American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez Episode 5 is the beginning of the end
By Sandy C.
American Sports Story episode 5 continues the tragic rise and fall of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez. Now, is it a true story? For the most part! But episode 4 threw more fiction our way than facts. The latest episode, however? Takes us back to reality (again…for the most part).
Episode 5 focuses on the dark side of the NFL, and how warning signs of Aaron’s (Josh Andrés Rivera) mental illnesses were ignored, as well as his troubled history. Instead, the NFL player was continuously pushed past his limits.
When all is going well for Aaron Hernandez, he’s great. When Aaron goes back into town, he even reaches out to high school sweetheart Shayanna (portrayed by Jaylen Barron) and she eventually moves in. This is great for Aaron, he now has a loving and caring woman by his side. Aaron also continues to see his brother DJ (Ean Castellanos) as often as possible, who is another great influence in Aaron’s life. Unfortunately, when all is not going well for Aaron, it’s bad. Really bad.
Aaron doesn’t know how to deal with his anger or stress. So at the first sign of trouble, Aaron becomes unhinged. Whether it’s stress over hiding his feelings for men or trouble at home, Aaron is ready for violence.
After Aaron is hit in the head pretty roughly, everyone cheers for the win. Aaron gets up, so everyone assumes he’s fine. When Aaron meets his family and friends who were watching the game, the only one who is concerned is Shayanna. Her first question is if Aaron is okay. Unfortunately, Aaron is not okay at all. At a traffic stop, Aaron doesn’t move even though the light is green. He seems to be struggling with his vision and reality.
Earlier on in the episode, Aaron beat up his mom Terri’s (Tammy Blanchard) abusive boyfriend after he landed her in the hospital. His brother DJ warned him that it wasn’t worth it, but Aaron of course didn’t listen. I’m not sure how this will come back to Aaron’s life, or if this event really even happened, but this is the beginning of the end.
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