Banshee 3.9 'Even God doesn't know... '

"I will pray for your soul, Kai. But I think at this point, even God doesn't know what to make of you..."

Hood is back, against his own judgement, in Banshee and contemplating recent events. But there's barely a moment to grab any quiet-time as other players begin to assess their own options. Kai Proctor is in the hands of a rival cartel, alongside Deputy Lotus' ex-wife Emily - his current bed-companion. Hood isn't of any mind to aid his enemy but he owes Brock his life and realises he has no choice but to repay that debt. In the meantime Proctor is being beaten to a pulp, largely due to a deal he had nothing to do with - his niece and inexperienced protégé Rebecca undermining his operations to perhaps fatal consequences.

Somehow - Jobe working his magic for what he promises is a final time - Hood and Brock track the kidnappers down to an abandoned high school where Proctor and Emily are being held. In what could be called a Mexican/Colombian stand-off, tell the cartel they only wan't Emily. What happens to Proctor is none of their concern... However Rebecca and Proctor's aide Clay Burton, who have also found the location, are less than happy with that arrangement...

But even as one situation is... resolved...another is rising. Colonel Douglas Stowe (Langley Kirkwood) has put together the pieces of the recent raid on his military compound and goes about bringing Hood's team to heel...

With its contemporary threats and a flashback to how Hood and Jobe originally met (nicely balancing the first meeting of Proctor and Burton several episodes before), this is an episode with a lot of overt brutality punctuated by resentful conversations. There's also a very nice Kaiser Soze type visual  for Proctor only slightly skewed by unusually not-quite-perfect green screen - but actor Ulrich Thomsen sells the kingpin's utter ruthlessness to the last.

It's a well-executed and simmering episode... positioning the various characters ready for a conflict of interests and agendas.As we head into that season finale, only the promise that a fourth season of Banshee has been commissioned suggests anyone gets out of this alive...