Always the Cowboy

... and then I found Banshee.

My bad.

In this, the second to last episode of the first season, we have another episode so tight, so suspenseful, that even while you are watching it, a part of your brain goes, gee, this is better than most of the movies coming from Hollywood lately.

And you reply to that small part of your brain, yes brain, you are correct. The craft and precision built into this series -- everything from casting to writing to direction -- is nothing short of astonishing.

I like that the writing team went to all the trouble of creating a local villain (who in this wonderful episode gets to show that his boast of being a "dangerous man" in an earlier episode was not an idle one) just to distract the viewer so that, when the real baddie finally arrives, the viewer would be caught off guard.

I like that the character of Anna is written so powerfully that she not only leaves her own hospital bed to rescue her son (very macho), but when her husband demands one-on-one time to discuss some inconsistencies in her backstory, she simply tells him "later." And most of all I love that, just as you get drawn into one story arc, they jump to another arc that is just as engaging, if not moreso.

The mainstream reviewers had one word for this show.

Addictive.

That one they got right.

The first problem, I feel, is that there isn't much - in some cases - no - chemistry between the leads. Possibly the problem is with the lead female, who seems a bit, unlikeable. As she's so unlikeable then there's no drama really. Her husband will be better off without the lying witch, and ditto the anti-hero. The Rabbit character is way too chatty and the menace that the character had to start with has gone. The scene where he infiltrates the family home was supposed to be deadly tense, yet felt forced and unconvincing. Also there are the plot holes - characters acting in completely irrational ways. And the lead females face would be bruised and extremely swollen after the pummeling she got, not just scratched. Not to mention all her other injuries. I also lost interest in the anti-hero somewhat. It all went downhill after the superb episode 3 (I think it was). Still, it's not terrible, but I was hoping for more.