Faith and violence collide in this disturbing drama set inside the Mormon church

In 1880, John Taylor, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – better known as the Mormons – said, “God is greater than the United States, and when the government conflicts with Heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of Heaven against the government.” At the time, Taylor was defending the Mormon practice of polygamy, but it was a powerful general statement of loyalty to religious doctrine ahead of man-made law.

Technically the series belongs in the “true crime” genre, but is a very different beast to most of that type.

Brenda Lafferty had married into a prominent Utah Mormon family who followed the faith with relentless rigidity – even scenes showing the Lafferty family in less troubled times, all smiles and fun, carry an undercurrent of unease, a sense that the serenity is covering a more sinister heart.

The Lafferty men are clearly dangerous, particularly Brenda’s brothers-in-law Ron and Dan . As the family strays further into the fundamentalist reaches of Mormonism, the tragedy that begins the series creeps ever closer. It’s a tense, stomach-knotting process at times: as we flash back to times past knowing what’s coming, but not knowing exactly how each narrative strand is going to tie into it, there is an atmosphere of dread and sadness that intensifies as the series goes on.

There is another element to the story: the history of the Mormon church itself, and the atrocities that accompanied its rise in the 19th century. The show flashes back to the life of church founder Joseph Smith, in scenes which are sometimes shoehorned a little inelegantly into the story, but which do their job of providing a broader canvas for the themes of the work.

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