Episode guide
John Adams
7 episodes · 1 seasons · 2008 · HBO
From the desk
How this guide is filed
Paul Giamatti plays John Adams as grit and principle; Laura Linney's Abigail is the strategist the marble statues skip. This Playtone miniseries, after McCullough, treats the founding as a marriage and a political knife fight — Emmys, period dust, no patriotic cosplay.
TV Flash files John Adams (2008) on HBO as the episode guide: 7 listed hours across 1 seasons, 2008-03-16–2008-04-20 from “Join or Die” (S01E01) to “Peacefield” (S01E07).
Season
Season 1
7 episodes
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S01E01 Join or Die Boston: In the aftermath of the Boston Massacre - a deadly street confrontation between American colonists and an occupying British brigade - John Adams, a farmer/lawyer who has moved his family into Boston to establish his legal career, takes an unpopular stand by agreeing to serve as defense attorney for the accused British soldiers.
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S01E02 Independence Following a fruitless session of the Continental Congress, a sabbatical at Adams' Braintree farm is disrupted by news of the attack on Lexington and Concord.
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S01E03 Don't Tread on Me A new period of separation from Abigail looms when Adams is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France along with Benjamin Franklin.
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S01E04 Reunion Convalescing in Holland, Adams learns of the British surrender to Washington at Yorktown. The Dutch, unwilling to part with their money during the war, now generously open their pockets to Adams and America.
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S01E05 Unite or Die Elected America's first Vice President, Adams is scolded by Abigail for his vanity, and is frustrated by his exclusion from President Washington's inner circle.
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S01E06 Unnecessary War Abandoned by Jefferson for retaining Washington's cabinet, President Adams holds firm on keeping the nation out of war, despite French aggression and pro-war sentiment among his advisors.
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S01E07 Peacefield In retirement, Adams starts writing his memoirs, then endures a series of tragedies.