Limited Series – Death by Lightning

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Alejandro R @AleAliAlea Sep 10, 2026 Interesting portrayal of what could have been. Perhaps spends too much time of Guiteau as his story is nothing but one failure after another which gets horrible repetitive. Solid performances. See more Mara S @RT789901289432 Aug 16, 2026 Brilliantly played by all the main leads, particularly Nick Offerman, this is visually sumptuous with a great recreation of time & place and gets its story told in 4 episodes. The final part is dragged out somewhat but overall it's very enjoyable and tells a remarkable story that would otherwise be lost to history. See more Rosa C @RT5678904221241 Aug 13, 2026 Lots of good subtle humor too, despite the topic. See more Daniel O @Olshansk Aug 9, 2026 A short miniseries capturing the story of a short presidency. It's fascinating to see the different forms and shapes a presidency can take. It's a clear reminder that there is no straight path to entrepreneurship. Everyone does it in their own way. James Garfield was the epitome of a classic leader: an eloquent speaker who invigorated crowds. But he didn't want it. Chester Arthur was a completely different type of leader who found himself in a place he never expected and adapted along the way. He also didn't want it. Whether you want it, seek it, achieve it, get it, or try to reject it, true leadership isn't a skill. It's individuality. I'm glad Netflix makes stories like this known. See more Stephen D @RT37880768 Aug 9, 2026 "Ooh, I love it when an old man is petty." That one quote kind of sums up the considerable appeal of this one: a lot of backstabbing,backroom deals and political machinations executed by men with some of the most fabulous beards you've ever seen. A fascinating true story well told and immaculately performed. I generally found the stuff around the rise and fall of James Garfield to be more interesting than the Guiteau stuff, but it moves quickly enough that we're never left to linger on a bad subplot very long. Ingenious use of Nick Offerman too. Performances ranked by facial hair: 1) Nick Offerman, now and always the master 2) Bradley Whitford, very distinguished 3) Shea Whigham, how about that little curly-cue thing on top? It killed me 4) Michael Shannon, very classy 5) Matthew MacFadyen,a little patchy, but that seems very in character for this guy. See more Mark W @RT34561273 Aug 9, 2026 Love it overall, but Maythew Macfadyen is a massive overactor. It reminds me of Paul Groves playing Candide, mannerisms and facial and vocal expressions meant to carry a goofy levity to the back of a 3,000 seat theater. Just way too loud. He can be standing still and it feels like a Muppet just showed up. He's doing a disservice to the rest of this excellent cast that understand they're acting to a camera 10' in front of them. See more Read all reviews

Death by Lightning — Limited Series

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