No. 77 Waco (TV) (2017) 77 of 100

 

I have vague memories of the 1993 Waco siege and had it down as some religious nutters killing themselves when the government lost patience with them following a long stand-off. This six part TV series covered a lot of ground and looked at both sides of the confrontation. The result was that the government forces came out of it looking worse, but the cultists could have been smarter too.

The series opens with Michael Shannon’s character Gary trying to end another hostage incident. This one doesn’t end well and hopefully lessons will be learnt. They aren’t! Meanwhile in Waco Texas, David Koresh is living the high life of a cult leader. Someone does correct us in the show saying that no one in a cult thinks they are in a cult but it all looks a bit cultish to me.

Koresh and his right hand man Steve, the ever reliable Paul Sparks, are running a large compound full of families who believe David to be the next coming of Christ. We see him recruit one of the Culkin clan and he also has the bottle blonde off ‘Ozark’ as one of his followers. He has several wives and a load of kids. He’s kindly taken the burden of sex from the men and looks after their good ladies. They also have a shit load of guns and David talks of a coming apocalypse which will open one of the seven seals or something.

After the earlier debacle the government agencies are keen for a win. They think taking out the compound will be a good idea as they have heard suggestions that kids are being abused and that the cultists are readying for a fight. They start out with John Leguizamo spying on them but they give him beer and pizza and he thinks they are a square bunch. Thinking his head has been turned they decide to ignore his advice and clear the compound anyway. The mechanics of the raid are kept a bit vague as there were differing opinions at the enquiry afterwards, but the FBI definitely shot first! The cultists not to be outdone unload their impressive weaponry and four agents are killed along with six cultists.

The doors are then locked and the 51 day siege starts – right at the start of episode 4. Shannon is drafted in and tries to use his various negotiation techniques to secure a peaceful solution. He manages to get a few out but is constantly undone by his Boardwalk Empire alumni Shea Whigham and Glenn Fleshler who support a more direct approach.

Various tactics play out such as psy-ops and smashing up all their cars but nothing works! As the final episode approaches the scene is set for the final battle and we know how that ends up.

I enjoyed this series and am looking forward to the follow up series ‘Waco : The Aftermath’. As this was no doubt in the pipeline, the ending of this series doesn't cover much of the fall out but we do get on screen captions telling us how the main players ended up.

Shannon is good in this as the patient negotiator constantly being undone by his trigger happy colleagues. He only loses it towards the end as Koresh reneges on yet another deal. Taylor Kitsch was decent as Koresh although that whiny voice would stop me from being a follower from the off.

The scope of the programme and the hardware on show was impressive and I liked how the frailties of both sides were gradually exposed. The cultists seemed perfectly nice but then you see the gun locker and the sleeping arrangements and you start to think maybe the FBI had the right idea. I think the blame was evenly spread with the government agencies perhaps having the larger slice of the pie.

I thought the programme was balanced and well acted as well as informative and entertaining. Well worth a watch.

When is Shannon-On? - 07.35 (Episode 1)

Outcome? Off to give his testimony

Mini Series 4/5

Shannon Stars 4/5