Room for a few more lawyers? On the Tuesday, February 16, episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, “The Dream Team,” Robert Shapiro (John Travolta) came up with a new way to defend his client, O.J. Simpson (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who had been charged with murder. The former NFL star wasn’t quite as optimistic about the new plan as his attorney, though.
World’s No. 1 Dad
As the episode opened, viewers got to see what might just have been the first-ever incident of someone going krazy for the Kardashians! Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer) took his four kids, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob, out to eat for Father’s Day, only to be recognized as one of O.J.’s lawyers and allowed to pick any table he wanted at the diner. His kids were thrilled at the preferential treatment, which was definitely a cute moment for viewers in 2016, who couldn’t imagine a situation in which a single Kardashian wasn’t given the best seat in the house.
During the lunch, Khloé asked her dad if he thought O.J. was guilty. He said no, only to be informed by Kim that his ex-wife, Kris Jenner (Selma Blair), thought O.J. did indeed murder his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, who was Jenner’s close friend.
The exasperated father told his kids he didn’t want them to talk about the trial anymore, but they protested, saying that everyone was talking about it because Bruce Jenner, her new Olympian husband, and their father were all “famous.”
“We are Kardashians,” he told them. “And in this family, being a good person and a loyal friend is more important than being famous. Fame is fleeting — it’s hollow. It means nothing at all without a virtuous heart.”
Tongue-in-cheek social commentary or scriptwriter over-reach? You decide!
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Hire ‘Em
Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson) appeared in a press conference to announce the charges against O.J. From inside his cell, he could hear the whole thing. Meanwhile, Shapiro sat at his desk, frustratedly looking at the gossip magazines that were covering the case.
Finally, he picked up the phone. He called famed attorney F. Lee Bailey (Nathan Lane), insisting, “No, I’m not crawling — I’m inquiring. How soon can you get out here?”
After Lee got there, Shapiro unpacked on him, sharing his anger and showing him how ubiquitous the news coverage of the case was. From the prosecutors’ office to the newsrooms, emotions were high and in the court of public opinion, O.J. was guilty.
Shapiro was overcome with fury after landing on a channel showing an interview in which "the most famous lawyer in the country," Alan Dershowitz (Evan Handler), was brushing off Shapiro’s skills as a litigator.
That’s when Lee dispensed the wisdom Shapiro had called him for: “Look, there’s only one way to shut up Dershowitz. Hire him.”
Blinding Them With Science
As soon as Alan arrived, he and Shapiro butted heads. The one good contribution that Alan seemed to make was the introduction of Barry Scheck (Rob Morrow), who was there to talk about DNA evidence, which at the time was almost never used and even less frequently understood.
“I’m not going to contest the DNA matches,” Barry explained. “I’m going to keep them out of court entirely.”
Shapiro — who had been yelling seconds before — shut up, sat down and listened as Barry explained how he would cast doubt on the collection methods used by the police who arrived to the scene of the crime, getting the jury to question “every single molecule of evidence.”
“We will disrupt their presentation of physical evidence at every turn!” exclaimed Alan. “We will hack at them!”
Shapiro and Lee finally looked convinced that they just might win, and in the next scene, the news was broadcasting a new message across every television: Shapiro had assembled his “dream team.”
The Blacker the Berry, the Better for the Juice
If Shapiro had a dream team, the editorial squad at Time was the nightmare. In an effort to make their cover pop and give O.J. a “trapped” look, they darkened his mugshot severely. Contrasted with Newsweek, which ran the same photo on their cover but with its original lighting, Time’s shot made O.J. look much darker.
The news picked up the story instantly, and soon, the prosecutors’ fear that O.J.’s trial would be a repeat of the city-wide division and outrage sparked by Rodney King’s beating by police and the subsequent legal battles was validated.
As this was happening, Shapiro received word that Detective Mark Fuhrman (Steven Pasquale), who had recovered the bulk of the evidence against O.J. from the crime scene, had “file after file” in the LAPD system describing his violent fantasies of brutalizing people of color.
“This is … this is a gift,” said Shapiro, and he finally realized what defense he would evoke in the trial.
Next, he took control of the media he had been idly watching, granting an exclusive interview to a reporter from The New Yorker and telling them he couldn’t stand by while the LAPD railroaded O.J. simply for being black. Then, he floated the idea that the cops were elaborately framing his client and let the reporter do the rest.
O.J. was not as interested in Shapiro’s idea as the Dream Team had hoped.
“I’m not black!” he insisted. “I’m O.J.!”
He initially refused to ask Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance) to join the legal team, not wanting to make his case “a race thing.”
Shapiro’s plan with the media had already worked, and the New Yorker reporter called prosecutor Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Brown) to learn more about the files on Fuhrman. Whether O.J. was on board or not, Shapiro had gotten his way, and the case was moving toward being entirely predicated on race.
Christopher told Marcia what had happened, giving her a heads-up that very few in the city’s black community even believed O.J. had committed the murder.
Seeing Is Believing
While Shapiro got the media to work in his favor with the New Yorker article, someone on the other side leaked old 911 calls from Nicole to the news, too. Once O.J. realized that everyone in America had heard the audio of him beating his wife, he agreed to Shapiro’s terms and called Johnnie Cochran.
Johnnie, an esteemed lawyer and leader in the black community, had his own terms. He insisted on looking into O.J.’s eyes and believing that he hadn’t killed Nicole before he would take on the case.
When O.J. began to cry, Johnnie decided to take the case.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story airs on FX Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST.
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