Banshee - S4E2 - The Burden of Beauty

Previously on Banshee, ‘Something out of the Bible’

A big portion of this episode seemed to set up who the main suspects are in Rebecca’s murder. Because of this, I’m almost positive none of them are guilty.

Three months ago, Rebecca had a forbidden deal going with Aaron Boedecker, the hillbilly with the missing hand from last week. When he goes back on their agreement and starts pushing meth in Banshee, she decides to confront him before Proctor can find out she was running a side drug business. She asks Hood for his assistance, and he declines. This leads reckless Rebecca to march onto Boedecker’s farm armed only with a handgun.

Of course, she’s in way too deep and after a somewhat impressive start, Rebecca’s plan goes to shit when Boedecker’s son gets the drop on her. I was relieved to see she wasn’t raped, which is where I thought this was heading. Instead, Rebecca gives as good as she gets, hitting back and eventually feeding Boedecker’s son’s face to a rabid dog. Then she laughs as his father cries over the body. See? Reckless. Before he can kill her, Boedecker is relieved of his hand as Hood comes through after all.

Of course, just leaving isn’t an option and Rebecca insists on burning down the meth lab before they leave. This little detour earns Hood a gunshot wound, which leads to him leaving blood in her car. Blood that is matched to him in present time and causes Brock to question Hood’s innocence.

Believing his old boss is a murderer isn’t Brock’s only problem. The new deputy, Nina Cruz, is in Proctor’s pocket and taking his “anonymous tips” which lead to the arrests of his enemies. This maybe wouldn’t be so bad (Hell, Brock has looked the other way on worse) if some of these criminals stayed in jail. Proctor also has D.A. Franklin under his control and orders him to drop the charges against a crew of child pornographers he had arrested in the first place. In fact, Proctor spends a lot of time this episode flexing his muscle and his power.

Carrie is taking her vigilante side business/therapy very seriously and does to the “filmmaker” what would have been done to him if he’d actually gone to prison. Seriously: Carrie IS Batman. She even has her new secluded home tricked out with serious surveillance gear and a secret room of weapons. She also hasn’t given up looking for Job, which is a good thing since we later see Job is still alive, very naked, and being seriously tortured.

In the Banshee Files

• Deputy Kurt Bunker is providing Carrie with the files on the men she attacks. Could Nina Cruz also be in on this and that’s why she harassed Carrie’s last victim in the hospital?
• Though I still think it’s too obvious for Proctor to be the killer, what Hood learns from Boedecker’s nephew (Rebecca’s ex-lover) is compelling. She was terrified of what Proctor would do to her if he learned of her arrangement with Boedecker. It’s also suspect that Proctor murders the nephew, not because he thinks he killed Rebecca, but because he learned (via Hood) that he was sleeping with Rebecca.
• I have a feeling both Proctor and Calvin are in over their heads. Proctor thinks he’s going to expand by going into business with a cartel, but his contact Emilio (Nestor Serrano) doesn’t seem too impressed with him. Also, Calvin is questioning his boss (Watts) alignment with Proctor. They’re quiet grumblings now, but we know he’s impulsive and has a temper. His whispers may be writing a check his ass cannot possibly cash.