American Crime Episode 7 recap

The opening of American Crime Episode 7 juxtaposes the current fates of Hector (Richard Cabral) and Carter (Elvis Nolasco), the latter of whom we barely saw in last week’s episode. Now we see what is going on with him. Hector is moved into a more secure facility, as per his request for a deal in exchange for info on Carter last week. There, he has an individual cell, and is actually allowed outside for exercise. We then flash to Carter, who is shivering in a cramped, dim basement of sorts. We find out later in the episode that Carter is being subjected to torture — he is beaten and hosed down with cold water in attempts to get a confession from him. Again, American Crime delves into the awful reality that many of us may not know happens in the law enforcement system, but one only has to read about the similar hidden location that Chicago police used in much the same way to remember that this is not entirely fiction.

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While Hector plans on making his deal, Aubry’s (Caitlin Gerard) stepfather and lawyer are desperately trying to get her to do the same, which would involve turning on Carter. If you’ve watched Aubry up to this point, though, you know that is unlikely to happen. As the men talk to her, she again escapes into her fantasy world, staring at the magazine ad of the interracial couple, probably miles away, in her head, from her hospital bed.

Hector eventually holds up his end of the deal. He meets with his lawyer and detectives to give them what he claims he knows about what Carter did the night of Matt and Gwen’s attack. He says he drove Carter to a mini mart and waited, and Carter later returned, with some credit cards and cash. After some prompting from the detective about whether Carter’s attack seemed related to Matt and Gwen’s race (the cop is probably fishing for something to make sure the hate crime charges against Carter stick), Hector thinks for a moment and says Carter claimed the “white boy” was all up in his grill, and that he “got that bitch to pay up.” Hector seems to be lying, but clearly will do anything to get out. He is told that once he gives his testimony in court, he will be free. Later, alone with his lawyer, Hector reveals the trouble he had in Mexico — he killed a man from a drug cartel while defending someone else.

“I ain’t doing that twice,” Hector says, about defending other people. Perhaps that’s one reason why he isn’t too bothered about throwing Carter under the bus.

Later in the episode, we see Hector making a collect phone call to Mexico. A male voice responds, in Spanish, and I couldn’t make out what they were saying aside from the voice on the other end saying “Hector?” Hector then hangs up, so perhaps we’ll find out more about why he did not want to talk to whomever answered, and who he thought would answer.

While this is happening, Russ (Timothy Hutton) is called in to talk with is boss. It turns out Russ lied on his job application about being convicted of a felony in the past (he checked the box “no.”) Russ is stunned, because that happened 20 years ago, but the boss still tells him that his lying about it makes it seem even worse. Russ asks who told about this, but the boss doesn’t answer. Russ is let go. In exasperation, Russ takes off his work shirt and leaves it right where he was sitting, and walks out of the store, shirtless, but not before smashing a planter. His coworker Lisa, who had initially been interested in learning more about his “drama,” watches in shock as Russ leaves. Was she the one who told on Russ? After last week’s conversation between the two, her attitude toward Russ seemed to change dramatically upon learning he had left his family.

This scene, again, demonstrates the series’ grasp of real-life situations. Being branded a felon, even for relatively small crimes, can mark a person for life, impacting their employment and other opportunities. The interesting twist here is that it was a black employer having to talk to a white employee about it. Something like this can impact anyone.

Later, Russ talks with Tom (W. Earl Brown) about losing his job. Russ believes that the things Barb (Felicity Huffman) has been saying in public are impacting him, and caused someone to “out” him to his boss. Knowing he himself cannot talk to Barb, Russ asks Tom to help out and get Barb to lay off the comments. Russ asks Tom to give Barb “some perspective.”

“Nobody gives that woman perspective!” Tom exclaims, and truer words may never have been spoken. Tom won’t get involved with Russ and Barb. “It’s your family, deal with it,” Tom says, as he leaves.

Speaking of Barb, the long-awaited moment arrives in this episode when she meets Mark’s (David Hoflin) fiancee Richelle (Gwendoline Yeo). We first see Richelle arriving at the airport, then visiting Mark. “Do you still want to meet my mother?” he asks her. “How bad could it get?” she responds. Mark doesn’t want her to meet both Barb and Russ at once; that would be too much.

Later, Richelle meets Barb at a restaurant, and it’s just the two women. Things get tense almost immediately, with Richelle not standing for Barb’s subtle and overt hints of bigotry. Barb asks Richelle, “Where is your family from?” Richelle seems to know what Barb is getting at, but responds, “Oklahoma.” “Originally,” Barb responds, as a follow-up question. Richelle looks her in the eye and again says, “Oklahoma.”

Barb comes out and says she thinks Richelle has been “putting things in Mark’s head” about her, but Richelle says Mark has been saying things about his mother way before Matt’s murder. “How we feel is not going to change,” Richelle says, when Barb asks to put off their plans to wed and have a family until the situation with Matt is resolved.

Richelle held her own against Barb, but later tells Mark that he should have been there with her. “I’ve spent all the time with them that I need growing up,” he says. He tells her he’s only sticking around to help out Gwen, which Matt never did. “What’s the point?” Richelle asks, insightfully. “Prove you’re better than Matt?” Mark has no response.

The episode also gets to the continuing fates of the Gutierrez family, Jenny (Gleendylis Inoa) is still not saying much to her father (Benito Martinez), or her brother (Johnny Ortiz) about what is going on with her. Jenny is unaware that Tony knew it was Joaquin who beat her, and that he took revenge by assaulting him with a pipe, an act that was recorded for the whole Internet to see.

Given that, it’s not surprising that Tony is quickly apprehended by police. He is caught in an alley and tries to run, but doesn’t get far, and is in fact lucky he’s not shot. He’s tackled to the ground, cuffed and put in the squad car.

Later, an unbelieving Alonzo claims the police is harassing his son, and that he plans to sue. The detective tells him about the recording, then shows it to Alonzo. Alonzo is almost still in denial as he watches, in horror, the things that his son did to Joaquin. No one, not even Joaquin, is being cooperative. Alonzo asks about Joaquin, who is still in the hospital. The detective said any charges against Tony will be up to the prosecutor. When the detective asks Alonzo if he knew of any friction between Tony and Joaquin, or anything else that would help the case, Alonzo — remembering the first time he went through this — says he’s not saying anything without a lawyer. At least he’s learned that much.

Alonzo and Jenny later visit Tony in jail. “You’re a thug now?” Alonzo asks, exasperated that Tony quickly blew the second chance he got after being released from juvie the first time.

When Tony again brings up the first time that Alonzo allowed Tony to speak without a lawyer, Alonzo gets irate. “You don’t get to put this on me. You put a kid in the hospital.” Alonzo tells Tony to keep his mouth shut until they get a lawyer, then leaves Tony alone with Jenny.

When Tony tells Jenny it was Joaquin he beat, and that he and “his boys” did this to protect her, Jenny is angry. “Your boys?” She is stunned that her brother is talking like a gang member. And, like her father, she tells Tony not to blame her for his poor decision. When Jenny leaves and meets up with her father, she says that Tony didn’t tell her anything; still keeping things from a frustrated Alonzo.

It eventually becomes clear to Jenny that she needs a break from her father, and Tony and the whole situation. Her aunt and uncle take her in for a while, which is another blow to Alonzo, who thought he had been doing right by his kids. The uncle says Jenny gets along well with her aunt, and that it would be good for her to have another woman to talk to. “She’s not a woman,” Alonzo says about Jenny, “she’s a little girl.” “She’s not so little anymore,” replies the uncle, trying to break through Alonzo’s apparent fantasy world.

Alonzo has a parting conversation with his daughter, who tells him, “Since I’ve been 10 I’ve been trying to be there for everyone. Please, I just need some time to figure it out.” They hug goodbye.

On the Gwen (Kira Pozehl) front, we learn from Eve’s (Penelope Ann Miller) conversation with her priest that Gwen has brain damage called aphasia from the attack. Gwen can’t articulate what objects are, and has holes in her memory. “How we we help her overcome something she can’t remember” Eve asks in frustration. “You have your daughter back,” says the priest. “Start with that.”

Does Gwen really not remember? She certainly suffered a traumatic attack, but there were moments in last week’s episode where it seemed like either consciously or unconsciously she may have been trying not to remember. Could she be faking?

Speaking of potential fakers, Aubry is later told that cops found the gun used in Matt’s murder, and that they have testimony putting it in his hand (Hector’s testimony). The lawyer advises her to take a deal. Aubry simply puts an envelope in his hand, saying she wants him to give it to someone, and then asks him to gather her family together. Is Aubry ready to make a deal and give up Carter?

Carter himself is not doing well, even beyond the torture he is enduring. He finally meets with Aliyah (Regina King), and, of course, the first thing he asks about is Aubry.

“You’re empty,” his sister tells him. “You don’t care about anything but self-gratification.”

“She saved me,” Carter says, returning to Aubry. Carter slowly tells his sister how his “so middle-class” life was slowly choking him, but that it didn’t kill him. That he had to try himself.

Aliyah listens on in shock, and we see shocking flashbacks, as Carter admits he had tried suicide. “You don’t know how low I was,” he says. “I didn’t know how to reach out; you didn’t feel like my sister anymore.” Again, he says Aubry saved him, and whether that was literal (we see a flashback of Aubry stopping Carter’s hanging attempt) or figurative, Carter clearly believes Aubry has been a source of salvation for him.

“I’ll confess to anything,” Carter says, and he is clearly getting to the end of his rope again, between all he has been through and, most of all, being without Aubry. He is worn down and goes off the rails in his “confession,” which eventually becomes clear is false, as he says he shot both Matt and Gwen and raped both of them. He just wants things over with.

“I don’t know how to make things right or get Aubry back,” Carter says. “I need you,” he pleads with Aliyah. “Please help me. Please.”

Meeting later with Timothy (Cedric Duplechain), Aliyah learns about what Timothy has uncovered about Matt’s past. Matt had visited many online “patriot” and anti-government sites, and in one photo of Matt with some other men dressed in military garb and carrying guns, the group is holding up a man wearing a President Obama mask, with the caption: “Gone hunting.”

Based on some of this new evidence into Matt’s past, Aliyah and Timothy visit the deputy mayor and ask her office to look into the police and prosecution mishandling of the case. Aliyah is especially concerned for Carter’s emotional health given her recent meeting with him and his state of mind. The mayor’s office is not cooperative and mentions “new evidence” in the case that makes it even more serious for Carter, referring to Hector’s questionable testimony.

As requested, Aubry meets with her family (stepdad, stepmom and stepbrother Brian). They are joined by police detectives, but not by Aubry’s lawyer (she requested he not join).

During the course of what seems will turn into a confession against Carter, she details how she was gotten drunk and passed around for sex, and abused physically, psychologically and sexually. When one questioner assumes it was Carter doing this, Aubry responds, “Carter didn’t abuse me. He loves me. He’d never hurt me the way my own brother did.”

During the initial course of her statement, Brian had been looking a little guilty. But when his name is fully implicated, he explodes. “You crazy bitch!” he shouts. “You know she’s lying!”

The mom, Brian and the police leave. Her stepdad remains, asking why she would say that about Brian.

“I’m sick,” Aubry says. “I’m messed up. I’m not mentally fit to testify against anybody. I did it for Carter because he saved me.”

Clearly this was a plan for Aubry to avoid having to testify against Carter, but is there a hint of truth to her story? In previous meetings with Brian, there has been a weird, guilty vibe between the two, and even at the outset of her story here. Might we find out that there is some truth there that Aubry acted upon and embellished as payback?

Later, we find out what was in the envelope Aubry had given her lawyer to deliver. It is that magazine ad, delivered to Carter, who smiles upon opening it, giving him a slight bit of hope.

Carter then meets with Aliyah again, but he says he his tired of talking about the case. Now seeing him more as her brother, Aliyah kindly asks that he would like to talk about in the 15 minutes they have.

“Nothing in particular,” Carter says. “I know if I go back to my cell I’m going to be alone. I can’t handle being alone anymore.” The siblings merely enjoy their presence together, quietly.

But Aliyah can’t be quiet about her brother any longer. At the end of the episode, she is meeting with a reporter. She admits she has been viewing Carter as her cause, but now fully recognizes him as her brother. She is gathering people who will speak and protest on Carter’s behalf. They mean to be peaceful about it.

“If we’re greeted any other way,” she says, “that’s not on us, it’s on them.”

Next Week: In what appears to be a Ferguson-like protest in support of Carter (there’s that American Crime verisimilitude again), Aliyah and her group are met with hostility. And — oh, shit! — Barb gets a gun.

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ABC/Van Redin