We knew that a change would come. After all, Charles Guiteau had to get to a point where he would assassinate James Garfield. That change comes at the end of Death By Lightning season 1 episode 3.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Death By Lightning season 1 episode 3.
The third hour picks up with Charles Guiteau still a man who supports Garfield. However, he wants a meeting with the man, and to do that, he decides to break into the inauguration, where he finds Lucretia, restless from everyone else at the party.
At first, Charles helps to lighten the mood, but Lucretia soon gets a little wary of the man. However, she does promise to talk to Garfield for Charles to set up a meeting — not that she will.
Charles is kicked out of the inauguration in Death By Lightning episode 3
With Lucretia gone, Charles finds Chester Arthur and decides to chat to him about getting a job in the office. This is when security turns up, realizing that someone has broken into the place. The blood on Charles’s hands gives him away, and he’s kicked out of the ball. He tries to get Chester to stop him from being kicked out, but Chester has no idea who this man is!
This is just the start of Charles’s decision to turn against the President. However, he still wants a job in the office, and there is hope that he’ll find his place. The problem is he starts to forge letters, and he makes it clear that he is way too obsessed without enough skill to make it at the top.
Charles goes as far to going to Blaine’s house one night — when Blaine is expected goons to show up at his door — looking for a job. The conversation doesn’t go as well as Charles would like, but to be honest, Blaine does have other concerns on his mind right now.
James Garfield struggles against Conkling’s power
As Garfield puts together a list of people he wants in his cabinet, Blaine points out that they are all the wrong people. Conkling will never support all these people, and it will lead to a loss of funds. However, Garfield wants to bring an end to Conkling’s hold over the government, and the only way to make that possible to stand up to the man.
So, Blaine agrees to be his Secretary of State, and the rest of the men on the list are offered jobs. They initially take them until Conkling gets to them and forces them to decline. Yes, he goes as far as kidnapping the Senators to make them back out, and Chester is right there with him. It doesn’t take long for Garfield to realize that Chester is working with Conkling, but he won’t remove his VP for the time being. He wants to see change.
The more Garfield pushes back, the more Conkling looks for a way to take him down. He works with Chester and the other Senators to find a way to bring the man down. Little do they know that another man is also looking to do the same thing.
Charles takes a step to take down a President
It gets a little difficult for Garfield, though. While he’s meeting with Charles, he learns that Lucretia has come down with malaria, and so he rushes back home to be with her. Meanwhile, Charles learns this his father died the previous summer.
While Garfield gone to be with his wife, Charles turns to Blaine with the forged letter that he wrote. However, Blaine screws it up and makes it clear that this is not the time for a conversation, refusing to hire Charles and going as far to call him an opportunist.
With that, Charles heads home to write a letter to Garfield, sharing his disappointment in the man and how he doesn’t deserve to be President after all he did to get him where he is. We end Death By Lightning season 1 episode 3 with Charles buying a pistol, which is going to cause some serious damage.
Death By Lightning is available to stream on Netflix.