Waco: Season 1

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Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 48 Ratings

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6.1	Your Score
6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 48 Ratings

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Waco

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Season Details & Credits

Paramount Network | Paramount | Season Premiere Date: January 24, 2018

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) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and the FBI, including lead FBI negotiator, Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon).

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E6. Day 51
Air Date: February 28, 2018
tbd
S1:E5. Stalling for Time
Air Date: February 21, 2018
tbd
S1:E4. Of Milk and Men
Air Date: February 14, 2018

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Critic Reviews

Matt Zoller Seitz

Jan 23, 2018

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. Read full review

Alex McLevy

Jan 23, 2018

In every case, the actor elevates the material, raising passable storytelling to a more compelling and charismatic level. Read full review

Daniel Fienberg

Jan 24, 2018

Waco has a clunky couple episodes that fail to really depict the passage of time cleanly and probably will leave many viewers confused as to which agencies are making which blunders, even if they have their initials on their jackets. The third episode gets back into the initial raid in harrowing, well-directed style and it may give me enough momentum to watch the second half of the series, just to see if David Koresh ever does anything wrong. Read full review

Mike Hale

Jan 23, 2018

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. Read full review

Melanie McFarland

Jan 24, 2018

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. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Nick Allen

Jan 24, 2018

[Waco] does its best when working on the tension that grows between the Branch Davidians and the ATF. ... With the cliche dialogue and the dead-air drama within the group about David’s power over women played by Riseborough, Benoist and Garner, they struggle to make the series more than a half-intriguing non-fiction spectacle, albeit with Kitsch’s strong performance guiding the way. Read full review

Lorraine Ali

Jan 24, 2018

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. Read full review

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User Reviews

RTurlmann

Feb 27, 2018

Kitsch is amazing, and the story is very compelling - especially as the events depicted actually occurred. One of the best shows I've seen in a long time.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

jgzeger

Mar 15, 2018

A powerful and disturbing account of the events at Waco, Texas with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. It shook me to my core, and had me searching for answers to what really happened there.