What I’m Watching: Under the Banner of Heaven (Series Finale)

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 7 “Blood Atonement” (B+)

I’m not sure what I expected to see in this finale, but it was unnerving how simple everything was and how easily it happened. Brenda saw Dan coming in and tried to stop him, and then she was helpless to do anything else when he overpowered her. The fact that no one even tried to step in when Dianna was crying out for help as Samuel tried to take Matilda aware to face her own divine punishment was very disturbing, and that explains how the brothers were able to get away with all this, since no one bothered to do anything and they just marched on with their alleged religious orders. Dianna demanding that he bear his testimony was an important indicator of how she, like Pyre, still believes after all this in the tenets of their religion. Bill rejected efforts to make his people’s history one of cooperation since that wasn’t the story he had heard, and didn’t appreciate the lies they had been told and the way it had been spun to make it seem like they weren’t manipulated victims. After some prodding from Bill, Pyre was able to realize that Ron’s next move would be to kill Dan, or the other way around, and it was telling that, when they were finally arrested, Ron remained stoically silent and Dan once again cried out to those around him to ask what laws of heaven he had broken. Ending on Pyre coming back to his family was a strong choice, emphasizing the heart of this harrowing but very well-told series.

Series grade: B+
Series MVP: Andrew Garfield as Pyre and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Brenda

What I’m Watching: Under the Banner of Heaven (Penultimate Episode)

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 6 “Revelation” (B+)

One of the most fascinating aspects of this show is how Pyre grapples with the fact that these people share some of the same tenets of faith, even though they’ve clearly interpreted things very differently. It makes sense that Allen might be the one he could most relate to, someone who always looked to the apparent piety of his older brothers and ultimately rejected them because he saw what it did to them. Allen slapping Brenda when she confronted him for not being around was an important turning point, and it was difficult to watch him reject the authority of the church council only to have them then send Brenda right back to him so that she wouldn’t abandon the relationship. Betty was rightfully devastated about how she sent Brenda to the church rather than giving her the help she might have needed, and Pyre affirmed to her that she had done what she thought was right. That moment where Josie wandered in to the kitchen while Pyre was talking to Betty and her father helped to really soften the mood, if that was at all possible. It’s going to be difficult for Pyre to muster spiritual strength, something that Rebecca has asked of him so that he can show resilience for his daughters. Bill finding a seemingly cooperative Prophet Onias doesn’t say much about where Ron might be now, but finding a different form of salvation through polygamy doesn’t appear to have given him a helpful perspective, certainly not for his return home in the middle of this episode.

What I’m Watching: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 5 “One Mighty and One Strong” (B+)

There’s so much information that just hasn’t been apparent so far that informs all of this, and the assumptions that people make about why things happen definitely don’t always reflect the full truth. The reason for Dan’s excommunication was a big one, and it’s horrifying to see how religious fidelity can be abused as a way to get people to accept and encourage bad behavior. When Matilda caught Dan with one of her daughters, he claimed that God had given him a “vigorous sexual spirit” and that she should become his sister wife, with denying him akin to fornication and therefore punishable by death. Flashing back to Joseph Smith’s death when Emma expressed her objection to his allegedly divine call for polygamy made it even more haunting, and the notion that Child Protective Services were not called because the church wanted to handle it internally just makes it easier for this kind of thing to happen again. The reasons for Ron’s excommunication were different but also unsettling, since punching his wife and then threatening to starve her into obedience also suggest a sense that he is all-powerful and should dictate everything, regardless of who must suffer as a result. Brady was treating the whole thing much too casually, and Pyre and Bill made it very clear how seriously they took it when they made it known that they weren’t going anywhere until he took them exactly where they needed to go, which he finally realized was dangerous enough that he should have a bulletproof vest.

What I’m Watching: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 4 “Church and State” (B+)

It’s always jarring to see fundamentalists or extremists of any nature run for political office, since they have to inherently abide by certain rules and laws during their campaigns that they then plan to overturn if they are in fact elected. Dan saw how those who didn’t want him to be in power reacted when he was pulled over by the sheriff and almost physically pulled out of the car, and he went on about the tyrants when he was finally cornered after a lengthy chase. Both Ammon and Ron disapproved of what Dan was doing, and while Ammon was cruel in the way he spoke down to his son, it was Ron who, through physical force and subtler intimidation, was able to get through to his brother. The role of polygamy in Mormonism had a central showcase here, as Emma Smith expressed extraordinary displeasure at the idea of her husband coming up with a new tenet that would make her less significant, and his response that he as praying for heavenly father to destroy her if she didn’t obey his commandment made the situation even worse. This is a draining case for Pyre, who understands full well the implications of his refusing to rule out fundamentalist Mormonism during the press conference and saw the reach of the church when he was asked to release murder suspects into a priest’s custody, a move that would be very unlikely to lead to any form of justice or accountability for the Lafferty family.

Take Three: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 3 “Surrender” (B+)

There’s a certain gravity to this show that made it seem like Bill might be dead, but instead the standoff in the woods ended up not being anything too dramatic and instead just showed the resolve of the Lafferty family to resist being policed by law enforcement. Just as he has so far, Jeb was able to relate to a particular perspective the family might have about how they might see it as a siege like the one Joseph Smith had to endure. It’s jarring to learn that the people being questioned have no idea that Brenda is dead and are therefore more than willing to say terrible things about her, like that she is an “ugly shade of gray” within a mold of black-and-white laws. Flashing back to her becoming a queen and priestess to her husband certainly showed a ritual that from the outside feels outdated and problematic but does have a great power for true believers. Ammon giving Dan lashings in public was disconcerting, and seeing how Brenda pointed out the absurdity of Dan running for sheriff so that he could repeal all the amendments to the Constitution helped explain they might have felt that she posed a threat to them. This is spilling into Jeb’s own life as he’s thinking about postponing his daughters’ baptisms so his heart can fully be in it, and Rebecca had her hands full frantically searching for her mother-in-law. He seems to be getting closer to full confessions, but that’s only going to intensify the way the remaining family members still out there feel.

Round Two: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven: Season 1, Episode 2 “Rightful Place” (B+)

As this show’s world is exposed more and more, it’s becoming increasingly interesting and disturbing. I do hope that viewers see it not as an all-encompassing depiction of Mormonism but rather a portrait of how faith can lead to fundamentalism if it’s not taken hand-in-hand with the laws of the land. The idea of not wanting to pay taxes because the laws of the land weren’t considered valid is certainly difficult to accept, but it also tracks with the way that they were persecuted when they arrived and wanted their traditions to be accepted or at least allowed. What’s clearer than anything else is that Brenda did not fit this ideology and was a forward-thinking, feminist Mormon who might have had a kindred spirit in Matilda but was far more willing to speak her mind. Brenda handled the situation with the boss who locked her in the studio when she wanted to read the news exceptionally well, but the family obviously didn’t see her as the winner in that situation, instead embarrassing the family by trying to change the way they do things. Brenda’s family saw Allen and his family as dangerous for the very reason that they would suppress her and not allow her to be her own person, which seems to be the case, even if Ron ascribes to his own interpretation of how they should interact with the world. Jeb may still be thinking about birthday parties, but he’s going to need to send in backup for Bill as he encounters those who do not respect lawmen they don’t acknowledge showing up uninvited on their property.

Piot Review: Under the Banner of Heaven

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