Waco - TV Review

Starring Michael Shannon, Taylor Kitsch, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Sparks, Rory Culkin, Shea Whigham, Melissa Benoist, John Leguizamo, Julia Garner, Camryn Manheim, Glenn Fleshler and Eric Lange.
Created by Drew & John Erick Dowdle.

The Branch Davidian tragedy is one of the biggest black stains on the resume of the ATF and FBI. It's been ripe for a limited-series retelling, and I'm glad Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV) took it on.

For the most part they do a good job. It's an incredibly talented cast, and it's treated with the same prestige as American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson. Kitsch in particular has to play the balancing act of a believably charismatic leader for his followers while showing the meglomaniacal side that led him to believe he was another Messiah.

This six-episode series dedicates the first two episodes to before the siege. We see top negotiator Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon) trying to clean up the mess of the Ruby Ridge standoff that led to the ATF killing an unarmed mother and child. He butts head with FBI man "Mitch Decker" (Shea Whigham). He's based on someone else, but he's such a cartoon villain for most of this miniseries, I can understand them changing the name so they wouldn't get sued.

We also see David Koresh being a loving leader, albeit with polygamy and underage brides snuck in. They're telling this from the perspective of the Branch Davidian survivors, making it plausible why so many people would follow him.

I think the miniseries would have been stronger if the creators hadn't pressed their thumbs so heavily on the scale. The one-two punch of incompetence by the federal government leading to the deaths of innocent people didn't need the extra melodrama. In that respect, it reminded me of classic movies like Bonnie & Clyde and Dog Day Afternoon, where no matter what the criminals did, law enforcement was eeevil.

And yet, it's still highly effective in pushing those buttons. The tension builds and builds to the final showdown, where we see how tragedy could have been averted if Koresh and the FBI bosses had just been a little bit less stubborn.