American Crime Story: Not Guilty!

Not to be confused with American Crime... not story

"Guess what. I have flaws. What are they?. Oh, I don't know. I sing in the shower. Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. Occasionally I'll hit somebody with my car. So sue me!.. No, don't sue me. That's the opposite of the point that I am trying to make." - Michael Scott, The Office, S04E02






Last Tuesday night, FX's miniseries, American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson came to a thunderous conclusion. Though it may have started out as an interesting, albeit flawed, look at one of the most interesting court cases in American history, by the end of the ten episode run, I was more than hooked. By the time we got to "The Verdict," I was enthralled by the characters, the history, and the writing, even with the actual conclusion already written in real life.

The stars of the show
The main reason that this story worked was the characters. Due to the fact that the verdict was long predetermined and that, by a brief google search, one could find out most of the details, the show had to find a way to keep viewers hooked. Like all great dramas, character is the proper vessel. Starting in early episode such as "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia," ACS began to zero in on specific characters, most notably exploring Marcia Clark, Johnny Cochran, and Chris Darden. By getting inside the heads of these lawyers, along with a plethora of witnesses and jurors,  the show gave us something to care about more than just the trial itself. By the end, after an all-time great performance by Courtney B. Vance, I found myself much more caught up in Johnny Cochran's life than in the OJ trial - much more enthralled by the state of Marcia's custody of her children than in her role as the prosecution. And, in this sense, ACS surpassed a regular historical drama - one that gives us a slightly fictional version of a real story in an entertaining fashion - and became a show about interesting characters in an interesting predicament, history aside.

I mentioned Courtney B. Vance briefly above, but in terms of supporting actors, he's right up there alongside Jonathan Banks in the early frontrunners for Benny awards. It's true that Cochran is a fascinating character unto himself, but the job that Vance did in portraying him was almost epic. A lawyer that almost took on a preacher-type of persona when in the courtroom, Cochran was easily the highlight of the entire series. However, in addition, Sarah Paulson, playing Marcia Clark, should be given a good deal of credit as well. Though I had knocked her performances in American Horror Story, when she took on the role of Clark, it was an entirely different story. All of a sudden, Clark became a conflicted woman: one who wanted to pour everything into her job but still had to be a mother. Even though she wasn't always able to be home, we saw the internal struggle in almost every scene. Be it in the courtroom or outside of it, Paulson really won me over.

David Schwimmer was another actor that really delivered by the end of the series. In the beginning, I wasn't sold on Robert Kardashian as a character: he seemed too wimpy and on the sidelines to actually play a significant role in the story. However, in a way, he ended up becoming the Skylar White to OJ's Walter. After seeing the overwhelming evidence against Simpson, Kardashian was convinced that he was guilty and really just waited around, hoping that OJ would be convicted. When the verdict came in "not guilty," Bob had a similar reaction to many: he puked. In a way, Kardashian almost had a 2016 point of view on the entire issue. OJ was guilty, regardless of the racism of the cops and only through the work of the dream team did he escape murder charges. Kardashian, despite his friendship to the man in question, eventually saw reason, looking past the intricate story crafted by Cochran, Bailey, and Shapiro.

The true star of show
Of course, though the majority of the stars did their fair share, John Travolta was the most questionable. I don't want to say he was necessarily bad, but... just odd. The story of Robert Shapiro is fascinating: the very architect of the Dream Team was eventually rejected by it. However, while Travolta was able to show this, he wasn't fully able to straddle the line between super-villain and sympathetic-gray-area-character. Shapiro was certainly dumped of many of his duties, but at the same time, he came away victorious. Too many times was Travolta acting like Deadwood's Cy Tolliver when he was supposed to wounded. All of that being said, by the end of the series, I could hack it. Travolta had something of a creepy charm to him.

In the end, American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson was able to deliver a shockingly good season. What I first viewed as a Ryan Murphy screwball series put on by FX due to the man behind it, ended up being a masterpiece of storytelling - something that kept 10+ hours of my attention despite the only action being in dialogue. Whatever was fictionalized was likely for the best of the storytelling, and all in all, though some facts may have been left out, one understood the story fairly well, and certainly understood the ridiculousness surrounding it.

Without Fargo or True Detective, this is already a contender for the best miniseries of the year. Hopefully, unlike in the actual trial, justice will be done.

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