Episode Title: “Ways to Bury Man”
Writer: Doug Jung
Director: Loni Peristere
Previously on “Banshee”:
In “Ways to Bury a Man,” it’s not about who you hate but who you hate more. Deputy Brock Lotus (Matt Servitto) hates Sheriff Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) for taking the position he thought he deserved. But Brock’s disdain for Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) trumps his grudge with Hood, who also has the crooked businessman in his crosshairs. At the same time, Alex Longshadow (Anthony Ruivivar) and Kai Proctor’s mutual interest in the building of a new casino allows them to put to aside a bloody history that includes the kidnapping of Proctor’s niece and a hot tub full of cow’s blood.
As “Banshee’s” second season kicks and punches it’s way towards the finale, Lucas Hood appears less and less concerned with maintaining his cover and more focused on protecting the people he cares about. And though Jason Hood wasn’t his son, there was definitely a paternal quality to Hood’s brief relationship with the young man. Add to that the fact that Kai Proctor had no good reason to kill Jason and Hood returns his attention to Banshee’s Amish Godfather.
The irony in Hood’s frustration with trying to penetrate Proctor’s airtight criminal enterprise in this episode plays on the “it takes one to know one” theme from last week’s hour. Hood shouldn’t be surprised by Proctor’s methods and yet he can’t help engage in some impromptu target practice when the strippers he and his deputies bring from Kai’s club refuse to talk. While Brock gets the proper spelling of one stripper’s name (It’s “Platinumm” with two “M’s” like “mmm mmm, she looks good”) and Siobhan (Trieste Kelly Dunn) clarifies where one girl went to law school, it becomes obvious nobody is willing to roll on Proctor – except for maybe one person.
Hood gets the details on Proctor’s drug operation from the stripper we saw Proctor take into a back room in an exchange for her paycheck an episode or so ago. He may have been able to skirt the law up until now, but with Hood coming at him in the capacity of both criminal and cop, Proctor’s hold on Banshee is in serious trouble.
Hood gets a tip from the stripper about a truck driver who’s part of Proctor’s drug operation. Of course, this isn’t any ordinary truck driver, but a muscle bound Neo-Nazi. The man and his friends immediately start taunting Emmett (Demetrius Grosse) and Hood gives the deputy permission to kick his ass. It’s another moment where Hood lets it be known he’s not your average cop. Brock is already onto him, but by the time he has Hood figured, he may not care if it means ending Kai Proctor’s reign.
Hood gets the info on the warehouse out of the neo-Nazi and that’s where he crosses the line from sheriff to arsonist. With the help of Sugar (Frankie Faison) and Job (Hoon Lee), Hood blows up the warehouse, leaving Brock, who sees helicopters circling above the burning building, to wonder what happened.
“There’s more than one way to bury a man,” Sugar tells Hood and the sheriff/con man is taking that advice to heart by coming at Kai Proctor from all angles. Though they’ve been tentative allies in the past, Hood and Proctor are two very different kinds of criminals. Hood just wants the money and the girl – a finite end. Proctor wants power, of which he’ll never have enough.
The point clearly made in this week’s episode is that the battle for Banshee isn’t about the good guys versus the bad guys, but the good guys and the bad guys against the really, really bad guys. Brock Lotus and the Banshee PD have tried unsuccessfully for years to stop Kai Proctor and they know it can’t be done. But with a guy with the skill set of Lucas Hood on their team, they’ve got a shot. As the episode comes to a close, Brock tells Hood he’s “not much of a cop,” but he’s one heck of a criminal, which, surprisingly, is just what Banshee needs.
