“Dirty Pain,” the seventh episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, shows how Aaron Hernandez (played by Josh Rivera)’s mind starts to fall apart as paranoia takes over his life. The exciting episode finally reveals important details that had been hints at earlier in the series. Especially, it shows how Alexander Bradley (Roland Buck III), who the show calls “Sherrod,” was shockingly shot. From the very beginning, you can feel the tension, and the episode goes into great detail about Hernandez’s mind as it falls apart and his growing need to escape the chaos he’s in.
| The Shooting of Sherrod: Aaron Hernandez shoots Sherrod Shooting Survival: Sherrod survives being shot in the face Threats Escalate: Sherrod taunts Aaron with threatening messages Paranoia Sets In: Hernandez becomes consumed by paranoia, and he starts putting up security systems and isolating himself. Escape Plan Failed: Hernandez begs Bill Belichick (Norbert Leo Butz) to trade Hernandez . Trouble in the family: As his lies mount, his relationship with fiancée Shayanna Jenkins gets even worse. Drug Abuse & Mental Strain: Aaron starts abusing prescription painkillers, further unraveling his mental state. |
American Sports Story Season 1 Episode 7 Recap: Dirty Pain
In Episode 7, the show goes back to the beginning and explains one of the most important events: the shooting of Alexander Bradley, which shocked viewers. At this point, Aaron Hernandez is very suspicious and paranoid. Hernandez makes the terrible choice to silence Bradley because he thinks Bradley lied to the police and blamed him for a 2012 drive-by shooting that killed two men. Hernandez shoots Bradley in the face from close range, which is very scary.
Bradley miraculously lives. But instead of going to court to get justice, he vows to get back at his old friend. He tells the police from his hospital bed, “I ain’t tellin’ you [expletive].” He prefers to handle the situation his own way. The episode shows how Bradley turns into a dangerous enemy by showing how he starts to mentally torture Hernandez with scary messages and threats. Back-and-forth conversations full of mean words make Hernandez even more paranoid.
Hernandez does terrible things because he is scared that Bradley might follow through on his threats. He puts a high-tech security system in his North Attleborough home and watches the surveillance footage for hours on end to see if there are any signs of danger. He almost never appears without a gun nearby, ready to protect himself and his family. His mental health keeps getting worse and it’s clear that he wants to get out of this awful situation badly.
Hernandez’s fear reaches a peak when he goes to Indianapolis to meet with Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots. Hernandez begs Belichick over and over again to trade him to another team, preferably one on the West Coast. He tells Belichick that his life and the safety of his family are in danger, but Belichick doesn’t seem to care. The coach says, “You want me to trade you because you’re having problems in the neighborhood?” Hernandez’s worries are brushed off as unimportant. Unfortunately, Hernandez feels trapped because he can’t get away from the growing dangers in New England.
After this, Hernandez and his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins (Renée Elise Goldsberry) move to California for a short time. Hernandez is having surgery on his shoulder—so the move gives things a short break from the chaos. Happiness doesn’t last long, though. He quickly becomes dependent on the painkillers that were prescribed to him after his surgery. This makes his depression worse, and he even thinks about committing suicide.
Whatever is going on gets even worse when Hernandez goes back to New England. He gets an apartment in Franklin with the Patriots’ help. Here is where Hernandez does drugs and stores an arsenal of weapons. As he tells Shayanna more lies and keeps more secrets, the show shows how he feels more and more alone, both from the outside world and from her. He even starts to use a “burner phone” to hide his calls with Bradley, which makes him even less close to the people he cares about.
Hernandez’s lies and crazy behavior push Shayanna away, and the episode shows how his personal life falls apart. One time, Shayanna talks to Hernandez about some strange texts she received, and Hernandez’s weak attempt to explain them away only makes her doubt him even more. Hernandez gets violent during a heated argument, breaking a vase and yelling for their child. This makes their relationship so weak that it breaks. When the police come to investigate, Hernandez uses his fame to get out of any serious trouble. The police let him off the hook by saying the couple was just “roughhousing.”
As the episode goes on, it becomes clearer that Hernandez is losing mental and physical control. The scene between Aaron and his brother, D.J. Hernandez, is emotionally charged as the tension builds. D.J. tries to help and comfort Aaron, but he doesn’t know how bad his problems are. Aaron is weak right now, but he can’t bring himself to fully open up about his problems. This shows how deeply he’s buried his feelings. A man who feels like he’s drowning in his own guilt and paranoia doesn’t find much comfort in D.J.’s kind words.
Hernandez’s paranoia shows up in a scary act of self-defense in the last scene of the episode. There is a lot of security around him, and he is shown sitting in a hidden apartment full of guns, getting ready for an attack that might or might not happen. There is a tense ending to the episode that makes people wonder how far Hernandez will go to protect himself from real and imagined threats.
Differences Between the Shows: American Sports Story changes some facts about Hernandez’s life to make the story more interesting. Hernandez’s dangerous and increasingly paranoid behavior is shown in the episode, but there is a big change in the scene where Hernandez brings a gun into the Patriots locker room. This event never happened in real life, but it was blown up for dramatic effect on the show.
The way in which Alexander Bradley’s original demands are portrayed is another notable shift. After the shooting, Bradley actually asked Hernandez for $5 million —but the show presents the talks in a different way. These changes make the drama and tension stronger, which is in line with the show’s goal of making the story arc more intense.
For additional news, previews, and recaps about AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: AARON HERNANDEZ, go to tvacute.com.
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