More or Less: Banshee “Homecoming”

The end of the season is right around the corner and you could feel the momentum in every part of this week’s Banshee. Let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t in this week’s Banshee: More or Less.

We need…

Less Of: Job’s characterization in this episode. He knows better than to go after Rabbit by himself. He’s smarter than that. While it was worth it to see that awesome sequence of him escaping from the church (seriously, how badass was Hoon Lee in those opening scenes?), the fact remains that Job has consistently been seen to be three steps ahead of the heads and hearts of the other characters. His sudden Rambo streak in attempting to assassinate Rabbit was ill-advised, out of character, and contrived. No, Banshee, having Hood call Job out on his stupidity at the end of the episode does not give you a pass on this.

More Of: Emmet and his relationship with Hood. Last week’s shocking turn of events did wonders for Emmet’s underused character and this episode followed it up in a touching scene between these two men who choose to view the world in vastly different ways. Season Two has been about Hood regaining his humanity in a lot of ways and Emmet’s goodbye to him, “You’re a good man” was more affecting than Emmet could ever know. Anthony Starr sold the impact of those words beautifully as he paused before putting away Emmet’s gun and badge.

More Of: Rebecca as a Godfather-in-training trying to hold on to a conscience… albeit a lot better looking in a dress and heels than Michael Corleone. She’s the biggest variable in Banshee‘s equation right now, helping Julia escape, later kissing Alex Longshadow, and then turning around and revealing Longshadow’s plans to Proctor. I have no idea what her endgame is, but watching it is a whole lot of fun and Lili Simmons is pulling it off brilliantly. We’ll have to stay tuned to see if she survives the dangerous game she’s playing.

More Of: The fantastic balance Banshee continues to maintain in its wonderfully grey characters, perfectly exemplified in Proctor this week. Because Banshee is on Cinemax and not HBO it’ll never receive Emmy attention, but the scene between Proctor and his mother is just one of many examples that prove this is indeed an Emmy worthy show.

Less Of: The power struggle between Alex Longshadow and his rival for leadership. When not tied to Proctor or the larger overall plot, the Kinaho tribe’s storyline isn’t all that interesting. It received a huge boost from Nola’s presence earlier on this season, but without her most of Alex’s troubles within the tribe fall flat. Please, bring Nola (Odette Annable) back?

More Of: The technical expertise involved in constructing this show. Staging, lighting, editing, they’re all tremendously well done here, and often subtle in ways that magnify their effect. Case in point, Gordon and Carrie begin to kiss passionately, well on their way to reconciling. The show cuts to… Hood, looking incredulously in the direction the couple occupied on screen just seconds ago, as if he was looking at them, disgusted. I laughed.

More Of: Hood’s relationship with Siobahn. What could easily have been just another in the string of Banshee‘s many sex scenes later ignored (which is weirdly part of the show’s charm) has morphed into something more tender than anticipated. Watching them leave things the way they did in this episode was hard. I wouldn’t have put these two together, but I’m glad the show did and I hope they find their way back to each other.

More Of: A musical score that heralds Banshee‘s transcendence with an unintrusive beauty that leaves you feeling in a powerfully visceral way. Look no further than the scene outside the Hopewell household for proof of this. In the space of two minutes, the score moves from escalating the tension of one man holding a gun to the head of another to silence, and then to an emotional reprise of Hood and Carrie’s theme from “The Truth About Unicorns”. Composers for the show Methodic Doubt (Kris Dirksen and Dane Short) are truly one of the secret weapons of this show.

Less Of: The 2nd Annual Banshee Shoot-Em-Up Season Finale seems imminent and I’m excited. But there’s a decent sized part of me that feels like we’ve seen this confrontation once already. I’m hoping to see an end to the Rabbit storyline next week. Banshee‘s built a rich tapestry of characters with intricately connected back stories and motivations apart from Hood and Carrie’s shared past, and I’d love to see a heavier focus on them next season.

Final Score: With a tally of six to three, “Homecoming” achieves a More Score of Passing. This was the kind of Banshee episode we need more of.

What could YOU have used more or less of in this week’s Banshee? Was I too hard on poor Job? Give me YOUR More or Less in the comments below!

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