Impeachment: American Crime Story Episode 4 recap: The Telephone Hour
By Ariba Bhuvad
Impeachment: American Crime Story has officially reached the point where things are getting really interesting. Those old enough to remember the Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton scandal likely remember the aftermath of the world finding out about their secret affair. We’ve reached that point in the series now as Linda Tripp (Sarah Paulson) has begun recording her telephone conversations with Monica (Beanie Feldstein).
A trip to RadioShack allowed Linda to get her hands on what now looks like some ancient recording device. In the ’90s, this was as close as you could get to recording phone conversations, and it worked pretty darn well, especially when it came to scandals.
It’s an interesting insight into a part of this scandal that many don’t know the details about. And the reason we can take a lot of this plot seriously is that Lewinsky herself was a producer on it. I’m sure a lot of it was embellished, but there is likely a lot of truth to the situations that have been highlighted in the show.
I will say that Lewinsky didn’t try to make herself look innocent or like “the hero” of the scandal, but it seems she’s kept things rather honest. Of course, there is no way for us to know the truth, but I appreciate that the series hasn’t just tried to make Lewinsky look good and the President (Clive Owen) bad. There’s a proper balance here, and I think that is what makes the series fun to watch.
More on that below in our recap of this week’s episode of Impeachment: American Crime Story!
Impeachment: American Crime Story Episode 4 recap: The ultimate betrayal
There isn’t much going on in this episode apart from Linda and Monica talking—a lot. But while there isn’t a lot of activity, there are significant developments plotwise. The constant talking is all part of Linda’s plan to screw Monica and the President over.
She doesn’t seem to want to hurt Monica, but she will have to because she is just collateral on Linda’s way to destroying the man in power. You can tell throughout the episode that Linda is dealing with guilt, and she even snaps at Monica at some point and stops talking to her.
To be honest, I don’t really blame Linda because hearing Monica talk about the President ignoring her and treating her like crap isn’t exactly a fun conversation. And then, after all those conversations, for Monica to say that the President called and she’s back to being in love with him just makes matters worse.
The phone calls don’t just involve Monica and Linda, however. Linda is in constant contact with Lucianne (Margo Martindale), who continues to push Linda to get all the information she can from Monica about the affair. It’s this neverending loop that ends with Linda trying to find a way to share all the secrets she has.
She doesn’t want Monica to know that she has been deceiving her this whole time, so she has Lucianne find a way to get her on the witness list for Paula Jones’ defense. It’s a pretty clever way to get the information out there without pissing off or hurting Monica. Of course, that is not how things play out, but more on that next week.
Impeachment: American Crime Story Episode 4 recap: The future is bleak
We know that the betrayal will be very real as Monica’s story continues to play out. It’s a sad reminder of a very horrible time in her life, and when I saw that infamous blue dress show up in this week’s episode, I knew that inevitable crappy ending was nigh.
Not only does Lewinsky get screwed over by her friends and the man she has high regard for, but she ultimately is viewed as the type of person that will sleep her way to the top. That becomes evident when she gets the President’s help to find a job in New York City.
When she goes for her interview, the guy slaps her on the butt as she walks into the interview. It’s all rather disturbing, but it’s the reality of the corporate world, especially when there was no proper checks and balances system in place. Harassment is a no-go and punishable (most of the time) now, but it wasn’t always, and that’s clear from the episode.
Monica’s journey is becoming incredibly bleak, and there are more tough times ahead. Stay tuned for how that will play out and how much it will veer away from the actual events that took place.
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Things are about to get crazy, folks!
What did you think of this week’s episode of Impeachment: American Crime Story? Tell us in the comments below!