“We’re taking him to trial.”
The People v. O.J. Simpson’s second episode, “The Run of His Life,” offers a fascinating examination into the day of the infamous Bronco chase and the state of Los Angeles at the time of the widely covered event, but what it doesn’t offer is the same sort of compelling personal development that the premiere (and later episodes this season) do so well.
Spoilers for the first two episodes of American Crime Story continue below.
The FX drama takes a step back, outside its central circle of characters, when it examines the Bronco chase. The episode offers insight into how the chase and its coverage became more about the spectacle and not about his actual arrest — or even guilt. What’s most interesting in this episode is the exploration of why people had such different reactions to watching these events unfold; for some, O.J. fleeing was an obvious admission of guilt, whereas for others it was proof that O.J. was being framed.
We want to hear it.
That is a dichotomy that is key to understanding the Simpson case as a whole, and “The Run of His Life” does a great job establishing that playing field. This is one of the rare episodes of the season (I’ve seen the first six) that spends so much time away from the show’s central characters and instead looks out to the rest of the world — in this case, how Los Angeles reacted to the chase.
It’s telling that The People v. O.J. Simpson waits 12 minutes before finally showing O.J. unraveling inside the Bronco. While he was the core character in this episode, the series spent plenty of time shifting away to show how the media, bar patrons, pizza parlors and even the Kardashian kids were handling the spectacle of it all.
As an academic examination of the reception of the Bronco chase and the pre-existing bias around O.J., “The Run of His Life” excels. Its major failing (which isn’t even that major considering how excellent this episode and this show continue to be) is that it doesn’t offer much in the way of character development. While most of the characters get their moment, this episode is more about the event itself — an event so iconic that most people have some knowledge of it.
David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian on The People v. O.J. Simpson
Much of the time it spent examining the situation, while also peppering in facts people might know about the chase, like how Al Cowlings owned the same white Bronco as O.J. and that’s what they were driving on the highway. Because of that, the key characters in the story beyond O.J. feel like a means to a storytelling end. Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Brown) is simply a way to view the way parts of Los Angeles rose up in defense of O.J., while it’s through Marcia Clark’s (Sarah Paulson) eyes that we see this is a spectator experience, even if she doesn’t quite grasp how much of a media circus it would be. Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer) is our insight into the Simpson family, and it’s with Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance) that viewers are shown how the defense began to take advantage of the racial dividing lines that were already a part of the story.
The People v. O.J. Simpson continues its exploration of the political, social and media environment surrounding the O.J. Simpson murder case as we move closer to the trial actually beginning. While it was a smart and interesting decision to focus and entire episode on the chase, some key character development was lost in the process.
