Banshee (TV Series) Armies of One (2014) User Reviews

Banshee's True Theme

[lesedicarlinphaahla · 10/10 · 9 November 2020]

Watching this series for the third time now in over two years. I've come back to it with fresh eyes and I realized this episode encapsulates the show's most prominent theme in one line of dialogue from none other than our protagonist.

Hood: You only get one second chance.

Jason got another chance. Hood got another chance. Carrie got another chance. Job after having blown up his business in New York and moving to Banshee. Rebecca leaving the farm and moving in with Proctor. Longshadow making amends with Proctor so that he can remain chief. This is a story of second chances.

However let's not detract from the shows main theme put perfectly by Siobhan Kelly.

Hood: Do you think we can change?

Kelly: I don't know that we change. But we can evolve.

Hood: You think we can evolve?

Kelly: That's what we're trying to do, right? Become better versions of ourselves.

Second chances and evolving. Outstanding episode.

Hood meets Jason Statham - OH WOW

[A_Different_Drummer · 10/10 · 15 February 2015]

OK, before you start emailing, let me say that I KNOW the actor was not Jason Statham.

But you have to admit that was the point.

I mean, after the (now famous) episode where Hood is forced to give a tuneup to an MMA star (looking twice his size) who wanders into Dodge (ooops I meant Banshee), you have to concede that the logline for this script (eyes only, not for public consumption) probably read "HOOD MEETS STATHAM" and they just took it from there.

My reviews of individual episodes already suggest that I believe this could be the most significant show of its generation, and that is a mighty bold statement.

But I do watch a lot of TV (so much so that Neilson people once took me down with a tranquilizer dart, tagged me with an RFID chip, and then released me back into the wild) and I am going with instincts here.

This is indeed my pick for most consistently "best" show on the box, and the reason is not merely what the producers (who, according to their IMDb bios, seemed to have appeared as if from nowhere) have already done with the series, but rather in the way they are never content to rest on past laurels, they just keep testing the envelope.

The first 5 minutes here, the setup, was more fun than ENTIRE MOVIES recently done by Segal and Van Damme, And it just gets better and crazier as it goes.

When I compare this to shows like Person of Interest, I think of David and Goliath. POI is very polished, is like Microsoft. Big names both in front of the camera and behind. Committee think. Endless resources.

But this little gem came out of nowhere, it seems, and just won't stop raising the bar.

Time passes, and choices not made are made for you.

[face-819-933726 · 14 February 2014]

I have a close friend who really seems to misunderstand Banshee. He calls it soft core porn. In today's TV land it is really just a bit racier than some of the HBO stuff, and it is coming from Cinemax after all so it has to have that extra bite, but that does not make this show porn (at least not soft core). This week we are given many new points of view, and delivered a complete Samurai at the crossroads type of display. One of the scariest men in British film today gives our Sheriff the straight goods, and treats us to some well choreographed fights. We are shown the passage of time through the careful flashbacks as we quickly run through the minds of our major players, and some of the more colourful characters in town. Kai is showing his spots more and more, and we see the people around us falling into his little traps, and we learn that he will only be patient for so long. Some small time spent alone with Clay will give us some new insight on the ever so perfect lackey. "Hood's Boy" must make his choices well, or they will be made for him also. And when all the dust settles that is all you are left with, broken bits. So as per the norm I Enjoyed the show, but this week we had some new little twists to the cinema-Banshé which was points of view, and so many of them. Slow angles, and slight adjustments, what should be happening, and what is, or isn't, a direct extension of the dream like journey of last week. If I told you that I recommend this episode for any one reason it would be these subtle little inflections, the here, and the there, and the real sense of drama that that builds. What are you waiting for get to it.