![]() ![]() ![]() Unlike the earlier series, “Aftermath” is equally interested in law and order, with a large chunk of the series dedicated to one of multiple criminal trials to stem from the Waco incident. He teams with his colleague Angie (Sasheer Zamata, comfortably against type) and Carol (Abbey Lee), a neo-Nazi hanger-on turned informant, to investigate a militia potentially connected to the domestic terrorism plot. But he can’t stop to ruminate, because he’s heard chatter about a retaliatory attack from white nationalists angry about the Waco siege and the Ruby Ridge shootout before it. Michael Shannon reprises his role as Gary Noesner, who’s haunted by his failure to talk Koresh out of the compound before his superiors could escalate force. But in doing so, 2018’s “Waco” elided and minimized the worst of what was happening inside the compound, rendering a complex story unsettlingly tidy.įive years (and some Paramount corporate synergizing) later, the Dowdles’ return with “ Waco: The Aftermath,” Showtime’s five-episode companion series, which follows the disparate paths of those either dealing with their role in the siege or taking malicious inspiration from it. The apparent goal of the series was to avoid further demonizing the Branch Davidians, which the news media did plenty of at the time. And to be fair, the show is primarily about the tick-tock of the ATF’s response, using as its source material a book by Gary Noesner, the FBI hostage negotiator who was gradually sidelined the more he opposed military force. The Dowdles’ choice to make an advocacy piece isn’t wrong in itself, especially given that the ATF never missed an opportunity to exacerbate the situation, with its gross negligence and dysfunctional leadership. With Kitsch at the outer reaches of his charisma and the Dowdles’ flirting with hagiography, “Waco” is held back from greatness by its obsession with humanizing a narcissistic cult leader. In the hands of brothers John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, who wrote and directed much of the series, the Branch Davidians are a misunderstood and largely peaceful sect led by Koresh (Taylor Kitsch), a complicated man, but one genuinely driven by conviction rather than megalomania. But you might not get that impression from watching “Waco,” the 2018 Paramount Network miniseries about the nearly eight-week standoff and that fatal inferno. The decades since have created only tighter knots of recrimination. The surviving Branch Davidians maintain that the FBI was the aggressor, and the deadly fire resulted from the ATF’s decision to deploy stun grenades and tear gas. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms insists David Koresh and his followers later set fire to their compound, killing another 48 adults and 28 children in an act of mass suicide. Both sides insist the other initiated the initial volley of gunfire that killed four agents and six sectarians. Thirty years after the deadly standoff between federal law enforcement and the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, even the most fundamental facts of the tragedy remain contested. ![]()
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