PILOT REVIEW: The Fix

THE FIX

Starring: Robin Tunney, Adam Rayner, Merrin Dungey, Breckin Meyer, Marc Blucas, Mouzam Makkar, Alex Saxon, with Scott Cohen, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Created by Marcia Clark & Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain
Written by Marcia Clark & Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain, Directed by Larysa Kondracki

IN SHORT: American Crime Story: The People v. Sevvy Johnson

THE PREMISE:
This is a show that is quite obviously based on the OJ Simpson trial even before the credits show us that Marcia Clark is a creator/writer on the show. The show starts in 2010 when mega-celebrity Sevvy Johnson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is acquitted of a double murder with help from his lawyer, Ezra Wolf (Scott Cohen) and much to the surprise and horror of lead prosecutor, Maya Travis (Robin Tunney). Now in the present day, Sevvy's girlfriend has been murdered and he is once again the lead suspect. Maya returns to try to help former colleague, Andre (Adam Rayner), and new prosecutor, CJ (Merrin Dungey), with convicting Sevvy this time around.

THE REVIEW:
If I take a step back and look at The Fix objectively, I can readily admit that it is a flawed show and seems like a passion project for Marcia Clark more than anything. It's almost as if Clark dreamed that OJ would strike again so she'd get another chance and when that never happened, she decided to creat a fictional version of things with an honest to goodness "do-over." If I stand back, I can see the absurdity of that premise not to mention the fact that it is such a contrived plot based on something that everyone knows about with too many parallels to count. But despite that high mindedness from afar, I'll admit I want to know if Sevvy did or not and I hate myself a little bit for that.

There is no performance here that really stands out. As Sevvy Johnson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje seems to be lacking the charisma that made OJ Simpson such a confusing figure. Before OJ was accused of murder, he was pretty well loved and to this day, he's a fascinating personality. But Sevvy was more brooding and less charming and that made it harder to buy that he was a singular celebrity as the show wants him to be portrayed. Speaking of brooding, Robin Tunney didn't do a lot more than brood in the first episode. When I watched the acclaimed American Crime Story, I found myself feeling sorry for Marcia Clark despite all her faults. I didn't feel that yet with Maya Travis.

So despite all my concerns about this show and the lack of compelling performances, I still find myself interested in watching to see what happens. Maybe it's because I kind of wish what Marcia Clark wishes: that somehow a trial that spun out of control resulted in a very obviously guilty man getting off for reasons that had very little to do with the facts of the case. Maybe I wish Clark had a second chance and getting OJ too and so I'm settling for Maya Travis' pursuit of Sevvy Johnson. For whatever reason, I'm hoping things end better for Maya Travis than they did for Marcia Clark.

BOTTOM LINE:
This seems like a show that isn't going to last very long and that is ok because it is hard to imagine what a season two would look for a show like this. Either I'll stick with it for its short-ish run or I'll check back in to at least find out if Sevvy Johnson did it.