The Pulpy Joys of Presidential Assassination in Manhunt
The new Apple TV+ miniseries Manhunt turns the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s murder into a zany crime thriller with oddball pleasures.
John Wilkes Booth leaning forward to shoot President Abraham Lincoln as he watches Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, on 14 April, 1865. (Wikimedia Commons)
The new seven-episode Apple TV+ miniseries Manhunt, about the events following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, has an odd, offbeat, intermittently humorous tone that considerably livens up a tale already fraught with interest.
We start on the night of the assassination, lurking in the bushes in front of the secretary of state’s house. We’re with the would-be killers of William Seward (Larry Pine), who was one of three government officials targeted, though only Lincoln was killed. One of the conspirators is Lewis Powell (Spencer Treat Clark), a former Confederate soldier, and the other is David Herold (Will Harrison), who’s there to hold the getaway horse and keep Powell on task.
LEWIS: “So who’m I killin’ again?”
DAVE: “He’s the secretary of state.”
LEWIS: “What state?”
DAVE: “Look, are you doin’ this or not?”
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