Banshee Recap: “Half Deaf is Better Than All Dead”
Original Air Date (Cinemax): Friday January 1, 2013
Season 1 Episode 4
by Julianne Snow:
In the opening scenes of this episode, Carrie and Gordon are in bed, making love, but it’s obvious from her demeanor that something is on her mind. Perhaps the pressure of Lucas in town is beginning to get to her.
The scene changes to Lucas who is attempting to steal a painting from the Harrisburg State Museum. As circumstances unfold, Lucas triggers the alarm and gets caught in a box – a set of doors that close, locking a person inside but that are generally not on the blueprints. He calls Job to help him and each passing moment painfully wears on him; enclosed spaces don’t seem to sit well with Lucas. As he’s talking to Job, Carrie also calls, asking Lucas to stay away from her family. Switching between the two calls, Lucas accidentally reveals to Carrie that he’s on a job. Stealing a state trooper’s uniform, Lucas attempts to make an escape once Job releases the doors. He’s soon spotted and surrounded, but just when the situation looks hopeless, Carrie arrives in her SUV to save him. Once they are safe, Carrie reveals to Lucas that she only saved him to stay off Rabbit’s radar. Meeting Sugar just outside town, Lucas reveals that he left the painting.
The next day, when Lucas shows up for work, Kat Moody is waiting for him in front of the Sheriff’s office. She has come to warn him that the Moody brothers will try to kill him. Going inside, he finds that State Senator Schumacher, Reed’s father. Schumacher wants to know what Lucas has done to bring justice for his son. Schumacher leaves, but not before telling Lucas to find Hanson. Lucas brings in Deva, to Carrie’s dismay and she identifies a man named Arno Webber as an associate of Hanson’s.
Lucas and Deputy Yawners (Demetrius Grosse) pay a visit to Arno in his neo-Nazi enclave. In the hallway, a man asks Lucas what he’s doing in the building. Lucas uses ‘excessive force’ to subdue him (gotta love his methods!). When approached by Lucas, Arno runs, but Yawners catches up to him and breaks his nose while bringing him down. To avoid prison, Arno produces a severed hand from his freezer, telling Lucas and Yawners that it belongs to Hanson. After a little cajoling, Arno tells them a story of seeing Proctor and Burton (Matthew Rauch) dismembering and disposing of Hanson’s body – with a cellphone video to prove it!
Taking the video back to Headquarters, a place they call Cadi since it used to be the old Cadillac dealership, they show the video to Gordon, who tells them to protect Arno and gives them the go ahead to arrest Proctor. In a moment of fatherly concern, Gordon discusses his daughter Deva’s involvement in identifying Arno. He wants that information to stay away from Proctor to which Lucas states he sees no reason for it to go farther than it has.
Lucas and Yawners arrest Proctor in his home. As they drive back to Cadi, their car is struck by the Moody’s truck and flips down the bank into the river. The boys are looking to exact revenge for the sheriff’s killing of their brother, Cole. With Lucas reeling from the accident and Proctor strung up in tree overhanging the river, they debate whether they should kill Proctor as well. Lucas’ injuries don’t seem to matter all that much as he takes them out one by one, severing one of the brother’s ears in the process. Lucas decides to let them go, realizing that they cannot arrest them all. Resolving to bring Proctor in, he tells Yawners that he’s prioritizing.
Back at HQ, Proctor is lead in and his lawyer freaks out, thinking that Proctor has been a victim of police brutality. In Lucas’ signature style of no bullshit antics, he assures the lawyer that neither he nor Yawners hurt Proctor.
Carrie has a few moments in the tub with herself, fantasizing and remembering what it was like to be with Lucas. Working out her frustration with Lucas in the water is soon not enough and she goes to her husband for release.
In the bar that night, Lucas explains to Sugar that he didn’t kill the Moody’s because he didn’t want the scrutiny that would have come with more dead bodies. Sugar tells Lucas that whatever the next job is, he wants in. Outside the bar, Lucas runs into Kat who happens to be sitting on his steps. In another signature move, he finds himself in bed with her working out a few of his own frustrations. Carrie pulls up to the bar after leaving her husband’s sleeping form, intent on talking to Lucas, perhaps rekindling their relationship, but she leaves when she sees Kat exit his apartment.
As Proctor is singing through the night, interrupting the sleep of Officer Kelly, Mayor Kendall stops by to see him. Proctor has a history with the young man’s father, a history which seems to extend to the younger man. There is more of a story there, but we haven’t discovered what it is yet.
In court, Proctor enters a plea of not guilty. Given the slew of previous failed charges brought against him, the judge decides to let Proctor out on bail, stating that he will not incarcerate him until there has been an indictment. After hearing that the prosecution has an eyewitness, Proctor asks Burton, his oddly frightening bowtie wearing assistant, to look into it.
Outside HQ that night Lucas has a visitor waiting for him; Job has come to Banshee (yeah!). Lucas foretells that Job will grow to hate it in Banshee. Job returns with “I already hate it here”. I cannot wait until Lucas takes Job shopping for new clothes!
That night, Brock keeps an eye on Arno at a motel. There’s a knock on the front door, and as Brock prepares for an assault, the wall beside Arno explodes. Losing consciousness, Brock watches in his stunned state as Arno is carried away, suspiciously like someone that looks at lot like Proctor.
Yet again, you have to watch the scene that plays at the end of the credits. I love the Easter Egg component! They do add so much more to the show.
Here are the questions that came to mind as I was watching this episode:
Why does Proctor have the crucifixion tattooed onto his back? He’s Amish…
Why is Carrie jealous that Lucas is moving on? She obviously has.
DarkMedia contributor Julianne Snow was first lulled into the horror genre by her parents during an ill-advised viewing of Alien when she was only 4 years old. Since that date, it’s been a given that Julianne will watch and read anything that is horror related. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Sirens Call Publications and Open Casket Press, as well as The Sirens Call and various other websites showcasing short fiction. She is the author of the Days with the Undead series, which can be found on her website dayswiththeundead.com. Her first novel, Days with the Undead: Book One was published in early 2012 and is based on her popular web serial. Find her on Twitter @CdnZmbiRytr.
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