On April 19, Apple TV+ released the final, seventh episode of the historical thriller «Manhunt», based on the nonfiction book by American writer and historian James L. Swanson «Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer» (2007). In the review below, we describe how the series’ authors recreate the fateful events for the United States.
Genre historical drama, conspiracy thriller
Creator Monika Beletski
Starring Tobias Menzies, Anthony Boyle, Matt Walsh, Brandon Flynn, Betty Gabriel, Patton Oswalt
Premiere Apple TV+
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
April 14, 1865 will forever be remembered as a black date in the history of the United States. It was then that 26-year-old theater actor John Wilkes Booth, a supporter of the newly defeated Confederacy, made his way into the presidential box of Ford’s Theater, where Abraham Lincoln and several others were sitting, and shot the president in the back of the head. The next morning, he died, and the assassin left Washington and traveled to Richmond. The search for Booth was led by Lincoln’s good friend and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who became the main character of the series.
The new series does not aim to dig into the details of the «grand conspiracy», and the local plot is not so much about Lincoln himself as it is a reminder of how important his reforms were. How much effort it cost his followers to implement them. A significant part of the story is devoted to the aftermath of the fateful events, as well as to Booth’s wanderings and capture, so Stanton and his associates are given a special role in this regard.
The authors of «Manhunt» produce something like a police procedural in the setting of postwar America. However, the narrative dynamics here are very slow. This happens not only because the plot involves a lot of flashbacks and dialog scenes, but also because the writers try to pay maximum attention to many factors and focus on the smallest details.
The best moments of the plot are found in the most tense scenes, whether it’s the stage of discovering Booth’s whereabouts and trying to apprehend him or the events of the final episode, when the story takes on the distinct elements of a courtroom thriller. In contrast, we have numerous office intrigues and wars that are hardly exciting.
«This country belongs to the whites, and I won’t give it to you without a fight» — says one of the Southern supporters. It is not difficult to guess that the theme of slave emancipation is a thin red thread running through the plot. However, it harmoniously complements the main arches and does not obscure what comes to the fore.
Unlike Netflix, Apple TV+ is not always successful, but it still tries to take quality over quantity, attracting far from the latest stars to its multi-genre projects. Along with event-based science fiction («Silo», «Constellation») now includes shows about prominent American politicians of the past. The service follows «Manhunt» with «Franklin», which tells the story of Benjamin Franklin, whose role in the formation of the United States as a state cannot be overstated.
«Manhunt» at times, it’s really exciting, but in its quietest moments, it’s overwhelmingly boring.
However, this may be because a project about the dramatic past of the United States does not seem so vital at the moment when at this moment the future of Ukraine is being decided.