Reviewed: Banshee...2.1 - 'Little Fish'

Those coming into Banshee late should probably go back and rewatch the first season of the show simply to establish the 'taking no prisoners' attitude the show has to story-telling. No, seriously... we'll wait for you to catch up. Otherwise newcomers may scoff at the pace and scale of story-telling and plot-developments that are as entertaining as they are unlikely.  This is a series that wears its heart on its sleeve, its gun in its hand and it's undewear on the bedpost and the return of the show to American cable viewers this weekend should leave no doubt that it doesn't intend to grow old gracefully.

We left the first season with a major gun-battle, severe injuries and several deaths and the almost certain conviction that there would be convictions and worse for many of our main cast. So in many ways, the first episode is all about the fallout and finding a way for those plates to continue spinning at breakneck speeds and with some dangerously skewed wobbling that threatens to leave more than the crockery in pieces. If some of those resolutions are deemed a tad unlikely and expedient, then perhaps I need to remind you... this is 'Banshee'. 

Chain-smoking FBI agent Jim Racine ( �eljko Ivanek -  everyone's favourite enigmatic bad-guy or authoritatrian in series such as 24, Heroes, Revolution, Damages and the film Seven Psychopaths) saunters into town from Washington DC to try and make sense of the recent events, though even he has to roll his eyes as he gathers the surviving usual suspects in Banshee's court-room for a very unconventional debriefing and assessment of guilt.  He's had a personal crusade against East-European kingpin Mr Rabbit (Ben Cross) and believes that despite the carnage of season, the Big Bad is still alive and licking his wounds.  Ironically - and despite some obvious suspicions - Racine clears the man that the town knows as Lucas Hood (Anthony Starr) of wrong-doing as he spent much of the finale injured and without his badge. The rest of the force get off with suspensions and probation, though none of them are too pleased with the chaos that enveloped them.  If Rancine can't have the father, then he may punish the daughter and though almost everyone else may get pragmatically used as bait, Racine has no problems with throwing the proverbal book and a host of charges at Carrie Hopewell / Anastasia (Ivana Milicevic), despite her sharp-shooting saving the day and half of Banshee's police-force. 

It would be entirely the wrong time for Lucas, Carrie, Job (Hoon Lee) and barman Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison) to decide to commit an armoured-car robbery to replenish their finances - so that means it's the very first thing they do once Rancine's back is turned... though things don't go quite as planned.

Meanwhile, in an entirely different kind of debriefing,  wayward Amish lolita Rebecca (Lilli Simmons - also in this weekend's True Detective opener) spots her guardian and local overlord Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) doing the very dirty against his martial-arts equipment (and an un-named extra),  Nola Longshadow (Odette Annable) proves she can wrap her legs around a motorbike and Hood with equal aplomb and  Deputy Siobhan Kelly (Trieste Kelly Dunn) continues to make doeful eye-contact with Lucas as well. It's tough work being a sheriff...

Acting as a scene-setter and catcher-upper in general, the best part of this opener is the fast and furious armoured-car heist, demonstrating the audacity the show has in its action sequences - with much kudos going to the stuntmen and actors who work together to make the vehicular set-piece work to best effect. Yes, the logic of this plot piece seems at odds with the rest of the slow-burn episode, but its execution is pretty flawless - better than anything we've seen on the big-screen in that capacity for a while. Equally interesting is the addition to the cast of Rabbit's brother played by Julian Sands, who appears to be a blasphemous priest with a dark past and a nice line in profane language (even if his accent wobbles a little between east European and East Anglia).

Bruised, battered but not bettered, Banshee is pure television testosterone and looks set to deliver more outrageous sex and shenanigans for its latest run. A UK broadcast on SKY is to follow shortly...