Under The Banner of Heaven Episode 4 Review

gamerant.com:

Under the Banner of Heaven's latest episode, «Church and State» is properly titled. The fourth episode of the limited series explores questions some of these characters have harbored for far too long. It begs the question of how separated the church and governing laws of the state have truly become. The larger questions looming over «Church and State» are painfully relevant, making it a properly timed episode worth exploring.

From quoting John Taylor's address from which Under the Banner of Heaven'stitle is drawn to its analysis of where the real line is drawn, «Church and State» is one of the series' most evaluative episodes yet. As the investigation into the Lafferty murders and family grows increasingly complicated, «Church and State» focuses on the mysteries that spur from the case, and the questions it raises from not only detectives but the community, the church, and its moral bearings.

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In «Church and State,» Allen (Billy Howle) tells Detective Pyre (Andrew Garfield) and Detective Taba (Gil Birmingham) that he did what the church taught and put his «questions on the shelf.» Pyre is forced to confront Allen's sentiment soon after when Orton Ballard arrives at the station to defend the Lafferty brothers and ask that they be handed into his care. Ballard tries to threaten Pyre by reminding him of his own religious affiliations and how they've wavered because of the case. Ballard reasons that Pyre has begun asking questions that may not be able to be answered by man. Allen's reminiscent words and the tense scene between Ballard and Pyre tie «Church and State» together, and partially drive Pyre's decision at the end of the episode to admit the Fundamentalist Church