'Waco' Recap: 'Day 51'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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​Sometimes, I am filled with anxiety when I settle in to watch a particular television show. It could be in part due to the fact that I know an incredibly tough storyline is about to unfold, or it could be because a favorite character of mine is going to exit the show in heartbreaking fashion. But that kind of anxiety is easily overcome when the show comes to an end and I go back to my everyday life because hey, it’s fiction. But once in a great while, a television show reaches you on a fundamental level, with a tale so powerful that your emotions are amplified and that’s precisely what happened to me when it comes to the series finale of Waco, because ‘Day 51’ is an episode that filled me with dread through and through.
 
After all, this was it, the moment that we all knew was coming; that dark day when the Mount Carmel compound burned to the ground, killing 76 people and well, waiting for that disturbing series of events to come around was the equivalent of waiting for someone to punch you in the stomach and that feeling of unease and dread was only compounded by the fact that this particular chapter in this harrowing tale showed us a powerful last ditch effort to avoid confrontation. Because after finding a way to communicate with the outside world, wherein David and Steve were able to speak to their lawyer’s face to face, David saw this confluence of good fortune as the sign from God that he was waiting for, and he offered Gary quite the deal.
 
Give him a week to ensure that the Lord’s message can be properly put to paper so that he can share it with the world so that David’s experience within the compound isn’t in vain, and the Branch Davidians will surrender, and it’s a deal that Gary is more than happy to accept and at first it seemed as though a resolution to this whole mess was finally under way. Because David worked day and night to put the world of God to paper at a frenzied pace, but simply being told that Koresh is working on his scripture was not enough to satisfy Agent Prince, he demanded hard copies of his work and considering how poorly things went the last time the message was broadcast to the world, David refused to hand over any pages until his work was flawless and complete. 

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​This it would seem, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back since Prince and Mitch flew back to Washington to ask the Attorney General for permission to force the Branch Davidians out and unfortunately for everyone, the plan was approved, leading to Gary’s dismissal from the job so that Prince could handle this mess his own way and well, that brings us to the day in question. Wherein the FBI slammed assault tanks into the compound to release tear gas and well, this is where my internalized dread became justified because my goodness, this part of the story was incredibly difficult to watch. In part because of the intensity of the moment, but mostly because…this part of the tale held nothing back. 
 
Because this story more or less took us inside the compound to show us what this disastrous day was really like, and despite the fact that some elements in this account were changed for dramatic effect, what matters here, is that 76 human beings, 25 of them children, lost their lives in a tear gas assault that went terribly wrong. The FBI simply pumped in too much gas, to the point where these people could no longer breathe and well, to see people struggle with something so simple, and then know their fate was sealed when the fire began, made for a sobering experience to say the least, one that absolutely brought this reviewer to tears. Because…none of this needed to happen.
 
When all is said and done however, what made this six-part miniseries so powerful, is the sheer fact that it is still relevant today. We are still having a debate over the appropriate use of force from law enforcement, and whether or not they should be heavily armed, but what I found far more relatable in this re-telling, is how neither side could come to a compromise. It served as a fine reminder of how in this day and age our view is the only view and your view be damned and really, a day after watching this one, what sticks out in my mind the most when it comes to this series is a quote/question that came from Ron Engleman, the DJ at KGBS; ‘We are, all of us, Americans. When did we start seeing each other as the enemy?’ and that quote hangs in my mind because Ron is right…when did we? 

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