Banshee (TV series)

A man is released from prison after serving 15 years for stealing $15 million in diamonds on behalf of his employer, a Ukrainian mob boss named Rabbit. He and his former lover and accomplice, Rabbit's daughter Anastasia (Ana), had already decided to keep the loot for themselves. Anastasia got away with the diamonds and Rabbit is after the man, thinking he will lead him to his daughter and the diamonds. The man flees to the small fictional Pennsylvanian town of Banshee, where Ana has been living under the alias of Carrie Hopewell, mother of two and wife of the DA. Lucas Hood, the new sheriff, stops at a bar on his way into town and is immediately killed when he intervenes in a dispute between local criminals and the bar owner. The man takes Hood's identity and has to impersonate the sheriff and deal with ex-Amish crime lord Kai Proctor, sort things out with "Carrie", and get his share of the diamonds while evading Rabbit. Season 1 focuses on Hood's attempts to restore his relationship with Carrie under the looming threat of Rabbit finding them. Hood completely disregards the law while clashing with Proctor and pursuing his often criminal activities, alienating his own deputies. Rabbit eventually tracks him down and Hood surrenders to spare Carrie. Carrie leads some criminal accomplices and the deputies in a raid to free Hood and shoots Rabbit. Season 2 deals with tribal chief Alex Longshadow's attempt to build a casino on the reservation, which places Sheriff Hood in the middle of a violent struggle between Longshadow and Proctor. Carrie must face up to her past when she is imprisoned for her part in the raid against her father. With Carrie trying to fix her marriage, Hood enters into a relationship with his deputy, Siobhan. He must deal with the real Hood's son when he comes to Banshee looking for his father. Hood and Carrie are forced to track down and confront Rabbit and settle things once and for all when they learn he survived being shot. ==Episodes==

Main • Antony Starr as the man known as Lucas Hood: An ex-con and master thief released from prison after 15 years who adopts the identity of the real Lucas Hood, Banshee's incoming sheriff, who dies in the premiere episode. • Ivana Miličević as Anastasia "Ana" Rabitova / Carrie Hopewell: Hood's former criminal accomplice and lover. She lives in Banshee under an alias as a real estate agent with her husband Gordon and children Deva and Max, who are unaware of her past. She is also in hiding from "Mr. Rabbit", her father. • Ulrich Thomsen as Kai Proctor: A crime kingpin and businessman in Banshee. Proctor was originally a member of Banshee's Amish community but abandoned the faith for crime. • Frankie Faison as Sugar Bates: A retired former boxer and ex-con, turned bar owner. He befriends Hood and is aware that he is a criminal. • Hoon Lee as Job: A hair stylist and Hood's criminal accomplice who is an expert computer hacker. Job is a cross-dresser. • Langley Kirkwood as Colonel Douglas Stowe: A U.S. Marine running an illegal business out of Banshee's Camp Genoa. (season 3) • Tom Pelphrey as Kurt Bunker: A former member of the Aryan Brotherhood who becomes a Banshee deputy. (season 4; recurring season 3) • Chris Coy as Calvin Bunker: The leader of the Aryan Brotherhood in Banshee and the younger brother of Kurt Bunker. (season 4; guest season 3) Recurring • Steve Coulter as Elijah Bowman: father of Rebecca Bowman. (seasons 1–4) • Samantha Worthen as Miriam Bowman: mother of Rebecca Bowman. (seasons 1–4) • Odette Annable as Nola Longshadow: Alex's sister. (seasons 1–3) • Christos Vasilopoulos as Olek: Right-hand-man to "Mr. Rabbit". (seasons 1–2) • Joseph Gatt as "The Albino": A prisoner who served time with Hood and was granted custody of him (recurring seasons 1–2, guest season 4) • Derek Cecil as FBI Special Agent Dean Xavier: An FBI agent. (seasons 1–2) • Gabriel Suttle as Max Hopewell: Carrie and Gordon's son. (recurring seasons 1–2, stand-in season 3) • Deja Dee as Alma: Employee at Banshee's Sheriff Department. (seasons 1–3) • Chelsea Cardwell as Beaty: Deva's best friend. (seasons 1–3) • Robert Treveiler as Jackson Sperling: Kai Proctor's lawyer. (seasons 1–3) • Harrison Thomas as Jason Hood: The real Lucas Hood's son (guest season 1, recurring season 2) • Željko Ivanek as FBI Special Agent Jim Racine: An FBI agent. (season 2) • Gil Birmingham as George Hunter: A member of the Kinaho Tribal Council and Alex Longshadow's rival for the position of Chief. (season 2) • Amber Midthunder as Lana Cleary (season 2) • Reg E. Cathey as Detective Julius Bonner: An NYPD Detective who had arrested the protagonist after the diamond robbery. (guest season 2) • Maya Gilbert as Juliet: A stripper. (season 2) • Eddie Cooper as Fat Au: A New York-based crime lord who is an old friend of Hood and Job (seasons 2–4) • Jennifer Griffin as Leah Proctor: Kai's mother. (seasons 2–3) • Tyson Sullivan as "Hondo": Key enforcer for the Aryan Brotherhood in Banshee, who works for Kai. (recurring season 2, guest season 3) • Julian Sands as Yulish Rabitov: "Mr. Rabbit"'s brother and a priest. (season 2) • Chaske Spencer as Billy Raven: A former officer of the Kinaho Reservation Police Department before becoming a Banshee deputy, who is now considered an outcast by his people. (recurring season 3, guest season 4) • Meaghan Rath as Aimee King: The sole honest officer in the corrupt Kinaho Reservation Police Department. (season 3) • Tanya Clarke as Emily Lotus: Brock's ex-wife and Kai's mistress. (season 3) • Happy Anderson as "Bones" Tuesday: A cajun fight club owner whose star fighter is Chayton Littlestone. (season 3) • Dennis Flanagan as Leo Fitzpatrick: A computer hacker. (seasons 3–4) • David Harbour as Robert Dalton: A black ops agent. (guest seasons 3–4) • Casey LaBow as Maggie Bunker: The wife of Calvin Bunker, who wants a better life for her and her son. (season 4) • Eliza Dushku as FBI Special Agent Veronica Dawson: An FBI agent who is incredibly reckless and also has personal demons of her own. She is hunting down a serial killer who has just arrived in Banshee. (season 4) • Chance Kelly as Randall Watts: Maggie's father. (season 4) • Frederick Weller as Declan Bode: A satanist and a serial killer. (season 4) • Nestor Serrano as Emilio Loera: A powerful member of the cartel. (season 4) • Ana Ayora as Nina Cruz: A smart, tough and streetwise Banshee deputy who is also working as a mole for Proctor. (season 4) == Production ==

Banshee is part of Cinemax's attempt to expand its original programming content, and it joins Strike Back (joining as a co-producer from season 2 onwards) and Sandbox. Banshee premiered on January 11, 2013. == Reception ==

The first season of Banshee holds a 67% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.10/10 and based from 36 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "Its trappings are nothing new and its lurid combination of violence and sex will likely turn away some viewers, but Banshee can be entertaining in some distinctive ways." Seasons 2, 3, and 4 received approval ratings of 94%, 100%, and 100% respectively. On Metacritic, season 1 holds a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Wall Street Journal critic Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote, "Its smartness comes shining through despite the claptrap (none worse than the parade of sex scenes, soft-porn variety, whose noisiness is exceeded only by their unconvincingness); its story, littered with intriguingly repellent characters, like Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), local evil tycoon, grows ever more enticing". The San Francisco Chronicle said about Banshee, "It has a solid pedigree. It's also part of Cinemax's effort to expand its original programming. That effort pays off with 'Banshee'". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote "it's the characters of Banshee and their labyrinth of relationships that make the show an engrossing, entertaining portrait of a fictional small town." The A.V. Club included season 3 on its list of the best TV of 2015, describing it as "upping the emotional stakes to almost unbearable levels." Banshee has also had less favorable reviews. A Boston Herald critic described the series as a "slow-pokey drama punctuated by shocking violence and sex". Ratings Season one of Banshee drew Cinemax's then-highest ratings for an original series, averaging 433,000 viewers per episode and 727,000 in the 7 days after each episode was released. The season finale drew 455,000 viewers during its initial screening and 655,000 during its repeat, the largest audience ever, at the time, for a Cinemax original series, and the third-highest ratings achieved by Banshee at that point. The second season exceeded the first's successes. The season's fifth episode, "The Truth about Unicorns", set a series record with 591,000 viewers during its original airing. The season finale also set a new record, with 733,000 viewers, and a total of 968,000 for the evening including repeat showings. Accolades Armen V. Kevorkian won the award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. == Other media ==

A soundtrack album, Banshee – Music from the Cinemax Original Series, was released as digital download on February 11, 2014. The album features 17 songs from the show's first two seasons, including the main theme by Methodic Doubt, and tracks by artists including Nico Vega, Ivy Levan, The Growl, Anders Osborne, Fred Eaglesmith, and Martin Harley. == References ==