American Sports Story

American Sports Story takes a pretty straightforward approach to telling Aaron Hernandez’s complicated life. The athlete grew up in a troubled household and struggled to mask his sexuality, and though he was granted a top football scholarship and eventually played in the big leagues, he still had that trauma—both psychological and physical—to bear. By the time the show reaches the fateful night in Hernandez’s life that made him a household name, we’d have seen just how messed up his circumstances were. Like most streaming series, this runs too long than necessary at 10 episodes, but it is a humanizing portrait of a mystifying man, as well as a showcase of great talent—Rivera turns in an especially nuanced performance. But apart from these, the show adds nothing new to the already long and heavy conversations that have been had about Hernandez’s life. There are multiple documentaries out there, as well as podcasts, articles, and video essays. You can watch this to see how well the actors dramatize real life, but don’t expect to glean anything new.

Charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez and explores the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide and their legacy in sports and American culture.