American Crime Review: Season Two Episode Four

Some shows entertain us, and some challenge our way of thinking. American Crime is challenging, and eye-opening, and exhausting to watch. It is not what I expected and certainly not from ABC, and this recent episode was in a word, transformative.

I’ve discussed various themes American Crime is tackling this season in past reviews. Moreover, while I hate to sound like a broken record the theme of this episode is so important to the overarching narrative that it is difficult to ignore. Especially when the theme is giving voices to characters, particularly Taylor, Kevin and Eric.

Taylor has not discussed his rape with anyone but his mother and a therapist. He acts as if he wants to move on from the crime and get back to being an average teenager, an issue that baffles his mother. Anne cannot seem to take Taylor’s feelings into consideration, which is the one thing I hate about her. She acts as if she has Taylor’s best interests in mind but completely ignores his many pleas about how difficult this entire thing is for him.

Anne’s voice overpowers his. She is the one who went to the school, the police, and the press. She is the voice of the crime. However, she is trivial to the experience of a teenaged victim. Taylor is getting erased from the narrative. His voice has changed so much in the past few episodes from disbelief to anger, to regret, that this time, him wanting to take things day by day is a relief.

Speaking of overpowering mothers, Terri continues to protect Kevin from future fallout by stating that doing the right thing is taking care of yourself.

That is true sometimes, but American Crime focuses on loyalty. When these situations happen, we tend to rely on those we trust – our families, our teams, or even our school. However, when we try to divide our loyalties, we fail. Kevin protects his family but hurts the team. Leslie defends the school and damages her reputation. Moreover, Anne tries to protect Taylor but hurts Eric.

All these women talking about what is best for their sons is irrelevant. They are cleverly laid pawns hiding the actual narrative of the episode; that Eric and Taylor arranged to meet and hookup the night of the captain’s party. Both teens are gay and so afraid to live their authentic lives that Eric tries to kill himself and confesses to Coach Dan that he kept everything a secret because if anyone finds out he is gay, his social life and basketball days would be over.

It’s sad to watch, knowing that he let his loyalties to the team, his family, and societal pressures of masculinity push him to the breaking point. What’s even worse is that Taylor is left dealing with the fallout of their hookup.

Anne: Did you go there to have sex with him?

Taylor: I didn’t go there to get attacked.

American Crime has done such an excellent job of balancing Taylor’s pain and Kevin’s confusion that Eric’s anger was almost hard to understand. However, I finally get where it is coming from, and Joey Pollari masterfully shows that the angriest, most disgusting, nasty kids can be hurting the most. Eric could have confided in his parents or the guidance counselor or even Kevin but didn’t because of the basketball team’s environment of hyper-masculinity. He was left to suffer and lash out in anger.

From the very first episode, I knew that I was going to be forced to watch some terrible scenes. I just didn’t know how impactful they were going to be on my psyche or that my perceptions of sexual assault would change. However, I am thankful that American Crime is telling Taylor and Eric’s story because that is what great dramas do. They take our expectations, our perceptions, and our realities and smash them into a hundred fragmented shards that we have to piece carefully back together after every episode. I can’t wait to see where the rest of the season will go from here.

Other Thoughts:

• We learn a little bit about Charles and his past. His daughter had a public situation that he didn’t respond too till it was too late. He is also worried about Leslie and wants to marry her.
• Leslie stands to be the character with the most to lose because if the school is found to have withheld any evidence, she will be the most to take the fall for it.
• Eric says the sex was consensual, so where does the show go from here? Does it take the direction of a ‘he said, he said’ theme or will it explore the issue of hazing?
• Coach Dan remains a putz and is now on the top of characters I cannot stand.

Did you love this episode as much as we did? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

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American Crime airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.