A Complicated, Compelling ASS

Ryan Murphy and his team are no strangers to tackling stories of morally ambiguous and salacious protagonists.  This has been particularly true with his series of AMERICAN STORIES that have cemented FX’s place in the entertainment ecosystem for such showcasings.  AMERICAN HORROR STORY was the first of these anthologies, and was able to attract both all-star leads and a cadre of talented actors reinventing themselves in different roles as semi-regulars.  AMERICAN CRIME STORY then built upon this with even greater success, especially so in its telling of the O.J. Simpson saga.  With that installment, Murphy’s team was able to successfully combine extremely familiar and recent tabloid events with creative license and spot-on casting, a fine line that not many creatives are able to walk.

They’ve now expanded further into the world of sports with AMERICAN SPORTS STORY, and they’ve chosen to tackle arguably one of the most tragic and titillating stories to eminate from it, that of one-time University of Florida and New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez.  On the field, Hernandez was outstanding, leading the Gators to a 2009 national title with a team-leading performance in their BCS championship victory over Oklahoma.  He then contributed to the Patriots’ victory in Super Bowl 46, proving to be one of Tom Brady’s most reliable targets and providing a one-two tight end tandem with the far lighter spirited Rob Gronkowski.

But then, as THE WRAP’s Kayla Cobb explained, his world  fell rapidly and completely apart:

(H)is life and legacy came crashing down when Hernandez was arrested for the murder of Odin Lloyd. In the aftermath, the Patriots cut Hernandez, and he went through a lengthy legal battle while two other murders and a shooting connected to Hernandez came to public light. In 2017, Hernandez was found dead in his cell, his death ruled a suicide.

I vividly remember how sports and mainstream news media struggled to cover this as the layers of the onion were revealed.  As we learned about how deep the scars and wounds of Hernandez’s life impacted his ability to mature and even function, and how violence dominated his life, it evoked simultaneous sympathy and outrage.  There are victims strewn all over this landscape, and not just the ones that he was tried and incarcerated for.

This cast is a much less familiar one than the all-stars that channeled the Simpson story, but there is at least one recognizable surname, as Cobb described in a story that dropped yesterday before the third of these 10 episodes premiered on FX:

When Patrick Schwarzenegger was cast on “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” he felt more excitement than trepidation. That may be surprising considering Schwarzenegger plays one of the most publicized and divisive figures in modern football, Tim Tebow.

“Any sort of nervousness or fear [I felt] would probably be from my friends who are all football fans and how they’ll critique it,” Schwarzenegger told TheWrap. “I was super excited to get to be part of this, to work with such amazing other actors and showrunners and producers like Ryan Murphy and to play a character like Tebow, whom I’m a huge fan of.”

Yes, the same Tebow, the deeply religious darling of evangelical sports fans and, for a very brief period, Denver Broncos fans, was Hernandez’s teammate and as covered by THE BOSTON GLOBE’s Mark Shanahan last night, someone who at least tried to rein his demons in:

Episode 3 of “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” which aired Tuesday on FX, has a not-so-subtle title: “Pray the Gay Away.”

In the episode, Hernandez (played by Josh Rivera) struggles with his sexual identity — he dates a female classmate at the University of Florida, but continues to be attracted to men, which is a problem in the homophobic culture of college — and professional — football.  Sensing something’s bothering Hernandez, Tim Tebow (played by Patrick Schwarzenegger), the University of Florida quarterback and a hardcore Christian, invites his teammate to an event at his church. Afterward, without telling Tebow what, exactly, is on his mind, Hernandez asks the QB if change is possible.

Accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and, I promise, you can change,” Tebow replies.

“What if God made me this way?,” Hernandez replies.

This is familiar territory for Murphy and mirrors many of the personal conflicts he experienced in confronting his own sexuality, confessions he openly shared with me when we collaborated on his groundreaking NIP/TUCK series and while he was developing the storyline for GLEE.  Self-described GLEEKs might remember that show featured a closeted and bullying football player as well, the nuanced and ultimately symapthetic performance delivered by Max Adler as Dave Karofsky.  One only wonders if Hernandez’s life might have taken a different turn had he been watching the show rather than partying and hanging with gangstas during his off-seasons.

The series has attempted to show similar empathy where warranted, as executive producer Brad Simpson told Cobb:

“If you’ve heard about the story, you’ve probably only heard of the tabloid elements. But actually, when you get underneath it, this is a guy who was not born a murderer. He had many people along the way who aided and abetted what would become a disastrous end to his life.”

And as another executive producer, Nina Jacobson, added:

“There were many off ramps at which people could see the direction he was heading in. But then his performance was so incredible on the field that there was no intervention off the field.”

In one telling scene, his Florida coach Urban Meyer is confronted by school officials about not just Hernandez’s behavior but the arrest records of several other players.  Exasperated, Meyer contends that his goal is to give youths like them a way to take out their aggressions in a constructive manner via football, and even when pressured to suspend Hernandez for incidents that were later revealed to be a double shooting that took place during his time in Gainesville, he gives him merely a one-game slap on the wrist, deferred to the inconsequential season opener months later.  Meyer’s “character” is further established when his wife confronts him and he exclaims “You like the big house, the cars, the salary?  That all goes away if I don’t win games!!”.  And as he sneered at his superiors when they pressured him to take action, he noted “I bet you wouldn’t be pressuring me if we were 8-0!!!”.   Those familiar with Meyer’s career trajectory, one that ultimately involved some incidents at a strip club as a similar venue to where Hernandez often dealt with his demons, can take away some understanding as to why the degree of enabling went on to such an extent.

It was appropriate for me to bing-watch these first three episodes during yet another sleepless night.  Unlike some of Murphy’s other works, even in the AMERICAN STORY series, there’s little comic relief to be found.  But I didn’t stop watching and stayed fully awake, which is something that few other shows are able to do these days.   And I’ll be looking forward to what comes next in Josh Rivera and Patrick Schwarzengger’s careers.

Until next time… 

 

 

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