Reviews

I've stumbled upon this series pretty accidentally, as it is not known at all in my country. But once I've started watching it, I got addicted immediately. Nowadays, these series seems a bit naive, but perhaps this is what's most attractive about it. It is not action-packed and the main protagonist is not a super-hero like most of them are today. But what's more important, The Rebel is about people. Just those common folk of the immediate post-Civil war era, with the country still getting back from being torn apart, their life and death, feelings, emotions, wrongs and rights. And, what I reckon, the main idea of the series is that no matter what, staying a MAN is what keeps us from going down the dark.

I also enjoy the setting of the 1860s - its a wild-wild-west with a touch of progress. Indians, former military men of both armies, criminals, corrupt law enforcement, rednecks and all other inhabitants of the American continent, make watching this series a very enjoyable experience.

I've been a fan of the series since the first season. And though seasons with Sullivan and Winchester are my favourite, the latest installment was enjoyable as well, except for everything related to Russia and Russians - this just made me laugh, being so extremely cliche. Standard cartoonish villains, laughable parody at Russian language, "Mother Russia above all" and everyone being killed or sent to gulag for not performing as expected. But it's understandable that West will always view us as enemies, no matter what the politicians sing. And, I guess the series did not have a big budget to polish on everything. The rest was nice, both the story and the characters, who are written very live and believable. Still, the ending left a lot to be desired. But seems to be the problem with many great series - they just don't know how to wrap them in a similarly great way. It was the same with Banshee, etc. But all in all, great series. Will be missed.

Of course, this is not The Blacklist, without Reddington. But the idea of making a spin-off with some of the lesser-than-leading characters from the main series is, well, fascinating. The pilot was entertaining, but definitely lacked the depth and intrigue of the original series. I just hope the authors manage to make the main characters a bit less flat than they currently are. Eggold is a decent actor, but his character needs to mature. Hopefully, this does not become just another action show.

I've came upon "Banshee" pretty much accidentally - someone mentioned it in his blog. I've downloaded the first season - and it got me hooked in an instant, while the 2nd and especially the 3rd literally took my breath away. The 4th season seemed a bit of a disappointment... at first... but then it just got on par with the previous 3 - in its own way. I don't think there could be a better way of ending the story. HBO and Cinemax definitely should take steps to further promote this worldwide, it's a shame most people I know never heard of this show. "Banshee" excels in all aspects - visuals, sound and story. Rough as it might seem, it's got a good story to tell, which just get better as the series progresses. Sometimes the plot twists make your jaw drop and the only feeling you get afterwards is "WTF was that???". The characters are very well-written (even the small ones) and also develop with the series, making you realize that the world around us is not just black & white - sometimes evil has more goodness in it that gets the eye. The opposite is also often true. And yes, sometimes, to do somebody any good, you need to get out of their lives - for good. The soundtrack deserves a separate praise - it's just f..king incredible :-) I just wonder whether there could be some kind of "Banshee: Resurrection" :-), though I truly doubt it. It would be next to impossible to repeat the success of the original "Banshee", as the authors had set the plank WAY too high.

All in all, a must see. I'm doing what I can to promote this show among my friends - with some success to date :-)