Manhunt Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Useless

It’s the end of the line for John Wilkes Booth. However, it is not the end of the story on Manhunt Season 1 Episode 6, “Useless.”

“Useless” is only Manhunt’s penultimate episode. That makes it somewhat surprising to see Booth meet his end about halfway through it. Booth has been the main antagonist of the series thus far. Everything has been framed through Stanton’s pursuit of him. 

The show’s dynamic is entirely different without Booth as a driving force, so having him exit so early is disorienting. As odd as it feels, though, it’s likely the right decision. 

Given that Manhunt Season 1 Episode 9, “A Man of Destiny,” ends with troops closing in on Booth, there isn’t much further that they could take that part of the story.

Not without changing the facts beyond what is acceptable, even for this series. They could have stretched the events out a bit longer, but that would undercut the show’s pacing.

They made the right decision by capitalizing on the momentum of “A Man of Denstiny’s” ending. However, it leaves the show scrambling to shift the focus from Booth to the trial of his conspirators during the second half of the episode. 

“Useless” feels a bit like two episodes. The first half is the lead-up to Booth’s death. This half of the episode is extremely compelling. It continues to be part of an effective political thriller that started with Manhunt Season 1 Episode 4, “The Secret Line,” and “A Man of Destiny.”

It’s not quite as good as the two previous episodes, though. The primary reason for this is that Stanton is incapacitated during the showdown with Booth. Viewers don’t get the benefit of Tobias Menzies’s tremendous skill. 

There are a few intercut scenes of him recovering from his asthma attack, but his absence as a dominant presence is noticeable. 

Unfortunately, the transition to the second half of the episode is not as seamless as one would hope. Booth’s death coming early may be the right choice, but it dissipates the tension that had been building all season.

The episode is unable to rebuild the tension. That’s because the show didn’t develop viewer investment in the larger conspiracy enough on earlier episodes.

The second half of the episode has to do a lot of work that should have been done earlier to make that transition smoother. As a result, the second half serves more as a narrative transition to set up the finale rather than exciting storytelling on its own.

That’s not to say the second half of “Useless” is terrible. There are several good scenes. The second half just isn’t as tight as the first half, and the stakes don’t feel quite as high, at least emotionally. 

Stanton’s conversations with Mary and David are the two stand-out scenes from the second half of the episode.

The conversation with Mary, where Stanton convinces her to be a witness, is a bit overly sentimental. However, Simone and Menzies are so good during that scene that it’s hard not to be at least a little moved. 

On the other end of the spectrum, David’s inability to let go of his idealization of Booth is incredibly sad and more than a little pathetic. He is the only conspiracy member who evokes any genuine sympathy and probably the only one who deserves some.

That’s not to say we should absolve him. He is responsible for his choices. Undoubtedly, he was at least sympathetic to the South before meeting Booth. Still, he is clearly in over his head and was manipulated into believing he was a part of something bigger than himself.

The show does an excellent job of balancing his culpability in the conspiracy with the sympathy it asks us to have for him.

While the transition from the pursuit of Booth to the conspirators’ trial is a bit bumpy, it does set up a final episode that has every possibility of being a fantastic coda for the story. 

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Manhunt streams Fridays on Apple TV+.

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