Dan B

I’m giving this review after watching just one episode. I’m a civil war and history buff so I am drawn to historical dramas. For me realism is key since it’s based on fact, actual people and events. After seeing trailers I immediately noticed Stanton had no beard. That was troublesome for me as this purported to represent history. Edwin Stanton’s image is well known and having an actor portray him that had no similarity in appearance is just bad directing and make up decisions, especially when other characters have at least a passing resemblance to the people they portray. However I decided to watch. I could not “unnotice” a beardless Stanton. Than I started to notice other qualities that diverted my attention from the drama. Small items than larger ones. The dialogue was too modern for the era. A passing reference was thrown in uttered by Stanton that we replace presidents by elections not coups. Wow I wonder who that was aimed at in our time. I felt this was a political statement that was unnecessary. Stanton calls Lincoln by his first name in the show. A minor point one would think but totally inaccurate. Than another small thing but by this time my radar was up. Before Stanton enters the room where Lincoln was taken he knocks on the door. I highly doubt knowing a dying president was in the room and the commotion in the house that the secretary of war would have knocked rather than just enter. Than I noticed the voice of the actor portraying Lincoln. At times it was squeaky as Lincoln’s was said to be than it would switch to a non-squeaky tenor sound that was immediately noticeably different in a distracting way. What a waste to spend the money period pieces cost yet not pay attention to detail. I read the actor playing Stanton, who I’ve liked very much in other shows, wanted to portray modernity. Why make a historical period piece than? Instead of having Lincoln go to a play just have him go to a movie and make it really modern. I will be skipping the rest and not holding out much hope for Apple’s Franklin miniseries.