Michael Shannon & Taylor Kitsch in Weinstein Co. Series ‘Waco’.

[KaijuDude1992]

Kitsch has been excellent in this so far IMO. I agree that the show itself is anything spectacular, but the performances are on point and I am loving the all the stuff going on at the compound. Easily the most interesting aspect of the show right now, and it helps that you have so many talented character actors involved. Can't wait to see where it goes.

 

[squeekness]

Yup, so far so good for me. Some of the reviews have been tepid but I like it well enough.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I'm shocked Kitsch is so good, to be honest. He's been lukewarm in everything else I've seen him in. This role is really perfect for him.

 

[squeekness]

He was good in Friday Night Lights.

 

[scarlet-witch]

He was good in Friday Night Lights.

I hated that so much. lol

 

[squeekness]

Really? I'm surprised, most people I know really liked it.

 

[flickchick85]

Friday Night Lights got too soapy for me (right around the time of that Tyra and Landry murder subplot, lol) but I enjoyed its general vibe and a lot of the characters. Never liked either of the Riggins bros but I agree Kitsch played his role well. Still, he's better here than I could have expected.

The reviews weren't that bad for this but I do think it's better than they suggested. Tying in Ruby Ridge at the beginning was a great touch, imo. At the very least I'm finding this far more compelling than American Crime Story so far this season. I also don't agree with a lot of the reviews that suggested they're trying to make Koresh especially sympathetic. I thought this week's episode highlighted the creep factor in his actions quite a bit.

 

[squeekness]

Well, Ruby Ridge matters because I believe the big Waco raid was on the anniversary of that, which is why McViegh chose that day of the year to blow up the Murrow building.

 

[flickchick85]

Well, Ruby Ridge matters because I believe the big Waco raid was on the anniversary of that, which is why McViegh chose that day of the year to blow up the Murrow building.

I never knew any of that. I was 8-years-old at the time so a lot of the details of this stuff passed me by.

 

[squeekness]

Yup, I've seen a few shows. In fact McViegh was outside of Waco in the crowds, watching it all go down.

 

[flickchick85]

Yup, I've seen a few shows. In fact McViegh was outside of Waco in the crowds, watching it all go down.

Damn. Now that they've done the Unabomber and Waco, I have little doubt a new McVeigh mini-series is on the horizon somewhere too.

 

[squeekness]

I'd be happy to watch that if they did.

 

[flickchick85]

As would I, I'm a sucker for all these things, lol.

 

[squeekness]

Yup, true crime, history. I eat it all up.

 

[flickchick85]

Well that got intense real quick.

 

[squeekness]

Why do they have to shoot the dogs?

 

[scarlet-witch]

Man, that escalated quickly. Seeing the dogs shot, then Andrea Riseborough's character fall on her baby was really hard to watch.

 

[squeekness]

It certainly felt very real and terrifying.

 

[flickchick85]

Yeah I of course hate to see them shooting dogs, but I think that scene was necessary to show here because when I was reading up on this whole thing and the "Who Shot First" debate - of course all the surviving Davidians said the ATF shot first, and all the ATF officers said the Davidians shot first EXCEPT one ATF agent who testified that he thought them shooting the dogs first was what set both sides off and made them think they were being fired upon. So I think that was a pretty important scene to include here.

 

[squeekness]

I'm pretty much in line with the idea the ATF fired first, eve n if it was as you say, just them eliminating the dogs. It just got even more out of control from there.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Jesus was that opening shootout intense as hell. I got True Detective Season 1 vibes from it which is definitely something I wasn't expecting. Just how it was filmed and seeing how vulnerable all those people were inside the compound was pretty insane. Also, frick those ATF guys.

 

[flickchick85]

Yeah, it would be one thing if they didn't know there were children and babies in there, but they absolutely knew that, so it's baffling to me that they'd approach the compound the way they did.

 

[scarlet-witch]

The ATF seems to have handled this really poorly. The dogs were fenced so I don't see why they felt shooting them at that moment was a good idea. It would be different if they were running at them. (bringing up the dogs as that is what triggered the shoot out)

 

[squeekness]

I'm guessing they shot the dogs because the barking was giving their position away?

 

[NotNickFury]

A shame Benoist doesn't have her powers here so she could go out and potentially solve this diplomatically.

I find myself enjoying Leguizamo and Shannon a lot if just because they are trying to solve this with as little bloodshed as possible, but they're being railroaded and blamed by people above them who just want this done by any means.