HBO's 'John Adams': Reviewing Part Four - 'Reunion'

With news that the Brits have surrenders the Dutch are suddenly ready to loan the United States some money, but more importantly for Adams is his sudden recovery from a long illness and fever that was never fully realized, at least not to the point I wish it had been. On top of that we begin our journey into sappy territory as Abigail sails to France to join John as he is now trying to open up lines of commerce with the French and along with Abigail comes Thomas Jefferson who will replace Benjamin Franklin.

Abigail's arrival is met with an instant sex romp and post-coital bedside chat that almost entirely sucks the life out of the entire episode. To go along with that, a poorly framed chat between Adams, Jefferson and Franklin discuss politics in a green courtyard. It goes against everything I have ever learned about framing a shot and the sheer length of the scene is what makes it obvious. Even if it ends with Franklin saying, "It is no small thing to build a new world gentlemen," it remains a blemish.

One highlight, however, of this episode is John Adams' meeting with King George as the United States Ambassador. For anyone that has seen The Queen you realize the steps that must be taken into meeting British royalty, this is no different and Adams' nature is ill fit for the introduction making the scene very good.

Strangely the supporting characters suddenly become reason to bring out Adams' personality traits rather than acting as actual characters in the mini-series, Jefferson most obviously. It seems as if Jefferson's character was established in the beginning only to become a quote whore in later episodes explaining Adams' personality or uttering statements such as, "So our umbilical cord to mother earth has been severed for the first time in history. Mankind floats on a limitless plane of air." This comes as they watch a hot air balloon float away for the first time. The scene is extremely out of place and only serves to give us this quote and have Jefferson expand on his opinion of John's character. Ironically enough, when John says, "Hot air," following Jefferson's grand proclamation it seems he may be actually commenting on the scene itself.

Part four is a necessary piece to the puzzle, but it was hardly all that well constructed. The final moments finding America has elected its first President is obviously important to the entire puzzle, but it is beginning to feel as if John Adams' presence in everything is forced as opposed to being a part of the massive tapestry. I understand he is the focal point of the story, but that doesn't mean he must be wedged into each scene and made to be the most important one there.

Hopefully parts five through seven will turn for the better, because this fourth part is certainly a slow turn for the worse.

With a running time of 62 minutes, the fourth part of "John Adams" airs Sunday, March 30. Get the full synopsis for this episode here.

You can read my reviews of Part One, Two and Three here (1) and here (2) and here (3).