Robert Kardashian

No phone here, but I just wanted to continue to shout out to the Schwimm for doing a very good job as Robert Kardashian. He brings a lot of humanity to this part. Conventional wisdom (and this performance) holds that Kardashian was a kind and ethical person, and that if he hadn't died, his daughters' lives might have unfolded much differently. Which isn't to pass judgement on the Kardashian women, truly -- but I do think they have a desire for attention, a need to be seen, that is unusual, and losing their father was (as it would be) terrible for them, and the two might be connected.

Gil Garcetti

Gil Garcetti is having A REALLY BAD DAY here -- Robert Shapiro promised he'd deliver OJ into police custody and it's all going to hell. “This is the worst day of my life. It’s worse than the day I was diagnosed with cancer," is Gil's dramatic response, but...yeah, this went badly. Garcetti notes that this fiasco, coming on the heels of “McMartin, Twilight Zone, Menedez,” is EXTRA bad for him. "I was going to run for Mayor!" he says. (As I mentioned last week, his son Eric actually is currently our mayor.) Just that list of names takes me back to watching local news as a kid, because they were three HUGE trials: The McMartin Preschool case, which was so bizarre that I can only direct you to its Wikipedia entry, or we'll be here all day; the Twilight Zone reference refers to the terrible accident that killed Vic Morrow and two child actors, and which was a huge HUGE deal in Los Angeles (and had far-reaching effects on the film industry); and, of course the Menedez Brothers murder trial. They were eventually convicted, but it required a second trial -- at this point in our time line, Garcetti is fresh off two deadlocked juries in their first case. So. He's not doing so well, in terms of his career right now. (Interestingly, Shapiro also defended the Menendez Bros in their first trial; he really WAS the go-to defense attorney at the time.)

Shapiro's Kitchen

YOU GUYS. Look at Robert Shapiro's AMAZING KITCHEN. Here, he is fresh off the phone with Garcetti and wondering where the hell OJ has run off to. I need to note, again, that I think Travolta is really good in this part. Weird, yes, but Shapiro WAS (and perhaps still is) weird. He was also, apparently, VERY SELF-ABSORBED -- OJ running from the law is all about HIM and not about OJ. He says the words "me" and "I" about a million times, as Johnnie Cochran wisely points out to the other lawyers in his employ. (Shapiro's response to the fact that OJ hasn't killed himself is not happiness or surprise but, basically, "good for him!" which is also...strange.)

OJ's Suicide Note

"Jesus Christ. Who the hell signs a suicide note with a happy face?" is Shapiro's take.

The People

The show is really good at showing how people slowly found out about OJ being on the run -- here, Tom Brokaw pops up on the news to let everyone know that we're in the middle of a city-wide manhunt, so these folks find out while they're stocking up on chips and dip for the night.

The Master

And Chris Darden goes home to visit his father, and finds him watching not the chase but Arnold Palmer's final US Open. (Darden's take on OJ going on the run is that he's "dead meat" now, because he's humiliated the DA and the LAPD.) Later in the episode, the scenes where Darden is talking to his next door neighbors in his father's seemingly predominately black neighborhood were, I thought, a really smart (and entertaining) way of illustrating public opinion about OJ. (This show is REALLY good at Showing Not Telling, which can be hard in true crime, sometimes.) His neighbors are reminiscing about OJ -- “Remember his run in ’67 against UCLA? No one could touch the Juice," they say, in a line which makes my UCLA Bruin blood chill -- and Darden argues with them that OJ has done NOTHING for the black community, and their allegiance to him is therefore misguided. "OJ became white," he says. “Well, he’s got the cops chasing him. He’s black now!” the neighbors say.

The Kardashians

Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian are DELIGHTED to see their father on TV (he reads OJ's suicide note at a press conference). "KARDASHIAN! KARDASHIAN!" they cheer, but in a brilliant piece of shade from the editor and Murphy, their cheering fades into a cautionary, "please, be respectful," from Shapiro at the press conference. That was very subtle, and the fact that it literally happened as Ryan Murphy's directing credit comes up (in the moment after this particular screengrab) is not a coincidence.

The Californians

This was so on point. These kids are driving down the freeway -- "Sabotage" playing on the radio, which is the most 1994 thing EVER, and good for FX for paying for that song -- when OJ and AC drive past them. Because this was before anyone had cell phones, and most people didn't have car phones, they have to pull over to the call box to call it in: “They’re going north on the 5, right before it merges with the 405," the kid tells the cops. Next week, on The Californians!

The Cops

The cops give chase -- the freeway actually gets shut down -- but OJ won't get out of the car, and AC has to run interference for him, football pun kind of intended. Poor AC, this must have been HIGHLY STRESSFUL for him. He pulls back onto the shoulder of the freeway and takes off, and the cops just....let them go. One of them says to the other, "I'm not shooting at OJ Simpson unless someone authorizes it," which was a good call on his part, and the only thing they could do under the circumstances (although I think they meant shot out his tires, rather than shoot him). But also think about this: OJ is running from being arrested for murder, and the cops catch up to him and then...they let him go back on the run after a fraught little chat. That basically perfectly encapsulates what a very bizarre series of events all of this was.

The Costas

Bob Costas -- his Sochi pink-eye not yet even a glint in the eye of the creator -- breaks into the NBA finals to let everyone know what's happening. And by "everyone," I also mean OJ's entire family. Who were just told by Robert Kardashian that OJ had killed himself. ROBERT! Don't tell people that until you're sure! (I'm sorry, Bobby. I know you're under a lot of pressure! But seriously. Make sure someone's dead before you tell his kids.)

AC Cowlings

“Is everything okay?” the 911 dispatcher asks AC Cowlings at one point. “HELL NO. What kind of stupid-ass question is that? EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE," is AC's succinct response. AC is not wrong. This is the absolutely the worst carpool he has ever had.

(Additionally, look at that giant phone. I had a friend whose father had a CAR FAX MACHINE, and this just reminds me of that. Being able to get a fax in a car is far more a precedent for texting and driving than the car phone ever was. WHY ARE YOU FAXING THINGS IN YOUR CAR?)

The 405

I also want to note that these scenes on the freeway were really well done, and that Cuba Gooding Jr, FREAKING OUT in the back of his car, did an excellent job. I saw an interview with him recently where he kind of danced around whether or not he was playing this part as if OJ is guilty, and I have to think that was the number one question for him as an actor. Because the show is, so far, sort of agnostic as to OJ's guilt or innocence, it requires quite a high-wire act from its lead. He's also really effective when he calls Bobby Kardashian to essentially tell him goodbye, and the Schwim is equally good at being both really distraught about this and desperate to talk OJ out of killing himself, and then juggling the emotions of OJ's kids and family as he reports back to them what is going on. Just looking at everyone's faces at Casa Simpson stressed me out.

The Sports Desk

I also loved this scene, where the NBC news guru has to tell the sports guys directing the basketball game to go to picture-in-picture, and make the game the tiny picture. The sports director thinks this is nuts -- he calls the news guy an "asshole," -- and it's FASCINATING to me to see how this event impacted the jobs of all kinds of people you never even really think about. They really touch on how the logistical ripples of this one event were incredibly far-reaching for a lot of people's day-to-day lives. Not to mention how no one back at the LAPD or the DA's office knew how to handle ANY OF IT.

The Bar

...because everyone, from people at home to people at bars, is watching to see what they're going to do. EVERYONE.

Johnnie

When Johnnie goes to the TV station to give an on-air interview about the case, he walks in on two people cutting OJ's obituary piece, which -- like the tidbit from NBC Sports -- I thought was a really telling and interesting detail, and I am sure that actually happened. Johnnie and his amazing tie is, of course, great on the news. He advocates for OJ's right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and then says: "If the LAPD is involved, we should let history be our guiding principle. Time after time, the police shoot first and offer sloppy apologies afterward. Thirty years ago, a young man named Leonard Deadwyler was driving his pregnant wife to the hospital. She was about to give birth to their child. And that very same LAPD saw a black man driving too fast. And they did what they do. They shot and killed him. I represented Leonard's family. It was one of my very first cases. Unfortunately, the first of many. It was a terrible thing. Leonard's only crime, the color of his skin." This scene felt like such a smart, elegant way to explain the atmosphere in Los Angeles at the time vis a vis the LAPD -- and Johnnie's words ring sadly, somberingly, truer more now than ever.

The Crowds

When this happened, I didn't really understand the phenomenon -- who goes to cheer on an alleged murderer running from the law? -- but, as in the scene with Johnnie at the news station (and by including the footage of the Rodney King riots), this show explicates really beautifully why people in Los Angeles went out to lend OJ their support: "We're not cheering OJ," one of these men tell the news. "We're booing the LAPD."

The Chopper

And the LAPD knows it's in their best interests for OJ to get home, and put into police custody, alive, which eventually happens. This whole bit is rather harrowing to watch, even knowing how it works out. There are snipers everywhere, and the helicopters are asked to turn out all their lights, so that America can't see it go down, if cops shoot OJ, if it comes to that -- and, seemingly, it almost does, when one of the officers thinks OJ has a gun in his hand. (It's pictures of his kids.) The very process of getting OJ into the house was highly stressful -- for the cops, for AC, for Bobby Kardasian, for OJ himself (who is constantly apologetic for wasting the LAPD's time on a Friday night; it's very clear that this show is making the argument that OJ is not particularly mentally stable), and for Marcia Clark, who still cannot wait to get her hands on him and is totally disgusted with EVERYTHING. I can't help but wonder how much actual news footage they're going to use in this season -- I'm actually not totally sure that THIS is real, or if they're just using the real local news logo.

The Conclusion

And the episode ends with OJ on the phone with his mother, then arrested, as police after police car pull away, one by one, from his house. Chris Darden's dad -- no longer watching the golf -- advises that he stay well away from this case. Somehow, Mr Darden, I don't think that's going to happen.

Fug the Show: American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson recap

First off, apologies for how late this is -- we're at Fashion Week at the moment, and time got away from me. Second, this show continues to be masterful. As I mentioned in the first recap, I lived in Los Angeles throughout this entire time period (and, in fact, have done so my entire life), and I don't know if I've ever seen a TV show so perfectly capture what it was like to be in Los Angeles in 1994. One of the things that is great about this series, I think, is how well it captures the seemingly mundane details about this entire drama -- and it was a drama on a number of levels -- which give it that ring of truth. I mentioned last week that my family watched the entire Bronco chase on TV, but what I thought but did not mention was, "I wonder why the TV was on in the first place." Well, this episode -- which covers SOLELY the day of the chase; for the interested, the Los Angeles Times has a timeline of events as they happened -- reminded me that, of course, everyone was watching the NBA finals. As ever, this is not a full-on recap. This week's (VERY LOOSE) methodology to discuss the events of the episode is Methods of Communication. So much of the events this week unfolded via phone -- Robert Shapiro on the phone with Gil Garcetti; OJ on the giant, plugged-in car phone with a variety of people, including apologizing to the police for ruining their weekend; poor AC Cowlings on the phone with 911. That's as LA as...well, as how often people noted to each other how much this car chase must have screwed up traffic. When one of the LAPD noted, mid-chase, "the back-up on Sepulveda must be unbelievable," I laughed out loud. Because it must have been. But we also see OJ's hand-written suicide note, and so much of the way that the events of this day were communicated to the public (TV, the paparazzi), as well as the way that Chris Darden's neighbors discussed it, over their backyard walls, and how the public tried to communicate their support to OJ by gathering at freeway overpasses and in front of his house. It's fascinating to see how this all unfolded without Twitter -- now, would people still go out and cheer on OJ? Or would they just tweet him that they believed in him? Let's discuss -- that, and anything else in the episode.