American Crime

Elvis Nolasco as Carter Nix (left) and Caitlin Gerard as Aubry Taylor

We've been watching American Crime on Netflix. It's well done, but I don't like it. There is not one single character in this show that I like. They are all universally repellent. Stupid, belligerent, pushy, insensitive and in some cases downright insane. Just like real people.

But then last night (episode 3 or 4 of season 1) I got a moment or two of clarity. The couple in the picture above are walking disasters. They are destitute meth-heads (what we used to call speed freaks). The man has been charged with murder and has been jailed. The woman was a foster child raised in a 'nice' middle class home, but now she's on probation. The only thing they want is to see each other. Nothing else matters. They are completely oblivious to the freight train of American justice that is bearing down on them. Aubry's parents come to her rescue, but she doesn't want to have anything to do with them. Her mother is talking about her getting a 'nice' job in a knick-knack shop and Aubry complains about not being able to breath. I can understand that. Working retail totally repels me. I suppose I could do it now, if I had to, but when I was their age it was a concept so alien it may as well have been on another planet.