“In spite of its overfamiliar rhythms and fancy murder-show aesthetics, there are elements of Under the Banner that achieve something distinct and idiosyncratic. For the most part, though, it is one of those series superficially intended to alarm and overwhelm, a true-crime adaptation that should rattle us to our core and make us reexamine our assumptions about violence and masculinity, etc., etc., etc. In practice, I suspect much of its audience will watch for opposite reasons: the weird comfort of the dark murder show and the particular satisfaction of witnessing an unusually heinous crime in a remote, long-ago place and time.” — Kathryn VanArendonk “Under the Banner of Heaven Scratches the True Detective Itch”