TV Series: Banshee Season 1 (Part 2)

"Banshee" is a series that has been unjustly forgotten. It was ignored because of more popular series running at the same time (2013 to 2016). I think you know what I mean. The critics had mixed opinions. They criticised the series for having too many sex scenes. So what? The sex scenes are short enough that they don't distract from the story, and they're always relevant.

The eighth episode of the first season is the best so far. There's a brutal fight between Anna (Anastasia) and the Ukrainian gangster Olek. It continues for more than half of the episode, as first one then the other gains the advantage.

The episode shows the Amish ceremony of "Shunning". Rebecca Bowman is shunned by her family because she's leading a hypocritical life. In the daytime she's a devout Amish girl, working in the fields with her family. At night she goes to clubs, dancing and picking up men.

Shunning doesn't just mean that she's thrown out of her house. Her family members aren't even allowed to look at her. That's a cruel punishment.

She goes to live with Kai Procter, her uncle. He turned his back on the Amish faith years ago. In this episode we find out why. Local mobsters were demanding protection money from the Amish farmers. Kai was 19 at the time, and he attacked the mobsters, badly injuring them. His family told him to repent, because he should have turned the other cheek. He refused, and he left the community. He was never shunned, because he left first. You can only be shunned if you belong to the Amish community.

Kai pleads with his family on Rebecca's behalf, but they won't back down. It's a principle of their church to deal with evil-doers in this way.

There's a long silent scene in which Rebecca looks at herself in a mirror in Kai's mansion.

 No words are needed to describe the thoughts going through Rebecca's mind.

The Amish community was restrictive, but she never wanted to escape. She wanted both worlds, the Amish life and the shiny modern world.

Rebecca wants sexy lingerie, but she wants to wear an Amish bonnet as well. This scene is heart-breaking.

In this episode we find out that Anna's daughter Deva is Lucas Hood's child. When Lucas discovered Anna/Carrie's new family in the first episode, she said that Deva was 13, but it was a lie. She's 15. Anna was already pregnant when she married Gordon Hopewell, the district attorney. She told him the father was dead.

The episode ends with the aftermath of the fight between Anna and Olek. Anna is barely alive, and Olek is lying dead in her arms. Can the series get any better?

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