ST. LOUIS — "I don't know what's coming, but it's coming."
Lucas Hood's words could echo across the country right now. The meaning for Hood was trying to figure out which bad(der) men were coming for his head but for the real world, it's a virus that has knocked out sports, many stores, and the general way of life.
What hasn't been paused are the streaming networks such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu among others. They not only remain functional, but have certainly received a boost from people choosing comfy pants over the nice shoes on a Saturday night.
With that being the reality, let me suggest some shows to binge during the downtime. I could give at least ten but for now, I'll stick with five reasons to binge Cinemax's hit series, "Banshee."
In the four season series, Antony Starr ("The Boys" on Amazon Prime) portrays an ex-con who decides to go to a small town to look for the love of his life, Ana (Ivana Milicevic), and finds a lot of trouble waiting for him instead. A little of that trouble, and a cunning need to find some stability, help this guy become sheriff overnight. The town is called Banshee and it's got every kind of terror known to network television's cookie jaw: Amish gangsters, dangerous drug dealers, violent tendencies, inefficient law enforcement, and a prosecutor's office placed in a stranglehold due to local corruption.
Enter Hood, his desire for Ana (who is married to the lead prosecutor with a different first name), and the local Amish gangster who "owns" the town (Ulrich Thomsen)-and things get bloody very quick.
Here are five reasons to give this show a look.
A Starr is born
Few knew who the New Zealand-bred actor was before this pilot aired five years ago. Within a matter of hours, they were locked in. Without him, the show falls apart. Hood is in the majority of the scenes and does things many honest souls would deem unnecessary, but he is trying to take down worse men than himself. While it's hard to grasp his methods, a viewer needs to believe in Hood's good soul. Starr makes it all possible and meets the grueling demands of the stunt work required on this show. It's a full-bodied "go for broke" performance that encapsulates the show.
The female hit as hard as the men
Most shows allow a fight between two females at some point. In Jonathan Tropper's creation, the women exchange punches with men. Males who may stand taller but don't hit harder. Milicevic, Trieste Kelly Dunn (who plays a deputy who catches Hood's eye), Lili Simmons (gangster's violent niece), Odette Annable, and many other ladies get into as many fights as the male cast, which is a refreshing twist the norm. It's either women-women or men-men, but here a character named Clay Burton (Matty Rauch) goes toe-to-toe against Annable's Nola for over three minutes. "Banshee" took chances like that and it helped changed the industry.
The stunt work was second to nine on television
I'd put them right behind "John Wick" for overall effectiveness. Stunt coordinator Marcus Young captured something incredibly difficult: the allure of realism with the visual dazzle of comic book-infused action. It was pulpy greatness. The fighting stunts were choreographed incredibly well and Christopher Faloona's shots heightened the punches, kicks, gunshots, and stab wounds. Young's team delivered signature work that created a whole new lane for other action shows to follow.
The writing was better than expecting, creating layers of intrigue
If you read that premise and entered it like a code into your head, one would think the stunts and sound work would be all the cast and crew need. But you'd be wrong. Tropper's creation is carried out so well by writers such as Adam Targum (who would later become showrunner), Steve Turner, Jennifer Ames, and many more. Tropper once said the idea of the show and all the flavors it entailed came to him during many late nights spent watching cable television.
The middle of the night ingredients helped Tropper assemble his authentic creation that hasn't lost an ounce of juice since it went off the air a couple years ago. The screenplay, along with the action, set it apart. Without the proper writing, the action would ring hallow in the long run. The writing, along with the actor's conviction, made everything stick. There were harsh and honest lessons about accountability, the painful ruthlessness of the past, and some of the best monologues ever written and spoken (given great skill by Matt Servitto and Frankie Faison).
Hoon Lee's Job is worth a few episodes alone
Hood's trickery wouldn't be possible without his trusty sidekick and best friend, Job (Lee), a transgender expert computer hacker who could break into NASA even on a bad hair day. Dressed in everything the runway shows you, Lee's anti-hero can find a phone's location without help, deliver an address, fire a weapon, and kick your butt all inside a handful of scenes. He's also hilarious and the writers give Lee all kinds of opportunities to bicker, complain, and fire zingers at every turn. He hates "Banshee" but loves his friend, knowing both of them should be hundreds of miles away from this crazy town. Later in the series, Job was given different material to work with and Lee was allowed to stretch his talent. This is one of the better characters created in recent history.
Here's the thing. All four seasons are available on Amazon Prime. The show is free with the streaming device, which only costs a person $13 a month for a lot more than just "Banshee ". It wasn't always this way. Late in 2019, the first two seasons were free, but the final two would cost you. Now, that's better than the years before, where you could only find the first two episodes on YouTube without a Cinemax prescription. You should take the leap and give this show a shot.
A few hours in, there's a fight between Hood and an arrogant MMA fighter that sets the tone for the show. Later on that season, there's a death match between Hood and a prison kingpin who happens to be an Albino (Joe Gatt). It's brutally authentic and highly entertaining, something "Banshee" achieved weekly.
This show took chances, starting with its usage of a transgender as a major character and featuring more female on male fights than any other show dared to try. "Banshee" was more soulful and unfiltered than it needed to be, making sure to stop and slow things down in order for a dramatic beat to take place. There's plenty of action and sex, but there's heart and character development as well.
It's one of the most well-balanced shows I have watched in my lifetime of watching too much television.
If you are stuck inside, "Banshee" should be atop the list of shows to binge.
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