Presidents Day Weekend is a good time to reflect on America’s history: the good (of which there is plenty), the bad (of which there is also a decent amount) and the downright bizarre (of which there is more than I suspected).
Netflix’s limited series Death by Lightning is squarely in the bizarre category, depicting the unexpected rise to power of President James Garfield, and the con-man whose obsession with Garfield turns sour and ultimately violent.
In short, it’s the story of an assassin whom history forgot, and a president who would have preferred to remain forgotten.
When Ohio Senator James Garfield (Michael Shannon), a Civil War veteran (and a devout member and lay preacher of the Disciples of Christ) goes to the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he aims to speak in support of another senator’s bid for the presidential nomination, and then promptly head back home.
But his speech is so rousing and true to the country’s needs that, fully against his will, he is nominated instead. His reluctant rise to power is characterized by the conflict between his instincts to remain a peaceful family man, and his moral opportunity to change the country for the better.
Either way, though, a host of people covets his ear and his power, and none will make his presidency easy —or very long.
Chief among the people courting Garfield's attention is Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen), a delusional scoundrel who lies and steals irrepressibly to pursue a position in Garfield’s team.
When he is finally rejected, he turns his insanity against the new president, with dire consequences. Macfadyen is marvelously awful. Guiteau is by turns obnoxiously overeager, petulant, and manipulative, with zero compunction about doing anything to make his poorly-conceived and worse-executed mark on the world.
Vice President Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman) is supported in his corrupt dilution of Garfield’s pro-civil-rights stance by the weaselly Senator Conkling (Shea Whigham).
With the support of New York’s deep-pocketed donors, their long influence has corroded Republican electees’ ability to effect real change. Conkling’s underhanded fight against Garfield, his reluctant, virtuous foe, is a powerful insight into the complicated world of the men who run our country.
But Arthur may surprise viewers -- and even himself -- by the end of the story.
The best scenes are Garfield’s: the elevated speech which wins him a presidential nomination he didn’t ask for, his efforts to truly make change, and his family life.
His priorities follow his predecessor Washington: an intimate marriage, joyful fatherhood, and peaceful farm in his native state.
Even after Garfield decides to use his power for the country’s good, upon receiving the news of his election, he goes outside to gaze over the farm in the star-studded darkness. His wife Lucretia’s (Betty Gilpin) support plays a key role, without which he refuses to act.
His joy, as he tells her, is “sitting on the porch, with you, reading our books in peace.” One wonders what effect a longer Garfield presidency would have had.
I can confirm: This show barely begins to fully cover the wild and wacky political landscape of the Reconstruction Era.
Many viewers of Death by Lightning will no doubt go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole or three to fact-check. To help them get started, Netflix published an historical comparison in its own blog; here's one from a filmmaker working on a documentary about Chester Arthur; and here's an article on this native son of Ohio from the Columbus Dispatch.
Editor's Note: There are many books covering the social and political upheavals in the wake of the Civil War. But after the death of Lincoln, few men were more central to all of it than Ulysses S. Grant, the general who became president. I recommend Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, his acclaimed autobiography, and Ron Chernow's excellent biography, Grant.
Rated MA (Mature Audiences) for violence, sex, nudity, language, and smoking, Death by Lighting is not appropriate for kids younger than high school (and even then, after a parental preview).
But for history lovers, the historically curious, and those looking for a riveting drama, the four one-hour episodes of Death by Lightning are available on Netflix.
Image: Netflix
Sophia Sariego is a Los Angeles native working in the pro-life movement. She loves Eucharistic Adoration, making music, and hitting the beaches in her spare time.
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