The last few episodes of The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story have kind of zoomed in on one particular person or aspect of the trial and advanced the plot through that filter. Two weeks ago, it was The Marcia Clark Show, in which Sarah Paulson delivered a performance that is sure to make waves come awards season. Last week, it was the bloody glove and the story behind Christopher Darden asking O.J. to try it on over specific, repeated objections from the rest of his team.
This week, it was the jury’s turn in the spotlight. And they did not disappoint.
1) The episode flipped back and forth between the jurors at the hotel and the lawyers battling to remake the panel, even as the trial was going on, by getting a handful of them dismissed. Some of them made that easy by lying on their forms about domestic assault and then trying to explain it away with a “You know how ladies can get,” or by keeping weird notes about conjugal visits for a potential book. But the point isn’t so much that they broke the rules at some point, because I’m fairly sure that everyone broke the rules in one way or another. (There really were a lot of rules.) The point was that they became chess pieces in the ongoing game between Marcia and Johnnie. You take one of mine, I’ll take one of yours. And so on. This is the smokers’ floor, it ain’t day care.
2) Here’s what I want you to do: At some point today when you have 10 to 15 minutes to really think about it, put yourself in the jury’s shoes during the trial. Think about an eight-month sequester. Think about staying in a hotel, secluded from the entire world, with no television or magazines or newspapers, in a pre-Internet world, with your sole focus being a huge celebrity murder trial that is captivating the country and that you aren’t allowed to talk about for a single second with anyone.
And when you’re done processing that, ask yourself this question: How many weeks would it be before you kicked off your shoes and ran screaming through a breakfast buffet? Because Tracy lasted for 32. I think that’s pretty good, all things considered.
3) Some Seinfeld notes:
- I’m not entirely sure any conversation, about anything, in history, cuts to the core of racial differences in America quite like “Martin vs. Seinfeld.” I feel like this should be a panel discussion somewhere.
- We should probably take into account that the trial took place in 1995 and Seinfeld was still a relatively new sitcom and not the genre-shifting cultural monster that influenced a generation of comedians and runs in repeats like four hours a day over 15 years after in ended, but still. The “What is a Seinfeld?” lady is now the best character on this whole show. Sorry, Travolta.
- I like to imagine Johnnie Cochran pulling O.J. aside repeatedly during the trial and saying, “Dammit, we can’t let people know you like Seinfeld. We’ll lose the jury!”
(UPDATE: Uh, whoops. Seinfeld was #1 in 1995. Got my years mixed up. And anyway, it only makes me love this lady even more.)
But seriously… what is a Seinfeld? It’s a fair question.
4) Prior to last night, I was certain that my favorite moment from this whole series would be the thumbs up Robert Shapiro gave Marcia Clark after she walked into court with her new tight curls. I am not too proud to admit I was wrong. It turns out my favorite moment of the series — and, yes, there are two episodes left, so there’s still a slim chance something will top it — will be the little nod Johnnie Cochran did after juror Tracy loudly proclaimed that “everyone knows” black people prefer Ross to Target. It’s perfect, like he’s confirming an incontrovertible fact. We could all use a Johnnie Cochran in our lives to back us up like this when we get fired up about something.
5) I love that the defense called the one juror they didn’t want “The Demon,” because between that and the way they had her picture hanging up in the office, it almost made it look like she was an assassin or something.
6) Up and down episode for the defense team. The DNA testimony was really bad for them, and apparently something they were blindsided by even though they were paying Barry Scheck hundreds of dollars an hour to have that not happen, but then Scheck handled the cross-examination of the police’s criminalist and just pulled him apart like a piece of string cheese. Rough day for Dr. Fung.
It’s kind of crazy how foreign DNA evidence was back then. Like, most people barely understood how it worked. Now, between the 12 CSIs and NCISes and the tons of true-crime series littering the cable guide, there’s a solid chance your Uber driver knows more about the proper handling of DNA evidence than anyone involved in this trial. I am exaggerating. A little.
7) All the cross-examination tricks in the world couldn’t keep Robert Kardashian on board, though. We saw him start to have doubts last week, but now, with the DNA evidence out there in the open, he’s really struggling. Not struggling enough to, say, confront O.J. about it without using the old “Asking for a friend” trick, but struggling enough that he’s breaking down in his ex-wife’s kitchen. Nice of the show to give Schwimmer a little meat to chew on this week. Been too long.
8) Hey, let’s check in with Marcia Clark to see how she feels about her slam dunk DNA evidence getting neutered by the testimony of her own expert, who then walked around shaking the hands of the entire defense team in front of the jury like the murder trial was a charity luncheon or something.
Hmm. Actually, let’s give her a few minutes.
9) Now that Robert Kardashian is a broken man who thinks his best friend is a murderer and therefore no longer deserving of the lighthearted nickname “Juice,” I’d like to shift focus and highlight the word “Absolutely,” as pronounced by John Travolta as Robert Shapiro. He’s said it two weeks in a row now, this time during the conference call about O.J. wanting to testify at the trial. Please, go back and listen to it again. “Ahhhbslootly.” Like a love song to me and me alone.
This week also gave us the return of 2016 Larry King In A Wig playing 1995 Larry King, which continues to fascinate me, because he’s the only character on the whole series that they allowed to play himself. Part of me wishes they’d done it with Kato Kaelin, too.
10) Meanwhile, on the O.J. tip line… oh my. Uh, see ya next week, everybody.
