I see the first 7 episodes as exploring how Vietnam affected Quarry and the people around him and the (80min) finale finally letting us see why. I would rather this than switching the narrative back and forward through the whole story. Peeling some layers from the mysterious "Broker" was an added bonus.
I do see your point too but if you ever read any good books and how the narrative doesn't just fill up the pages with irrelevant aspects of the core story. Mac is a Vietnam vet with some serious psychological issues which means that the flashbacks of Vietnam should have been incorporated into the story, even to plant a 3 second vignette shots of the village and killing as way of flashbacks, because the creators were already throwing us these other images that Mac was seeing like the Mask and that under water shot in the first episode, so why not throw in the shots of the fishing village killing too and leave it all for the end?.. that is what made the finale feel like a cheap network show.
I am kind of surprised someone like "Greg Yaitanes", whom I consider as a very creative and visionary would pack it all in for the finale?. They never did that in "Banshee", if anything "Banshee"s signature was all about flash backs and memories; the show's core was built on it, which is more closer how the human mind works and in this case a Vietnam soldier who killed a whole bunch of innocent people and still misses the war every day. We spent way too much time with Mac's outbursts and mopping and not even a hint where all this pain is buried coming from?. We spent way too much on chasing the one legged man that really had no real connection to the core of this story; where it could have been spent to build the connection with Broker and Vietnam more coherent so when you have a 80 minute finale it all comes together like a puzzle. You have to plant it these pieces in the beginning as the spine of the story, present all the info and images to your audience together and that's what make it more coherent and meaningful at the end, than just shocking you all with the finale like day soap opera.
As far as the Broker as the added "Bonus"?...well, the Broker story is now the new fork in the road, the new twist for the cliff hanger to the next season. It sets up the premise for the other seasons to come because until Mac discovers who the Broker really is and probably end up killing him once he finds out he was the behind the killing of the fishing village all for Drugs. They had to threw that in the finale too for us to ponder on to the next season, that was no added Bonus, it was a old gimmick.
With all its flaws, I still love this show and to me its really outstanding work for a TV drama for its first season.
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ryano30
8 years ago
Looks like we're going to have to agree to disagree on the finale and whether we should have had been fed some context in flashbacks in previous. The books I've read and Banshee have no bearing whatsoever on my opinion.
I wasn't trying to downplay the significance of the broker reveal to the story and the setup for next season. I was only speaking from my viewing experience of the finale.
Couldn't agree more with your last statement. Not perfect by any stretch but you'd need a big stick to keep me away from season 2.
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"What's the rumpus?"
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