Over the past couple years, and very quietly, Cinemax has had a handful of original quality television shows debut on its network more known for softcore porn and relatively recent films. Strike Back and The Knick found enough of an audience to maintain an existence for some time, with Clive Owen’s surgical drama finding some acclaim in a genre that’s filled with some terrific standard bearers. Banshee was perhaps its most daring, taking a crime drama and finding some acclaim with it.
It began as a simple premise. An ex-con (Antony Starr) trying to find his share of a heist from his former accomplice (Ivana Milicevic) in the town of Banshee. Taking on the identity of the recently deceased sheriff, the now Lucas Hood has to navigate this new world while also trying to find the sizable portion of diamonds from many moons ago.
When season 3 ended Hood walked away from his newfound career in law enforcement. Season 4 finds him returning to a much changed Banshee. He finds himself being tasked with tracking down a serial killer as the tale of Lucas Hood comes to a close.
It’s an interesting way to close the show out because this wasn’t a show rushed to a conclusion because it was being cancelled. There’s an organic nature to everything involved as this is a show wrapping itself up thoroughly and completely. The finale, which is still open ended enough that a fifth season wouldn’t have been that shocking, wraps everything up in a nice bow for both the series and the season. In the past couple years a number of prestige shows have gone off the year, from Breaking Bad to Mad Men, and Banshee isn’t one of them, but it goes out with the same style as they did.
It went out on its own terms, with story-telling leading the way instead of ratings. It’s kind of refreshing.
There’s a number of interesting extras here. There’s a retrospective on the series, a number of prequel videos and the usual deleted scenes and audio commentaries.
Cinemax presents Banshee (Season 4). Created by John Tropper and David Schickler. Starring Antony Starr, Ulrich Thomsen, Ivana Millicevic. Run Time: 480 minutes. Not Rated. Released on: 10.4.16
