VagueRant fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Apr 4, 2016

• The writer is high pitched and goony as gently caress but brings enough enthusiasm and loudness that him and Burton's actor can actually get a word in over Jon Gabrus.
  
• One of the comedians accidentally gives away that SPOILER FOR PRESUMABLY THE NEXT EPISODE: we're apparently going to get to them trading for Job REAL QUICK, no dragging it out.
  
• Anthony Starr (Hood) really hated the fake beard.
  
• A lot of talk about the Burton v Nola fight. Apparently Odette Annable accidentally punched Matt Rauch at one point in it. He also had a ligament injury days before and you can actually see his leg brace when he kicks her into the car. Oh and the original version of the scene had him slamming her head through the hood ornament, but showrunner Jonathan Tropper decided to make it even more extreme.
  
• Cinemax actively encourage the crazy poo poo the writers doubt they could get away with.
  
• Adam Targum claims he got death threats on twitter after they killed off Siobhan. (Citing "It was your neck that should've been broken" and claiming that while he went home to check all his guns had ammo, he also thought that passion meant they'd done a good job.)
  
• The more serious, less villain-of-the-week tone was apparently what they always wanted for the show, and they felt they couldn't really go any crazier after season 3 because they don't have the budget to make it "a Zac Snyder movie".
  
• Ulrich Thomsen (Kai Proctor) is apparently the weirdest man in the world. I hope they get him on the podcast!
  
• The scary dog in this episode was apparently a great actor, and was super nice on set when not commanded to be scary. (The actual face-biting was done with animatronics I believe.)
  
  
• Big one is that the writer also confirmed that we will NEVER find out Hood's real name (!!!!) or Burton's exact backstory and his genital situation.
  

VagueRant fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Apr 12, 2016

• Hoon Lee says Job's "voice" was clear in the script. I have no idea how this could work.
  
• When he explodes his own salon behind him in the pilot, he was told the explosion would be about as loud as a traschcan being dropped. They lied!
  
• He appreciates that Job being asian has pretty much never had attention drawn to it.
  
• Notably he talked a lot about the character's closeness to Hood. Noting that Hood never comments on his style or affectation, that Job very rarely swears AT Hood, calls him baby (and not motherfucka), that they've known each other longer than any other characters, and the first time Job speaks this season is when he sees Hood again.
  
• They consciously constructed a story/character beat to Job's fights with the one guy on the military base in season 3. Basically, the first time they fight, the guy keeps hitting Job with kicks and to keep him at bay and beat him down. But in the finale, how Job "solves the problem" is to use his belt to defeat the reach advantage, then takes out the guy's knee.
  
• At the end of the episode, Jon Gabrus fanboyishly asks Hoon to call them motherfuckers. His response in Job's voice: "Bitch, I ain't a dog and I don't do motherfuckin' tricks."
  

Thoughts:

• Episode title was maybe the best thing about it.
  
• First thoughts on the intro scene: Banshee is now Hannibal. But oh great, more horror movie violence against women. This is totally what we wanted out of our silly fun '80s movie action show.
  
• "I knew that was a lie too!" Oh, Brock. Poor sweet innocent Brock.
  
• Job's "Don't leave me alone" moment was tough to watch, genuinely emotional. I'm also sad that he's still out of his fabulous outfits.
  
• TV loses a kinda disappointing Black Canary and gains a cooler one! Not sure why the excessive eye makeup is part of her vigilante costume though. But man, Ivana's got a great stonefaced action movie expression. When she's running from the explosion she looked like a beast.
  
• I was hoping Job would run in and save her.
  
• Never seen a flamethrower like that before, was it based on something real and functional or just silly prop?
  
• The quick fist fight in the drug lab was edited really choppily. Feels like we haven't had a good fight scene this entire season and we're halfway through.
  
• Burton eating ice cream is somehow creepy as gently caress.
  
• Is Eliza Dushku on crack? Of all the addictions to give her...?
  
• Feels like Kai Proctor has done gently caress all this season (again HALF WAY THROUGH) and it's sad.
  
• What was up with Forehead Bumps, anyway?

• Apparently Jonathan Tropper has pretty much said at wrap parties that if he doesn't like working with an actor he can fire them via killing them off. Which is weirdly true!
  
• There's a S1 sex scene where Hood says to a woman (can't remember if it was Rebecca or the bar lady or...) "And you are?" and then it just cuts to them loving. Apparently she originally replied "Already wet." but they went with the more immediate smashcut to intercourse instead. Classic Banshee!
  
• They pointed out the jailed white supremacist father-in-law was Godfather in Generation Kill - it had been bugging me the entire time, what I knew him from!
  

• She talked about being super tight with the girls on set, including Cruz, this season's newbie.
  
• She referred to seeing Calvin Bunker's penis this episode as it being about time we saw "some worm."
  
• Talking about fight scene training, she repeatedly emphasised how they're supposed to pronounce dojo (kinda "doojoo") to comic effect.
  
• Sounds like she was trained in escrima fighting (given that the show gives each character a specific fighting style) early on, but season 4 is the first time they've actually got around to giving her sticks.
  
• The most interesting part for me was she kept referencing them not really having the time or budget for action scenes but doing them anyway...Which definitely explains some of the sloppier choreography I mentioned earlier...
  
• There was speculation that Eliza Dushku's character gets her wicked detective-ing skills FROM the crack she smokes.
  
• When Jon Gabrus issued the standard podcast host half-apology, "We're jumping all over the place here" Ivana immediately, sweetly and seriously reassured him that "It's okay". I've literally never heard that on a podcast!
  
• She talked about trying standup comedy as a teenager in-between modelling and acting. I had no idea.
  
• Re: Sean's story about meeting her and Anthony Star - the story is that Sean and his wife went up and said they liked the show, Ivana politely and enthusastically thanked them while Anthony Star said "yeah I like it too. I jerk off to all my nude scenes". She remembers the encounter (because her and her co-star do not go clothes shopping together often) and described it as a "very Ant thing to say" and also that he was probably just nervous.
  
• She seemed legitimately sad when the comedians revealed their observation about how Hood and Ana/Carrie's genes made a strong interesting burgeoning criminal daughter, but Gordon's weak rear end genes made a forgettable asthmatic problem boy. (She also said the show couldn't kill the son off because it would ruin Carrie and Gordon's characters too much.)
  
• Apparently it's pronounced Mill-eech-ee-veech. (I always figured Mil-lih-chev-itch).
  

VagueRant fucked around with this message at 19:59 on May 10, 2016

• In the opening credits, Hoon Lee's name had a picture of a hand flipping off some cows. Great callback to my favourite Job moment.
  
• The river looked rad and had nice cinematography. It wasn't the SAME river from season 1, was it? Because it kinda looked like it.
  
• The Brothers Bunker fight. Compared to the choppily edited quick fight scenes in the rest of the season, this one was longer and had a lot of static, clear shots, and even wide-angles so you could really see every hit and it was nice and brutal. I also thought the actor who plays Kurt did a really great job.
  
• Pretty much every scene with Brock. Good funny moments. I think in a weird way, he's the heart of the show. (Although his denouement about basically being pro-police corruption is a little...Worrying.)
  
• The way they handled Carrie and Hood's relationship. They love each other, but they're not in a romance per se.
  
• "Banshee, Pennsylvania...Suck mah tit!" *Job out*
  
• That variant on the theme tune at the very end. Please tell me that's going to get released!
  

• Felt like even at the end they didn't really know what to do with Carrie/Ana. She appears in a truck (given her lack of weapons, we have to assume Job killed all those dudes), then ducks and then has a house. The end. At least she got the line about being Carrie.
  
• Deva. "I guess I'm off to college now, bye." Just had nothing to offer the story at any point, really.
  
• The Hood/Burton fight wasn't anything special. And Hood fighting back from unconsciousness with the power of fatherly love was a bit weak. It works as a character piece, but I think they needed to change the context within the fight to something more satisfying. (Like him barely being able to stand up from Burton pummelling him, and then finding that dogged drive to just keep standing and keep fighting, instead of his inner strength disregarding the need for air in his lungs or whatever)
  
• The pacing of some of the scenes was intolerably slow. Way too many shots of cars and roads.
  
• I know this is weird, but I really wanted Kai to end up shirtless with his consistently surprising amounts of muscle and his insane crucifixion tattoo. Think that would've made that final shot even crazier.
  
• Total nitpick: but why the gently caress didn't they cut to credits on the shot of him driving behind the "leaving: BANSHEE" sign instead of having that longshot of him just literally fading out on a road?
  

VagueRant fucked around with this message at 11:32 on May 21, 2016