The Hunt Is... A Bit Off

As often as I gush about the quality of the shows on Apple TV+ (and yes, I do that often), not every show on there is amazing. I recently finished one that was much more average-at-best... but I think still worth talking about.

Manhunt is a 7-episode mini-series chronicling the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Adapted largely from a book by historian James L. Swanson, the show follows the flight and pursuit of Lincoln's killer, John Wilkes Booth.

I was warned in advance by a friend that this series was a disappointment. And while that put me off it for a couple of months, I ultimately couldn't not watch it. This was covering a bit of history I found particularly interesting, and the show featured a number of actors I quite enjoy. In the end, those very elements are probably what makes Manhunt feel like more of a letdown that it would otherwise be -- there's the sense that some great potential is going unrealized here.

The story is fascinating, and that's what kept me watching through all 7 episodes even after I'd concluded, "there are many shows I watch (and should be watching) that are better than this." In hindsight, what I probably should have done was read Swanson's original book. But in either form, you're experiencing more of the history that doesn't feel as vital as in, say, a Wikipedia article. You see just how fraught the end of the Civil War really was. You see what a turning point Lincoln's death really was, for how sharply his successor Andrew Johnson turned the country in the wrong direction. You appreciate how wild it is that the lesser-regarded actor brother of a super-well-known actor became an assassin. (It would be like if Liam Hemsworth assassinated the current president or something.)

All of that still comes through... but as a TV series, Manhunt doesn't give it to you in the best way. The writing is pretty rough. Ham-handed dialogue very often gilds the lily. The degree to which said dialogue tries to be period accurate (versus lapsing into something that sounds more colloquially modern) is frustrating. And all of that dialogue is in service of an unnecessarily complicated narrative structure: each episode jumps around in time more than an episode of Lost (and without the same thematic resonance), with on-screen captions informing us that we're "24 Hours Before the Assassination" or "3 Years Before the Assassination" and so forth. The gymnastics don't feel like they amount to much to me.

But the actors sure try their best. Like I said, many of them are another reason I wanted to watch the series in the first place. Tobias Menzies has been great in Rome, The Crown, Game of Thrones, and more. But here he's finally in the lead role, as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Anthony Boyle, whose grounded performance and effective narration guided viewers through the compelling Masters of the Air, here twists his skills to play the depraved John Wilkes Booth. Perennial "that guy" Glenn Morshower (who 24 fans will certainly recognize) gives a great turn as Andrew Johnson. Patton Oswalt and Matt Walsh are cast wonderfully against their comedic personas in a pair of dramatic roles. Lovie Simone is part of the most emotional story arc of the series, as Mary Simms.

...but all of them are having to wrestle with that unpolished dialogue I mentioned, having to rise above the oddball non-linear narrative. They all give good performances that might otherwise have been great performances.

I'd say Manhunt still manages to reach something like a B- overall. But that's less than I would have hoped for -- and, like I said, less than a dozen other shows I could rattle off the top of my head without pausing for a breath. Still, if you're interested in the chapter of American history, there might be something here for you?

Prodigy: Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II

Picking back up with a two-part episode amid the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy -- this is "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II."

The marooned Protostar has been repaired... but without critical fuel, it cannot reach space. The deuterium that the ship needs can be harvested from the intense storms on the planet, but this means Chakotay and the cadets must sail into the heart of the storm. Quite literally, in fact, as the Protostar sails along the planet's clouds like a boat on the ocean.

This is a really fun episode, with a clever premise that somehow hasn't been done before on Star Trek. Despite countless references to "old sailing vessels" throughout multiple Star Trek series, this is the first time we're seeing a starship used as one. And I'm glad the idea was left for Prodigy to present, as animation seems like the perfect medium for it. From the colorful backgrounds of the "calm seas" to the dangerous swirling maelstrom of the climax, every part of the voyage looks beautiful.

Not all the animation in the episode is top-notch, though. Prodigy has generally been good about capturing the likeness of the established Star Trek characters brought onto the show. Another such character makes a cameo appearance here... but Beverly Crusher looked so unlike Gates McFadden (at any age) that it undermined the moment. It seemed so "not right" to me that it even made me question the voice; I wound up checking the end credits to confirm that it was indeed McFadden voicing the character.

Which is a shame, because the content of the scene was wonderful. Having Crusher speak as a mother to give advice to Janeway was a brilliant way of connecting the characters. And the writers also wove a great connection to the final season of Star Trek: Picard, with Crusher hinting at the growing distance between her and Jean-Luc at this point in time. It's kind of wild how McFadden played this character for 7 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but only now in the 2020s is she getting her best-ever material to play. (It surely helps to have more women in the writers' room.)

I was also pleasantly surprised by the scenes between Chakotay and Dal. I really do find Dal to be the most annoying character on the show (though I think that's intentional), and so I'm often wary when a story focuses more on him. But Chakotay's mentorship of Dal is a good story for both characters, and I love that the lesson here was essentially that one can be valuable without necessarily being the "leader." (That's something Dal could really take to heart.)

Part II of this story was as good as part I -- and taken together, the real high point of the season so far. I give "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II" a B+.

Body Positivity

When someone gives me a recommendation of some TV show that seems right up my alley, yet I've never even heard of it before -- chances are it's streaming on Netflix. No other service seems as skilled to me at hiding interesting content in a deep dark hole. The latest example of this was an 8-episode mini-series from last year that I heard about only in the last few months, Bodies.

Bodies begins with a brain-teasing hook: in multiple different time frames -- decades apart -- London cops discover an identical dead body. He appears to have been stripped and dumped, but there are no signs that he's been transported there. He appears to have been shot dead, but there's no bullet in the body and no sign of an exit wound. And as each detective in each time frame pursues their investigation, they find only ever more strange mysteries at play.

Assuming that you're hooked in by the bizarre premise, you're in for a wild ride. Over 8 episodes, Bodies undergoes a massive shift in tone and scale. That initial mystery is clear science fiction... though mixed with a healthy dose of CSI-style crime solving. But each episode becomes more overtly sci-fi. In short order, you come to feel like you're watching some spiritual successor to Lost, spooling out odd mysteries. But the science fiction keeps amplifying, and soon the show feels like it's inspired most directly by Dark (a tragically underseen German show, also buried in the depths of Netflix).

One advantage Bodies has over either of those inspirations is that it was only ever conceived to last 8 episodes. Any mystery it introduces does have an answer, and not one that will be withheld for long. But there are disadvantages too. Lost was operating on a second level apart from the "island mysteries," telling moving stories about the characters and quietly commenting on the human condition. Bodies is not remotely so profound; there are subplots involving each detective in each time frame, but their personal trials never seem drawn as sharply as the overall sci-fi elements. And Bodies isn't ultimately as clever, either; Dark does a much better job at crafting a labyrinthine puzzle that still holds together once you've seen all the pieces.

Still, it doesn't have to be a competition. After all, there's neither new Lost nor new Dark on your TV screen anymore, so if another show wants to come along and scratch that itch -- even if somewhat less effectively -- why not let it and enjoy yourself? There are numerous actors in the cast that will be unfamiliar to you, and you'll probably find at least one you want to look for in the future. There's a stylish production quality throughout -- no small feat for all the radically different time periods that must be portrayed.

I would give Bodies a B. Sure, there are things right now that better earn the mantle of "must watch TV." But it deserves to be watched more than I expect it will, deep in the Netflix basement.