John Adams: Part 3 – “Don’t Tread on Me”

If I had to use one word to describe last night’s installment of the HBO miniseries John Adams, it would be “uneven.” The episode was very uneven, on a number of different levels. I’ve never broken down a show quite this way before, but at any rate, here’s a more in-depth look at what made last night’s showing so frustrating.

1. Shot composition/camerawork – If you’re a film or television director and you’re doing your job right, I’m probably not going to comment on your shot selection or camerawork because hopefully, its so organic and seamless that I don’t even think about it. Or, if you’re a really good director, I might take a moment to praise your beautiful eye for composition or your evocative shot selection. But the one thing you definitely don’t want is for me to single out how poor and distracting your camera work is, which is unfortunately the case with last night’s John Adams. And not only do I want to focus on the terrible decisions made with the camera, but I want to talk about it first and foremost because it was so atrocious.

Dutch tilts? Shaky steadicam shots? Eerie handheld shots from behind a wall? What was this, an episode of 24? It’s JOHN ADAMS. We’re not watching it so we can see modern, edgy filmmaking techniques. Just powder the dude’s wig and stick a frickin camera on him. Done. And it’s not like we’re talking one scene here. There must’ve been 15 dutch tilts, most of them occurring in scenes featuring Abigail. Ok, we get it; running the farm with John is hard, and the times are tumultuous. We don’t need silly shots of discomfort to figure this out.  And speaking of shots of discomfort, how cliche and out-of-place were the trippy bubble-cam shots of sick John in bed?  I felt like I was watching Fear and Loathing in 18th century Paris or something.  For me, these stylistic choices ruined much of the episode. It felt heavy-handed, amateurish and highly unnecessary. If these ridiculous shots become a trend, I will be physically unable to watch this show anymore due to constant groaning and eye rolling.

2. Time — I understand that when you adapt a life as full and storied as John Adams’, time must be condensed to fit only the choicest moments on screen. But the time jumps in this episode were too simply abrupt and disjointed. First, we have Abigail and John discussing John’s appointment to Paris, and then, without any warning, establishing shot, or even change in time of day, we’ve got John leaving. Queer, but not terrible. Then, a second later, he’s been on the ship for months. 5 minutes later, he’s in Paris. 15 minutes later, he’s done in Paris and the Revolutionary War is almost over. Again, I understand how much ground this show has to cover, but can’t I get a “Paris- July 3rd, 1777″ at the bottom of the screen or something? Hell, the guy travels most of the U.S. and Europe on crucial business that helped established our frickin country– I’d sure as hell be interested to know exactly when and where he is.

3. Action — In terms of plot and action, this episode was HIGHLY uneven. For every interesting scene between Dr. Ben “Wow, bet you didn’t know what a huge jerk I was” Franklin and John Adams, we had 3 boring scenes of Abigail and John in bed or Abigail talking to her children. (side note about the children – aside from Charles, who looks like a young version of Cally from Battlestar Galactica, these are the most lifeless, personality-less children I’ve ever seen. Especially John Quincy. Do his facial muscles work? Because he doesn’t make a single expression.)  I don’t mind splitting time between Paris and the homefront, but it just feels so uneven and forced.  I can almost hear the suits at HBO: “But we need something for the women viewers!”  If John doesn’t care enough to write Abigail, I certainly don’t care enough to want to see her over and over…and over.

4. People — Basically, everyone not named Abigail or John Adams in this time period, whether French or American, was a huge d-bag.  The Americans give Adams no respect for the work he’s attempting in Paris, B Franklin gives him no back-up (ever since the episode of The Office, I can’t help but think of “that’s why I invented the bifocals.”  Amazing.), and the Surgeon General is a big weirdo who changes tones faster than this miniseries.  In France, everyone is just ridiculous.  It’s all form over  function, custom over action, pleasure over reason.  For the first time in this series, the show is beginning to feel like a movie and not just a historical reenactment.  Yes, its historically accurate, but now we have Adams in a personal, not just historical, dilemma.  Everyone is against him; the Dutch, the French, even his own countrymen.  THIS is conflict.  THIS is tension.  THIS is why I’ll continue to watch the series.

At the root of all of this, I’m still left with one vital question: should this miniseries exist?  I still haven’t made up my mind.  One the one hand, much of the series thus far has been highly uncinematic– Adams was abroad for almost the entire Revolutionary War, he goes below deck during a sweet battle of the high seas, and he spends 95% of his time chatting with Mrs. A in bed.  Perhaps the director was trying to compensate for this with his heavy-handed camera work. On the other hand, his tense diplomatic interactions, whether at home or abroad, have proven to be extremely compelling and exciting.   And more importantly, the story is still incredibly fascinating.  Here is one of the most important people in the history of America, and yet no one seems to know how or why he is so important– no one appreciated him in 1777 and nobody really appreciates his contributions today.  At this point, I can sense that the series might be about to pick up some steam, as forces are building against Adams, but at the same time, I’m nervous the whole thing will be one long plateau without any narrative momentum.  There are only 4 episodes left, and as I’ve already watched 3, I fear I’m in for the long haul, regardless.  Let us pray that the rest of the series has more vigor than poor, sick Mr. Adams does.

Grade: B-