Standard Of Review: The People v. O.J. Simpson Ends Its Stellar Season, Humanizes Johnnie, Marcia, And Chris
While The People v. O.J. Simpson is not the best show on television, it is one of the most entertaining.
O.J. Simpson was found not guilty! What a shocking twist!
Ok, I actually did know in advance that the jury would exonerate Simpson. Nevertheless, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson – which concluded this week – consistently left me on the edge of my seat about events and people that are extremely well-known in American society (helpfully, virtually everyone involved in this saga has their own Wikipedia page). The show has numerous strong points, but I want to particularly focus on its stellar depiction of lead attorneys Johnnie Cochran, Marcia Clark, and Chris Darden as real people instead of caricatures (this column will contain spoilers up through this week’s finale).
When the series begins, Cochran is an opportunist, seemingly agreeing to defend Simpson in order to further his own brand rather than a sense of justice. Slowly but surely, Cochran’s mindset begins to change, not out of a sense that his client is innocent but that the defense is about something larger than O.J. Simpson itself – the struggle of African-Americans in the United States, particularly at the hands of the police.
Throughout the series, Cochran engages in the strategy (initially conceived by Simpson’s fellow attorney Robert Shapiro) to blame the LAPD for framing Simpson for murder. Cochran aims to empanel as many black jurors as possible, in the hope that they will believe the defense’s narrative that Simpson was framed by racist cops. For example, the series’s amusing eighth episode, “A Jury in Jail,” depicts Cochran’s attempts to find every conceivable reason to disqualify white jurors (and prosecutor Marcia Clark’s similar attempt to disqualify black jurors).
But the moment in which Cochran truly completes his transformation into a true believer is the ninth episode, “Manna From Heaven.” As the episode opens, the defense team’s private investigator locates audio tapes of interviews with Mark Fuhrman, the LAPD detective who found the second bloody glove at Simpson’s property. The tapes, owned by a fledgling screenwriter and located in North Carolina, depict Fuhrman repeatedly using the n-word and discussing how he has planted evidence in order to convict African-Americans. Upon initially hearing the news, Cochran is ecstatic, exclaiming that the tapes are a “manna from heaven” that will put the nail in the coffin of the prosecution’s case.
Things are not so simple for Cochran. First, he has tremendous difficulty obtaining the tapes. Cochran and Bailey travel to North Carolina to secure the tapes via a subpoena. However, Cochran’s loquaciousness in court, so effective in Los Angeles, backfires in North Carolina, as the local judge denies the defense’s request. Bailey, blunt as always, tells Cochran that the court needs to hear the request from someone who is white. Bailey, who had previously practiced in North Carolina, then waxes eloquent to the appeals court about the virtues of North Carolina (thankfully Bailey never played basketball at Villanova). This appeal to the state pride of the appellate judges, rather than the substance of the legal argument, seals the victory for the defense and allows them to obtain the tapes.
Although the tapes themselves are beneficial to the defense’s case, listening to them in open court (without the jury present) chastens Cochran, as the audience hears Fuhrman’s shocking statements. Despite the tapes’ power, Judge Lance Ito rules that with the exception of two lines of dialogue (amounting to a mere twelve words), the tapes are not relevant and cannot be played for the jury.
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Cochran delivers a fiery speech to the press rebuking Judge Ito’s decision. But he breaks down once he gets home. I have written before about Courtney B. Vance’s extraordinary performance as Cochran, mostly in scenes that highlight Cochran’s outsized personality (for example, Vance nails the “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” line of his closing argument). But this quieter moment may have been Vance’s best scene, displaying Cochran’s vulnerability and his remorse for having “failed” to expose these important tapes to the jury.
In this week’s episode, after the jury acquits Simpson, Cochran breaks down in his office after seeing President Bill Clinton’s remarks encouraging those of all races to listen to each other. Cochran exclaims, “That’s the victory! Our story is now out of the shadows.” To Cochran, this “victory” clearly means much more than Simpson going free. But the scene is also extremely bittersweet, as the modern audience knows how little society has actually changed as a result of the Simpson victory. Obviously, the Simpson verdict did not solve racism, and it certainly did not stop the tragic deaths of many African-Americans at the hands of the police.
On the prosecution side, the show excelled in portraying the relationship between Clark and Darden. Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown have great chemistry, and I completely believed how, halfway through the season, the two almost get together romantically during an impromptu out-of-town jaunt. Clark and Darden even dance together in the office, reminiscent of the classic Mad Men scene in “The Strategy.”
But the relationship between Clark and Darden frays as the series progresses. Despite Clark’s warnings, Darden naively falls into a trap set by Cochran and asks Simpson to try on the gloves found at the house. The fact that the glove does not fit Simpson is a devastating blow to the prosecution’s case.
Then, Clark fails to heed Darden’s repeated advice and decides to put Detective Mark Fuhrman on the stand. As described above, after the defense acquires the Fuhrman tapes, Fuhrman is exposed as a liar and a virulent racist. The subsequent silent elevator ride is extremely awkward as both Clark and Darden know that Clark made a huge mistake. Finally, Darden breaks the silence and erupts at Clark, accusing her of putting him on the prosecution team because he is a “black face” but not because he will bring a “black voice.” This scene is a great showcase for both Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown, who – along with Vance – hopefully are handsomely awarded come Emmy time.
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While The People v. O.J. Simpson is not the best show on television, it is one of the most entertaining. I therefore cannot wait to see what American Crime Story has up its sleeve next season, which will apparently depict the fallout from Hurricane Katrina (with most of the same cast intact, including Vance!). And I certainly cannot wait for the third season: American Crime Story: The Crime That Was The Season Six Finale of The Walking Dead.
Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.
