Accidental Innuendo: In the book, when describing Joseph Smith's relationship with his first plural wife, Frances "Fanny" Alger, Krakauer writer: "Smith was fond of young Fanny." Well, it's not wrong...
Heartwarming in Hindsight: The book mentions Ruby Jessop being forced into a plural marriage without her consent, noting that she hasn't been seen by any outsiders for two years and that she's hidden from the world, ending on the uncomfortable notion that she may never escape—or worse, be fully indoctrinated into Mormon Fundamentalism and not want to escape. In 2013 Ruby and her children finally escaped and she reunited with her sister Flora.
The miniseries:
Anvilicious: Subtle the series' critique of Mormonism definitely isn't.
Allen: This faith — our faith — breeds dangerous men.
Overshadowed by Controversy: One scene depicts (part) of an endowment ceremony inside a Mormon temple. In Mormonism, the ceremonies of the temple are secret and divulging them is Against My Religion. The series is very critical of the faith in general, but the disregard of this specific hard boundary is considered especially egregious. The specific bit of the ceremony depicted are the "penalties"—a part of the rite which was removed from LDS practice in 1990. Does this make it better, since what's being disclosed is not currently held as sacred practice? Opinions vary.
The Woobie: Matilda Lafferty. She strongly suspects that Dan only married her as a consolation prize (he'd pursued her sister first), but she was a divorcee with kids and was desperate to give them a father, so she married him, and now she's stuck in an abusive marriage with a horrific father-in-law and no way out. She constantly looks and sounds terrified.
