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Better than that it will fulfill those needs handily, even gracefully.
The most significant adaptation choice is the role of Detective Jeb Pyre, played by Andrew Garfield.
He is at the center of the story and often acts as its implicit narrator.
When the camera twists through a gruesome crime scene, its Pyres horror were meant to register.
Pyre may fit into the story too neatly.
Let us now sing the praises of Gil Birmingham.
He is all the humor, all the incredulity, all the skepticism and wisdom.
Every scene is better with Birmingham in it.
Here, the flashbacks are either too much or not enough.
They are men with hats and collars, gesticulating angrily or falling to their knees in prayer.
Yes, the flashbacks are pervasive enough that they weigh on the show like pedantic lesson plans.
The 19th-century story needed to be either greatly reduced or forced to stand on its own two feet.
As is, its an unwanted hitchhiker.
That always entails some willful blindness to the darkness, extremism, and violence that lives much closer.
But thats also whyUnder the Banner of Heavens Pyre is such a smart creation.
He is so shocked and so upset.
For a while, we get to share his naive horror.
