Episode Title: “The Truth About Unicorns”
Writer: John Romano
Director: Babak Najafi
Previously on “Banshee:”
In “The Truth About Unicorns,” we delve deeper into Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) and Lucas’ (Antony Starr) relationship, as we watch the two reconnect after he picks her up from prison. The two grab a bite to eat, check out a local flea market and plan a jewelry store heist. It’s the perfect date for this couple.
Whatever happiness Lucas and Carrie may feel in each other’s company has a pall cast on it by the always-looming Rabbit. As Carrie says at the end of hour which sees them barely survive a shootout with one of Rabbit’s assassins, “he’s never gonna stop coming.”
As long as that remains true, Lucas knows he can’t leave Banshee, though he’s taken Job’s words to heart about hurting everyone who gets close to him. The point is clearly made when Rabbit’s assassin tails Lucas and Carrie out to a house deep in the country. Lucas bought the house for them years ago, when the idea of making a life together was still a possibility. The couple spends the night at the house, but talking is as far things go. Their complex history and the specter of Rabbit still stand between them.
The next day, Lucas, suspecting they’ve been followed, goes out into the fields looking for whoever’s out there. It turns out to be Agent Racine (Zeljko Ivanek). The FBI agent tells Lucas and Carrie he’s on the hunt for Rabbit and thought he might have followed them here. Racine wants to work together to eliminate Rabbit, feeling responsible for the family the gangster killed when Racine first collard him as a young agent. Lucas and Carrie don’t trust him, but when Racine reveals that he’s knows the truth about the sheriff, the game changes.
Unfortunately, it’s only momentarily. Just as soon as Racine explains that he recognized Lucas’ picture from an old mug shot, he’s shot dead as a stream of bullets come crashing through the window. It’s a little disappointing to have this twist come about only to be killed, literally, a minute later, but with six months or so to live, we knew Racine wasn’t long for this world.
Lucas and Carrie immediately go into survival mode. Each armed with a pistol, the two slither their way across the field where the shooter is set up. It’s one of the more intense action sequences we’ve had this season, though not nearly as violent as most. The two manage to kill the shooter and realize she’s the grocery-carrying woman Lucas encountered while investigating the car that was following them in town. The pair may have survived this one but the message has been sent. Rabbit told Carrie he’ll never see her again, but that doesn’t mean he won’t stop trying to kill her and Lucas.
With a dead FBI agent in the house and a dead assassin out front, Lucas and Carrie decide it’s time to leave the home of their dreams (this episode is heavy on dream sequences, but they serve a purpose) and return to “real” life in Banshee. Besides, the place is going up in flames thanks to a lamp that gets knocked over in the shoot out. This is why these two can’t have nice things, or each other, for that matter.
“The Truth About Unicorns” may not drop in on all our favorite Banshee locals, but it’s an important episode in that it gives us more insight into the relationship at the heart of the show. It also answers some questions about where Lucas and Carrie are headed. For now, it looks like nowhere. As Sugar (Frankie Faison) tells Lucas at the end of the episode, some people build their own cells to live inside. Lucas and Carrie may have done just that, right here in Banshee.
