, though the actual close out of "Little Fish" could have used a bit more hook.So, as of now, the only people who seem to want Hood to stay (if not just because of all the trouble they went through in the line of duty to get him back) are his deputies. Even Brock, kinda/sorta. Everyone else is trying to convince him to become a puff of smoke. Naturally, we'd assume he's sticking around for Ana, whose cover is now blown, but a simple edit in this episode suggested that he's actually way more curious about Deva, and having an actual daughter, to skip out.