Banshee - Final Season

All the rules are, once again, broken and redefined in the fourth and final season of Cinemax's graphic-novel-gone-glorious, "Banshee."

Prepare for the end.

In a town full of legendary scumbags and baroque bad-asses, Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) was the only guy who could hold the peace. He was the country's most notorious thief, who, after serving a grueling 15 years, reinvented himself as the sheriff of the backwater burg Banshee, Pennsylvania.

But a year and a half after the events of season three (when he and his pals, Carrie Hopewell [Ivana Miliceric] and Sugar Bates [Frankie Faison] orchestrated a multimillion-dollar heist that went bad) Lucas said, bye-bye to his law enforcing alter ego and became a reclusive mountain man.

During this torturous experience, it was Rebecca Bowman (Lili Simmons) who pulled Lucas through. Now, he finds that Rebecca has been the latest victim of a vicious serial killer -- and this puts him on a course of justice and revenge.

In this final installment, we have a central murder mystery -- Who killed Rebecca? -- and every one of the characters we've followed for the last four seasons is suspect.

At the top of that list may be Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), Rebecca's uncle. He owns, runs or destroys everything in Amish country. Still, there's a seemingly endless supply of drug dealers, meth makers, white supremacists and all-around lowlifes in this vigilante's world.

One very big ally returns this season: Fat Au (Eddie Cooper) comes back into the picture with some amazingly coifed facial hair and some of the season's best one liners. And guess what: Job (Hoon Lee) is alive. He's beaten up and angry now, so the serial killer better watch out.

The astoundingly picturesque and perfectly orchestrated images of this show are a thing to behold. Each episode is a graphic novel brought to life, and it is nothing if not graphic.

This Blu-ray collection includes the entire season in crystal-clear high definition, plus "Banshee Origins," a series of prequels in mini episodes. Also included are cast retrospectives, a behind-the-scenes featurette for every episode, audio commentaries and deleted scenes. (But this show is so tightly constructed that there's not a lot discarded.)


"Banshee: The Final Season"
Blu-ray $34.98
DVD $26.95
www.hbo.com/banshee