Review: Banshee ‘Wicks’ – Heaven For Cons

Last week opened some of the cracks in the various facades being portrayed across Banshee – and this week, those identities are further splintered when an old prison friend of Lucas’s returns to Banshee, and Ana makes a life-altering decision about her situation. An episode about ghosts – some physical, some literal – ‘Wicks’ is all about the things we bury, and what happens when they come back to haunt us.

It trickles down to the smallest characters: when Proctor can’t convince Reverend to move out of his house so it can be leveled for a casino, he dredges up pictures of him banging his wife, a woman who was once a stripper before she found God and a man with some money. Everybody’s got a dirty secret in this town, and although the Reverend’s wife is a bit of a convenient one, it fits in with the theme of the episode: hiding from your past only makes its return more fucked up.

‘Wicks’ is highlighted by a terrific performance from its titular character, guest star Michael Kostroff. It’s surrounded by some less-than-enjoyable material about Wicks helping Lucas deal with a rapey, weight pumping steroid albino, who is less of a human than he is a cartoonish representation of the “ghosts” haunting everyone through the hour. A lot of violent flashbacks (including a shot of an amputated dick lying on the floor) is Banshee at its grimiest and most indulgent: effectively building tension up in a completely ridiculous conflict, and letting it explode on screen in an explosion of hyper-violence. There isn’t much to glean from Lucas’s journey in prison, except prison’s all about sucking dick and paying off guards to shiv people. And without really making any connection between his anxiety and flashbacks in the opening of ‘Half Dead Is Better Than All Dead’, it’s not much more than on-screen masochism.

But I digress – the appearance of a down-trodden Wicks in Banshee conjures up an interesting internal debate that extends to many of the show’s characters. How far are we willing to go to protect our past and our secrets? The Reverend’s wife isn’t willing to do much, and faces the threat of the Lord for it. There’s only so many secrets one human being can bury: truths Lucas and Ana both come to in ‘Wicks’ when their lies are threatened by people around them. And they handle it in similar fashion: Wicks goes sleeping with the fishes, and Ana makes a call to her father Rabbit, agreeing to give up Lucas so her lies can stay intact (a decision spurned by her husband’s questions and son Max’s precarious health situation).

Everyone else is put on the sidelines for the most part – Sugar gets in a speech about burying ghosts, and Brock pisses and moans about following procedure – for the Lucas/Wicks material and flashbacks, which work best when drawing subtle lines between Lucas and Wicks. I can do without all the gay rape in prison material – so far, Banshee‘s been a lot more interesting in the present, then when it’s dwelling in the past.

Grade: B-

Other thoughts/observations:

– where the hell is Job during all this?

– Wick’s hands had the words WANT and NEED tattooed on them, although he could never quite figure out which hand to lead with.

– The Albino had black lipstick and red eyeballs… plus he had one of his prison bitches carry an umbrella for him when he went outside.

– the post-credits tag was the best one yet: a voicemail from the worried son of the real Lucas Hood, who can’t understand why his father won’t call him back.

– at this rate, will the show even be able to take place in Banshee next season? The walls appear to be closing in on everyone in ways that can’t be scaled back.

– Wicks loves a good cut of sirloin.

– where did Lucas learn that elbow trick? The Albino!