When we heard that Season 2 of FX’sAmerican Crime Storywould be about Hurricane Katrina , we were a footling flummoxed . sure as shooting , the 2005 tempest that lay waste to New Orleans is n’t a traditional crime in the way that the O.J. Simpson murders were , right ? And was n’t it too shortly ? Plus , it dashed any hopes we had of construe Ryan Murphy ’s take on theTonya Harding / Nancy Kerriganaffair .
But the more we think about it , the more excited we are to see the level of Katrina retoldtheAmerican Crime Storyway . We ’re on control panel with Ryan Murphy’splan to turn the showinto " a socially witting , socially aware examination of different types of offense around the man . " And we accord with his opinion : " Katrina was a fucking crime – a crime against a wad of the great unwashed who did n’t have a potent voice and we ’re get to deal it as a offense . That ’s what this show is all about . " Here are some thing we ’re looking forward to .
Season 2 will take a page out ofSerial’s book
Ryan Murphy ’s approach is similar to how the podcastSerialfollowed up on its smash first season . After delving deep into the story of a local crime , host Sarah Koenig pivot to research an event that had broad social conditional relation ( Bowe Bergdahl ’s defection from the US military machine and his subsequent snatch by the Taliban ) but that still permit her to explore similar themes about truth , justice , and the way we tell taradiddle . In plow to Hurricane Katrina for Season 2,American Crime Storyhas the fortune to handle with a muckle of the same sociocultural matter it dealt with in Season 1 , only on a much grander and more ambitious shell .
It will explore important contemporary issues
My favorite thing aboutThe People v. O.J.was how it allowed us to view preceding events differently through the genus Lens of the present : reimaginingMarcia Clark as a modern - twenty-four hour period feminist hero , understanding the opprobrious community ’s anti - LAPD opinion in the wake of # BlackLivesMatter , and watching the first major broadcast outcome of the world - TV geological era in our Kardashian - saturated eld .
Just as the O.J. visitation cease up being about much more than the case itself , Hurricane Katrina is a lens through which Murphy and his squad will be able explore bigger themes like race , class , mood change , bias in the medium , urban development , the role of police and political science , and thepervasive cultural influenceof the Kardashian - Wests ( kidding , sort of ) .
Hurricane Katrina disproportionately move poor black residents , and the catastrophe and its aftermath shone a damning light on the country ’s endemical racial and class inequality . The extent of the storm ’s harm was n’t a foregone finis ; rather , it was government ineptitude ( both before and after the violent storm ) and systemic racial discrimination and poorness that caused much of Katrina ’s devastation . When it descend to pointing fingers and assignment names , we do n’t expect Murphy to hold back .
NBC
There are crazy stories to tell
WhileI foundSerialSeason 2 dim , albeit fascinating , I do n’t thinkACSruns the same risk of losing momentum . IfThe People v. O.J.often had a stranger - than - fiction timber about it , the stories that come out of Hurricane Katrina are even harder to believe .
For a taste , read Sheri Fink ’s unconvincing chronicle " Deadly Choices at Memorial " ( and its follow - up book , Five Days at Memorial ) about a flooded New Orleans hospital that euthanized some of its unbalanced patients during the crisis . And also read " Deluged , " by Dan Baum , which examined the consuming nonstarter of the New Orleans police section to reply to the disaster . There are astonishing vignettes of heroism – like Joel Anderson’sstoryabout a small - time drug dealer who saved multitudinous life – and sprawling fib about the calamity , such as Wright Thompson ’s " Beyond the severance , " an epic 25,000 - news masterpiece about Katrina ’s fork 10 years later .
While it ’s not clear if time of year 2 will be free-base on any fussy source text edition , there ’s incredibly rich stuff to pull on . And from a visual perspective , the ruinous citywide implosion therapy or theapocalyptic scenesinside the Superdome hope to be much more interesting than the inside of a courtroom .
The stakes are so much higher
The People v. O.J.was a particularly compelling show because it relied on multiple perspectives : the crafty " dream team " of defense lawyers ; the principled prosecuting officer ; the family of the victims ; savvy hangers - on like Faye Resnick ; the " Juice " himself ; and the panel , sentenced to a dissimilar kind of involuntary parturiency . Similarly , time of year 2 has the opportunity to be a particularly rich arial mosaic , segue between the high - up decisiveness - makers within FEMA and the US government , the first responders in the police and National Guard , and the many New Orleans resident who had their lives torn aside by the tempest .
Speaking toTHR , Murphy said his plan is " to follow a grouping of six to eight people in an attempt to study all sides of the catastrophe , from the Superdome in New Orleans to the hospital to those who were put on charabanc and drop off with babies who had to tire trash bags for multiple days . " While , say , the jury sequestration on the O.J. trial was rough , it obviously pale in comparison to Hurricane dupe trap without water system or aesculapian supply for day on goal . Season 2 promise to be an even more vivid and emotional viewing experience , with much higher stakes .
Someone’s probably going to play Kanye
One of the best role ofThe People v. O.J.was seeing beloved thespian fetch actual masses to life , whether it was David Schwimmer as reality - show patriarch Robert Kardashian or John Travolta ’s so - uncollectible - it’s - good delineation of lawyer Robert Shapiro . Season 2 promises even more opportunities for this sort of stunt casting , from incompetentFEMA film director Michael Brownand disgracedNew Orleans mayor Ray Nagin . Will someone be act President George W. Bush ? ( What ’s Will Ferrell up to these daylight ? ) And what about that guy who said " George Bush does n’t deal about black people " ? Knowing Murphy ’s track record with molding , he wo n’t let us down .
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Anna Silmanis a stave author at Thrillist Entertainment and an " American Crime " drug addict . regain her on Twitter:@annaesilman .
