Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks is the main protagonist of Spiral: From the Book of Saw.
Biography[]
Ezekiel Banks was born to Police Chief Marcus Banks, whose involvement in a conspiracy cover-up had ramifications that affected Zeke as an adult. Zeke grew up to become a police officer and, later, a homicide detective.
At one point, Zeke was partnered with Pete Dunleavy. He was present when Pete questioned a witness about a dirty cop. Pete shot the witness to cover the dirty cop's tracks and lied that the witness assaulted him. Zeke saw a child hiding in the cabinet and silently shushed him in order to avoid Pete's attention. Zeke later exposed Pete's crime which led to Pete's expulsion from the police. Zeke later exposed Dunleavy for his actions, which resulted in Dunleavy getting stripped of his police ranking and earning a nine year sentence. Despite this, the incident resulted in Zeke being ostracized by the rest of the Metropolitan police force, as they labeled him a snitch who turned his back on his "brothers in blue".
With his fellow officers against him, Zeke became hardened and distanced himself greatly. He refused to work with any new partners and instead, investigated murders. He worked an unauthorized drug bust that quickly went south. He was reprimanded by the new police chief and family friend Angie Garza. Garza was angered that he went undercover without any backup, though Banks was sure he couldn't trust anyone. Garza refused to believe that and instead gave him a new partner, an idealistic rookie, though Banks tried to argue against the assignment. He didn't want to babysit someone, though Garza didn't give him a choice. She assigned him and his new partner to the homicide division once again.
After off-duty detective Marv Bozwick is gruesomely murdered in the subway tunnel, Banks is called to investigate alongside his new partner, rookie detective William Schenk. Banks draws similarities between Bozwick's death and the victims of the now deceased Jigsaw Killer. He determines that a man named Benny Reitz lured Bozwick into the tunnels. The dynamic between Banks and Schenk is initially rocky, as Banks is adamantly against the idea of a partner, while Schenk's seemingly optimistic outlook on life annoys Banks. He tries his best to minimize the amount of time they spend together, thought the increasing questions surrounding the subway murders makes it difficult. They find the first video tape from the killer, who identifies the murdered man as a police officer. The killer plans to reform the Metro PD and remind them of the oath they took to the city. Schenk, Banks, and Detective Fitch piece together that the Jigsaw Killer has a new copycat.
After Zeke gets home from work one day, his dad Marcus learns of the copycat and that Zeke is investigating, but wonders if it will be too much for Zeke being lead detective after everything that happened. He still believes that Zeke made things about himself when he turned in Pete Dunleavy, and again in his marriage. Zeke refuses the fatherly advice and instead goes back to his investigation, which garners little results.
At one point, the Jigsaw copycat delivers a message for Banks warning him that he was offered salvation but declined, so now, he's going to point the finger back at them, and that until they all admit their wrongdoings in police investigations, more people will continue to die. Detective Fitch learns that Benny Reitz, their prime suspect for Bozwick's murder, lives at an burnt out bread factory. Fitch goes there looking for Benny but is abducted and later put into a trap where he must rip off all ten of his fingers before the tub of water he is chained to makes contact with an exposed wire, or else he would be electrocuted to death. Fitch fails to rip off his fingers in time and is killed. Zeke, Will and Kraus then find Fitch's corpse at the bread factory he was headed off to, which raises concern from the other detectives in the precinct, since several years prior, Fitch had failed to respond to a backup call which resulted in Banks being shot. Drury suspects that Banks is involved since both Bozwick and Fitch had connections to Banks. Schenk, however, agrees with Banks that someone else is pulling the strings and puppet mastering the events around them. William remains the only cop who believes Banks. Now a suspect in his investigation, Banks sets off to prove he isn't connected to the murders. In their investigations, Zeke and Schenk cross paths with Peter Dunleavy, who warns Schenk that Zeke will stab him in the back if given the chance. Schenk inquired about the exchange, to which Banks explained that his choice to not cover for Dunleavy led him to spend the rest of his life watching his back.
A box is later delivered to the station with a taunting note asking Banks if the killer was getting under his skin. Inside the box is a piece of Schenk's skin inside, identified via a distinctive tattoo. Also inside is a vial that directs the new batch detectives to a butcher shop. Banks recognizes the place as a hobby shop that he and his father visited when he was younger. Inside they find a tape recorder and a skinned corpse inside. The corpse is later identified as Schenk. This upsets Banks more then he anticipated, though he begins to piece together clues from the investigation that he doesn't share with the other detectives.
One morning, Officer Barrett is attacked at a shop by a figure in a pig mask, who stabs him in the arm. He is found wounded by his fellow officers, who inform Zeke. Zeke finds Barrett still alive, and he and the rest of the cops are able to help him out. However, Zeke then realises that Barrett's attack was used as a distraction to get the officers out of the precinct so that the killer could capture Garza. Banks realizes she's been abducted and is next on the copycats kill order, and tries to find her. By time he and the rest of the officers look in the basement, they find that Garza has been killed, with her face smothered in hot wax and her spinal cord severed. Her death devastates Banks, but also gives him a lead. He realizes that the killer must know intimate knowledge of the police station to pull off the abduction. Banks also learns that his father, Marcus Banks, is officially missing as no one can locate him. Detective O'Brien suspects that Marcus is the killer, causing Zeke to freak out. Zeke desperately races to the church to confront Dunleavy out of suspicions of him being the killer, but is unable to find him, since, unbeknownst to him, Dunleavy has already been abducted by the killer. Zeke is later abducted by the copycat killer himself and awakens in a warehouse handcuffed to a pipe. He sees a hacksaw nearby and considers the option of sawing off his arm, per his "test", but doesn't have to when he discovers a loose bobby pin on the floor nearby.
As Zeke navigates his escape, he encounters Peter Dunleavy restrained with chains in the centre of a room. In front of him is a large glass-crushing machine, which has been modified to rapidly hurl shards of glass at Dunleavy. A tape recorder explains that Banks can choose to either free Dunleavy or leave him to die. Although Banks attempts to save Dunleavy, he is unable to locate the key in time, and Dunleavy dies from the glass shards lacerating his back. Moving to another room, Banks then finds Schenk, who is revealed to have faked his own death by using the skinned corpse of Benny Reitz. Schenk reveals that he was the copycat killer the whole time, and explains that he is actually the son of the person Dunleavy murdered 12 years prior. Schenk also reveals to Zeke that Zeke's father Marcus was responsible for the polices that enabled the corruption to occur, which in turn resulted in Schenk's father dying.
Schenk reveals that he doesn't want to kill Zeke, but rather wants to recruit him as a partner in punishing corrupt officers. He presents Banks with a final test, which sees Marcus being restrained in the air and slowly being drained of blood. Schenk calls 911 and claims that he is a civilian being pursued by a shooter, resulting in the dispatcher sending a SWAT team to his location. He hands Zeke a revolver with one cartridge, and gives him a choice to either shoot a target that will free Marcus from certain death but allow Schenk to escape, or kill Schenk and let Marcus die. Zeke ultimately decides to shoot the target, causing Marcus's restraints to loosen and lowering him to the ground. Zeke then begins to fight Emmerson, but shortly after, the SWAT team arrives and inadvertently triggers a tripwire whilst trying to break down the door, causing Marcus's restraints to yank him upward again. The movement reveals a gun affixed to Marcus' arm, leading the SWAT team to mistake him for the shooter and kill him. Banks screams despairingly as Emmerson escapes.
Trivia[]
- He is played by Chris Rock, a popular comedian and actor in many movies such as the Madagascar series.