2023-02-05

rodo: mucha's autumn allegory (mucha's autumn)
2023-02-05 11:13 am

TV Rec: Banshee

So, in between weird health problems that the doctors can’t figure out, I’ve recently become completely obsessed with a new (older) TV show, because of course my brain picks this moment in time for it. Anyway, the series is ten years old by now, and there’s barely any fic, but I absolutely loved Banshee.

Banshee focusses on a character only known as Lucas Hood, an ex-con who assumes the identity of a dead sheriff when he enters the small town of Banshee, looking for his ex-girlfriend and the diamonds he went to prison for fifteen years ago, only to discover that she’s married with two children. While he tries to keep undercover in his new identity, he has to content with a suspicious deputy, an ex-Amish gangster and his niece, as well as an assortment of criminals and, most importantly, his ex-girlfriend’s mobster father, who has a score to settle with both of them…

So, I absolutely love this series because of the main character, since Lucas Hood is almost exactly my kind of woobie (the only complaint I have is that they could have gone a little lighter on the PTSD) – an asshole woobie who gets beaten up constantly (not an exaggeration), who has a very tragic and shady past and who can be kind of unhinged and self-destructive. I also love a lot of the other characters, though. I initially picked up the series because I was interested in Job, the fabulous cross-dressing hacker who is one of Hood’s best friends/accomplices, and he’s wonderful too. Other things I loved are: Hood’s and Ana/Carrie’s complicated relationship and deep love for each other even when they’re with other people, Hood/Carrie/Job/Sugar working together on jobs. Hood being kind of a terrible sheriff even though it’s obvious he loves the job, and the deputies we meet throughout the series (the last one to appear – an ex-nazi played by the guy who played Ward in Iron Fist – being the fan favourite).

You should watch this series if you like: woobies getting whumped (there’s a lot of that to go around), Antony Starr (Homelander from The Boys), characters who try their best but don’t necessarily do the right thing, extremely shady morals, us-against-the-world relationships

You should not watch this series if you don’t like: violence (including torture, sexual violence, racialized violence, protagonists being violent, police violence, very graphic violence), lots of on-screen sex, cheating/promiscuity