What I’m Watching: Banshee

Banshee: Season 3, Episode 5 “Tribal” (B+)

This is the second time recently that this show has featured the death of an innocent (for the most part) in a way that’s been difficult to digest. This show features so many gratuitous ends for any number of characters, but it’s somehow different when it’s a series regular character and also someone who didn’t set out to attack or maim someone else. Siobhan’s death is heartbreaking, both because she finally knew Lucas’ secret and because she pleaded with Chayton for her life, a request he brutally did not honor. It’s not as if Lucas did something other than try to defend another member of his team from certain death at Chayton’s hands to get Siobhan killed, so he’s not to blame for her death. Lucas felt true anguish when he was cradling her body, but it didn’t take long for that sadness to turn to anger and hate, which is just going to lead to more violence, hardly the ideal outcome. Chayton really is above the law, and it’s going to take teaming up with Kai to stop him. I’m endlessly fascinated by Kirk Bunker, the neo-Nazi-turned-deputy-applicant who ended up fighting side-by-side with African-American District Attorney Alison. She also showed her true colors in the heat of the moment, far from content to sit back and relax and instead intent on taking charge of the situation. Jackson was so set on unlocking his client that he took a bullet in the process, and Kai still managed to get out and team up with the man who almost beat him to death only an hour or so earlier. The pairing of Emily saying a prayer for Kai’s mother while Lucas and Kai were awaiting the opening of the gate was typically spectacular and intense, and the episode’s best line came from Brock: “Everything you touch turns to blood.”