Banshee Review: “Armies of One” (Season 2, Episode 6)

The upshot to “Armies of One” playing like a post-Super Bowl episode is that such instalments always make sure to push the story forward by the end, so as to give green viewers an inkling of where things are going. This is something Banshee desperately needs right now, and each one of the aforementioned plotlines does build towards a push forward. Kai’s fixation with the casino finally gets filled in, as his lifetime spent in the shadows has him thinking about what part of his legacy, if any, will be visible once he’s dead and gone. Gordon finally hits rock-bottom by episode’s end, and Deva proves willing to break bread and blueberry pancakes with her mother about her past. It’s taken six episodes, but these people are finally moving out of positions of despondence and circling, and into action.

As an hour meant to introduce the uninitiated to Banshee’s various players, “Armies of One” does a well-enough job with the supporting cast, but it’s Hood that the episode really has to sell newbies on. The particular side of Hood we get isn’t the whole picture, as his relationship with Ana, the thing that’s driven him the whole show, is put on the back-burner. Instead, it’s all Lucas Hood – Stoic Badass – all hour. Again, bringing fresh eyes to the character explains the choice: Hood’s more-reflective-than-usual mood has him thinking about the real Lucas Hood who died on the floor of Sugar’s bar, which A) provides key background information about the character and the show’s premise, and B) segues into the week’s main plot, which sees Jason Hood’s own past finally coming to bite him in the ass.

The teeth doing the biting are surprisingly well-maintained, seeing as they belong to vicious Brit named Quentin. A local yokel likens Quentin to Austin Powers (about 30 seconds before being broken in half like a glow stick), but he’s really more of Transporter-era Jason Statham type, rocking a sports car, three-piece suit, and some serious fighting skills. His motivations are fairly rote (Jason took money from the wrong people; said people want the money and Jason back), but Quentin makes for a more interesting Baddie of the Week than usual, simply because he provides a mirror for Hood. “Armies of One” spends an entire monologue on drawing comparisons between the two, but the simplicity works to the episode’s benefit.

Quentin isn’t some mustache-twirling villain, and Hood owes nothing to Jason, but both are honor-bound, whether by a boss or a dead man, to take care of the kid in one fashion or another. As regular viewers, we all know Hood and Quentin will have to face-off, regardless of the deal made to pay for Jason’s transgressions, so it robs the pair’s initial stalemate of a bit of its juice. But when the two do finally trade blows in a one-on-one on the 1-0-1, and Quentin loses his head, I found myself enjoyably disappointed. I wanted more out of Quentin as an individual character and adversary in his own right, but also really appreciated the clarity his presence brought to the episode. By keeping him away from most of the other sideplots and characters this week, we got some much-needed time to examine who Hood is as an individual, and what other than Ana determines his choices.

That’s what makes the episode’s final reveal hit like a hammer to the face, with the diamonds Hood lost so many years to proving to be yet another bit of fakery in his life. We’ve seen Hood act out of longing, out of desire, and out of compassion before, but revenge? That’s a whole other story. If you’re a new viewer, you might not be fully aware of who the effeminate man with the diamonds were, or who exactly Hood got screwed over by, but it’s the sort of last-second punch that gets you to tune in next week. The same goes for Jason’s unexpected offing by Kai, which provides newbies with a bridge between the show’s hero, and its true villain.

Why we’re doing all this six weeks into Banshee’s second season is inexplicable to me, and as a regular viewer, the episode’s simplicity just makes it easier to see what a big ol’ logistical mess “Armies of One” is (does Hood really need a bad metaphor from Sugar to guess that Quentin won’t keep his word? How does he know where to intercept Quentin? How does Kai know where to find Rebecca and Jason? And is now really the time for us to finally be getting background on Kai’s assistant, the psycho Smithers to his Mr. Burns?). But you gotta walk before you can run, so the fact that “Armies of One” manages to actually push the story forward in its own modest way makes for a big improvement. Finally, finally, it looks like the season has a direction made clear for itself. If that’s the case, then let’s hope “Armies of One” was meant as one final chance for new fans to jump on to the Banshee train, and that the rest of the season is full steam ahead.

Stray Observations

• Gordon’s already got a little something brewing up with Deputy Brock, who’s running a one-man internal affairs investigation into Hood. An Eagles hat gives us the first new bit of information about Brock we’ve gotten in some time (except for suspiciously mentioning his good relations with the Amish a couple weeks back for…some reason), so it’s good to finally see him getting into the mix of things.
• RI.P. Clover, we hardly new ye. Much as Quentin held up well on his own, I liked the idea of a double act being the threat Hood has to deal with.
• No doubt as to what Quentin’s favorite Super Bowl ad would have been. Hopefully Hood didn’t let his ride go to waste.