Each Wednesday, I will break down FX’s ‘The People vs. O.J. Simpson,’ a fictional crime thriller set in 1990s Los Angeles, with the hopes of determining just who dun it. Today, Episode 7: Conspiracy Theories.
Did The Juice do it? That’s the question we’ve been asking all along as we’ve followed FX’s new crime thriller. But maybe that’s not the question we should be pondering.
In Episode 7, Conspiracy Theories, for the first time, the defense proposes an alternative theory to the court. A Colombian necktie, the result of a drug debt. Sound implausible? Maybe at the beginning.
Our episode begins with the defense attorney, Johnnie, questioning one of the detectives, asking him if he’s familiar with that brutal method of killing. Turns out, it is a fashion similar to the murders.
Police find out that, indeed, Nicole’s friend did owe money to drug dealers, lending credence to the defense’s claim. But in their own research, they find their own smoking gun. Nicole purchased gloves for The Juice, identical to the gloves found at the crime scene.
Meanwhile, it is revealed that The Juice’s good friend, Rob, took away a garment bag from The Juice’s house the day after the murders. There’s nothing in it, but Rob is starting to lose faith in The Juice’s innocence.
Taking a break from the trial, the prosecutors, Marcia and Chris, spend a weekend up in San Francisco. There, some of Chris’s friends press Marcia on the possibility that The Juice was framed. Impossible, she says, walking them through the logistical difficulties of perpetuating such a set up.
Back in the court, after being goaded into getting The Juice to try on the gloves from the crime scene, Chris caves and, against Marcia’s better judgement, asks The Juice to do it. The Juice struggles to get them on, implying that just maybe the police have the wrong man.
The case for The Juice: The Juice has a lot going for him. His lawyers raise the possibility of a drug related slaying. His friend doesn’t have the murder weapon in his possession. And the gloves at the crime scene don’t fit The Juice’s hand. It’s not whether The Juice did it, according to the defense. It’s whether he maybe didn’t.
The case against The Juice: When Marcia goes to San Francisco, she convinced me that there’s no chance police could have framed The Juice. Too many impossible factors. And there’s the fact that the victim bought the same pair of gloves for The Juice.
So did The Juice do it? You’ve got to be in pretty serious with some drug dealers to get them to kill you, especially in brutal, graphic fashion. A notion Marcia scoffs at. But at the same time, the blood soaked gloves were a tad too small for The Juice, even if they did contain his blood as well as the blood of the two victims.
The Verdict: DEADLOCKED.
Check back next Wednesday for our recap of Episode Eight and let me know in the comments if you think The Juice did it. I can’t wait to find out.