Susan Granger’s review of “Manhunt” (Apple TV+)
The most compelling theme of “Manhunt” – which focuses on the pursuit of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth – is what it takes to maintain and defend the democracy that we currently enjoy: i.e. the political cost of freedom.
This new historical miniseries from Apple TV+ begins on April 14, 1865, the day that Booth (Anthony Boyle) shot President Lincoln (Hamish Linklater) during a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater.
Plotted as a chase thriller, the drama depicts how – enraged by the celebratory mood that marked the end of the Civil War – treacherous supporters of the South conspired not only to kill Lincoln but also Vice-President Andrew Johnson (Glenn Morshower) and Secretary of State William H. Seward (Larry Pine).
Based on James L. Swanson’s 2006 nonfiction book “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer,” showrunner Monica Beletsky – using flashbacks – has created an intricate, highly detailed account from two differing perspectives: that of Confederacy-supporter Booth and also of Lincoln’s comrade, asthmatic Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies).
Strikingly handsome yet insecure John Wilkes Booth wasn’t the best actor in his thespian family. That honor went to his father, Junius Brutus Booth, or brother, Edwin Booth. But he was a desperate, delusional, obviously narcissistic racist, determined “to be more famous than anyone in my family.”
After firing his derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head, Booth leaped from the Presidential Box onto the stage. Despite breaking a leg, he jumped onto a horse that had been tethered near the stage door and galloped into the night.
Several segments revolve around Booth’s post-assassination escape from Washington, D.C, southward through Maryland to the devastated Confederate stronghold of Richmond, Virginia – with its conspiratorial ties to Montreal.
Lawyer-turned-statesman Edwin Stanton was a lesser-known yet heroic patriot who sacrificed his health and family to bring the traitors responsible for his friend’s murder to justice and to then relentlessly shepherd Lincoln’s Reconstruction amendments to ratification through Congress.
That was no easy task, given Wall Street’s support of the slave trade and the revocation of land grants to newly freed Blacks; the compromises struck then reverberate even today. And in the opening episode, Stanton says: “This is America – we replace our Presidents with elections, not coups.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Manhunt” is an insightful, impassioned 7 – with all seven episodes now streaming on Apple TV+ and Emmy nominations in the offing.
