The recent miniseries Franklin (2024) covers the time that Ben Franklin was US Ambassador to France. We know that in reality, Franklin and Adams clashed due to Adams' blunt nature, and Adams left to be the US Ambassador to Holland. But whereas the 2008 HBO series showed this relationship in a complex and nuanced light, highlighting how Adams was both a difficult and principled man, the 2024 Franklin series sets all of that depth to the side. Instead, Adams exists to be a villain to Franklin's hero. The series implies that Adams was willing to collude with Britain to replace Franklin as Ambassador, but that never happened. 

Adams is portrayed by Eddie Marsan, who was actually considered to play Adams when HBO was developing its miniseries. Marsan is a good actor, but he portrays Adams like a cartoon character. He depicts Adams as an ignorant, puritanical, and incompetent buffoon. Whereas Paul Giamatti captured both Adams' temper and his political wisdom, Marsan sneers and growls like a James Bond henchman. It may feel like I'm holding Marsan to too high a standard by comparing him to Giamatti's portrayal, but since the two shows shared a writer, it's hard not to have Giamatti's Adams in the back of my mind. I felt like I was watching an inferior version of the same material. In the final episode, the show gives Adams one redeeming quality: his opposition to slavery. He expresses concern for a slave owned by John Jay, who later became the first US Chief Justice. (Notably, the show never mentions that unlike Adams, Ben Franklin owned slaves). 

Overall, the Franklin miniseries is an entertaining 18th Century period piece, but I'm more likely to recommend the HBO show if you're interested in this era of American history. 

Have you seen the 2024 Franklin miniseries? What do you think of its portrayal of John Adams?