Standard Of Review: The Last Two Episodes of 'O.J.: Made in America' Continue To Be Great (With Minor Flaws)
This fantastic documentary series should be watched by all attorneys, law students, and even people with no affiliation with the law.
O.J. Simpson (via Wikimedia)
I usually find that the easiest columns to write are for those law-related works of entertainment that are either abjectly terrible (cough cough How To Get Away With Murder cough cough) or that are of extremely high quality. The ESPN documentary series O.J.: Made in America clearly falls into the latter category. But strangely, the first three episodes of the series, which I reviewed last week, were so good that I was unsure that I would have anything new to say in reviewing the fourth and fifth episodes, which aired last weekend. Thankfully for me, I finally found something to criticize in the fifth episode! In any event, O.J.: Made in America is still an incredible achievement and one of the best shows of the year (this column will contain spoilers for the entire series, as well as historical events that took place when I was in elementary school and still watching Doug and Rugrats instead of Game of Thrones and Mr. Robot).
The fourth episode continues to depict Simpson’s trial, focusing heavily on some of the most famous incidents from the case, including the cross-examination of Mark Fuhrman, the LAPD detective who found a key piece of evidence but had used racist slurs in the past. But the fourth episode also delves into aspects of the trial that have not made their way into popular lore, such as the roles of attorneys Carl E. Douglas and Barry Scheck.
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As I mentioned last week, Douglas was one of the (many) high points of the first three episodes, entertainingly telling stories about the defense team. In The People v. O.J. Simpson, the excellent FX miniseries that aired earlier this year, Douglas (played by Dale Godboldo) was a major character but basically acted as Johnnie Cochran’s associate. However, the fourth episode of O.J.: Made in America shows Douglas’s lawyering skills as he cross-examines Ron Shipp early in the trial. Shipp, a former member of the LAPD, was Simpson’s friend but testified against him after being horrified by Brown’s murder. Douglas eviscerates Shipp on the stand, destroying his credibility by bringing up Shipp’s previous drinking problems and womanizing. The documentary suggests that Shipp’s public humiliation at the hands of Douglas prevented other potential witnesses from testifying for the prosecution.
Scheck was a minor character in The People v. O.J. Simpson (played by Rob Morrow), a disheveled DNA expert who did not actually do much. By contrast, O.J.: Made in America shows how Scheck was an extremely skilled lawyer who emerged as the second chair besides Cochran due to his skillful cross-examinations pertaining to the physical evidence in the case.
Amazingly, despite the fact that the Simpson murder trial is so old that the verdict was announced the same month Hey Arnold! premiered (and yes, I did do a deep dive in the “List of programs broadcast by Nickelodeon” Wikipedia page), O.J.: Made in America still manages to include a big surprise. Simpson’s agent Mike Gilbert reveals that in anticipation of Simpson possibly being asked by the prosecution to try on the glove that was found on the crime scene, he suggested that Simpson stop taking his arthritis medicine. By doing so, Simpson’s fingers become less dextrous and he was unable to fit the glove onto his hands, in turn providing a huge victory for the defense.
With the trial over, the fifth episode fails to reach the high points of the first four episodes. After meticulously depicting Simpson’s early life, the racial politics of Los Angeles, Simpson’s relationship with Nicole Brown, and his criminal trial, director Ezra Edelman blows through Simpson’s civil trial – in which Simpson was found liable by the jury and a judgment of tens of millions of dollars was entered against him – extremely quickly. While the documentary does contain some analysis from prosecutor Marcia Clark about the difference in the legal standard between a civil trial and a criminal trial, as well as some footage from the deposition of Simpson, the civil trial is mostly given short shrift. Part of this is due to the fact that the judge in the civil trial did not allow cameras in the courtroom. Nevertheless, the episode should have contained something more, such as interviews with the relevant attorneys about case strategy and/or Simpson’s demeanor during the trial.
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The documentary also fumbles (sorry, but I had to use a football metaphor at some point) Simpson’s 2007 arrest for armed robbery of sports memorabilia in Las Vegas. Because Edelman again rushed through this saga, I had a lot of trouble precisely understanding what actually occurred.
Ultimately, though, these are fairly minor criticisms. O.J.: Made in America is a fantastic documentary series that should be watched by all attorneys, law students, and those people who strangely have no affiliation with the law. Sadly, though, this will probably be the last O.J. Simpson-related column I will write this year (unless of course Douglas becomes a cast regular on How To Get Away With Murder).
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.
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