ABOVE AVERAGE

At the same time as Ohio Congressman James Garfield (Michael Shannon) is unexpectedly elected President, an increasingly confused and desperate lawyer (Matthew Macfadyen) is doing all he can to secure a position in the new administration.

The strange story of the 1881 assassination of Garfield gets a very entertaining treatment, crafting a funny and still relevant portrait of corruption in Congress and why civil-service reform, supported by the President, was such an important move forward.

Unexpectedly well-paced for a Netflix miniseries, with a stellar cast, where Macfadyen and Nick Offerman are standouts as the crazed killer and the inept veep.

2025-U.S. 212 min. Color. Created and written by Mike Makowsky. Directed by Matt Ross. Book: Candice Millard (”Destiny of the Republic”). Cast: Michael Shannon (James Garfield), Matthew Macfadyen (Charles J. Guiteau), Betty Gilpin (Lucretia Garfield), Shea Whigham, Bradley Whitford, Nick Offerman… Zeljko Ivanek. 

Trivia: Originally shown in four episodes. Co-executive produced by Shannon.

Last word: “[The script] wasn’t a history lesson. It was through the prism of these two men who I think represented very polar opposites of a desire for legacy — a thing men probably, historically, had more of a desire for because of women’s lack of agency in patriarchal societies, right? There’s this desire to matter. The meaning of the entire thing is the last scene with Crete [Betty Gilpin] and her children… These two men are left with nothing. They’re both dead. The actual legacy is our friends and our family — the love we share, the people we connect with while we’re alive.” (Ross, Indiewire)