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When I first that heard that HBO was airing a mini-series based on David McCullohʼs opus on the life of John Adams, you could have colored me skeptical. While HBO has produced many fantastic movies and miniseries based on historical non-fiction novels, including Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Truman, From the Earth to the Moon, Elizabeth, and Band of Brothers, the complexity of transferring McCullohʼs voluminous work to the screen seemed daunting.
Broken into seven parts, the series starts off, in part one, focusing on Adams’s days as a young lawyer, defending the British soldiers who opened fire on a civilian mob during the Boston Massacre. Part two chronicles his involvement in drafting the Declaration of Independence. Parts three and four show us his time abroad, fighting for French involvement and Dutch financing and brokering peace with England. Part five shows his term as our first vice-president and his election as second president. Part six covers his controversial presidency, and part seven is a bittersweet look at his last days and his anxiety over the legacy that he’ll leave behind.
While John Adams has its flaws, I was delightfully surprised by the performances of Paul Giammati as John Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, both of whom earned well-deserved Emmys for their roles. Tom Wilkinson is also fantastic as Ben Franklin, Adams’s political mentor and eventual rival. He nearly steals the show with an authentic performance that does not deify nor shed dark light on Franklin. It’s a classic portrayal that humanizes an American legend. Steven Dillard’s dour Thomas Jefferson and David Morose’s stoic performance as George Washington also provide an authentic touch to the series.
As great as the main performances are, however, the series does drag as times. While McCullough’s book is dense, and I can see the need to spread the series out over seven episodes, I almost felt that the story should have been cut down to two or three parts. The two hours of the series that are spent on Adams’s time abroad during the revolution, while interesting historically, definitely could have been pared down. Also, the scenes dealing with the tragedies of Adams’s family, while entertaining, at times seemed like a plot device, used to fill in the story for all seven parts of the series.
Minor criticism aside, though, John Adams is a well-done miniseries, with fantastic acting and incredible set designs that take you right into pre-colonial Boston, 18th-century France, and, most stunning of all, the half-constructed slum that Washington D. C. once was, before becoming our capitol city.
Adams has always been a footnote in our history classes, relegated to being at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our first vice president, and our second president. But this series shows great respect for this brilliant but flawed man who helped build our nation’s government and ideals. At the very least, it should motivate you to read the book on which it’s based.
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