Under the Banner of Heaven Episode 5 is the fifth part of an 2022 American true crime drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. The premise involves a police detective who’s faith is shaken when investigating the murder of a Mormon mother and her baby daughter that seems to involve The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “One Mighty and Strong”, Under the Banner of Heaven Episode 5 continues ambling the miniseries towards the inevitable conclusion – that the Lafferty brothers are behind the heinous crimes committed. While three brothers (viz. Robin, Sam and Alan) are in police custody, it’s clear that the real leaders are Dan and … Ron. The manner in which this episode was presented was to make it seem as if the revelation that Ron is the ringleader was shocking in some way or some kind of twist. It is no such thing.
READ OUR ANALYSES OF UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN.
Quite possibly, Under the Banner of Heaven Episode 5 was the worst instalment yet. It was very difficult to maintain engagement or investment in the story or the characters when Pyre’s investigations seemed redundant and superfluous. At this stage, unless there is a massive twist coming down the pike, the rest of this miniseries is going to be a big yawn. Worse still, most of the characters are boring. Sure, Pyre’s cherubic innocence was ironic for a while but all the Mormon over-zealousness just falls flat completely.
There is little tension or conflict that exists in the miniseries by now. That is a failure of the writing – the narrative is all padding at this moment. Thankfully, there are only two episodes left. Zzz.
Now streaming on Hulu.
… still there’s more …