Banshee "You Can't Hide From the Dead" Review: Distraction Can Be Deadly

Banshee S03E07: "You Can't Hide From the Dead"

When a major TV character dies, it can be tricky for a show to honor the impact the deceased had on other characters while also letting those people (and the story) move on. We're only two episodes beyond the biggest death in Banshee history, and I like the way the show is handling Siobhan's absence. After last week's more fantasy-like exploration of a world where Hood never became Hood at all, "You Can't Hide From the Dead" honed in on the miseries of his new reality. Siobhan may not be coming back, but she isn't truly gone yet, either.

The most fascinating element of this episode had to do with how haunted Hood and Chayton seem to be in the aftermath of Siobhan's death. Obviously, Hood's response makes sense; he might've destroyed the Airstream, but that hasn't stopped him from wallowing on the bed, files and documents strewn everywhere, as lingering mirages of Siobhan surround him. And when he stepped outside, he practiced taking on Chayton by flat-out jabbin' and stabbin' at a big tree. In short: He's not doing so well.

However, it was pretty surprising to witness the effects of the events of "Tribal" with regard to Chayton. He wasn't exactly remorseful as he was taken in by a widowed horse owner played by The Americans' Susan Misner, but the two shared a couple telling conversations about trying to move on after experiencing significant death around you. Although it's probably a little easier to do so when you're the one purposely causing that death, and Chayton wasted no time in adding to his body count by killing both the woman and her concerned neighbor.

Late in the episode, deputy Amy noted that she was okay with Hood taking Chayton out once and for all because he's no longer the boy she once knew, but there were a few scenes that suggested Chayton does actually feel something for what he did to Siobhan—not necessarily guilt, but something. As for how that will play out now that Chayton is supposedly making his away to New Orleans with Hood and Brock in hot pursuit, I'm not sure. Nonetheless, I appreciate the way that Banshee has continued to give us even the smallest of moments that add layers to Chayton as a character. He's a big, evil force of nature—and yet, he's not just that.

Meanwhile, Hood and Chayton aren't the only two people in this universe with major baggage weighing them down. "You Can't Hide From the Dead" was a good episode for the Hopewell family, and for Carrie and Gordon in particular. They learned about Deva's recreational time at the odd millennial convent and crashed what was certainly a bumpin' party (any time you pull out the cattle prods for a little casual fighting among friends, you're living your best life), resulting in one of the more enjoyable fight sequences of the season.

Both Carrie and Gordon have been struggling so much—as parents and as people—that the opportunity to beat the snot out of some dumb teenagers provided the perfect Banshee-y adrenaline rush. It was therefore unsurprising that their throwdown with the dirtbags resulted in an impromptu sex session in the kitchen, and then an awkward goodbye a few moments later. That it was bound to happen didn't make any less compelling to watch, and I thought both Ivana Miličević and Rus Blackwell did a wonderful job of playing the thrill of the fighting and the sex and the confusion of the aftermath of it all.

With Hood and Carrie distracted by any number of issues, Job wasn't too keen on running the job on the vault at the military base, and he was correct in feeling that way. Much of the second half of "You Can't Hide From the Dead" was devoted to the crew's much-anticipated siege on the base for all that money, and man, did it not disappoint. From a story standpoint, the episode did a lovely job of weaving in Job's legitimate concerns about the headspace of his compatriots, so there was just enough doubt that the entire thing could go sideways at any instant. That strain loomed over the sequence like a dark cloud, elevating an already intense series of scenes into something even more impressive.

Much will probably be made about how the heist sequence was filmed almost entirely from the perspective of the small cameras Job planted in the truck and on his peers, and deservedly so. Banshee executive producer Greg Yaitanes and the show's production team did a fantastic job of using visual and audio style—night-vision cameras, shaky movements, loud jolts of sound, etc.—to produce a sequence that felt special but also purposeful and of a piece with the show. I was especially impressed by how the episode jumped out of the head-mounted first-person camera to a more familiar perspective when Hood was suffering his meltdown (and seeing Siobhan). It was a great touch that emphasized the importance of Hood's more internal strife amid such a hectic heist, fight, and shootout. It's one thing to do a "cool" set piece like a heist, but it's another to make that set piece work for larger character-related story interests. Banshee is particularly skilled at that.

Of course, Banshee is skilled at a lot of things, especially this season. Hood, Carrie, Job, and Sugar survived General Stowe's last-ditch effort to stop the robbery, but only barely, and the tensions between Hood and Job are as high as ever. There's no way that Stowe and his mercy are going to simply disappear from the story. On Banshee, there are always consequences. Situations fester, and eventually something really horrible happens to someone or a big group of someones. And as "You Can't Hide From the Dead" illustrated, the horrible events don't stop the shame or the pain or the anger. With three episodes left in the season, I'm betting we're in for a large dose of all three.

NOTES

– Siobhan's been gone for two episodes, but Trieste Kelly Dunn has appeared in both of them. Anyone oppose the idea of Siobhan and Dunn hanging around as a ghost and haunting the Cadi until the end of the series?

– Rebecca decided to double down and plot against Kai in the drug deal game. I'm sure that will go swimmingly.

– Speaking of Kai, he's on quite the journey right now. He just lost his mother, but managed to reconnect a bit with his father (and maybe the larger community he was once banished from), and he seems to have a healthy-isn thing going with Emily. Maybe he's primed to be usurped by his niece after all?

– Poor Sugar. He can't get anyone to celebrate with him—though I'd probably move the massive bags of stolen money off the pool table. Just me.