Last week illustrated Marcia Clark’s epic battle with sexism
in the media. Clark has proven to be
both tough and sensitive to the endless media criticism. The defense has had a proven strategy to
confuse and bedazzle the public to distract from the facts of the case. Anyone who remembers the case will know what
the gloves represent to both the prosecution and defense. This episode explains the events leading up to
that infamous image of O.J. trying on the gloves in the courtroom.
The episode opens with a tense moment between the D.A. and
Mr. Shapiro before they enter through court security. Garcetti accuses Shapiro of “Standing in a
pool of gasoline and playing with
matches.” He is alluding to the potential for more race riots following the
verdict. Shapiro places the racial spin
of the trial on Johnnie Cochran’s shoulders. The media swarms Shapiro and ask questions
regarding Furhman. Shapiro describes
Fuhrman as a “bad apple” rather then place the blame on the entire LAPD. Marcia Clark sweeps past the men sporting a
new hairdo. Garcetti complements her on the new style and Marcia warns him,
“Don’t ever mention my hair again!”
Students at Harvard Law watch the trial on television with
their professor Alan Durshowitz, a consultant on the case. The students observe Cochran in the courtroom preaching,
“There was a rush to judgment.”
Durshowitz advises his students that a good defense attorney is able to
provide a probably alternative story. Detective Lange sweats on the witness
stand. Cochran questions him about police’s
efforts to find the “real killers.”
Durshowitz continues to advise his students, “If it’s a media circus, be
sure that you are the ringmaster.” The professor faxes a message to Cochran
with two words, “Columbian narcotics.” Cochran
pauses a moment after reading the fax. Cochran’s
next question to Lange concerns the defense’s theory about the murders being
carried out by a drug cartel. He asks
Lange if he’s ever heard of a “Columbian necktie.” The detective says no. Cochran describes the brutal method of murder,
which he hopes resembles the manner in which Nicole was attacked, leaving her
nearly decapitated. In Massachusetts,
the law students applaud their professor’s technique and his live influence on
the trial.
Clark reviews the day with Detective Lange. Clark sarcastically suggests he should have
known the Mezzaluna restaurant was a front for the drug cartel. Darden cautions them not to dismiss Cochran’s
methods noting the juror is especially interested in exotic theories presented
by the defense. Darden expresses
frustration at the defense’s “razzle-dazzle” act and believes the prosecution
needs to counter their flash. The rest
of the team clears out, leaving Darden and Clark alone in the office. He apologizes for “hijacking the
meeting.” Clark smiles appreciatively
and says she likes his ideas.
Robert Kardashian meets with Cochran and expresses his
frustration at the defense’s lack of a “real theory about who did it.” Kardashian doubts the LAPD could have planted
the vast amount of varied blood samples from the different locations all in
order to frame his friend. Carl
interrupts their discussion to warn Johnnie that his ex-wife Barbara is on a
“Current Affair.”
Cochran watches the interview in horror. His ex-wife speaks about Cochran’s “double
life.” The interviewer notes that court
records reveal Cochran assaulted her. As
these words are spoken, Johnnie hits the television and turns it off. He
accuses Robert Shapiro or Gil Garcetti for leaking this information about his
previous marriage.
Denise Brown allows detectives to comb through boxes
belonging to her late sister Nicole. O.J.’s
daughter enters the garage and asks, “Are you helping daddy find who hurt my
mommy?” Detective Lange struggles to
answer the little girl. He mumbles
something about “Daddy being busy.” Do
the children not know their father is in prison and what he is accused of?
Lange presents a Visa bill to Clark and explains it contains
the purchase she made of the gloves in evidence. The gloves were a limited
edition and she purchased them at Bloomingdale’s about six months prior to the
murders. Clark proclaims, “The gloves
are our conviction!”
Darden and Clark hide near the court bathroom to observe the
media frenzy surrounding Cochran. Johnnie
shouts back at them defensively, “Two people are dead and a man has been framed
and you’re focusing on me!” (It was okay when they were focused on Marcia’s
hair however. Hypocrite.) Darden is astonished, “He’s made out of God damn
Teflon!” Marcia whines she could sure
use a vacation away from the madness. Darden
tells her he’s going to Oakland for the weekend to see an old friend and asks
her if she’d like to join him. Marcia
decides, “Hell yes!” Darden smiles.
The defense table is upset with Shapiro who has arrived to
court sporting a “police solidarity” lapel pin. Shapiro explains he’s trying to show his
support for the police department, implying Cochran is not being respectful of
them by his outrageous defense. O.J. appears nervous about the tension between
the two lead attorneys on his team.
That night in bed with his wife, Johnnie complains about
Shapiro’s behavior. His wife notes, “Did
Robert Shapiro make you live a double life?”
Cochran promises her he’ll end the media’s focus on his embarrassing
past. His wife points out Shapiro didn’t
leak the information; all his past is documented in public court records. She adds, “You wanted attention, now you got
it!” She walks out to sleep in another
room leaving Johnnie alone.
Robert Kardashian meets Shapiro in his office. He notes the discovery from the D.A. regarding
the purchase of the gloves found at the crime scene. Kardashian wants to convince himself the
gloves were not “the gloves.” Shapiro
knows this evidence is damning and urges Kardashian the time to make a plea
deal has arrived. Shapiro notes that
Kardashian has a “personal stake in this because he gave you the bag with the
murder weapon in it.” Kardashian denies
having the O.J.’s bag. Shapiro continues
if Kardashian confesses now they might only charge him with “being an accessory
after the fact” and he might only face two to five years in prison. Kardashian is in sensed by this accusation. Cochran waltzes into this tense scene and
Kardashian leaves. Cochran is curious
what they were discussing without him. Shapiro
is coy, “A possible development in the case that I can’t share at this time.”
Kardashian is at his home staring at the Louis Vuitton
garment bag with A.C. Cowling. A.C. is
surprised “no one has asked for it.” It’s
possible no one official knows the bag exists. Robert hasn’t opened it and wants to do so
with A.C. there since they are O.J.’s best friends. Robert opens the bag to find clothes,
penthouse magazine and normal items but no murder weapon. A.C. exclaims, “I knew it! He didn’t do it!” As relieved as Robert is not to find a knife
in the bag, he still is troubled. He
asks A.C., “Who do you think did it?” Robert
notes his son is being teased at school about the case. Kardashian continues he’s “Struggling to
understand with all the evidence in the case, why don’t the police have any
other suspect, nothing else?” A.C. asks, “Nothing else, but?” Robert quickly apologizes for implying their
friend is guilty, stating he “Didn’t mean it like that.” Cowling seems confident his friend is
innocent. Robert, having been friends
with both O.J. and Nicole is clearly torn in his loyalty. It’s hard to believe Robert Kardashian never
had to answer for the stolen garment bag, even if it failed to yield evidence.
Shapiro visits O.J. solo in prison. O.J. asks him “Where’s your pin? What are you up to, undermining Johnnie? Crossing the quarterback?” Shapiro tries to explain to his client that
this wild conspiracy theory will backfire.
O.J. continues with the football analogies, “It was your play, your
bullshit in the third quarter!” Shapiro
defends his actions as looking out for Simpson but O.J. calls for the guard to
take him back to his cell. As he leaves,
he tells Shapiro, “Think if you want to be on this team!”
Marcia attends the birthday party in Oakland. Chris introduces her to a crowd of mainly
black men. The birthday friend receives
a gift from the two of them, a District Attorney of LA sweatshirt. The man laughs as Marcia explains it may get
him out of a traffic ticket someday. The
party continues with indoor smoking and many tequila shots. Marcia jokingly
warns the guests not to talk about the case but final the guys can’t resist
weighing in. On man thinks “the cracker cop did it.” Marcia decides to counter their doubt by
playing “devil’s advocate.” She outlines
how impossible it would have been for the LAPD to spread around the amount of
blood evidence at the various crime scene locations. She theorizes the detectives would have had
to be “criminal masterminds” to plant fibers, hairs and blood while removing
the blood from the actual killers. Chris
chimes in, “All to protect some unknown killer?” The crowd jokes Marcia should go work for
Johnnie Cochran.” One friend privately
tells Chris tonight would be the night to make his moves on Marcia.
Chris escorts a tipsy Marcia back to her hotel room. She looks up at him expectantly but he doesn’t
move in to kiss her. After several awkward
moments, Marcia wishes her colleague goodnight. Chris walks away sighing, but
probably relieved he didn’t do something they both might regret.
On Monday morning, Clark is all business with Darden. Darden encourages her to let him have O.J. try
on the gloves to prove they fit and are his. Clark cautions him against this course of
action. Darden insists the time is right. Clark thinks they will get their
conviction today and notes it’s like being dealt a king and a ten and wanting
another card. Darden is confident the
next “card” will be an ace. Clark warns
there are too many variables especially when dealing directly with the
defendant.
In the courtroom, Darden finishes with a witness and Judge
Ito calls for a fifteen-minute recess. Shapiro
lingers around the room, acknowledges the bailiff and approaches the glove in
evidence. Shapiro stares at the gloves,
then makes a bold move and tries them on his own hands. No one seems to be paying attention. The gloves are too small for Shapiro. He smiles.
Shapiro whispers in Cochran’s ear, “Would you be interested
in some real evidence? The gloves are too small!” They have a quick discussion and O.J. is in
favor of trying on the gloves. F. Lee
Bailey has a plan to get the prosecutors to ask him to try on the gloves. The jurors file back inside after the recess.
Darden notes the jurors look “glazed over” after their break
and is worried they are losing interest. Clark again tells Darden not to use the
gloves, “No way, this is MY case, drop it!” Darden is hurt by her power play against him. (Maybe she would have thought differently had
they slept together.) Bailey whispers to
Darden he doesn’t have the balls to ask O.J.
to try on the gloves. Bailey
seems to be employing a little of Cochran’s bravado and reverse psychology
techniques.
Ito enters the court and Darden and Cochran approach him for
a “sidebar.” Cochran says he doesn’t
want his client to try on the gloves. Darden
orders O.J. to try on the gloves. Cochran doesn’t object. Clark looks visibly ill because of her
partner’s defiance. Darden brings the
gloves to O.J. and Ito asks Simpson to show the jury. O.J. struggles to put on the gloves. Darden weakly suggests Mr. Simpson move his
hands in certain ways to prove they fit him. However, the jury has seen the gloves don’t
fit and Darden hangs his head, “I have nothing further.”
When Darden returns to the prosecutor’s table he pleads with
Clark that O.J. was “making them not fit.” If looks could kill, Darden would be a dead
man. Clark stares at him coldly. Johnnie shakes his head at the prosecution
and shakes Shapiro’s hand under the defense table. Shapiro hugs Mr. Simpson.
Later that night Darden watches the recording of the day’s
proceedings. He makes a call to Fred
Goldman, leaving the victim’s father a message stating, “It’s not over yet.”
But Darden knows it is over and he blew it.
The episode didn’t include Cochran’s famous phrase, “If the
gloves do not fit, you must acquit!”
It’s likely the defense formulated that catchphrase after the glove
testimony. There were t-shirts sold with
that slogan. It’s clear the defense team
were masters of their craft and media manipulation. There are theories that the
fluids on the gloves caused them to shrink. Simpson was later accused of skipping his
arthritis medication in prison so the gloves would no longer fit. However, the State never was able to recover
from this “Cinderella” moment of the trial.
The preview for the
next episode show O.J. insisting on taking the stand to prove his innocence. There is a dramatic switch as a juror is
dismissed and replaced. It seems
inevitable that the Dream Team has won.
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