The primary season of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s newest American Story franchise is a by-the-numbers true crime drama.
PLOT: The restricted sequence charts the rise and fall of NFL celebrity Aaron Hernandez and explores the disparate strands of his id, his household, his profession, his suicide and their legacy in sports activities and American tradition.
REVIEW: The fourth sequence in Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s American Story franchise, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez blends a story targeted on a well-known athlete with the legal angle of associated sequence like American Crime Story. The nineteenth quantity within the ongoing franchise, Aaron Hernandez is a narrative that matches proper at house alongside Murphy and Falchuk’s subject material. There are psychological sickness, homicide, movie star, and queer storylines in abundance, with a unique approach that intends to be one thing of an indictment of the world of faculty {and professional} soccer. Nonetheless, somewhat than make a decisive commentary about how the NCAA and NFL have failed to guard gamers each medically and socially, American Sports Story is one other tabloid true crime drama dropped at the small display, however this time with out the all-star solid.
Aaron Hernandez opts for a reasonably by-the-numbers retelling of the previous New England Patriot’s tumultuous childhood. Opening with the homicide of Odin Lloyd by Hernandez (Josh Andres Rivera), the sequence flashes again to his youth and teenage years alongside older brother DJ Hernandez (Ean Castellanos) as the 2 athletes are mercilessly coached by their abusive father, Dennis. Hiding his bisexuality from his domineering dad, Aaron struggles to come back to phrases along with his personal aspirations versus the trail his father has set out for him. As he strikes on to play for City Meyer (Tony Yazbeck) on the College of Miami, Hernandez’s involvement with gangs and medicines intensifies, as do his successes on the sector. Changing into an all-star alongside his Miami quarterback Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Hernandez units his sights on the NFL. It’s taking part in for Invoice Belichick (Norbert Leo Butz) underneath the extraordinary media scrutiny professional soccer gamers endure that the tight finish begins to crumble underneath the vices he retains hidden from view.
Whereas American Crime Story‘s look at O.J. Simpson’s homicide trial referenced his soccer success, American Sports Story makes an enormous deal of the teaching employees and management at each the College of Miami and the New England Patriots wanting the opposite method for lots of Hernandez’s actions. There are additionally some damning accusations that the establishments might have additionally harbored data of Hernandez’s medical trauma from concussions and suppressed it to capitalize on his athletic expertise to guide the group to Tremendous Bowl championships. Whereas Will Smith’s movie Concussion raised a variety of buzz concerning the NFL and concussions, there has not been very a lot mentioned from the league relating to the contents of this restricted sequence. Possibly that’s as a result of the sequence is customized from the favored Wondery and Boston Globe podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Soccer Inc., which already took the brunt of the recognition. That leaves this sequence as a dramatized work of leisure somewhat than an investigative indictment.
Over the ten-episode sequence American Crime Story: Aaron Hernandez is hyper-focused on the title character’s journey, typically dropping recognizable names of gamers and coaches into the storyline to provide it some reliability. However, due to the linear format of this story, the writers typically fail to understand that it will not be as attention-grabbing a narrative when solely centered on Hernandez. Josh Andres Rivera, greatest recognized for roles in West Facet Story and The Starvation Video games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, portrays Hernandez’s wild-eyed and manic persona, which hides his anxiousness and worry of unveiling his interior nature. However because the story shifts from youth to skilled profession after which incarceration, Rivera’s efficiency takes on a considerably cliche sequence of mannerisms and dialogue that’s designed to make us really feel one thing for the convicted assassin who suffered complications and traumatic mind accidents throughout his taking part in days. The writers appear to be attempting to make it appear that Hernandez will not be absolutely accountable for his actions, which flies opposite to his habits earlier than he suffered any accidents.
Directed by Carl Franklin, Paris Barclay, Maggie Kiley, Steven Canals, Jennifer Lynch, and Michael Uppendahl from scripts by Stuart Zicherman, Ryan Farley, Chelsey Lora, Domonique Foxworth, Liz Tuccillo, Matthew Hodgson, Lee Edward Colston II, Hadi Nicholas Deeb, Stacey McCormack, and Tracey Scott Wilson, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez boasts a inventive group with roots in Ryan Murphy’s prolonged manufacturing catalog on sequence together with Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Pose, American Horror Story, and extra. The distinctive addition that helps add some realism to the portrayal of soccer gamers when they’re off-camera comes from Domonique Foxworth, who performed each school {and professional} soccer. Whereas Foxworth solely has one credit score on Aaron Hernandez, there may be undoubtedly a give attention to attempting to make the setting of this sequence as near actuality as doable.
American Crime Story couldn’t have opened with a greater topic for his or her sequence, however Aaron Hernandez fumbles. The sequence may have achieved one thing with extra vitality, but it surely seems like a generic movie-of-the-week fashion tell-all that used to debut weekly on community tv. There’s blame and fear-mongering in abundance, with conflicting messages as as to whether abuse was responsible for Hernandez’s actions or a mind damage. By presenting a number of theories with less-than-damning proof for both, American Crime Story: Aaron Hernandez tells us a narrative about an American who dedicated against the law with little or no perception that units it aside from each different true crime sequence on the market. It isn’t horrible, however it’s the weakest entry in any of the American Story sequence up to now.
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez debuts with two episodes on September seventeenth on FX.
