Thanks, Kishkumen. As would be expected a very well put review. I think I largely agree with every line you put down above. I finished a few weeks back and walked away feeling a similar pile of conflicting things.Kishkumen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 11:58 pmSo we finally started watching the limited series on Hulu. It is less annoying than I expected, although it really does not get things right in a number of ways. Everyone is saying Heavenly Father constantly, basically anywhere others might say “God.” That’s one example of annoying boners in the series.
On the whole, I find it to be much more effective and frankly frightening in its treatment of American political extremism in the Western US than I had expected. In its treatment of LDSism, on the other hand, it comes off—to me—as almost unremittingly negative in its depiction of the faith, its history, and its modern culture.
Now, this is not to say that there wasn’t a measure of truth to much of what the show depicts. Rather, it is the way the show piles negative upon negative until one wonders how anyone could ever remain, much less convert to, LDSism that strikes me as a grotesque distortion.
It is very much a reflection of the modern ex-Mo experience. Constant references to “the shelf” were a dead giveaway. The LDS world is shown through the bitter, regretful, and disillusioned lens of a recently departed ex-LDSer of the Intermountain West.
The temple part was bizarre and offensive, in my opinion. Really awful that they disrespected the ritual in that way, and then drew a facile connection between early Mormon violence and the crimes of a psychopath clothed in Sunday worst.
And yet, it is all just close enough to leave me with the eerie feeling that it touches upon truth. No, it is not the whole truth, and it is not particularly fair, but I know this Utah. I have experienced it. Some of my relatives reflect it a little too well.
Nice point on the temple content. Agreed. It was a terribly strained segment of odd clips from different places that may or may not have any connection whatsoever with the murders.