Banshee Season 1 Review

UPDATE: 1/3/2014
Got a few new trailers for you below…
First:
A reminder that in    6 5 4 3 2  

1 night from now…

on Friday, January 11…the new season of Banshee premieres on Cinemax.

For all of my fellow Fanshees out there…I HIGHLY, emphatically & enthusiastically suggest we all begin recruiting people to tune in and help bring this show to the next level.

This maybe the very best show on TV right now, let alone one of the very best of 2013…and more people need to find out about this show quick.

If you’re a Fanshee…recruit.
If you a Banshee virgin, watch the pilot below…
Hunt down the rest of Season 1 and be one of the cool kids with us.

Let’s get er done!!

BREAK!!

Banshee: Season 1 & 2 recap:

 

 

Now, a few words…

The thing about Banshee is….it’s awesome. This show is my cup of gasoline.
This show…this series….is what Hollywood films should be…but don’t have the balls to be.

This isn’t “The Following” (damn tight actually) or “Hostages” or “The Blacklist” or some other show imitating another show, being choked by network rules…

This show takes the standard Television Series cliché…and the Hollywood movie cliché, drenches them in gasoline, lights them on fire and burns them both to the fucking ground.

The story in a nut shell because I don’t like saying too much about a film or series in advance of someone watching it:

A hyper smart thief (played with conviction by Anthony Starr) is released from prison.
He immediately heads to New York City (baby) to make contact with one of his partners, master computer hacker turned beauty salon owner Job, (scene stealer Hoon Lee) to find out where the his other partner & love of his life Anastasia is. (played with passion and fury by Ivana Miličević)

Seems after he was caught and locked up for robbing crime lord Mr. Rabbit (wait…is that Ben Cross?! Nice!!) she ceased all contact with him and went into hiding. After smashing some of Jobs state of the art computer equipment…

“Ok! Just stop the carnage.”

Job hands over the address. Anastasia is now Carrie Hopewell. She has changed her identity, began a new life, with a new husband and new daughter in a town called Banshee.

The thief heads to Banshee to find her, why she left and to get his cut of the score.

He stops at a bar and befriends the bars owner, ex-boxer and ex-con Sugar (Frankie Faison…it’s all perfect casting).

Into the bar walks the new sheriff, Lucas Hood, who is stopping at the bar for a steak, is from out of town and who no one has seen or met before.

The 3 talk until a few tough guys enter the bar to collect money from Sugar. The thief (who is a complete-fucking-bad ass) and the sheriff both come to Sugars defense, but the sherif is killed before the 2 tough guys are killed by the thief.

No one knows the sheriff. No one in Banshee has seen his face yet. The thief decides to assume the identity of the sheriff, and he becomes Lucas Hood.

That’s all I’m saying…that’s a run-down the first episode and lays the ground work for what comes next…which is amazing, original high-octane gasoline people.

This isn’t safe, PC, warm and fuzzy in your belly TV.

If you want safe, go watch “Friends“.

If you want to see a show that does what no others dare do…you start watching “Banshee”. Stat.

This is a hard core show, with hard core actors…hard core direction…HARD CORE WRITING…and it never lets up.

The first season was rock and roll and is available on Blu-ray….Season 2 premieres on Cinemax January 10th, 2014 at 10PM.

Now, another element of Banshee I love…Fanshees.

Fanshee:
(Adjective)
Definition: A devoted fan of the Cinemax/HBO Television Series “Banshee”

Now I’m not sure who came up with the name,
maybe Ivana,
maybe Greg…
maybe a super fan like Keith…

I’m not sure,
but the shows cast and crew, namely Ivana Miličević (she takes a few beatings in the show that are just awful, awful, awful to watch. But then she hands out beatings…and this girl can fight boy. When she kicks ass, punks step up to get beat down)

and the series Showrunner & episode director Greg Yaitanes (you tell me another series where the Showrunner corresponds with the fans). Both have been extremely warm to the Banshee fans…the Fanshees… from the very beginning, especially on Twitter.

I tweeted my first Banshee tweet after seeing an advert for the show last year. It was in a Times Square, New York City (baby). Looked like this…

I remember thinking it reminded me of Hitchcock’s 1955 film “The Trouble With Harry“.

I watched the first few episodes.

This was not “The Trouble With Harry”. This was more like Tarantinos “Pulp Fiction” meets Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct” meets Michael Mann’s “Heat”.

I went to Twitter after a few episodes to seek out fellow viewers…and I soon discovered the Fanshee community. I was a member immediately.

It’s kind of like being infected with a virus to be honest. The “Fanshee” virus.

Stay with me.

Once you watch (get exposed) to the series Banshee, you become a fan ( get infected) and become passionate for the series (fanatical) and you want others to see it (you want to infect others).

What are the membership requirements you ask? (How do you know if you are infected)

• You watch Banshee. Religiously.
• (Missing an episode is not an option)
• You find yourself unable to contain your excitement & enthusiasm for the show.
• (General hysteria & desire to alert every like minded Film & TV buff you know about this jewel of a series)

After watching a new episode (out of the blue) you find yourself:

• Going online to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, ect. to discuss the show with fellow fans at all hours of the night.
• (Running to the highest mountain top you can find to yell at the top of your lungs “Banshee is amazing!!!!!” to the world…
• Going online to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, ect. to inform Banshee virgins & recruit new fans.
• (Running like a lunatic from village to village to find new blood, expose & turn them.)

If you suffer from one or more of the above, you’re probably a die-hard fan (infected with the “Fanshee” virus.)

It’s not curable. The only thing that helps is watching new shows, between seasons seems to bring about horrible withdrawal symptoms.

Anyway…
It seemed like the Fanshee community was probably a few hundred strong at first, but as the show progressed it became this mini-movement, like a zombie outbreak.

Members of the cast & crew correspond with us Fanshees on a regular basis…showing love, support and appreciation for our dedication.

Never acting like they are “too good” or above responding or something.

It’s actually quite the opposite.

It’s more like they want to be involved in any and all conversations to do with the show because they are all fans themselves.

Cinemax, Ivana, Greg, Hoon Lee (Plays Job…easily my favorite), Johnathan Tropper, Lili Simmons, Anastasia’s daughter even tweets as Deva Hopewell.
They are all accessible, fun, and again, all appreciative of their fans.

Often live tweeting during show, giving us “shoutouts” & “thank you’s”, changing there Twitter profile pictures to show love for us Fanshees out here…

(Ivana Miličević – Representing)

Recognizing what has become an sizable following of devoted viewers and embracing this new “social media” thang, Cinemax has since created a Twitter account solely for us Fanshees.

I’ve been a devoted Fanshee from the moment I saw that Key-art for season 1 in Times Square, NYC a month before the first episode aired last year.

During the course of the watching the first season unfold, the interaction between the actors, actresses and crew to the fans of Banshee… I hadn’t seen that level of engagement between a series and it’s fans before.

And that involvement only makes this wonderful piece of TNT more attractive…and rare…in my eyes.

Get on this people. I implore you.

Think of it this way…either you start watching, or some one will bite and infect you. Either way, you’re only going to hear more and more about this show as it progresses.

Get er done.

From the Wikipedia article:

Banshee is an American drama television series created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler, who serve as executive producers along with Alan Ball, Greg Yaitanes and Peter Macdissi.
The series is set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country and features an enigmatic ex-con who has assumed the identity of a murdered sheriff. He imposes his own brand of justice while also cooking up plans that serve his own interests.

The series first aired on Cinemax on January 11, 2013, as part of the station’s drive to develop original content. Season 1 was released on Region 1 DVD on July 30, 2013. The series was renewed for a 10-episode second season in January 2013, which is set to premiere on January 10, 2014.

Season 2 Trailer:

 

ARTWORK: