In my review for the hit, Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), I said it was a spiritual prequel to The People v. O. J. Simpson (2016), a program that was subtitled American Crime Story and produced by Ryan Murphy. This series, which is executive produced by Murphy, feels like a spiritual sequel to that 2016 Emmy winner. There's similarities and connections that are undeniable. The People v. O. J. Simpson was about a famous and popular, football player who is accused of multiple murders and has a very public trial. It starts with the murders having already occurred. It was the first season of an anthology series. The second season of American Crime Story focused on another accused killer, but that season didn't focus on the trial because there was no trial. It focused on what the accused killer did, leading up to him being caught by authorities. The third season didn't focus on a murder at all. It was rather an anomaly.
This series isn't apart of American Crime Story. It's a brand new anthology that's going to be dedicated to infamous sports figures. There are so many infamous sports figures that an anthology about them can be its own thing. However, in a lot of ways, it could have been the fourth season of American Crime Story. Like the first season, it arrives at the murder trial of a NFL player, but, like the second season, it's mainly about the events leading up to him being caught. It's essentially a character study, attempting to explain why the man in question did what he did.
Josh Andrés Rivera (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and West Side Story) stars as Aaron Hernandez, a half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian, young man from Bristol, Connecticut. He had a strict father who was an athlete but is now living vicariously through Aaron and his older brother. Aaron wants to impress his dad and live up to his dad's expectations. His dad also instills a sense of paranoia in Aaron in order to mold him into the kind of man that his father wants. This causes Aaron to suppress parts of himself that don't conform to his dad's expectations. One of those parts is Aaron's sexuality. Aaron has a male friend named Dennis, played by Kalama Epstein, who plays sports with him and with whom Aaron has sex.
Aaron struggles with internalized homophobia and paranoia about people learning about his same-sex attraction, paranoia planted by his father that haunts him for years. There's also possible, incestuous abuse that haunts Aaron as well. However, his sexuality isn't as pronounced an issue, as the setup suggests, at least not in the first, five episodes. The first half is Aaron more worried about his drug use, specifically his constant smoking of marijuana, getting him into trouble. This series also concerns itself with Aaron's violent streak or tendency toward violence. Yet, that streak or tendency might be fueled by that internalized homophobia and this external idea of what a man is supposed to be or behave. Aaron is as much a victim of cultural, toxic masculinity as anything else.
If one wants to see it, this series, created and written by Stuart Zicherman (The Affair and The Americans), could also be a kind of critique of football culture. One of those critiques is the issue of concussions, or the condition known as CTE, which is a disease that can be brought by concussions. Whether at the collegiate level or the NFL, concussions are not addressed or taken seriously. Once Aaron gets into the NFL, he complains about being hit on the head over and over. Yet, his coach ignores his complaints and brushes it off. As the film Concussion (2015) indicated, the NFL has been dismissing the mental health of players for years. Concussion takes place in the early 2000's, culminating in 2011. Aaron was drafted to the NFL in 2010, so the conversation about CTE wasn't in the mainstream, but, looking back it's been revealed that the real-life Aaron Hernandez had CTE and it likely contributed to everything that he did from 2010 forward. There are scenes that indicate Aaron was concussed before then, going back to his high school days. Covering up or dismissing mental health isn't the only critique though.
It's also revealed that Aaron's father was involved with crimes and possible gang activity. This series is low-key about how people who get exposed to criminal or gang activity can become attracted or pulled into it. Chiwetel Ejiofor's Rob Peace (2024) is a recent example of how those kinds of things can be passed or echoed from father to son. In Ejiofor's film, it's about finding shortcuts in a system that's racially rigged, particularly against Black people. Here, it's about identity. Aaron claims to know who he is, but he's having an identity crisis and copying his father seems to be his default.
Rivera's performance is very childlike. Even though we follow Aaron over the course of about 15 years, he remains rather boyish. It's almost as if he's suffering from arrested development. He doesn't really mature. Any moments of him being a "man" are really him putting on an act. Rivera has this big, muscular, bulky beefcake-look, but it's amazing how his face can express moments of him feeling so small.
Ean Castellanos (Five Days at Memorial and Tommy) co-stars as DJ Hernandez, the older brother to Aaron who was an aspiring athlete who hoped to springboard off his brother's talent and success. When his brother gets more attention, there's a part of him that is jealous or frustrated.
Tammy Blanchard (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadow) plays Terri Hernandez, the boozy mother who in many ways keeps reinforcing Aaron's immaturity. She's also revealed to have had an affair, which causes her to become estranged from Aaron whose loyalty to his dad was strong.
The series has a ton of other supporting actors playing some famous NFL players. Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V and The Staircase) plays Tim Tebow, the evangelical, and Laith Wallschleger, a real-life football player, has a memorable moment as Rob Gronkowski, the goofy bro.
They don't play as huge a role as the other standout, which is Jaylen Barron (Blindspotting and Shameless) who also co-stars as Shayanna Jenkins, the childhood friend of Aaron. She becomes his girlfriend and mother to his baby. Shayanna is also an athlete. She was a track star. She doesn't want to be easy to get and be attached to a NFL player so young and who likely will be a "player" off the field. However, she can't help but fall in love with him. Barron is a warm, charming and beautiful presence here.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 10 eps.
Tuesdays at 10 PM on FX.
Available on Hulu.