American Crime: All Eyes on Kevin

In the third episode of American Crime, Season 2 (1-20-2016), Cammy Ross publishes her article about the incident at the Captain’s Party for the Leyland Academy basketball team after talking with the school’s Headmaster, Leslie Graham. In her unflappable way, Graham manages to cast doubt on the claims of Taylor Blaine’s mother, Anne, while lying through her teeth. “We don’t play favorites,” she says, showing Ross the report of Eric Tanner’s suspension. He was hand-picked for suspension because his parents aren’t as rich as Kevin Lecroix’s. She suggests that it might be more productive for Anne to focus on why her son “was out binge-drinking in the first place.”

Others are shown going about their normal lives, most unaware of the coming storm the article will cause. At work, Anne ejected an abusive man from the diner who was manhandling his girlfriend in a booth. Terri Lecroix coldly fired Debra who begged her for help. “You can’t do anything for me?” Terri construes that as pulling the race card.

Later the Lecroix family has dinner with Rhys Bashir and we get our first glimpse of his daughter, Nikki. Kevin puts the moves on her because the pictures Eric showed him gave him the idea that she was easy. She shuts him down but gives him her number so he can text her. Kevin has a talk with his dad, Michael, who explains what was involved in his decision to marry Terri. Kevin says it’s messed up that Michael and Terri do things or don’t do things because they think people are watching them. Michael says no. They do what they do no matter what but “don’t ever think they’re not keeping score.”

At work, Anne reads the Cammy Ross article online and calls the reporter to complain that she did not focus on the rape. Anne mistakenly thought she found a champion in the reporter and did not realize Ross was just doing her job, just like Leslie Graham and everyone else. Everyone has their own agenda, and that goes for the article’s readers, too. Leaving vicious comments online is on their daily to-do list. The news soon begins to take a toll.

Kevin Lecroix is named in the article because he is the only one who is 18. Terri learns about it from a co-worker and immediately goes into damage control mode. She calls her attorney and her husband, instructing him to pick Kevin up at school immediately. They all meet at the Lacroix home where the lawyer questions Kevin in front of his parents, while Terri freaks out over his admissions: “You screwed that girl on the bathroom floor…?” Dad gets his turn to freak out later when they consult with their detective friend and learn the alleged victim in the article is a boy. The detective tells Terri it’s not in his division and she finds herself saying, “Can you do anything for us?” He doesn’t answer.

Coach Dan Sullivan worries that Kevin’s future is ruined because his name will be forever connected with rape on google. His colleague warns him that they are only “hired help” and need to worry about themselves. When it starts rolling downhill, he says, “who do you think is going to get blamed for these knuckleheads?” Coach Dan doesn’t believe it. His wife, Steph, (the school photographer) has a tough day dealing with parents who want their daughters’ pictures off the school website immediately.

Evy got pulled out of class at Thurgood Marshall and was questioned by the police with her principal and father present. She revealed that Eric Tanner gave her and Taylor a ride home and just dumped them on the curb. The detective didn’t ask her what she meant when she said Eric was “off about something.” Angry that her dad won’t get paid for the time he had to take off work, Evy confronts Taylor. “You’ve got me lying to your mom and now I have to deal with the cops, just so you can hang out with the rich kids?” She wants him to go back to Thurgood Marshall.

At dinner, Taylor tells his mom that his counselor, Dr. Esposito, told him to be honest with her. He doesn’t want to deal with the police or go back to Leyland. He just wants it to be over. Anne concedes as long as he agrees to continue going to counseling. That was just a horrible scene, more for the fork-scraping on the dinner plates than anything else.

Kevin denied having anything to do with what really happened to Taylor, but he tells Nikki that he is scared on the phone through tears. And what of our main suspect, Eric? After telling an upset Wes that they just need to keep their mouths shut, he has lunch with his parents. His mother complains that Leyland has changed Eric. She hears him on the phone talking about “bitches” and “whores.” He sits separately with his younger brother who wants to go to Leyland, too. Eric tells him that public school has the best bitches.

At the very end, a detective meets with Leslie Graham and asks for a list of males who were at the Captain’s Party so they can take a DNA sample from each party-goer. “If we can’t get a list,” he says, “We’ll have to subpoena every student in this school.” But Graham passes on helping the police harass Leyland’s families “over some lurid story from a young man who got drunk.” Well, guess what, honey? The tests conducted on Taylor’s clothes had semen and blood on them. “We’re officially looking at this as a rape,” he informs her. You can almost see the wheels turning. Time for Headmaster Graham to find a new scapegoat to protect her precious academy.