The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story: 100% Not Guilty

February 23, 2016 9:56 PM - Season 1, Episode 4

As jury selection gets underway, the entrance of Johnnie Cochran adds an interesting energy to the case.
posted by kittens for breakfast (7 comments total)

I must have watched even less of the trial than I thought. Who is the guy sitting between Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden? I know he's been in all the episodes so far but I had no idea he actually sat in court, the media was all Clark and Darden that I recall.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:52 AM on February 24, 2016

This was a hard one to watch; I haven't actually finished it yet. I didn't follow this much and I was pretty young at the time. I only picked up things through cultural osmosis so a lot of the information is new to me. The scene with the Goldmans was heartbreaking and I can't even begin to imagine what they went through.

Really makes me wonder about what could have been. What if the LAPD didn't have such a history of racism? I'm neither black nor live in LA, but I can sympathize with their distrust of the system which basically had a boot on their faces since forever. In their shoes I wouldn't put it past the LAPD to frame someone for murder just because they're black. What if Marcia Clark didn't have to deal with such sexist attitudes directed about her? What if people idolized celebrities less? I can't even imagine having so little shame that I'd publish a tell-all book about my dead friend before the trial even concluded! And sexism is absolutely a part of that too. In a better world, basically nothing in that book should have really affected the trial. But I can see how it would turn people's sympathies away from Nichole due to their sexist judgment of her actions.

Justice is a tricky thing. Ideally if the process is pure people will feel it's been served, even if they disagree with the outcome. With all of the cultural baggage (racism, sexism, celebrity) brought to this trial, a significant number of people had cause to distrust the process.
posted by Green With You at 9:15 AM on February 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm still waiting for this episode to show up on demand, but for now here is a supercut of all the times David Schwimmer says "Juice."
posted by Room 641-A at 5:18 PM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]

I actually thought those were very strong scenes, and very well done: they underlined the issues at play (it really was OJ / Nicole Brown Simpson - and then once in a while you were reminded there was another murder and you were like 'oh that's right'..). And we're so far removed from OJ being a culturally significant figure - in a positive sense - we needed a reminder of his sports hero status. So, both scenes necessary and incredibly moving imho.

I think if you want a more documentary style series, this isn't it.

John Travolta is just kicking it - I read a review that called him the weak link, but I find him very well cast in this part. (He's a producer too right? So I'm guessing he had his pick.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:55 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]

(Clarification: the media really was focused almost exclusively on Nicole's death, and OJ.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:57 PM on February 24, 2016

I totally agree that Travolta is killing. He and Schwimmer are gold together, and when he got demoted from lead council while looking like a chump in his Hawaiian shirt was just gold.
posted by vibrotronica at 3:21 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

Travolta really is selling Shapiro, and lane as F Lee Bailey is a great counterpoint.
posted by codacorolla at 9:43 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]