In preparing to write the review for the finale of “The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story”, one of the questions that we were left to ponder was rather simple: What is there to criticize? “I’m hoping that it’s something positive and something really really cool, but until it actually happens, what I’m trying to do is just enjoy the moment, and the moment is really really cool”. No matter the answer, it’s clear “The People v. O.J. Simpson” will have a lasting effect on anyone who’s watched it. “A Jury in Jail”, maybe my favorite episode of the series, looked at the mania that comes from extended sequestration and also included the disastrous unspooling of the prosecution’s DNA evidence. And given the defense’s strategy, they paid most dearly for Mark Fuhrman’s sins.
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Of all the various reactions, including Darden and Clark’s, perhaps the most devastating is, surprisingly, Robert Kardashian’s. Johnnie Cochran’s is a razzle-dazzle piece of performance art that provides more entertainment value than anything else.
On the contrary, there are still spoilers in American Crime: People Vs OJ Simpson that are worth digging into. Nathan Lane sweeps proto celebrity lawyer F. Lee Bailey through a blustery last hurrah.
Courtney B. Vance, who plays defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, told E! But everyone was ready to split as quick as they could – and not just the jury. He is also the author of “Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family”. Robert Kardashian is stunned, and later throws up in a bathroom sink.
There was no lasting social change spurred by the trial of Simpson or the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, no silver lining to senseless brutality. At 52 minutes in this video, she says, “Your selflessness and your devotion will long be remembered by many”. Murphy simultaneously follows the lawyers’ careful choreography in the room: The camera clearly knows exactly where each of them are heading before they move. Clark holds back her disbelief, sharing the frame as Cuba Gooding Jr. delivers a solid replication of Simpson’s emotion-spanning elation. Darden apologizes to the Goldmans, but starts crying before he can finish his remarks.
The show ends with O.J. on his back lawn staring at the statue of himself while hearing the past cheers of his former fans. “We hadn’t decided whether we were going to do it at all”, Blasier said. “It’s that kind of thing, and at some point that has to happen”. The somber “where are they now” sequence over the credits is undeniably tinged with some snark when they get to O.J. and end on a serious of photos of him in a prison jumpsuit for his 2008 crimes, wearing a goofy grin. “O.J.!” that he will never be greeted with again. Along the route to his Brentwood estate, people who once supported him were replaced by angry protesters. And it also gave everyone in America, still foaming with O.J. fever, adequate time to get in front of a TV for the next day’s festivities. Are those tears of relief, or of sadness that he’s become a pariah in his own community? He waives his right to testify but Judge Ito allows Simpson to make a statement about that waiver in which Simpson says, clearly and succinctly, “I did not, and could not, and would not commit this crime”.
Bob Shapiro gets interviewed by Barbara Walters. “We have to play in our league and we are happy about that”. Simpson snaps off the TV and heads off to his party. Majority – or to believe the reports, many of them white – were denied that. None of Simpson’s old pals from the country club, etc., bother to show up. “Whatever it takes, I will bring them in”. He and Simpson stop speaking.
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“One of the bigger surprises is the rebirth of the O.J. cottage industry, which we totally did not predict”, Karaszewski said in an article from The Daily Beast.
