Movies and TV shows about U.S. history can sometimes be a little dull, their sharper edges rounded off so they might be safe enough to show in a high school classroom, but there’s a new Netflix miniseries that is anything but safe and stodgy. “Death By Lightning” tells the story of James Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, and the obsessive fan who killed him, Charles Guiteau. Starring Michael Shannon as Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as Guiteau, “Death by Lightning” is not your average history lesson, offering a humorous and rather adult view of 1880s American politics. Heck, the limited series starts with a couple of guys finding Guiteau’s brain in a jar in a storage room and asking, “Who the f*** is Charles Guiteau?” The irreverence is baked in from the jump. Period pieces can be tricky, but this one seems to get the tone just right.
Created by “I Think We’re Alone Now” writer Mike Makowsky and based on the 2011 book “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President,” “Death by Lightning” is four episodes of brilliantly crafted historical storytelling with excellent production values and an even better cast. Joining Shannon and Macfadyen are Betty Gilpin as First Lady Lucretia Garfield, Bradley Whitford as politician James Blaine, Nick Offerman as President Chester A. Arthur (who succeeded Garfield), and Shea Whigham as lawyer and politician Roscoe Conkling. Together, they reveal the true story behind one of U.S. history’s wildest moments, and it’s one many Americans know almost nothing about.
Death by Lightning is the story of the assassination the 20th U.S. president
Charles Guiteau was kind of a weird guy and, by all accounts, a bit of a loser, so having him played by Macfadyen, who was God’s greatest loser, Tom Wambsgans, on “Succession,” is a stroke of genius. Guiteau was a failed lawyer who tried to find acceptance any way he could, including joining a religious cult called Oneida Community, though he was never really liked anywhere and he bounced from city to city trying to make a name for himself. Eventually, he began campaigning for presidential nominee James Garfield, and when Garfield won, he thought it was because of his efforts and that Garfield owed him a job as repayment. When that didn’t happen, Guiteau started stalking the president and made it his goal to kill him. (He succeeded, though if modern sanitary practices and antibiotics had been available, Garfield would have likely survived being shot, as he lingered for two whole months after the attempt.)
In short? “Death by Lightning” is a darkly humorous look at a strange and tragic moment in U.S. history, when one rando with a grudge changed the course of the presidency.
All four episodes of “Death by Lightning” are now streaming on Netflix.
