‘The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’ Recap: The Egos Have Landed

Warning: This recap for the “100% Not Guilty” episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story contains spoilers.

Of all the many cautionary tales offered by The People v. O.J. Simpson, this week’s biggest was Make Sure You Don’t Have Friends Who Might Write a Tell-All About You After You’ve Been Murdered. Especially if that friend is someone you really only go clubbing with or trade Cosmo sex tips with. Because that person is probably named Faye Resnick and she WILL spill every lurid detail of your personal life to a couple of doughy guys with typewriters and there is nothing your ghost can do to stop the inevitable horny rubber-necking at your life that will ensue. Devil’s advocate, though: Faye Resnick DOES seem like a pretty fun friend to have (she really has a way with a carrot stick!) and maybe it’s worth the risk? Plus you’ll be dead. People can talk about your coke nose all they want at that point.

“100% Not Guilty” only contained a few scenes with Faye Resnick, but they were all the best, and that is Connie Britton’s fault. But even without those moments, this was another terrific episode full of both nuance and also ludicrousness. The cold open was set to “Gonna Make You Sweat” and the final scene was set to “Black Superman.” Geniuses are behind this thing is what I’m saying, and it remains a total pleasure to behold. Let’s talk about this episode!

We began with an instantly iconic moment for this show and television in general: O.J. Simpson doing the Roger Rabbit to a hot ‘90s hit.

This was a flashback to the good old days, when he could just freely do lines of coke off of ladies’ cleavage in night clubs alongside Robert Kardashian AKA LIVING HIS BEST LIFE. But the jump cut from this bacchanal to O.J. hanging out in his jail cell frowning at a pile of green slop said it all: Things were not as good as they used to be.

It was time for Johnnie Cochran to formally join the Dream Team, and one of Robert Shapiro’s first orders of business was to quickly check to see if anyone thought O.J. had done it. The question did not go over well.

Furthermore, Robert Shapiro was clumsy with his, uh, racial language. For example, referring to black people as “those people” was not the best way to ingratiate oneself to people of color. In other words, Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro were probably not going to be besties.

In a scene that the writers probably labeled “Courtney B. Vance Gets an Emmy,” Johnnie Cochran gave O.J. a pep talk about how awesome and beloved he is, and how important he is to the public. Cochran even described a time when his life was in shambles but he was able to be heartened by one of O.J.’s legendary football runs. If there had been any lingering doubt, this scene proved that Johnnie Cochran is the most electric personality in this entire saga. (It also proved once and for all that Cuba Gooding, Jr. is just not a great O.J. Great actor, yes, but just totally fading into the woodwork whereas O.J. was a Greek god. You know?)

Then Judge Lance Ito found out he’d been assigned the O.J. trial and, in his best track jacket, high-fived his cop wife. The interesting thing about this scene was that she had to sign a document proving she didn’t have any personal connections or conflicts of interest with the LAPD detectives involved in the case, and she clearly hesitated when she saw Mark Furhman’s name but signed it anyway. What’s up, Mrs. Ito??

We were also treated to O.J.’s famous moment of officially declaring himself “100% not guilty” with that smug smirk of his. So that is one more big moment to check off the list. Nailed it.

I loved this scene between F. Lee Bailey and Robert Shapiro in which Bailey learned the hard way that he would not be getting paid for representing O.J. Simpson. Shapiro argued that Bailey should just be happy to get exposure, and anyone who has ever been a struggling creative immediately shuddered with recognition. Do high-powered lawyers ALSO scam each other out of free work in exchange for “exposure”? What was this, Los Angeles?

As I mentioned earlier, the star of this show and also of life is Connie Britton as Faye Resnick, and in this episode Faye had begun working on an unauthorized biography of Nicole Brown Simpson. And by “working on” I mean two schlubby ghost writers took copious notes while Resnick paced the room swilling champagne, eating carrot sticks, and dishing about Nicole Brown Simpson’s partying and breast implants. The best was when Faye Resnick choked up while describing the “Brentwood hello,” which was Nicole Brown Simpson’s favorite way to wake a fella up. Very emotional!

Another superstar of this episode was the man who played Ron Goldman’s father. Now, while at first it did seem like this was another Zach Galifianakis character, the performance was still pretty accurate to the real man. But this scene put us in an awkward position: Could we laugh at the camp of it all, or should we be decent human beings and feel sadness for the senseless tragedy that befell the Goldman family? Both? I’m going with both. That seems to be what this series wants for us: Straight-faced insight AND go-for-broke camp. And that is why this show is important.

“100% Not Guilty” really underlined the notion that both sides were playing a very P.R.-oriented game. For example, the prosecution brought in a specialist who did focus testing with regard to the various characters involved in the trial. In a chilling opening salvo, the room full of everypeople split precisely down racial lines when it came to O.J.’s innocence. Later they were shown footage of Marcia Clark and the room suddenly united in its distaste for her.

And it truly was a heartbreaking moment. If Johnnie Cochran is this series’ most charismatic personality, then Marcia Clark is its heart, and she looked genuinely pained to learn that strangers didn’t seem to like her.

Fortunately she’ll always have Chris Darden to flirt with. I loved this moment when she had to break the news to him that his case against Al Cowlings was being dropped and she offered to buy him a drink… From the full bottles of liquor in her desk. Marcia Clark definitely seemed like someone we could party with.

So then it was time for jury selection and both sides had strong ideas of what kind of jury they wanted. Where the Dream Team gambled on getting as many divorced black women onto the jury as they could, the prosecution dismissed as many people with anti-LAPD biases as possible. So, similar strategies. But the difference was, Shapiro and Cochran raced to the press to accuse the prosecution of racism. Whoops! Things were getting ugly.

But then the sudden release of Faye Resnick’s tell-all really threw a monkey wrench into things. Everyone was claiming that its existence would unduly influence future jury members, but in my opinion everyone just REALLY wanted to read that thing ASAP. Next thing we knew, Judge Ito was going at it with a pink highlighter and Marcia Clark was tearing through it with a lit cigarette in hand. There’s nothing like cocaine abuse and lesbian sex to really get the legal system moving.

I will forever love this show for recreating Larry King’s old CNN set and then casting him as HIMSELF but in a bushy wig. Yes, talented actors can impersonate real life figures, but nobody can impersonate Larry King. Anyway, it should go without saying that every single frame Connie Britton was onscreen was flawless, duh.

Later F. Lee Bailey went on Larry King and kinda sorta tangentially talked trash about Robert Shapiro, and this was just the latest in a series of moments in which the Dream Team began turning its back on him. Apparently not getting paid had ticked Bailey off big time, because now he was secretly encouraging Johnnie Cochran to take over the case and generally undermining Shapiro every chance he got. Drama! Also Shapiro yelled the actual “F” word at his TV in this scene and that is the second time in two weeks we heard the “F” word on FX. I guess now we know what that “F” stands for?

The jury selection was complete, and Marcia Clark’s partner expressed concern that it was positively stacked with people whose demographic was more sympathetic to O.J. Simpson. But I loved that Marcia Clark held fast to the notion that black people love her and it wouldn’t be a problem. (The sinister music underscoring this scene definitely knew more than Marcia Clark did about whether she was correct or not).

In a crazy moment that I didn’t know had happened, just when it seemed like the Dream Team was winning every little conflict in the courtroom, Robert Shapiro suggested to O.J. that he just admit to manslaughter and take a plea deal. This idea did not go over well.

Yeah, everyone was pretty outraged. We already knew that Shapiro was more famous for getting good plea deals than actually defending people in trial, but we also learned that all this racial stuff had him concerned that he was about to personally cause another set of riots in Los Angeles. Which, hmm. Okay? Still, this was not great lawyering and Johnnie Cochran had HAD IT.

A few weeks later when Robert Shapiro returned from a Hawaiian vacation (poor guy) he found that all of the trial materials had been removed from his office and transferred to Cochran’s firm. Then when he barged into a Dream Team meeting still dressed in his bad Hawaiian shirt, he demanded to know from O.J. (who was on speakerphone) which of them would be delivering the opening statement in trial. After a really elaborate and confusing sports metaphor, O.J. was finally prompted to just pick someone already. And, duh, he chose Johnnie Cochran. Who wouldn’t?

But the prosecution had one last trick up their sleeve:

Marcia Clark had hired Chris Darden to join their squad!

The prosecution just got a little more diverse. This will be a game without winners but it’s still fun to watch!

“100% Not Guilty” continued this season’s winning streak. Not only was it thoughtful in its balanced analysis of all the saga’s moving parts, it still remembered to be entertaining by gifting us that tour de force monologue from Courtney B. Vance and every scene stealing moment by Connie Britton. Add to that the VERY necessary appearance of a C+C Music Factory song and we’ve truly got a wonderful show on our hands here. Important AND ridiculous? That’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, and there’s truly nothing else like it.

What did YOU think of “100% Not Guilty”?

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX