Giants

Bravo to HBO for the just-completed seven-part John Adams mini-series. While perhaps imperfect, it succeeds completely in renewing interest in the formation of our great nation and, in the final episode chronicling the 25 years of his early 17th Century post-Presidency, a passage into pastoral irrelevancy sans Presidential pension let alone multi-million dollar lecture fees or donation-magnet libraries, it achieves a movingly elegiac sweep of this crucial man's life.

After Laura Linney's Abigail passes into the great beyond and an all-but-certain Emmy, Adams begins his famous correspondence with former revolutionary collaborator and political rival Thomas Jefferson, which ended when they both died, unbeknownst to each other on the very same day, the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence they co-authored (with help from Franklin, Sherman and Livingston). This is the redemption point of the series, where Adams finally becomes a whole human being capable of both forgiveness and self-forgiveness, and the American tradition of friendship and respect beyond political differences makes us, as an audience, whole.

Once again, I guess, America is on the edge of its seat.