Episode Title: “Bloodlines”
Writer: Evan Dunsky
Director: OC Madsen
Previously on “Banshee:”
Episode 2.03 “The Warrior Class”
In “Bloodlines,” Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) meets the Amish answer to Chayton Littlestone, Jonah Lambrecht, a school teacher with a reputation for beating students caught with a copy of “Catcher in the Rye.”
Hood’s investigation of the murder of a young Kinaho girl continues is this episode and time is of the essence. If Banshee PD doesn’t find missing Amish boy, Solomon Bowman before Alex Longshadow’s men do, Sheriff Hood will have two dead teens on his hands.
At Deputy Lotus’ (Matt Servitto) suggestion, Hood talks to an Amish runaway who tells him about Lambrecht’s violent approach to curious students who dare read books outside his religious curriculum. Hood pays Lambrecht a visit and of course, he’s the biggest Amish man you’ve ever seen.
It’s obvious right away that Lambrecht is the killer, (so much for that theory about Nola Longshadow setting up an Amish-Kinaho war) and that he and Hood are going to throw down. But it’s Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) and Rebecca (Lili Simmons) who finish him off, after Rebecca learns about Lambrecht’s crimes from a family member. Hood arrests the teacher, but he won’t talk. Kai promises to get the truth of him with a set of pliers. And he does, one tooth and a time. He gives up the location of Solomon Bowman and Hood rescues the boy, who was buried alive in wood box inside a silo.
At this point, it appears Sheriff Hood and Kai Proctor have developed a mutual respect and they are even willing to work together, when it benefits both parties. However, Alex Longshadow (Anthony Ruivivar) isn’t willing to make peace with Proctor, even though he’s clearly on the losing side of their war. Proctor sees weakness in Alex and so does his own sister, Nola (Odette Annable), who continues to harangue him about “being the shark.” Alex, fed up with her demands, asks Nola to leave the reservation and she agrees it’s the right thing to do.
Nola’s first stop is the police station, where she throws a pickaxe at Lambrecht’s head, putting him out of his toothless misery. This is the second time we’ve seen Nola sneaking around places she has no business being. She may be off the rez, but it doesn’t look like she’s leaving town anytime soon. It’ll be interesting to see who she’ll choose to align herself with, if anyone at all.
While Nola’s stalking around Banshee PD, Hood picks up Deva (Ryann Shane), who is looking more and more like a Marilyn Manson groupie, and he half-heartedly tells her to stop smoking pot. It’s not so much Hood’s disapproval of her recreational drug use that’s on his mind, but the fact that he’s her father. Job (Hoon Lee) picks up the situation as he watches Hood with Deva in the diner.
Once she’s gone, Job warns Hood to get as far away from her as possible, as only bad things happen to people he gets close to. Job is also concerned about Jason (Thomas Harrison) and he should be. Jason spots Rebecca at the diner and the two go back to his room and have sex. Like Nola, Jason may not be ready to leave Banshee, just yet.
“Bloodlines” is full of revelations, with perhaps the best left for last when Mr. Rabbit (Ben Cross) pays Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) a visit in jail. Sitting in a wheelchair and hooked up to oxygen, Rabbit delivers a speech about “love and insanity,’ telling his daughter the story of how he courted her mother. “What you think was insanity was the greatest love I’ve ever known,” says Rabbit. He then rolls away in his chair, telling her this is the last time they’ll see each other. Yeah, sure. A scene inserted in the credits shows Rabbit in the backseat of a car, crushing the oxygen mask in his hand as smile creeps across his face.
Season two of “Banshee” continues its bull rush forward in this episode, setting up all kinds of nasty entanglements and complications for Lucas Hood and his associates. In addition to the return of Rabbit, Chayton Littlestone (Geno Segers) manages to escape custody and he’s gunning for Hood. Meanwhile, Hood agrees to let Job fence the diamonds. With so much going on, it may be some time before all of these developments pay off. But as Job reminds us, bad things happen to those in Hood’s orbit. The only question now is just how bad?
