Banshee Recap: “The Kindred”

Banshee Recap: “The Kindred”
Original Air Date (Cinemax): Friday January 8, 2013
Season 1 Episode 5

by Julianne Snow:

The fifth episode of Banshee titled ‘The Kindred,’ is marked by the arrival of a gang of bikers, just as Job, Sugar and Lucas are scouting out the casino’s armoured truck pick-up. Always looking for a way to “raise capital”, Lucas and his gang are learning the schedule in the hopes of making a heist.

In town, the Spirit Festival is taking place and the streets are lined with vendors and festival-goers. The biker gang has set themselves up on a side street and when Carrie parks her car near them, they take an interest in her. Brushing off the experience, Carrie decides to have a fun day with her kids.

Also at the Spirit Festival is Proctor, helping his employees to BBQ his wares for the townsfolk. Alex, the son of the current tribal chief approaches Proctor to let him know that due to his legal problems, Proctor is no longer on the casino expansion committee, even as a silent member. This tidbit of information does not make Proctor a happy man.

Meanwhile at town hall, FBI Special Agent Xavier is meeting with Gordon, Lucas and Brock (Matt Servitto) to talk about Proctor and the recent kidnapping of the only witness against him, Arno Weber. Brock isn’t happy about the meeting since it was on his watch that Arno was kidnapped, but the FBI’s presence is to ensure that Proctor gets taken down this time.

Back at the fair, with her children off on a buggy ride, Carrie goes back to her car to get something. The bikers accost her, shoving her deeper into an alley. Carrie fights back and Sugar, seeing the bikers fighting with Carrie in the alley, comes to her rescue. Trying to diffuse the situation gets them nowhere and Sugar is knocked out. All of the bikers, except for one named Tally leave and are noticed by Officer Kelly. Deciding to investigate, she discovers Tally on top of Carrie in the alley, his intent to rape her. A struggle ensues and Kelly is forced to shoot Tally. After taking care of Sugar and Carrie, each of the officers does their best to reassure Kelly she did the right thing.

Back at the biker’s hideout, they’re talking about the death of Tally. There feeling is that his death should be avenged and the decision is not a good decision for Kelly.

Back at Cadi, Kelly is filling out her report and while she understands that she did her job, it’s the first time that she ever killed anyone. She also lets Lucas know that something wasn’t right with Carrie and goes on to say that she noticed Carrie fighting Tally and the fact that Carrie ejected the clip from his gun. Later in the day, Kelly sees one of the bikers outside of Cadi and runs to confront him. Making her way outside, she sees that he has slashed one of her tires in retaliation, a promise of more to come.

At the Spirit Festival parade, the bikers roll into town and cause mayhem. One of them grabs a woman by the hair and pulls her along the ground up the main street. Others are chasing people and knocking over vendor stalls. Rebecca, present at her families baked goods stall removes a knife from her boot and slashes one of them across the face; an action that gets her a number of shocked looks from her people. As soon as they arrived, the bikers leave but their damage has been done.

At a town meeting, the issue of protection is on the docket. The town is scared of the bikers and wants to shut down the festival. Proctor steps up and offers to provide protection for the town via his armed security personnel. Lucas is against the idea telling him, “I won’t tell you how to slit a cow’s throat if you don’t tell him how to police this town”. With the matter closed, at least for the moment, the town disperses, but not before Rebecca is presented to Lucas by her father. He gives Lucas the knife and explains what occurred. He requests that Lucas arrest Rebecca for her behaviour, but Lucas resists and tells them to take her home.

That night, Lucas rides out to check on a belligerent Kelly. While she’s nervous, she doesn’t want to be seen as weak, stating “when the time comes for you to spend the night, it won’t be to protect me”. Lucas leaves, knowing that he can do nothing to change her mind.

Back at his apartment, Lucas finds Rebecca who has come for her knife. Rebecca tells him that she wishes he had arrested her; now she must repent openly for her actions or risk being shunned. Lucas makes a crack that her actions, including the fact they have sex, is not an act of repentance to which she gets mad and tells him that she wishes she didn’t have to live as two people, a statement that is a little too close to the truth for Lucas.

As Kelly comes out of the shower, she is almost shot as bullets tear through her home. Not one to be afraid, she grabs her gun and runs outside to confront the bikers. Some of them lead her away from her house, while the others firebomb it. Openly devastated, she vows to kill them

Once Lucas learns of the fire, he’s angry. He makes sure that Kelly will be okay and then goes in search of Proctor. Knowing why he came, Proctor reveals one of the bikers tied up in his trunk and that he now knows the location of the hideout. Since Lucas doesn’t want to arrest them, and he’s unsure of why Proctor is helping him, he asks “What’s in it for you?”

Lucas goes to the biker’s hangout and a fight ensues. He has the element of surprise on his side and in good time, he’s knocked them all out. Later you see Lucas putting the men in the back of a van as Job looks on. They exchange a keycard and Job leaves to drive the bikers to Cleveland.

That day, Kelly finds an envelope on her desk marked ‘Happy Birthday’. Inside are all of the rings from the bikers.

Meanwhile at the festival, Carrie sees Lucas sitting on a bench. She goes to sit down next to him and when she does, she realizes that he is staring at Deva. The talk, but they don’t talk, all the while staring at Deva and a moment passes between them. Gordon happens to look out the window and sees them sitting together. His body language and demeanour let you know that he knows something isn’t quite right between them.

The last scenes are interesting ones. Special Agent Xavier is talking to the evidence clerk at Cadi. It seems that someone used a keycard with the name of Paul Cleary attached to it to remove the evidence against Proctor from the lock-up. It’s an odd occurrence since there has never been a Paul Cleary who worked for the police department in Banshee. The scene changes to Xavier out on the steps of Banshee City Hall talking to his superiors. He’s decided to stay in town for a while and “follow the stench”.

The bonus scene at the end of the credits wasn’t as mind blowing as the rest have been, but it still adds another layer to one of the characters. I’m also still finding myself with questions that make me want to keep watching – why would Lucas help Proctor now when he’s been so adamant about not being under his thumb? How does Rebecca manage to live two lives in such a cloistered community as the Amish? Will Carrie ever admit that Deva is Lucas’ daughter? Is Deva Lucas’ daughter? Will we ever learn who Lucas was before assumed the Sheriff’s identity? I hope in time these questions will get answered… But of you have something to add, please join the discussion – I’d love to hear some other thoughts about the show!

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.