In 1881, a man named Charles Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield twice at point-blank range. The attack, which took place four months into Garfield’s presidency, resulted in him becoming the second American president to be assassinated.
Yet the events leading up to the shooting, as well as its aftermath, proved just as shocking as the assassination itself. These make up the bulk of Netflix’s four-episode miniseries Death by Lightning, which charts the parallel stories of Garfield (Michael Shannon) and Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen) before their final meeting. Based on the nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, Death by Lightning offers up a riveting look into a short and often forgotten presidency.
Death by Lightning provides political drama in spades.
Michael Shannon in “Death by Lightning.”
Credit: Larry Horricks / Netflix
Aside from some flashbacks, Death by Lightning mostly hones in on the 15-month long period between Garfield becoming the Republican presidential nominee and his death. During that time, Garfield goes from avoiding the spotlight to being thrust into power and facing off against powerful New York politicians like Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham) and Chester A. Arthur (Nick Offerman), who was also his vice president.
The inter-party sniping is especially juicy, conjuring up the backhanded scheming of Conclave. The comparison is most apparent during the show’s depiction of the 1880 Republic National Convention, which sees multiple flawed candidates jockeying for power, several chaotic rounds of voting, a number of shady comments lobbed across the convention floor, and a surprise winner in Garfield, who didn’t even enter the convention as a contender. Swap Conclave‘s cardinal robes for suit jackets and campaign buttons, add a bit more raucous shouting, and you’ve got a good idea of what awaits in Death by Lightning.
The drama doesn’t end with Garfield’s nomination or even his election. Once in office, Garfield hopes to push new civil service reforms and advocate for civil rights. However, Conkling and the New York crew’s beef with him leads to corruption-fueled government deadlock. While Death by Lightning features events that played out nearly 150 years ago, watching them during the U.S. government shutdown gives them an all-too-real relevancy. It’s also a grim reminder that as wild as these dramatized political shenanigans are, our political reality has only gotten more unbelievable since Garfield’s time.
If Death by Lightning were just about the struggles Garfield faced in office, it would be a fascinating enough political drama. But there’s a dark underbelly to Garfield’s story, and that’s that of his killer.
Matthew Macfadyen brings Tom Wambsgans energy to Charles Guiteau.
Matthew Macfadyen in “Death by Lightning.”
Credit: Larry Horricks / Netflix
Death by Lightning‘s grander-scale set pieces focus on Garfield, with crowded conventions and speeches highlighting the far reach of the presidency. And there is always one man just skirting the edges of these events: Charles Guiteau, a failed lawyer and newspaper editor with political aspirations of his own.
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As played by Macfadyen, Guiteau carries shades of the actor’s Emmy-winning role of Tom Wambsgans on Succession. Few performers do “pathetic” as well as Macfadyen, and there’s a pathetic-ness to both Tom and Guiteau, a need for validation that manifests as desperate striving for a higher stature. (Plus, Death by Lightning does have Macfadyen say the word “ludicrous,” which I will never not associate with Tom and ludicrously capacious handbags.)
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Because of their wheedling attempts to get closer to power, Tom and Guiteau both act as a wretched kind of comic relief, one that makes you want to cringe just as much as it makes you want to laugh. However, there’s one key difference. Tom, for all the humiliations he faces in his personal and professional lives, does find success. He’s rich, holds high-ranking positions at Waystar-Royco, and (spoiler alert!) even winds up as CEO. Guiteau, on the other hand, is an abject failure across the board, and a low-level con man to boot. Yet he’s so deluded by visions of his own greatness and what he believes God has in store for him that he never truly acknowledges the truth.
That quality is especially present during Garfield’s campaign, of which Guiteau was a huge supporter. In one of Death by Lightning‘s funniest storylines, he begs relentlessly to be granted the opportunity to deliver a speech in support of Garfield. When he finally does get to speak, it’s in front of a crowd of a dozen, and Guiteau’s words are less than convincing. But that doesn’t stop Guiteau from believing that he, personally, got Garfield elected.
Contrast Guiteau’s awkward speech with Garfield’s rousing one at the Republican National Convention, delivered with charismatic gravitas by Shannon. Those two speeches prove the men couldn’t be more different. Still, Guiteau views them as kindred spirits, as the two were both born into poverty in the Midwest. (There were even more historical parallels between the two, including the stranger fact that both survived boat accidents, but the show doesn’t dive into that as much as it could.) That Garfield rose to the presidency proves that Guiteau could do so, too. Now, he feels he’s owed power, and that makes him dangerous.
Guiteau’s spiral from Garfield supporter to eventual assassin makes for a darkly funny counterpoint to Garfield and his nation-level political battles. The latter is looking to lead the country, while the former is only looking to help himself.
Death by Lightning‘s meticulous plotting of the two men’s differences and individual struggles means that by the time we get to their infamous (and deadly) meeting, we have a rich portrait of each. The result is an encounter that is, as the title suggests, both sobering and electrifying.
Death by Lightning is now streaming on Netflix.
