Peacefield (20 Apr. 2008)

While in retirement in Peacefield, Adams looks back at his public life with some regrets and has to deal with tragedy in his personal life.

Director:

Tom Hooper

Writers:

Kirk Ellis, David McCullough (book)

Stars:

Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Stephen Dillane

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Giamatti	...	John Adams
Laura Linney	...	Abigail Adams
Stephen Dillane	...	Thomas Jefferson
Sarah Polley	...	Nabby Adams
John Dossett	...	Benjamin Rush
Ebon Moss-Bachrach	...	John Quincy Adams
Samuel Barnett	...	Thomas Adams
Andrew Scott	...	Colonel William Smith
Mamie Gummer	...	Sally Smith Adams
Caroline Corrie	...	Louisa Catherine Adams
Buzz Bovshow	...	John Trumbull
Tom Mannion	...	Reverend Whitney
Lizan Mitchell	...	Sally Hemmings
Ken Peebles	...	Monticello Servant
Andy Prosky	...	Monticello Doctor

Storyline

In retirement John Adams laments the perils of a long life; loss of loved ones and growing irrelevance. But out of tragedy John rekindles his broken friendship with Thomas Jefferson and lives to discuss John Quincy's ambitious presidential agenda with him.

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Plot Keywords:

monticello | louisiana purchase | writing | ends with quotation | death bed vigil | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Release Date:

20 April 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Films, High Noon Productions, Mid Atlantic Films

Did You Know?

Trivia

In real life, Adams and Jefferson had resumed their friendship through correspondence while Abigail was still alive.

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Quotes

John Adams: Old age is dark and loveless.

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Connections

References 1776 (1972)

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Soundtracks

"Yankee Doodle Dandy"

User Reviews

A long life

As we meet John Adams in this final installment of the series of the same name, he has retired from public life. He is now a farmer having given his best years to the service of the country he helped to create. He is living with Abigail, his daughter Nabby, and son Thomas. He has seen the election of his son John Quincy Adams to the presidency of the new nation.

John Adams, with the help of Abigail, Nabby, Thomas and his granddaughter Sally Adams Smith, begins to collect his papers to work on his autobiography. It should have been a happy time for the Adams family, but tragedy intervenes when Nabby is diagnosed with breast cancer. She must be operated in what turns out to be a horrible procedure because of the primitive type of medicine of those years. She eventually succumbs to the disease as it spreads throughout her body.

Abigail and John are left at the farm to mourn her passing. A few years later, his wife of almost a century dies peacefully at home, devastating the great John Adams. His long feud with Thomas Jefferson comes to an end when Adams reaches out to him to tell the other man about the tragedies in his life. Just as the new nation is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, death comes claiming John's life.

The closing part of this magnificent series leaves us saddened because of what this man achieved in his lifetime. His vision of a nation with its own magna carta about the rights of man, plus a Constitution that serves as a model for other nations, was a monumental accomplishment, indeed.

The director Tom Hooper did a marvelous job in bringing the David McCullough's novel to life in such vivid detail. The adaptation by Kirk Ellis worked well throughout the seven installments. Tak Fujimoto, the cinematographer enhanced the production and made it accessible for the average viewer to appreciate the beauty of the places where the action took place.

The success of the series owes a lot to both Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. They were wonderful as John and Abigail. The actors show great chemistry imagining what the Adams were like. The sublime Sarah Polley is seen as Nabby, the suffering daughter. Evan Moss Bachrach plays John Quincy Adams. Mamie Gummer is Sally Smith Adams and Stephen Dillane comes again as Thomas Jefferson.

A must see series about the birth of America and the people that made it what it is.