‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez’ Recap

Last week I drew attention to it Aaron Hernandez began to shift focus: While the first seven episodes were told almost entirely from Aaron Hernandez’s point of view, “Odin” split its time between the killer and the young man whose life he knew cut short. But the balance is even more lopsided in this penultimate episode: Aaron himself only appears in a handful of key scenes, and even when he does, the camera lingers more on the faces of the people whose lives he changed forever.

“What’s Left Behind” begins with Hernandez’s arrest on June 26, 2013, a moment captured by swarms of ravenous paparazzi. From there, we’re stuck in postgame mode, peering into some of the conversations that undoubtedly took place in real life. Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick do damage control: release Aaron from the team, set up a jersey exchange for fans, and hold an emergency press conference. Belichick’s mood is somber — more somber and uncomfortable than sour, though he insists that Aaron not be mentioned again. His talk about moving forward and feeling proud of his players rings true, a PR effort designed to write over the past and make room for a new Hernandez-less Patriots.

Anyone closely connected to Aaron faces intense scrutiny now, to the point that his mother and brother have both been forced to take leave from their jobs. But the real protagonist of the episode is Shayanna, who still denies that her fiancé could do such a thing. It would be easier to work through her feelings if she at least had the assurance that she and their daughter, Avielle, would be okay, but Aaron’s terminated contract means cash flow could be a problem before long. Most important, however, is her internal conflict. Is it possible to be loyal to both your sister and the man who almost certainly murdered her life partner? Shay and Shaneah’s conversations this episode crackle with tension, especially when Nay makes it clear that she knows Shay has been protecting Aaron.

From here, the episode cleverly boils Shay’s struggle down to one impossibly difficult choice: Will she cooperate with the district attorney’s office and testify, or will she risk five years in prison for obstruction of justice? Security tapes show Shay discarding a large box shortly after a phone call from Aaron, leading to the obvious conclusion that, on purpose or not, she helped him get rid of the murder weapon—and lied by failing to report the removal of Something from their home. . She is unable to refuse any offer from prosecutor William McCauley (the always good Kelly AuCoin), who suggests Aaron gets life in prison either way.

She’s obviously under a lot of pressure, and it’s only going to get worse from here. Tanya has been arrested after repeatedly failing to respond to a grand jury subpoena, and police found a hidden car in the garage – a car linked to the Boston double murder. Odin Lloyd is no longer the only murder Aaron is charged with.

“What’s Left Behind” benefits from keeping Aaron off-screen for several long stretches; after the arrest we don’t see him again until terri visits about 20 minutes in. We are immersed in his family’s perspectives and everyone is trying their best to be there for him in some way. It’s especially hard for Shay, who can’t stand the sight of this man she knows is a killer deep down. When she does show up, she clings to a hope that Aaron is innocent and desperate for a reason to believe him. But he’s upset because she didn’t bring Avielle and she’s talked to the DA’s office. Shay is pretty clear-headed in explaining her divided loyalties — for obvious reasons, she’s torn between him and her family — but Aaron hits exactly the right pressure points when he replies, “I’m your family, Shay.” From that moment on, Shay knows where she will sit during the trial: next to Terri on the defendant’s side of the courtroom, not next to the sister who needs her so badly now.

McCauley’s opening statement talks about how fandom allows celebrities like Aaron to get away with all sorts of things; money insulates them from consequences and worship blinds people from seeing the truth. It is a nice encapsulation of one of the show’s key themes. These scenes kind of remind me of the excellent courtroom scenes from the OJ Simpson-centric first season American crimea story focused less on Simpson’s psychology than the fraught sociopolitical debates raised by the trial and media spectacle. Aaron Hernandezinstead, it feels more reminiscent of Ryan Murphy’s Dahmerwhich suffered by waiting until the later episodes after the arrest to delve into these ideas. (This show is better than Dahmerhowever.)

Odin’s sister, Shaquilla Thibou, takes the stand to discuss the cryptic texts she received from Odin shortly before his death. Then Ortiz and Odin’s mother testify, and the court is adjourned for the day. Nay makes one last brutally earnest plea: When Shay testifies next week, will she please tell the truth? “I can’t lose you either,” Nay says.

But that comment isn’t enough to shift Shay’s loyalty back. On the stand, she disappoints McCauley as well as her sister by claiming that she never looked in the box, Aaron told her to trash, and they didn’t discuss the contents either—in fact, she allegedly doesn’t even remember the location of the trash can where she threw the. She even goes so far as to claim that she thought the box just contained marijuana.

With that decision, Shay sacrifices her relationship with her sister and officially loses her, possibly forever. You can see how much it hurts Nay storming out of the courtroom. But Shay makes some good points in her conversation with her mom in the bathroom. From her perspective, her fiance has been used and discarded by pretty much everyone in his life, including the NFL. Even Shay’s mother pressured her daughter to ignore Aaron’s problems because of the life he could provide for her and Avielle. Shay’s testimony may be for naught, but it does the trick to protect herself from further legal ramifications without completely throwing her vulnerable fiancé under the bus.

Again, though, Shay has always known deep down that Aaron killed Odin Lloyd – there’s a reason she doesn’t exactly ask Aaron about his guilt until he’s charged with the double murder, an incident she knew nothing about. If Shay’s mother was happy to look away from his magnificent bouquet of red flags, so was Shay. Now she ignites a meaningful relationship with a blood relative to stick with a man who is probably doomed either way. Sure enough, McCauley’s warning has been proven correct: Aaron is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.

After an episode about all the family strife left in Aaron’s wake, the end of “What’s Left Behind” offers a surprisingly calm, peaceful scene of family bonding, a stark contrast to Shay’s interactions with Aaron earlier in the episode. I don’t have much sympathy for the anti-hero at the center of this story, but it’s hard not to feel something. Today is Avielle’s birthday and it’s clear how much Aaron misses her.

There’s no way to know if the real Aaron Hernandez said “I’m sorry” to his daughter in a rare private moment, but it’s pretty impactful here, especially since the meaning of his words is left a bit ambiguous. From what I’ve read, there is little evidence that Hernandez has expressed remorse for the murders themselves, but it’s not surprising that he could let a tinge of regret slip through in a quiet moment like this—if not for killing three innocent men, then at least for to have put himself in a position where he can no longer support his family.

So many of this man’s actions have been driven by a bone-deep insecurity stemming from his father’s idea of ​​manhood. The irony, of course, is that Aaron’s crimes have far surpassed the type that once prevented Dennis from reaching his full potential. Did Aaron go down this path out of some desire to emulate his father and live up to his expectations, or was avoid become like him? Of course, nothing here can be attributed to daddy issues alone; a man like Aaron Hernandez is shaped by a multitude of influences, not just one. It’s to this penultimate episode’s credit that it never leaves anything that clear.

• I don’t really have any particular complaints about this episode, so maybe five stars would make more sense. But I still feel in my gut that the show hasn’t done anything to deserve completely unqualified praise, so I’m sticking with my standard “pretty good episode of TV” rating.

• While all this is going on, the NFL is settling a $765 million concussion lawsuit after deliberately hiding the dangers of head trauma. Relevant!

• “What do you wear to your son’s murder cases – a shade of color?”

• “Court will be adjourned for the weekend. The Super Bowl is on Sunday and the Patriots are playing. If they start talking about this case, shut it up.”

• There’s an interesting scene where Tanya approves of Shay’s “ride or die” mentality, telling her about witnessing Dennis’ anger when elementary school-age Aaron joined a group of his cheerleader cousins ​​during a neighborhood game in instead of playing football with his brother and the other guys. I get that the moment isn’t framed as an overt reference to Aaron’s sexuality, though I wondered if Shay even made that connection in that moment.

• Hernandez actually read Harry Potter books in prison, though it looks like it probably happened after his conviction in real life.

• Josh Rivera does his usual good work here, although his close-ups certainly show a level of emotion that I don’t see in actual footage from the trial and sentencing. At least in the clips included in the Netflix documentary, he looks more aloof and almost indifferent.