The third episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, dubbed “Pray the Gay Away,” goes further into the troubled life of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez (Josh Rivera) to detail the rougher sides of his journey that have jeopardized both his sports career and the construction of his gay identity. Taped in Gainesville, the first episode sees the Gators, the BCS National Champions of 2009, drubbing Oklahoma – a moment that propels Aaron into the stratosphere. But with this new fame, there is immense pressure exerted on him which forces him to develop risky behaviors that can ruin everything that has been achieved.
As Aaron revels in his celebrity status, he simultaneously grapples with two significant addictions: pot and homosexuality and sexual orientation confusion and gay and lesbian. The episode shows Aaron only as a young man struggling with Pressure to succeed and forced to smoke weed before practices, and a whizzinator to beat drug test. This hook, an artificial penis that produces clean urine symbolizes the degree to which Aaron is willing to go in order to stay on the team and the disregard for the implications of his actions. The team’s reckless behavior enraging Coach Urban Meyer who fails to fully control them and their actions.
Even though the show has explored Aaron’s romantic interests in women, there are suggestions of the man’s sexual orientation. His current girlfriend in the University of Florida is unaware of his alleged affairs with men which intensifies Aaron’s stress with the rising rumors among his teammates. His paranoia increases, especially during practice when a new comer is made to take his position for sometime. This anxiety leads to aggression and as result, he ends up being more of an outcast within his own team.
The climax of the episode is when Aaron gets a mentor in Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger) who is a player in the NFL. Realizing Aaron’s problem, Tim buys him the ticket and invites him to the church so as to give him a moral direction. From the sermon, Tim talks about how faith helps one avoid sin or instances when one is tempted to sin and during the act of prayer he says that accepting Jesus into one’s life helps one to avoid doubt and every form of temptation. This is the only time which Aaron becomes a potential for reform and for a brief second becomes a good man. A montage illustrates his fleeting commitment to change: he deletes gay porn from his computer and was forced to empty his weeder down the toilet. But their problems are a matter of reduction where his drug use and his homosexuality are painted as equally destructive to his football dreams.
Even though the show revolves around sports, Aaron’s probability of getting famous diminishes when he goes home to celebrate Thanksgiving. Frustration of the relationships within the family and the learned behavior ultimately bring him back into the pits of his vices. The episode depicts his going back to the habit when he meets his old friend Dennis SanSoucie and realizes that Dennis is engaged to a woman making him jealous. Their relationships showcase internal conflicts that both men go through and show efforts to be the man society expects them to be.
Returning to the University of Florida Aaron reveals his failures and doubts to Tim. He has confusion whether he is preordained to sin all the time or not. The episode most sharply demonstrates how Tim’s lessons cannot be integrated into Aaron. There is tension created in the high-stakes environment of approaching SEC championship; this pressure boils over to meet Aaron’s undoing on field. Not only does he inevitably fail to perform, which also eliminates his dream, but this also makes Coach Meyer reconsider his place on the team.
Meyer’s decision to leave Aaron is depicted as a necessary move for both of them to make. While Meyer pursues a fresh beginning, for Aaron, dreams transition towards the NFL draft making his future a little sweet and a little bitter. The last scene shows Meyer losing faith and being introduced to the cruel world of college football which merely focuses on talent above responsibility.
In American Sports Story, the third episode shows the tragedy of fighting the society and oneself as a storyline of Aaron Hernandez. Even though the story suggests that there might be more to it, such as CTE, the main focus is on Aaron’s alcoholism and his sexuality which could lead to a simplification of the character. At the end of the season, the audience is given food for thought about what kind of circumstances created such a life path for Aaron.
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