Netflix’s Death by Lightning is a riveting four-episode limited series that dramatizes the real-life story of James A. Garfield (Michael Shannon), the 20th President of the United States, and his eventual assassination by Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen) through parallel stories.
From his unexpected rise to the presidency, his reform ambitions (especially civil-service reform), and his status as a “reluctant” leader, Garfield was assassinated only three months into his presidency by a conman who believed he was owed a position in his cabinet. During his rise to the presidency, he has to contend with a corrupt political machine led by Senator Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham), whose right-hand man, Chester Arthur (Nick Offerman) became his running mate.
Riveting, ambitious, and doing its darndest to resurrect the memory of a forgotten president, the miniseries is a well-told story with a few embellishments here and there. Here is what it got right (and wrong) in the storytelling.
Death by Lightning, Streaming Now, Netflix