This is a fairly spoiler-free recipe Review This is Under the Banner of HeavenBased on the first five episodes.
You know her. She is softly lit by a white sheet. She doesn’t want her videotaped. She laughs and tells the person behind the camera to stop using a hand on it. But we are so thankful for this photo to remind her smile, her white teeth, and her prairie dress collection. For some reason, she is usually brunette. She’s gone.
She’s the Dead Wife—and she’s the reason we’re watching her husband’s story.
The first episode of Under the Banner of HeavenBrenda Wright Lafferty, played by Daisy Edgar Jones, seems perfectly poised to fill in the Dead Wife Trope. Her brown eyes and easy smile make it clear that she is a perfect fit. Though she’s not the wife of our main protagonist, Detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield), it is her gruesome murder—and that of her 15-month-old daughter—that kicks off his emotional journey and crisis of faith.
FX’s Under the Banner of HeavenThe fictionalized version of the 1984 murders of Brenda and Erica, who were motivated by Mormon extremism, was inspired by Jon Krakauer’s true crime book of the same title. The mini-series contrasts with Krakauer’s work, which alternates between the story of modern crime, and the equally violent founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It focuses on the lives of Brother Pyre, a Mormon detective who finds his way to the bottom of the Lafferty brothers’ descent into Mormon fundamentalist teachings of monogamy and blood atonement.
With this framework in place, Brenda’s story could easily become lost amid Pyre’s internal warfare and the intense cast, with a few hints to remind viewers about the stakes. However, UBHIt does what many Christopher Nolan films fail at: It explores Brenda’s humanity.
Source: Glamour
