Cinemax’s Banshee is an action-packed, pulpy adrenaline rush that just keeps getting better and better with each new season. After being released from prison after 15 years, Lucas Hood (Antony Starr, Outrageous Fortune) made his way to the small rural town of Banshee, PA looking for his old flame/former partner Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic). Lucas found himself in the right place at the wrong time, and assumed the identity of Banshee’s new sheriff-to-be after the former was killed in a bar fight. Hood’s relationship with Carrie is complicated—she is now married to Banshee’s mayor, is mother to a teenage daughter Hood didn’t even know he had, and her father Rabbit was the criminal mastermind who got Lucas locked up in the first place. Besides Carrie, the only others who know Lucas’ secret are hacker Job (Hoon Lee) and bar owner Sugar (Frankie Faison)—and all four of them have partnered to pull off various heists in town over the past 2 seasons. The group also often finds itself crossing paths with Amish gangster/kingpin Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), who seems to have is hand in any and all corrupt dealings that go on in town.

At the end of the second season Rebecca (Lili Simmons) took it upon herself to murder Alex Longshadow in order to help her uncle. While Alex wasn’t really well-liked, this has still stirred up trouble with the Redbones as a matter of honor. The mountain-like Chayton Littlestone (Geno Segers) has returned to Banshee looking for vengeance, and he doesn’t waste any time starting his murderous rampage. Lucas has returned to the arms of deputy Siobhan (Trieste Kelly Dunn), and Carrie has found a new lover, Col. Douglas Stowe (Langley Kirkwood)—a fact that is sure to complicate Lucas’ latest big heist plan which involves stealing millions of dollars from a safe on Marine base Camp Genoa. Meanwhile, Protcor continues to groom his niece for the family business, but her overzealous initiative soon starts to cause issues; tensions rise between the Banshee and reservation police departments; and FBI Special Agent Robert Phillips (Denis O’Hare, American Horror Story) is searching to find the truth about Agent Racine’s disappearance, which may lead him to the truth about Hood.

When this series first started, it seemed the like the show was trying to hard to fit into the Cinemax mold by adding in lots of gratuitous sex scenes, nudity and bloody action. However, the series has really matured over the seasons—that’s not saying it has given up any of these aspects, but the use of violence and sex now feels much more integral to the story and less there to just win over the Cinemax audience. The series embraces its pulpy tone, and while there are many gory shootouts, it never feels excessive. The series is very well-written, and there is a true feeling of stakes—no character is ever safe, and the series proves this many times over this season.

The third season is a well-architected roller coaster of a ride. In addition to some season-long stories, there are also these shorter arcs that run for 2-4 episodes and then seamlessly blend into the next big thing. Each episode ends in such a way that you immediately want to check out what happens next. The first two seasons both had some stunning action sequences that played out in an operatic way, and third season is no different.

One of the things I always enjoy about this show are the flawless, perfectly-choreographed fight sequences, and each episode of the third season is loaded with action. In episode three there is a fight that takes place between Burton and Nola that is edited together so perfectly that it appears like it’s a single shot following these characters as the fight moves into and outside of a vehicle. There are many other impressive individual fight scenes throughout the season, as well as a huge firefight to close out the season.

This season the series also takes some creative approaches to filming. For the big heist, the actors wore Go Pro cameras and we follow the entire thing from their POVs—it almost feels like you are watching/playing a video game. And of of my favorite episodes of the season is the Assault on Precinct 13-like fifth episode that takes place primarily in a darkened, locked-down precinct.

There are some great new characters introduced this season as well. Chayton is an amazing villain who is like an unstoppable, threatening beast. He looks like he could eat Lucas for dinner, so how is he going to take this guy down?! We also meet Aimee (Meaghan Rath, Being Human), a deputy on the reservation; Billy Raven (Chaske Spencer), a deputy for the Banshee Sheriff Department who is hated by his people for wearing the white man’s uniform; and Kurt Bunker (Tom Pelphrey), a reformed Neo-Nazi who is now looking for a job as a deputy at the BSD.

The Blu-ray presentation is superb, with crystal clear picture quality that captures every bloody detail—it doesn’t matter how fast the action, or how dark the scene, you can see it all. And the audio soundtrack makes excellent use of the surround and stereo channels to make the scenes come alive, bringing the viewer right into the center of the action, while also providing clear dialog. The Blu-ray also includes a code to redeem both Digital and UltraViolet copies of all of the episodes. The discs themselves are loaded with great bonus features, including audio commentaries for 5 episodes, 9 episode-specific behind-the-scenes featurettes, 2 Banshee Origins webseries, 4 stunt and visual effects featurettes, an interactive multi-camera look at the heist, 6 deleted scenes and more.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (8:34:58)

Blu-ray:
• All 10 episodes of the third season:
  “The Fire Trials”, “Snakes and Whatnot”, “A Fixer of Sorts”, “Real Life is the Nightmare”, “Tribal”, “We Were All Someone Else Yesterday”, “You Can’t Hide from the Dead”, “All the Wisdom I Got Left”, “Even God Doesn’t Know What to Make of You”, “We All Pay Eventually”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS Digital Surround 5.1, Spanish DTS Digital Surround 2.0, German DTS Digital Surround 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, German, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 1/31/2021):

• Digital HD Copy Redeemable via iTunes or Google Play
• UltraViolet Digital HD Copy Redeemable via Vudu or Flixster

Extras:

• Banshee Origins (24:25)
  This 8-part prequel web series gives viewers snippets into the lives of the characters before the events of the series. Some of this footage is used for the flashbacks throughout the season. Play All or select from “17 Years Ago”, “15 Years Ago”, “9 Years Ago”, “8 Years Ago”, “5 Years Ago”, “4 Years Ago”, “2 Years Ago” and “6 Months Ago”.
• Banshee Origins Saga (54:33)
  This longer-form two-part series has been compiled from all three seasons of the Banshee Origins and takes a look at the lives of the characters before they made their way to Banshee. Play All or select from “Part 1” or “Part 2”. Includes optional audio commentary with executive producer/director Greg Yaitanes and post-production producer Allen Marshall Palmer.
• Making of the Episode 2 Title Sequence (1:49)
  A look at all of the various layers of effects used to bring the unique episode 2 title sequence to life. The Pre-Viz version of the sequence plays full screen with the Final version plays in the bottom right corner. Occasionally, the untouched Original version also appears in a box in the middle right of the screen.
• Zoomed In
  These featurettes are included on each disc along with the related episodes and give the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the episodes. Each disc has a Play All option for the episodes contained on that disc. Those interviewed in these various featurettes include actors Anthony Starr (“Lucas Hood”), Geno Segers (“Chayton Littlestone”), Matt Servitto (“Brock Lotus”), Lili Simmons (“Rebecca Bowman”), Ivana Milicevic (“Carrie Hopewell”), Ulrich Thomsen (“Kai Proctor”), Odette Annable (“Nola Longshadow”), Trieste Kelly Dunn (“Siobhan Kelly”), Hoon Lee (“Job”), Frankie Faison (“Sugar Bates”), Langley Kirkwood (“Col. Douglas Stowe”) and Rus Blackwell (“Gordon Hopewell”), writer/co-creator Jonathan Tropper and executive producer Greg Yaitanes, co-executive producer Adam Targum, stunt coordinator Marcus Young, director Magnus Martens and director Loni Peristere.
  • Episode 1 (1:46)
    The cast and filmmakers discuss the return of Chayton.
  • Episode 2 (1:54)
    The cast and filmmakers talk about Rebecca’s thirst for power and the dangerous woman she’s becoming, and filming the meat factory shootout.
  • Episode 3 (2:01)
    Go behind the scenes of the epic Burton/Nola fight.
  • Episode 4 (1:47)
    The cast and filmmakers discuss the brutal Proctor/Louis showdown.
  • Episode 5 (3:01)
    The cast and filmmakers discuss the decision to kill off one of the characters, and how they dealt with the death.
  • Episode 6 (2:17)
    A discussion of how Lucas deals with his grief, and how it affects his relationship with Job.
  • Episode 7 (2:20)
    Using headset cams on the actors to shoot the heist, giving the show a unique video game like look.
  • Episode 8 (2:12)
    A look at the final showdown between Lucas and Chayton.
  • Episode 10 (2:22)
    A look at the relationship between Lucas and Gordon, and where all the characters are left in the season finale.
• Audio Commentaries
  The filmmakers provide commentary on various episodes throughout the season. These commentaries are quite good—the participants give great discussions of the story and characters, and provide a lot of interesting and fun production stories. I like how matter of fact and hilarious some of these are: “You don’t normally see someone get choked from the inside”.
  • Episode 1: The First Trials (50:22)
    Creator/executive producer/writer Jonathan Tropper and executive producer/director Greg Yaitanes
  • Episode 3: A Fixer of Sorts (58:14)
    Director Magnus Martens and stunt coordinator Marcus Young
  • Episode 5: Tribal (52:26)
    Director OC Madsen and post-production producer Allen Marshall Palmer
  • Episode 7: You Can’t Hide From The Dead (56:50)
    Executive producer/director Greg Yaitanes, editor John Valerio, and costume designer Patia Prouty.
  • Episode 10: We All Pay Eventually (56:20)
    Creator/executive producer/writer Jonathan Tropper, co-executive producer/director Loni Peristere, and co-executive producer/writer Adam Targum.
• Burton vs Nola Stunts (3:49)
  A fun look at the big Burton/Nola fight as actor Matthew Rauch practices the scene with a stuntman playing the Nola role. Over-the-top visual and audio effects have been added to this training session to make it highly entertaining to watch.
• Burton vs Nola Camera Movement (:53)
  Learn how the epic fight scene was filmed to make it look like one continuous shot—an animated drawing demonstrates the camera movement about the car while video footage from the previous featurette is overlayed in the top left corner.
• The Heist (20:10)
  This interactive feature lets the viewer witness the heist sequence from episode 7 from four different points of views. Using the remote you can switch between the multi-camera view and the full screen camera feeds for Hood, Carrie, Job and the Closed Circuit TV. When viewing Hood, Carrie or Job’s feed, a circle in the corner shows a map and the angle the camera is pointing.
• Deleted Scenes
  A collection of 6 deleted scenes which appear on each disc along with the related episodes.
  • Disc 1 (:28):
    Episode 2 Deleted Scene (“Siobhan stares at Lucas’s Desk”)
  • Disc 3 (5:11):
    Play All or select from Episode 7 – Deleted Scene 1 (“Rebecca takes Mercedes”), Episode 7 – Deleted Scene 2 (“Deva and Charlie”), Episode 8 – Deleted Scene 1 (“Chayton Prepares for Battle”), Episode 8 – Deleted Scene 2 (“Bones Stuffed in Trunk”)
  • Disc 4 (1:44):
    Episode 9 Deleted Scene (“Deva and Lucas”)
• Genoa Rehearsal (4:50)
  Footage of the cast/stuntmen rehearsal of the season’s big final showdown, set to music and with added visual effects.
• Sins Promo (1:11)
  Promotional teaser for the third season.
• Episode Recaps
  On the menu for each episode, there is the option to play the recap that appeared before that episode when it originally aired. The Play All option for the episodes skips the recaps.

Final Thoughts:

I was blown away by how good this third season of Banshee was. The writers have done an excellent job building up these mini story arcs over the course of the season while also progressing the main storyline. Every episode is loaded with amazing visuals and action sequences. The technical presentation of the Blu-ray is fantastic and the discs are loaded with hours of entertaining and informative bonus material. The set also includes both Digital and UltraViolet copies of all of the entire season. This release is a must-own for any fan of pulpy, over-the-top action!