For me, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez kicked things off on an interesting note. The series’ first two episodes are fair-paced, and the story changes enough to keep it interesting without drifting too much into fiction. However, Sports Story hits the breaks after episode 3 and doesn’t accelerate until the penultimate episode.
Spoiler alert! If you have not yet caught the American Sports Story season 1 finale, please note there are spoilers ahead. You can stream the episode on Hulu before reading on.
All caught up? Good! What began as a series I told all my friends to watch, became a show I can’t say I would recommend, if I’m being honest. Though I did want and expect a few aspects of the story to be fiction or differ from the truth, it really took a spin. The series finale, titled “Who Killed Aaron Hernandez?” does, at least in my opinion, wrap things up on a good note. Still, the journey to get there isn’t worth it
What I did appreciate is the story drawing plenty of attention to Aaron Hernandez’s severe case of CTE. The worst case doctors have seen, Today reports. The former NFL player was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but this wasn’t until after the time of his death. Studies later concluded that CTE heavily contributed to Aaron’s irrational thinking and aggressive behavior. It is believed that CTE is also responsible for Aaron’s suicide.
Aaron Hernandez also grew up in a violent home and surrounded by bad influences. There was also no one there to help Aaron. Instead, he was pushed to continue playing through it all. One can’t help but wonder if knowledge of this prior to his sentencing would have changed the outcome.
American Sports Story had the opportunity of exploring this theory, and diving even more into what could have been or what happened to Aaron (if it wasn’t suicide). I mean, it took a sharp turn into fiction, anyway, why not continue it and make it great? Instead, Sports Story leaves us with feeling like there is more to the story.
At the time of this writing, we’re not sure what the second season of American Sports Story will be about. As soon as we learn of any theories or announcements, we’ll quickly update you.