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Netflix's Death by Lightning premiered on November 6, 2025, and has quickly risen to ranks to become a critically acclaimed show. The show narrates the story of the presidency of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield. From his winning the election and taking the position, tackling the corruption, and later his eventual death at the hands of Charles J. Guiteau, all these details are covered in the historical drama, which consists of four episodes.
The changing direction of James' presidency was shown in Episode 3 of Death by Lightning, which is aptly titled, Casus Belli. The term is a Latin phrase which means an event of act that justifies a war or conflict. Episode 3 focuses on how James was trying to undermine Roscoe's impact by rejecting his plans and his senators, who were corrupt, and hiring new and also Charles trying to meet him.
On one hand, Roscoe and Chester began to plan how to overthrow James, and on the other hand, Charles was seen buying a gun as he believed James was not someone who could help people.
More on this in our story.
Death by Lightning: What does Casus Belli mean? Details from the Netflix series explored
The literal meaning of the Latin phrase Casus Belli, which is the title of Episode 3 of Netflix's Death by Lightning, is "occasion for war". As per Merriam-Webster, the term is defined as:
"An event or action that justifies or allegedly justifies a war or conflict."
The phrase aptly describes the plot development of Episode 3, as in the episode, James, with the help of Blaine, tries to end corruption. To do that, he tries to appoint different senators than the ones suggested by Roscoe, as they worked for him and were corrupt.
However, Roscoe and Chester were not happy with it, and they kidnapped the senators whom James had appointed and threatened them, due to which they stepped back. The duo then thought that they had to make a plan to overthrow James as he was defying Roscoe's plan. But this was not the only enemy that began planning against an upcoming chaotic situation.
The other issue was Charles, a delusional admirer of James, who was trying to meet the new President to ask for work in his administration. He tried to approach James several times and through several people, including Lucretia, but was not able to meet him. While he did meet James once, he could not talk to him for long as James had to go away for an emergency.
This made him believe that James might not be the person who can help the country and its people, and at the end of the episode, he is shown buying a gun. As per the title of teh episode, the plot introduced two conflicts that arose after James was appointed the President of the United States, one of which will end his life at the finale of Death by Lightning.
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Death by Lightning stars Michael Shannon, Betty Gilpin, Matthew Macfadyen, Shea Whigham, Nick Offerman, and Bradley Whitford.
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