Gruesome Miniseries "Under the Banner of Heaven" Delivers Delightful Performances.

Under The Banner of Heaven, FX’s latest crime drama miniseries stars Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man, Tick-Tick-Boom) and Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone, Hell or High Water, Wind River) as Utah detectives attempting to solve a gruesome murder that threatens to expose corruption, greed, and prejudice within the Mormon church, local law enforcement, and the community.

Daisy Edgar Jones (Fresh, Where the Crawdads Sing) plays the victim, Brenda Lafferty, and a slew of other supporting actors include Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans), Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Denise Gough (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), Chloe Pirrie (The Queen’s Gambit, Emma), Billy Howle (On Chesil Beach, Outlaw King), Seth Numrich (TURN: Washington’s Spies), Rory Culkin (The Expecting), Megan Leitch (The X-Files, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Christopher Heyerdahl (Peacemaker, Van Helsing). The ensemble cast primarily revolves around the Lafferty family and their descent into toxic fundamentalist Mormonism. Tracking the family’s worsening radicalism and destruction of family ties forces the investigation to coincide with a case study of the corruption of organized religion. This time, the Mormon church. While dramatizing the real-life murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter, Erica, Under the Banner of Heaven creates an opportunity to explore radical religious fundamentalism and question those beliefs through narrative flashbacks to the era of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

Under the Banner of Heaven concedes its creative license on a true story by including a disclaimer at the end of its episodes stating: “This program is inspired by actual true crime events. Some characters in the program are fictional, and some scenes and dialogue are invented for creative and storyline purposes.” The disclaimer is a responsible practice encouraging the media literacy of its audiences. It also wouldn’t be surprising if FX’s entertainment lawyers pushed for the disclaimer, especially given the content of the miniseries.

FX does well with this series by taking real-life inspiration and a fictionalized book about the events and creating a platform to explore themes of religious corruption in tandem with exposing part of a religion shrouded in mystery. Disclaimers and discussions don’t do much to educate audiences. However, when we are nationally (and globally) predominately media illiterate, and most audiences want and need elevated rhetorical and creative concepts easily laid out.

Naturally, Mormons haven’t taken well to the miniseries. The content is damning to the religion, with the protagonist, Detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield), having a crisis of his Mormon faith amid the investigation. Series creator Dustin Lance Black, who grew up in the Mormon church, has stated that he wanted to use the miniseries as a platform to expose and explore the inherent and fundamental sexism structured in the Mormon church. One survivor’s exposé is a follower’s nightmare.

Gil Birmingham is a legend. The American actor of Comanche ancestry has a stacked filmography. Finally, he’s shining in a role that is hopefully credited as a co-starring role with Andrew Garfield. Birmingham plays Detective Bill Taba, partner to Garfield’s Pyre, who typically assumes the rouge, bad-cop role between the two. Nevertheless, Pyre and Taba are a team. Where Pyre’s faith tests him in the investigation, Taba remains the voice of reason as the investigation intensifies and tries them both. Birmingham delivers one of his best performances in this role. He has deserved formal recognition for his work and career for a long time. Hopefully, the Emmy, SAG-AFTRA, and HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association; They host the Golden Globes) voting boards will also think so.

Gil Birmingham and Andrew Garfield in "Under the Banner of Heaven." Micelle Faye/FX

Andrew Garfield delivers a structured, intense performance. Towards the end series, it is evident that some material was cut from Pyre’s story arc and Garfield’s performance when, suddenly, the emotional stakes are raised very, very high for Pyre. Without giving anything away, a significant aspect of Pyre’s home life comes into question amid the tense investigation, which seems entirely out of left-field and lazily written. It’s an instance where, unfortunately, writing and editing hinder the overall performance through no fault of the actor.

Garfield delivers a broad range of reactions to the events his character faces. Despite the gruesome nature of the story, Garfield’s performance always comes back around to a loving, fair man. When you think the events will push Garfield’s Detective Pyre off the edge, Garfield finds the anchor of the character, effectively leading the audience through the story.

Daisy Edgar Jones delivers a powerful arc for her character Brenda Lafferty, who uses her self-agency within an oppressive family, grounded in corrupted faith, to protect her loved ones. Such loved ones include sister-in-law Dianne Lafferty, played by Denise Gough, and her children. Gough is the strong, powerhouse female performance of the series. Gough delivers a stunning performance as Dianne Lafferty with a blend of shock, horror, and primal self-preservation, which carries an arc of bittersweet independence.

Sam Worthington’s performance as Ron Lafferty, husband to Dianna, is terrifying. With Under the Banner of Heaven, Worthington reminds everyone why and how he lead’s the world’s highest-grossing film. Wyatt Russell also features in this miniseries as another of the Lafferty brothers, Dan. He delivers the same notes and tones as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with *something* unnerving about the tone and cadence of his voice. He’s great for the part but isn’t differentiated from his character in the Marvel universe by much.

Under the Banner of Heaven is a great example of 1) how a crime drama miniseries can be suspenseful and entertaining, and 2) how imbuing such topics of religion and history within entrainment media is educational and persuasive. Audiences approaching the program without prior knowledge of how the Mormon church works and its founding will leave catching glimpses of the other side and a preconceived opinion. That doesn’t have to be bad, as long as you know why and how you arrived at that conclusion. But that, of course, is the hardest part of navigating media.