“In reality, I know history won’t remember him at all. Be no reason to. Be a minor footnote at best. An idle piece of trivia. Do you recall poor-old What’s-his-name who was shot three months into his presidency, and they won’t ever know about the man that he truly was. … America may mourn him today, but as the years pass by, they’ll forget. And I can, feel him waning away. Even now. In no time he’ll be just another face on the wall, lost to history. But then again, so will you. This is your destiny also. Only in your case there will be no portraits, no children will learn your name.”
Throughout my entire life, I have always been fascinated with the history of America’s presidents. So when I learned that there would be a new Netflix mini series covering the life and extremely prolonged death of our nation’s 20th president, James A. Garfield and his mentally disturbed assassin Charles J. Guiteau, I was instantly intrigued. I was that child who learned Guiteau’s name and every other fact I could get my hands on about the history of our presidents. Adapted from Candice Millard’s 2011 biography “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President,” here is “Death by Lightning.”
The plot follows the real life history of President Garfield (played by Michael Shannon, who starred in Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 Best Picture winner “The Shape of Water,”) starting at the 1880 Republican National Convention. He emerges as a dark horse and compromise candidate with his running mate picked for him named Chester Alan Arthur (played by Nick Offerman, star of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” HBO’s “The Last of Us.”) Concurrently, we also see the life of Charles Guiteau (played by Matthew Macfadyen, Star of Joe Wright’s 2005 version of “Pride & Prejudice,”) a man with delusions of grandeur who decides to devote himself to delivering speeches for Garfield and expects to become a foreign consul for performing the work of a canvasser.
The final episode also shows Garfield’s tragic death. Many historians believe that Garfield’s injuries were far less severe than those experienced when Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. Despite this, doctors were too focused on removing the bullet at all costs without regard for sanitation. Garfield died of a gangrenous infection, and Arthur became the 21st president of the United States, ending the spoiled system that allowed Guiteau to think he deserved anything in life.
The cast all give great performances, especially Macfadyen and Offerman. Bradley Whitford once again returns to the White House after his stint on “The West Wing” in his role as Maine Senator and Secretary of State James G. Blaine. The other lead roles are Betty Gelpin as the First Lady, Lucritia Garfield and Shea Wigham as the New York Senator, Roscoe Conkling.
While some of the details around Arthur’s character and the final confrontation between Lucretia and Guiteau were made up, the show is remarkably accurate to history. Even some of the more outlandish details, such as Guiteau’s membership in the Oneida Free Love Community, are true. In fact, the same year Guiteau assassinated Garfield, the Oneida community dissolved and turned themself into a public company, where they are now one of the largest producers of cutlery in the world. History truly can be stranger than fiction.
The show is also directed by Matt Ross, who, before directing the 2016 film “Captain Fantastic,” was most famous for working as an actor. His most notable role was as the bowtie-wearing Luis in Mary Harron’s 2000 film “American Psycho.” He gives good direction throughout the show, with there being good pacing and compositions throughout.
The modern political parallels of this show are also something that we should take into account. We are once again in a time in which collecting tariff revenue is one of the main activities the federal government wishes to engage in. There are even supporters of the president jockeying to get jobs in his administration despite their lack of any real qualifications, along with an unfortunately high willingness to commit political acts of violence. I hope that things get better, similarly to how they did in the 1880s. Unless we learn from how this crisis was solved, we will be doomed to repeat many of these same issues again and again.
For anyone with a passing interest in American history and a willingness to watch one of the best miniseries of 2025, I highly recommend that you check out this show. My final rating for “Death by Lightning” is an electrifying 9/10.
