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 8: A Jury In Jail
Last night’s episode took the focus of The Juice, and on to the people responsible for The Juice’s fate, the jury of his peers.
We begin showing the unenjoyable experience that is sequester. No TV, no books, no swimming pool. Quelle horreur. Naturally, over time, this has made The Juice’s jury angry. They don’t get along, they fight, they bicker, they all seem on edge all the time.
Meanwhile, despite being incarcerated, our man The Juice seems to be having plenty of fun. Gambling with Skittles and yakking away about that crazy Kramer on Seinfeld. Crazy indeed.
In the courtroom, seriousness prevails, as Marcia, the prosecutor, begins breaking down the blood evidence she say implicates the Juice. There’s only a one in 175 million chance it could be someone else, her expert testifies. Those aren’t good odds for The Juice.
The defense, though, attacks right back, accusing the prosecution’s expert of mishandling both blood samples and Nicole’s body. A blanket that The Juice used, placed on the victim’s body? No way. Blood from a vial missing? What could it all mean? The dramatic back and forth ends with the witness, Kenneth, shaking hands with everyone in the court, including The Juice.
The jury is completely losing it outside the courtroom. People lied to get a seat on the trial. People want off and out. With each dismissal, the prosecutor, Marcia, and the defense attorney, Johnnie, jockey to get rid of jurors unfavorable to the case they are presenting, and hope to get new alternates that will vote the way they want.
Then, they all show up in black one day to protest. Could this mean a mistrial for The Juice?
At a meeting with his lawyers, The Juice says he wants to go on the stand to defend himself. The defense is against it, but allow The Juice a practice run. He comes off cocky, arrogant and dismissive, and the defense is all in agreement: The Juice shouldn’t testify.
The episode ends on a cliffhanger. A person calling into a tipline set up says he has evidence that Fuhrman, the lead detective, might have lied about his racial bias.
The case for The Juice: The Juice’s team seemed confident in tearing apart the DNA evidence against The Juice, with one expert assuring The Juice’s best friend, Rob, that the case the prosecution has is full of holes. And talk about a cliffhanger. The prosecution has all along asserted the detectives investigating The Juice were racist. Now, they might have proof!
The case against The Juice: The DNA evidence sounds pretty incontrovertible, with the odds being that only one other person in America could have spilled the blood that was found on the scene. Who else could it have been? You? No.
So did The Juice do it? Both sides seem supremely confident after this episode, with the prosecution continuing its style of only presenting facts to the jury. They’re strong facts, no doubt, and they are starting to add up.
The Verdict: Guilty, but not beyond a reasonable doubt.
Check back next Wednesday for our recap of Episode Nine and let me know in the comments if you think The Juice did it. I can’t wait to find out.