Manhunt Season 1 Episode 8 begins three years before the assassination when Stanton (Tobias Menzies) visits the Lincoln home during one of Mary Todd Lincoln’s (Lili Taylor) parties. Sadly, their son Willie (Van Kelly Clark) is sick with typhoid fever. Elizabeth Keckley (Betty Gabriel) takes him to see Abe (Hamish Linklater), saying the president needs a strong right hand to push emancipation through.
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In Willie’s room, the doctor assures Mrs. Lincoln that Willie will be better in the morning to set her mind at ease. Abe sends her back to the party, suggesting they don’t have the dancing tonight as it might disturb Willie’s rest. Once she leaves, the doctor is honest with Abe, estimating that Willie only has days to live. The doctor leaves, and Abe settles down to read Dickens’ Great Expectations to Willie as he rests.
Stanton comes in with cold cloths for Willie. Outside the room, Abe asks if Stanton has decided to accept the position of War Secretary. Stanton says he has, and his first step as Abe’s Mars would be to take control of the telegraph system. By doing so, they would have a direct line to the generals and the newspapers. They’d control much of the press coverage of the war, and hearing good news builds morale.
First Day of the Conspirators’ Trial
The newspapers tout the prosecution of the conspirators as the Trial of the Century. Outside the tribunal’s venue, the press ask Stanton whether the trial matters without Booth (Anthony Boyle). Stanton states the trial will reveal the conspiracy that directed Booth to kill the president.
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Joseph Holt (John Billingsley) makes his opening statement to the War Department Military Tribunal. He names Mudd (Matt Walsh), Powell (Spencer Treat Clark), Spangler (Walker Babington), Atzerodt (Tommy Turvey), Mary Surratt (Carrie Lazar) and Herold (Will Harrison). In absentia, he adds John Surratt Jr. (Joshua Mikel), Sanders (Anthony Marble) and Jefferson Davis (Craig Nigh). Naming Davis causes quite a commotion.
Stanton questions Davis in his cell, trying to force a confession that he ordered Lincoln’s assassination. Davis is defiant, insisting the trial will fail to prove that the Confederacy is dead.
Out of Time
Stanton and Holt meet with Baker (Patton Oswalt) and ask if Conover (Josh Stewart) has the evidence they need to tie Davis to the assassination. Baker reveals that Conover’s cover has been blown now that the Montreal CSS knows he’s working for the Union. He’s now willing to share information he acquired about the Confederates, including a document known as “the pet letter,” referring to Davis’s nickname for Booth. This makes Conover the star witness.
Holt and Stanton prepare Mary Simms (Lovie Simone) for testifying, warning her that the defense will try to discredit her in any way they can.
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Testimony Begins
Seward’s (Larry Pine) butler takes the stand and testifies that Powell’s attempt on Seward’s life was planned, describing the pharmacist’s box he used to gain entry. Next, Peanuts (Daniel Croix) testifies about Spangler’s actions on the night of the assassination.
When Eckert (Damian O’Hare) takes the stand, he introduces himself as an expert on the telegraph and ciphers. He attests that the cipher found in Booth’s hotel room is identical to the one from the Confederate Secretary of State’s office in Richmond.
Jeremiah Dyer (Bill Winkler), the pastor from Bryantown, testifies to Mudd’s character. He and Mudd’s former plowman (the Black man paid to testify on Mudd’s behalf previously) paint Mary Simms as lazy and untrustworthy. She tells Stanton outside the courthouse that she’s afraid she might not be enough. He reassures her that she will be.
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Mary finds Milo (Antonio J. Bell) and asks him to testify, too. She brings him to Stanton, who reminds him that his story of what Mudd did to him reveals Mudd’s true character. He leaves Mary and Milo alone to consider the situation. Mary tells Milo they could lose if he doesn’t speak up. He agrees to testify.
Stanton grants Weichmann (C.J. Hoff) immunity in exchange for his testimony. Later, Mary approaches him and shares that Mudd talked about Weichmann’s relationship with Surratt Jr. She reminds him that Mudd, Surratt and Booth all knew each other well before the assassination but that her testimony to that effect won’t be believed without corroboration. She asks him to clearly state his support and belief in her account when he’s on the stand.
Conover comes to see Stanton. He gives Stanton the “pet letter” and tells him there’s a case for grand conspiracy.
The Case Against Mudd
At the trial, Holt questions Milo on the stand. Milo describes the day Mudd shot him in the leg, crippling him because he didn’t like his attitude. Mary takes the stand next. She attests to Mudd’s feelings towards President Lincoln and that he harbored Confederates at his house, including John Surratt Jr.
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When asked by the defense why she didn’t just leave, she tells them that when she tried, Mudd whipped her. She prepares to show the court her scars, but the lawyer stops her from taking her blouse off, stating that they agree that she has scars. He then asks if she’s ever been to school, intimating that no one should believe an uneducated slave woman. She reiterates her claims and tells them if they don’t believe her, they can ask Weichmann.
Weichmann takes the stand and explains how he saw Mrs. Surratt with all the conspirators when he lodged at her boardinghouse. When asked if John Surratt Jr. could’ve returned to the boardinghouse and left without his knowledge, he says it’s impossible because they shared a bed.
This causes a stir in the courthouse. He recalls meeting Booth and Mudd in Booth’s hotel room once. Surratt never shared his Confederate activities, but Weichmann states that everything Mary Simm testified to makes sense in light of what he witnessed himself. He affirms that he believes her testimony.
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Conover, Wallace and Dunham, Too
When Conover begins his testimony, he confesses to being a double agent, working for both the War Department and the Confederate Secret Service. He explains that even as the Union celebrated Lee’s surrender, the Confederates were ready to set “pet” in motion, clarifying that “pet” was Jefferson Davis’s nickname for John Wilkes Booth.
Sanders told him that killing the president, vice president and secretary of state all at once would create chaos and allow the Confederates to take over. He reads the letter he’d given Stanton, addressed to Sanders from Davis, wherein the Confederate president says “pet” has done the job well.
The defense questions the many aliases Conover is known as. He asks when Conover first saw Sanders, Surratt, and Booth in Montreal. Conover hesitates, then states that it was the October before the election. Stanton leans forward to whisper in Holt’s ear. Something isn’t right. The defense enters into evidence a record that Conover was in jail the entire month of October. Conover corrects his testimony, stating he got the month wrong. The courtroom doesn’t buy it.
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He Did Right by Abe
Mary Todd Lincoln waits for Stanton in his office. He has no news when he arrives. She reassures him that he’s done right by Lincoln by charging Davis and the Confederacy, making the conspiracy a part of the court’s record and documenting it for history.
Eckert informs Stanton, Mrs. Lincoln and the others waiting in his office that the judge has reached a verdict. They all head back to the courthouse.
The Verdict
The judge begins by stating his conviction that Jefferson Davis and the conspirators plotted to murder the president and damage the Union through the actions of John Wilkes Booth. However, due to the tainted evidence and technicalities, the tribunal is inconclusive on the charge of grand conspiracy so they cannot render a fair verdict.
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Continuing to the defendants in the courtroom, he states they have reached verdicts for them. He hands the written decisions to Stanton. They are all found guilty. Mrs. Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt and Herold will hang the next day. Spangler will serve six years in prison. Mudd’s sentence is life imprisonment and hard labor.
A Suspicious Package
Outside the courthouse, Baker and Stanton confront Conover about his testimony. He claims he told the truth, but Baker argues he surrounded it with lies, which calls it all into question. Stanton steps in and asks Conover if he got a better offer. Conover admits a suspicious package arrived that morning from London and bids them farewell. Baker understands that to mean Sanders bought him out from under them.
The press question Stanton about the trial and whether grand conspiracy was too ambitious. He asserts that it wasn’t, and the Confederacy has not been exonerated.
The Next Day
Stanton grants permission for the papers to run the image of the executions. Eckert mentions that the National Archives collected the items from the evidence table and wonders why Booth’s diary had 18 missing pages.
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Stanton says that Baker had it last. Eckert tells him Baker claims Stanton did. Stanton continues to deflect to Baker. After a moment, Eckert comments that he noticed that Stanton’s office hearth needed cleaning so he saw to it. With a knowing look, he leaves.
Johnson’s Move
At Stanton’s home, Lizzie Keckley (Betty Gabriel) is throwing a book launch for her memoir, a fundraiser for the Contraband Relief Association. She introduces Mary Simms to Oliver Howard (Eric Mendenhall), who is opening a college for Black students. Stanton addresses the attendees, explaining that the Bureau relies on the Contraband Relief Association because the president doesn’t support the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Stanton approaches Eddie Jr. (Brandon Flynn) and Eckert just as Lorenzo Thomas (Robert C. Treveiler) arrives with President Johnson. Stanton guesses that Thomas is his replacement. Moving to a private room to talk, Johnson tells Stanton that he has appointed Thomas to replace Stanton. Thomas will send the order to withdraw troops from the South the next day.
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Stanton points out that he could’ve named Johnson in the grand conspiracy. Johnson points out that he didn’t. Stanton warns him that removing him will trigger an impeachment. Johnson is confident he can stand against Congress. Stanton invites Thomas to the War Department for a tour.
Stanton’s Stand
As he packs up his office, Stanton considers a gun he keeps in his desk while Thomas acquaints himself with the space.
He thinks back to meeting with Lincoln the day before the assassination. Lincoln had just spent his weekly hour communing with his departed son, Willie, a ritual Stanton had taught him, having used it himself to deal with the passing of his and Ellen’s son, James. Sitting down with him, Stanton tenders his resignation to spend more time with his family. Lincoln refuses the resignation. He points out that Stanton is more invested in Reconstruction than it ever was in the war and states the country needs him to see them through it.
Back in his office, Stanton closes the gun drawer and tells Thomas to fetch a bottle of 30-year-old Scotch from the hall pantry. Once he’s walking away out of sight, Stanton locks himself inside the doors to the War Department and barricades them with his desk. As Thomas bangs on the doors, Stanton piles boxes onto the desk and tells him he must get by him to kill Reconstruction.
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The Final Act
Stanton barricaded himself in the War Department for three months. He sent messages to the generals to hold their positions and to disregard Thomas’s orders. While he held on to his position as War Secretary, Johnson was impeached. Johnson survived the impeachment by one vote but lost the next election.
John Surratt Jr. was extradited but not convicted. He held rallies across America, talking up his relationship with Booth.
Five months after the trial, the 13th Amendment passed, abolishing slavery. Six months later, the 14th Amendment passed, granting Black Americans citizenship and equal protection. Mary Simms, one of 10 Black witnesses who testified against Mudd, eventually attended Howard University.
Four years after the assassination, Eddie Jr. brings the news to Stanton in his bedroom that his nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed. Stanton thanks Eddie and sends him downstairs, promising he’ll be down soon. Watching the snow fall, Stanton struggles to stand up and falls back into his chair, unconscious.
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Eddie narrates, “My father died of asthma-related organ failure. He was never able to serve on the Supreme Court.”
Mary Simms voices over a shot of a windswept coastline, “Two months after Secretary Stanton passed away, the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. It guarantees US Citizens, regardless of previous enslavement or race, the right to vote.” This was the last of Lincoln’s three Reconstruction amendments.
Stanton’s voice: “We finish the work now. We have to.”
All episodes of Manhunt are now streaming on Apple TV+.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/for-all-mankind-season-5-apple-renewed-star-city-spinoff-series/
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