That President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who was a theater actor, is obviously widely known. However, in Apple TV+‘s latest historical drama, “Manhunt,” based on James L. Swanson’s book, “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer,” creator Monica Beletsky offers highly detailed and intricate perspectives from Booth (Anthony Boyle), who saw himself as a symbol for the failed Confederacy, and Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), Lincoln’s Secretary of War and close friend. Though overlong at times, when focusing on Stanton, the series is a fresh take on the event that would change the direction of America — while drawing a direct throughline to our present-day political climate.
“Manhunt” opens on April 14, 1865, the day of Lincoln’s (Hamish Linklater) assassination. Enraged by the joyous shouts on the street celebrating the end of the Civil War, Booth begins embarking on his plot to kill the President. His co-conspirators are also on hand, tasked with killing Vice President Andrew Johnson (Glenn Morshower) and Lincoln’s already immobilized Secretary of State William H. Seward (Larry Pine). As the history books have recorded, only Booth was successful. But Beletsky is careful to map out the entire evening, beginning as Seward’s servants and family members are being attacked and concluding with Lincoln dying on a bed of blood-soaked pillows.
“Manhunt” is labeled a conspiracy thriller. Yet the seven-episode series doesn’t offer many thrills, especially because so much time is spent on Booth’s post-assassination escape from Washington D.C. toward the decimated city of Richmond, Virginia. Though the setting and costumes are beautifully showcased, misfiring guns, horseback chases and added dream sequences make the action and adventure a bit slow and stale for a 21st-century audience. Moreover, though Boyle is a fine actor, as showcased in Apple TV+’s WWII epic, “Masters of the Air,” Booth is simply an exhausting figure. A mentally unwell narcissist and racist, the character feels very familiar to present-day MAGA supporters who tout unsubstantiated nonsense to anyone within earshot. Quite frankly, Booth’s eventual demise by the show’s finale is a relief from the constant rants and self-aggrandizing.
In contrast, when “Manhunt” focuses on the political aftereffects of Lincoln’s death and the eventual failure of Reconstruction, despite Stanton’s efforts, the series is much more engaging. Emboldened by a vision of what America could be following the war and Emancipation, Menzies is stellar as the lawyer turned War Secretary, a man who sacrifices his health and family to see Lincoln’s reconstruction amendments ratified while bringing those responsible for his friend’s death to justice. “Manhunt” is mainly centered on the months and years following April 14, but the bond between Lincoln and Stanton during the war is depicted in flashbacks. These scenes give viewers an intricate understanding of the policies the men hoped to enact and how Booth, backed by the Confederacy, threw the entire country onto a different course.
While historically intriguing — since it highlights everything from Wall Street’s direct connection to the slave trade to the revocation of the newly freed’s land grants to current systemic issues — a lot of “Manhunt” is very challenging to watch. The constant racial violence is highlighted again and again. Booth is cruel to a Black/Indigenous man he “hires” to help guide him through Maryland. Later, a young enslaved woman, Mary Simms (Lovie Simone), must contend with the violence of her enslaver, Dr. Samuel Mudd (Matt Walsh), only to later be mocked and put on display amid her testimony during Stanton’s military tribunal against Booth’s accomplices. These stories are central to the fabric of our country’s foundation, but that doesn’t make them any easier to digest.
By the time the credits roll on the final episode of “Manhunt,” it’s crystal clear how cyclical history is. Stanton’s determination to fix what’s broken in the United States is highlighted in the series just as thoroughly as Booth’s delusions are. Still, the show leaves the audience with a feeling of anguish. Presently, so many are unwilling to do the work of facing the atrocities America has committed against its citizens. Therefore, we as a people are doomed to remain on a hamster wheel of injustice, getting reprieves here and there but generally finding ourselves in the same place but in different centuries.
The first two episodes of “Manhunt” premiere March 15 on Apple TV+ with new episodes dropping weekly on Fridays.
