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- 2018
- TV-14
- Paramount Network
- 2018
- TV-14
- Paramount Network
Summary The six-part series chronicles the events that led to the 51-day standoff between the Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh (Taylor Kitsch); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF); and the FBI, including lead FBI negotiator, Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon).
- 2018
- TV-14
- Paramount Network
- 2018
- TV-14
- Paramount Network
Waco
Season 1 Premiere: Jan 24, 2018
56
6.0
Where to Watch
Summary The six-part series chronicles the events that led to the 51-day standoff between the Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh (Taylor Kitsch); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF); and the FBI, including lead FBI negotiator, Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon).
Where to Watch
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
56
33% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
56
33% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
It doesn’t go nearly as far as it could’ve, given what a quietly charismatic star it has in Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh, and how immediately human all of his followers seem. All that being said, this is still a necessary and sometimes powerful series, particularly in the third hour, which depicts the initial assault on the compound that led to the two-month siege.
Only Shannon’s Gary, as a calm-voiced negotiator, seems sensible or particularly intelligent. When you add in Kitsch’s charismatic performance, Waco comes out an oddity: A show that’s more or less on the side of a violent, exploitative cult.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 67 User Ratings
6.0
55% Positive
37 Ratings
37 Ratings
19% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
25% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 67 User Ratings
6.0
55% Positive
37 Ratings
37 Ratings
19% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
25% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
A searing TV miniseries about the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. David Koresh is treated with much more sympathy than in previous versions. The FBI and the ATF using military tactics against civilians is what ignited many militias and separatists groups, which led to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Well made and worth a watch.
Report
It’s in the interactions between the Branch Davidians and the federal government that the Dowdles best capture the sense of an easily avoidable yet nonetheless inevitable catastrophe. Where they struggle is in conveying how it would feel to live a life so tightly entombed in cataclysm that manipulation and abuse become simple facts of life, not dark horrors to overcome.
Skimming the treatment Koresh’s manipulative dark side in Waco, a story that puts the humanity of the Branch Davidians and that of Koresh at its forefront feels ... weird. And this is but one of several niggling oversights in a story that begs for a new consideration.
Waco is a workmanlike summary of events that paints a largely, some might say excessively, sympathetic portrait of Koresh and his followers. This is likely because of the demands of dramatic compression rather than any propagandizing on the part of the show’s makers.
What Waco needs, and fails to achieve, is a complex, unified theory of Koresh. ... It also largely wastes its incredible cast in the first three episodes made available for review, although Garner shines as Michele, and Benoist imbues Rachel with a steely, sorority-sister kind of authority. The biggest question mark in the series is Kitsch’s Koresh, who remains at a distance from the audience.
Waco isn't skillful enough to weave all the opposing perspectives here into a three-dimensional story, where the ultimate victims are the innocent folk betrayed by their leader and their government. It's so busy delivering Spam-sized chunks of ham-fisted dialogue defending the misunderstood Koresh, it loses all those other critical threads that make Waco a cautionary tale for all sides.
Waco is presented as a dramatic miniseries that deals with the tragic events of 1993 that occurred at the Davidian sect's ranch near Waco, Texas. The series offers a review of the 51-day standoff between the sect led by David Koresh and the U.S. government.While the show seeks to question the actions of both sides in this tragic incident, in dramatic terms, it adopts a simplistic perspective that reduces the complexity of the events to basic concepts in order to make them more accessible to the public. Problematically, at certain points, it seems to water down the notion that groups like the Davidian branch cult and individuals like David Koresh had the right to amass an impressive amount of firepower without government intervention, even though the cult and Koresh had already been in trouble in which guns had played a major **** this is because the miniseries gives a huge role to the character of Koresh played by solid Kitsch who along with Shannon are the best of this project.I think that was an erroneous approach to be honest. In summary, Waco does not particularly stand out, but it proves to be a decent, if ultimately simplistic series. Despite my expectations, I can accept it for what it is.
Report
So much potential here. The good news is that this version contains a lot of hard truths about how badly The ATF and FBI bungled all things WACO. Watching the initial siege, it's incomprehensible that The Feds attacked the compound when they had no good reason to and even more puzzling that they escalated rather than backing down.
That said, the casting of David Koresh was just awful, Taylor Kisch is just not up to the task, not even close actually. He is monumentally bad, surrounding him with a pretty decent cast can't overcome it.
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I wanted to like this series because it tells an interesting story about an obscure piece of history, but I was constantly taken aback by how sympathetic it was to David Koresh and the gang. Everyone knows that the ATF and FBI made serious mistakes during the raid and standoff that cost lives, but these mistakes are used by the show as a pretext to absolve the Davidians of all criminality.
I’m trying to think of any other American citizen who can reasonably expect that they can make explosives and automatic weapons, f**k a 14 year old girl, kill the arresting officers, and not go to sleep in a jail cell that night. I’m coming up empty. Instead, the show runners turn on the tear faucet for the cultists, waiving around women & children and deeply held religious beliefs as literal “get out of jail” free cards.
It gets 3/10 stars from me. It looks good from a cinemographic perspective, but is otherwise a warped propaganda piece that turns criminals into victims.
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Production Company:
- BCD Travel
- Brothers Dowdle Productions
Initial Release Date: Jan 24, 2018
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-14
Awards
Primetime Emmy Awards
• 3 Nominations
Online Film & Television Association
• 1 Nomination
Hollywood Professional Association Awards
• 1 Nomination
