Banshee: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray Review)
Fourth and final season of Cinemax’s gritty action series, as Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) returns to Banshee without his badge, but with a new motivation: to hunt for a vicious serial killer and track down a long-lost ally. Season 4 begins two years after Lucas and Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) orchestrated a multimillion-dollar heist that went bad leaving Carrie’s husband dead and Job (Hoon Lee) in the hands of a criminal gang. After a bender, during which he finds an unlikely savior in Rebecca (Lili Simmons), Lucas emerges from a self-imposed exile and goes back to Banshee to find it a drastically changed town that’s facing multiple threats on many levels.
The Series 
They say all good things must come to an end and Cinemax’s Banshee is no exception. The final fourth season of Banshee takes place almost 2 years after the finale events of the third season. A shadowy covert op’s team takes Job, Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) is injured and is recovering, and Rebecca (Lili Simmons) is now dead. Woah, wait, what? Yeah, apparently she was brutally murdered by a serial killer that is stalking Banshee County and its inhabitants.
Yes, my previous paragraph may have included a crucial spoiler but it was even more shocking that this was the route the show runners decided to work with for the final season. Her scenes and certain other pivotal ones were all done in flashback chronically the 21-month gap between the last episode of season 3 and this new one. There were so many threads left in the air and season 4 is only 8 episodes, so time is of the essence.
The early episodes of the season are spent trying to recover Job (Hoon Lee) by any means necessary. This involves Lucas and Carrie saddling up and putting the pain onto some highly trained operatives. Honestly, Carrie (Ivana Milicevic) is a phenomenal character that she needs her own spin-off show. I could watch her all day and not get bored by her kick-assery.
Mid-season and after Job’s thread is closed – we pick up on the serial killer thread and Eliza Dushku gets involved as a special agent with secrets of her own. She has a keen BS detector and can spot when fools, men and women alike, are lying to her. As she begins to dig for evidence into who murdered Lili – Lucas goes on his own investigation that leads him to Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) – Lili’s uncle/lover, etc. Kai denies that he had anything to do with her death and temporarily puts his difference with Hood aside, as he lets Hood track down the person or persons involved.
I really have to say that this final season of the show went a lot of different way and maybe the producers already knew that it was time to wrap up the series, so it does feel a bit frantic, but I did like the expert use of red herrings. Even when they were presented and acted out – they were extremely satisfying. Sure, on the surface, some many come off hokey, initially, but that changed as the show went on.
I am disappointed that the show has ended – I think a proper fifth season would have helped it along a bit more but what can you do? In any event – it is here now on Blu-ray, so if you’re already fans of the show then I highly recommend you get the Blu-ray set. Keep reading and find out how the show looks, sounds, and what goodies are in store for you in high definition.
Episodes
Something Out of the Bible
The Burden of Beauty
Job
Innocent Might Be a Bit of Stretch
A Little Late to Grow a Pair
Only One Way a Dogfight Ends
Truths Other Than the Ones You Tell Yourself
Video 
Encoding: AVC/MPEG-4
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Clarity/Detail: Banshee looks and has always looked terrific on Blu-ray. Details are immaculate and the Blu-ray set looks crisp and is without fault. I did not notice any pesky tweaks to the overall look of the show.
Depth: There is a lot of pretty scenery to look at in Banshee County and the Blu-ray certainly brings it out. It looks like a pleasant place to live if it weren’t so filled with violence, drugs, and what have you.
Black Levels: Black levels are outstanding. Crush and compression artifacts were not detected at all. There are plenty of scenes that take place in dark exteriors/interiors that look pristine in 1080p.
Color Reproduction: The color palette ranges from muted to quite colorful all dependent on locale and storyline. I’m partial to muted colors myself.
Flesh Tones: Everyone looks great considering some of the conditions in those outdoor scenes.
Noise/Artifacts: N/A
Audio
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Dynamics: Banshee made it all the way through its Blu-ray run having exceptional near-reference to reference audio. This final season on Blu-ray goes out in a blaze of glory as having a reference audio track. It’s an action packed show filled with many dramatic elements and the audio lossless track handle it all without coming short in either of those exchanges. Cinemax shows on Blu-ray tend to go all the way on home video.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel was epic in enhancing the already excellent bass levels. There are tons of explosions, fights, destruction, carnage, etc., that are perfectly enhanced by the LFE channel.
Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound channels were great in reproducing every subtle nuance that can be found lurking in the background field. It was perfectly balance and didn’t bleed into the front portion of the soundstage.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels were outstanding. No complaints here.
Extras
Banshee is loaded up with amusing tidbits of special feature like a retrospective of Job’s hilarious outfits, a couple of commentaries, delete scenes, making-of, etc. My favorite special feature of the whole thing is the Banshee Origins material. It runs nearly 30 minutes and features several character origins.
- Cast Retrospective: Banshee stars pick their favorite fight scenes and share memories of Job’s most unforgettable outfits.
- Banshee Origins: Find out the story before the story with prequel episodes videos featuring the cast of Banshee.
- Zoomed In: Go on set with the cast to see how key, adrenaline-filled scenes were created.
- Audio Commentaries on Episodes 6 & 8
- Deleted Scenes
- Digital UV Copy
Summary
Banshee’s final season certainly ends the show with bang and ties up loose ends and all that. The Blu-ray set features reference video, audio, and the special features are also top-notch. I get a feeling that the show could have been properly stretched out for a fifth season but time was certainly not of the essence in wrapping up this season. In any event – Banshee was a great show and is now available in all its high-def glory on Blu-ray.
Banshee: The Complete Fourth Season
is available on Blu-ray!
ORDER NOW!
