close
close

Summary of episodes 1 and 2 of the Aaron Hernandez series “American Sports Story”

It is immediately clear that Ryan Murphy’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” is not Only a sports story.

The first two episodes of the FX series premiered Tuesday, and you probably noticed that the opening scene doesn't take place on a football field or in the weight room. Instead, we're introduced to Hernandez (played by Josh Andres Rivera) and his buddy Alexander Bradley (they call him Sherrod, a nickname) having fun at a Florida strip club in 2013.

The scene reminds viewers that the television show – based on the Boston Globe's Spotlight series and accompanying podcast produced by the Globe and Wondery – is a drama, not a documentary; it is a fictionalized account of the life and death of the former Patriots player. (For the few who don't know, Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots in 2010, convicted of murder in 2015 and committed suicide in prison in 2017.)

The opening sequence suggests that something is wrong with Hernandez—he is extremely paranoid and convinced that he and Bradley are being watched by police officers investigating the murders of two men in Boston the year before. (Later in the first episode, Hernandez shoots Bradley in the face, believing him to have betrayed him. This is a plot thread that is developed in later episodes, with Bradley eventually testifying against Hernandez at his second murder trial.) Over the course of the first two episodes, “American Sports Story” develops themes It's important to understand Hernandez: We see him as a teenager and learn about his dysfunctional family, including his domineering father. We see Hernandez suffer a concussion on the football field. We see him struggle to suppress (and hide) his bisexuality. And we meet Urban Meyer, the former University of Florida football coach who excused bad and, in some cases, criminal behavior by his players, including Hernandez, because he's a coach who wants to win at all costs.

“Wait until you see this team,” Meyer once told the university president. “They're killers and they're ready to show the world.”

We also meet Ernest “Hobo” Wallace and Carlos A. “Charlie Boy” Ortiz, Hernandez's friends from his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut. Viewers familiar with the Hernandez saga know that Wallace and Ortiz play a major role in the crime that ultimately lands the Patriots player in prison.

You can reach Mark Shanahan at [email protected]. Follow him @MarkAShanahan.

You may also like...