What a remarkable string of performances Andrew Garfield has delivered over the last couple of years, from his underrated performance as the slimy charlatan Jim Bakker opposite Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” to his Oscar-nominated turn as Jonathan Larson in “tick, tick…BOOM!” to his triumphant return to the web in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and now his smoldering and empathetic work as a Mormon detective in the uneven but often stunningly impactful limited true-crime series “Under the Banner of Heaven.” At 38, Garfield has solidified his standing as one of the most versatile and interesting actors of his generation.
In the series’ premiere episode, which is set in 1984, Garfield’s Detective Jeb Pyre is enjoying Pioneer Day with his family when he is summoned to the scene of a gruesome double murder, where a young wife and mother named Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her infant daughter Erica have been slain in their home. With docudrama-style camerawork tracking Jeb as he enters the home, we see bloodstains everywhere and there’s a glimpse of a body in the distance—but the horror of what has transpired is conveyed through Jeb’s expressions as he reels from the shock, struggles to maintain his composure, and then manages to get himself together and to encourage a young officer on the scene to do the same. They have a job to do.
