Death by Netflix

I started to watch Netflix's Death by Lightning, its dramatization of the events of US politics of 1880-81. It's framed by interleaving the stories of James A. Garfield, who was elected and then served as President, and of Charles Guiteau, the weirdly upbeat loser who broke a mental gear and assassinated him.

I got about one and a half episodes in before coming to a screeching halt, which is about one episode further than I usually get in tv series.

Visually it's very impressive, filmed in Hungary no doubt not just for the cost (and a complete lack of concern about supporting an autocracy) but because you couldn't possibly find cityscapes that look like that in the US any more. The beards do not look as if they were casually slapped on the actors' faces with a dab of glue, a common failing in film set in this period (the movie Gettysburg was particularly bad in that respect).

The most distinctive characteristic of the acting is the extremely flat midwestern accents in some of the voices.

The script felt mannered and off in various ways, but differently from the usual. Except in the Republican convention scenes in episode 1, there was very little over-explanation for the audience's sake that I hate so much. For instance there are several references to Hancock without anybody saying, "He's the Democratic nominee, you know." You have to either already know that or pick it up. That's good. But the very 21st century use of powerful swear words in public grates, and much of the character depiction lacks subtlety. Garfield was reluctant to be nominee, yes, but did he express it that crassly? I don't think so. And the relationship between Arthur and Conkling, though based on reality, treats it ham-handedly.

What brought me to a screeching halt, though, was a scene in episode two featuring the thing I hate most in historical drama. And that is when a character shows up to preach 21st century morality at historical characters. Moral debates in historical drama should be conducted in the terms and contexts used at the time; it's not impossible to depict - the musical 1776 did it magnificently for the slavery question - and if it shows the characters as imperfect by our standards, they're less imperfect than they look when confronted by what are effectively time travelers from the present. If I can get the viewer app to tiptoe past the rest of that scene, I might continue, because I am curious as to how the script will handle the titanic conflict between Garfield and Conkling which was the main feature of the administration. But not right now.