The 90’s were a turbulent time in domestic American history. Between the Unabomber’s final packages, the Ruby Ridge standoff and the Olympic Park bombing it was a chaotic and bloody period. One of the biggest domestic tragedies was the ATF/FBI 51-day siege of a fringe religious organizations compound in Waco, Texas.
The siege involved the Branch Davidians, a breakaway sect of the Seventh Day Adventist church that came under the leadership and then control of David Koresh. Koresh (being played by Taylor Kitsch), an apocalypse warning preacher rose to power in the church through almost Machiavellian tactics and then used his new found power to turn the church into his own playground taking part in illegal activities that he said was allowed because God mandated it.
To prepare for the impending apocalypse, Koresh stocked up on weapons and ammunition that caught the attention of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who with the Federal Bureau of Investigations eventually moved in on the Branch Davidian compound. When met with strong resistance, a siege ensued that ended with the deaths of all Branch Davidians that had not been allowed to leave during the nearly two month siege.
It’s a tragic story that has always fascinated me with just how badly everyone came out looking from it. The operation is still a black eye on the FBI’s record, so bad that it was the primary motivation for Timothy McVeigh to bomb the FBI building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
To see this put to a TV miniseries is going to be like watching a car crash in slow motion. We all know how it’s going to end but we are in it together right? My only concern is that it’s going to air on the soon to be launching Paramount Network which I have no idea if I my TV provider will even carry. Which if I don’t get to watch this I’ll be pretty disappointed since Michael Shannon back playing an FBI agent like he did in Boardwalk Empire is precisely what I’ve wanted since that show ended.
The six part miniseries will premiere on the Paramount Network on January 18th, 2018. It will star Taylor Kitsch, Michael Shannon, John Leguizamo
