Cinemax’s Banshee
Season 3, Episode 4: “Real Life is the Nightmare”
Directed by Magnus Martens
Written by Justin Britt-Gibson

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “A Fixer of Sorts” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Tribal” – click here
 Hood (Antony Starr) is confronted with reality for the first time in so long. Now Siobhan (Trieste Kelly Dunn) knows the truth about him, after Agent Phillips left all the information for her. How do they move forward from here?
Instead of shooting him in the face, or even arresting him, she just kicks him out. This was bound to happen. Somehow, down the line.
 Job (Hoon Lee) and Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison) are busy infiltrating their latest target. A bumpy entry smooths out. The pair gets to work. I love that Job gets more and more time. He is a solid character; interesting, exciting. He’s slick. He and Sugar manage to get what they need, but just in the nick of time.
Poor ole Gordon Hopewell (Rus Blackwell). He’s doing his best to try and come back from the devastation of his family, realizing Deva (Ryann Shane) is not his, knowing his wife Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) is really some gangster’s daughter, so on, so on. He shaves and faces the world properly again. The marriage is still falling apart. Yet he’s willing to work on things even after all they’ve faced.
Back at the bar, Hood lets the fellas know they may have to “bail” – on the entire debacle. Job wants to go. Always. But Hood wants to stay. Never thinking with his brain too long, usually leading with his dick, and a little bit with his heart. A bit.

Job (to Hood): “Baby, I want you to try real hard to remember what happened the last time you rolled the dice on a woman.”
Deputy Brock Lotus (Matt Servitto) worries for his ex-wife Emily, after she took a job caring for the mother of Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen). Speaking of Kai, he’s got Clay Burton (Matthew Rauch) and niece Rebecca (Lili Simmons) off running errands – Tommy Littlestone’s corpse is ready for release. Although, clearly Clay does not like that his boss is sending the niece along with him. At the same time, Kai and Emily spend time chatting during the day. This is not good. I’m always worried for anyone getting close to Hood OR Proctor. They’re both magnets for destruction.
And young Deva’s never too far from figuring out the family business. In a video game store, she eyes the security cameras. She wants to get Max a game, but it’s just so expensive. We know what’s coming soon. Her mother’s busy working everyday at the diner, dealing with people she can’t stand in a job she does not like all to pretend she’s Carrie Hopewell, sweet wife and proper mother. Her other life is always calling. In the middle of her shift, she leaves her apron and walks out.
On a chase, Rebecca drives. Much to the dismay of Mr. Burton. Well she doesn’t do so bad, all the same. Been practising with Uncle Kai. Out on a road in the countryside she faces the van they’re chasing in a bout of chicken. Love this scene. You can see Clay almost climax when the engine is revving, dying for some chaos. Gotta give it to Rebecca, she heads down the van until they swerve first flipping down the road, and the pair watch on. Yowzahs. They survey the wreck before burning the rest, people still alive inside. Heartless.
 Naturally, Hood is worried about what Siobhan’s going to do with the information she’s learned. There’s no telling. The call about dead Redbones on the highway comes in, begging their attention. Kinaho Officer Aimee King (Meaghan Rath) worries what Chayton Littlestone (Geno Segers) will do after this “act of war“, as she calls it.
At a bar somewhere, Carrie gets a drink with some sleazy dude who’s obviously into her. After a while he comes onto her hard, which gets rebuffed. Then he pushes it to a creepy level. Not the right woman to pull that on, bud. She beats the shit out of him then steals his bike. Next stop, open road. What a bad ass.
Still no word from Siobhan. The sweat is almost visible coming out Hood’s pores. Then he calls Job – end of the day, they’re gone. So dad goes to see his daughter. She rages against him after their last meeting. We get some background on Hood. His dad never cared about him, now he doesn’t want the same to happen with him and his daughter. Deva susses out that he’s planning to leave. “Does it matter that I want you to stay?” she asks. “Yes, it matters,” Hood replies.
With Gordon back on the level, he’s headed for Proctor. Court is coming, though Kai’s lawyer isn’t happy. Nevertheless, Gord is back in town. His wife? She’s getting chased by a cop on her newly stolen bike. Smile across her face, jacking the finger. She disappears down a wooded trail. Only problem is the tank is out of gas. Of course Hood goes to pick her up. All the while, their daughter’s trying to steal an Xbox One game for Max and sets off the sensor alarms.
Poor, sweet Siobhan. She struggles, too. All that knowledge about Hood. It kills me to see this guy just fall in love with women then have to go – to jail, away, wherever. So tragic. As much as he causes chaotic situations, Hood is a good man at heart. Deep down. And he always gets the shitty end of everything. But certainly, he’s not really going to leave; is he?

Finally, Chayton sees his little brother. The corpse charred, melted. Nobody in the Kinaho PD wants to do anything, except Aimee. Now we know for sure Chayton is going to do something seriously intense.
On his way to get leaving Hood can’t help think of Proctor, his reign of terror over Banshee. However, Proctor’s mother is dying and he has bigger things to consider. But Hood pushes himself into the strip club, firing shots at the man himself and nearly killing him. A full-scale brawl breaks out between the men. They fight like animals, beating one another senseless across the stage, off the stripper poles. Proctor even cracks Hood with a bag of nails from the construction. Things get real messy. Hood keeps punching Kai in his ear before almost taking his head or face off, or both, with a saw. And right as Hood is about to smash Kai’s head in with a hammer, Brock shows up to stop the show. Then he cuffs Kai.
Simultaneously, the Kinaho men and women light a fire to properly send Tommy off. The Cadi is filling up with people from Alison Medding, to Kurt Bunker (Tom Pelphrey) looking for Hood again, to Kai in his cell, his lawyeron scene. Siobhan is there, as well. Awful coincidence they’re all jammed together at once, right? Wrong. The Redbones are also locking and loading.
By themselves, Siobhan and Hood talk. She won’t turn him over, simply because Banshee PD would just be obliterated by the secrets. “That badge was never yours to wear,” she explains. Now someone knows the truth about Hood, his beginnings as a thief for Rabbit and all those parts of his true life. “You and me was not a lie,” Hood assures Siobhan: “The only time I ever felt safe was with you.” Only she isn’t happy. She wants him to resign from his post.

No time for anything else now, though.
The Redbones are here! HOOOOOOOOD, COME OUT AND PLAAAAYYYYAAAY!
 Excited for the next episode, “Tribal”, as it continues this cliffhanger. Things get real serious, real quick. Lots of guns. Lots of surprises to come. Plus, it’s almost like an homage to Assault on Precinct 13 in certain ways. Maybe the shots of the Redbones and their tables of weapons was even a slight nod to other John Carpenter work? Maybe. Who knows. Either way, I dig. All of it.