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"Episode Ten"
American Crime episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 10
Directed by	Nicole Kassell
Written by	John Ridley Diana Son
Original air date	March 9, 2016.

"Episode Ten" is the tenth episode of season two of the ABC television series American Crime. It was written by executive producer John Ridley and co-executive producer Diana Son and directed by Nicole Kassel.

Plot

Episode Ten of American Crime leaves us with a whole lot of uncertainty. While repercussions were given to people, there were still a lot of unanswered questions and we were left with essentially a huge cliffhanger. A lot of personal information were leaked online, including texts about Becca Sullivan (Sky Azure Van Vilet) in which she received suspension for and was arrested. Over at Marshall High School, Chris Dixon (Elvis Nolasco), the principal, is told to resign with settlement "hush" money because of his actions dealing with the black students and the Hispanic students. Evy Dominguez (Angelique Rivera) has been at the center of all of this and seemed to be left on the back burner. Leyland high school is the only one that did right by Evy and her family by giving them a settlement. Meanwhile, Taylor is sitting in jail debating on whether to take the plea deal or to go to trial. Taylor's mother, Anne Blaine (Lili Taylor) pushes for him to keep trying and to use the beatdown by the basketball boys as a way to get a more lenient sentence. Speaking of the beating that Taylor experienced, Kevin LaCroix (Trevor Jackson) was the one who instigated the hate crime by telling his teammates that someone needs to pay. Taylor doesn't want to feel like a victim anymore, nor does he want his rapist, Eric Tanner (Joey Pollari), to be the one to testify for him. Eric, on the other hand, is upset about having to testify for Taylor because he is still denying raping Taylor and thinks he shouldn't get to be the victim. Leslie Graham (Felicity Huffman) finally faces the repercussions for her manipulative actions throughout the entire incident. She gets fired and replaced as headmaster at Leyland school. Speaking of job repercussions, Terri LaCroix (Regina King) got the option of relocation or a severance package due to the emails released with her saying very prejudiced things. At the end of the episode Becca is shown getting arrested, while Eric is standing on the road contemplating getting into the car waiting for him. Taylor stands up in front of the judge to either take the plea or go to trail. The end decisions for both Eric and Tanner were not revealed, leaving us with a huge cliffhanger.

Perspective on Rape Culture

Rape culture is both defined and challenged throughout Season Two Episode Ten of American Crime. This entire season defines rape culture through the actions of all of the characters. Rape culture negatively affects the outcomes from the actions of others involving sexual assault cases, and this episode shows all of that. To start out with, the case with Evy has been pushed to the side the entire season. When Evy finally has a conversation with the principal she compares her case to Taylor's, saying that if she just got grabbed and didn't want to tell anyone, she understands why Taylor lied and didn't want to say anything about the assault. Unfortunately, many victims of gender-based violence and sexual assault do not want to speak up, in fear of not being believed or being blamed for what happened to them. This plays a huge toll in the lives of victims and survivors, and we can clearly see that within this entire season of American Crime. We grow up in a society which blames us for the violence the might happen to us. Society comes up excuses for violence based on our gender performance and our willingness to challenge social expectations. In a rape culture, these are qualities that are seen as something that would warrant violence. In both the case with Evy and Taylor, their gender or gender performance both worked against them based on our society's expectations. With Evy, a boy continually harassed her both verbally and physically, objectifying her based on her gender. He would make lewd comments towards her and think it's completely okay. Taylor, on the other hand, does not conform with society's expectations of gender performance. When people found out Taylor and Eric were gay, they wanted to inflict violence on them, which ended up happening to Taylor. Taylor was not only sexually assaulted, but he was beat up because of his sexuality. When it comes to Taylor's gender, everybody automatically assumed that he was lying, saying that boys don't get raped or that boys fight back. Taylor didn't fight back or remember what exactly happened, so people blamed him for what happened. The basketball team blamed him, other students' parents didn't believe him, and the school principal and other faculty became upset and worried because of the accusation he was making. In our society, these are completely normal reactions, even though they have a very negative affect on people who experience this type of violence.

The rape culture we live in has warped our ideas and beliefs of what is real and what isn’t regarding rape cases. We have been programed to believe privileged victims over less privileged victims and blame less privileged perpetrators over privileged ones. With beliefs like this unfortunately many rape cases are likely to be dismissed. It is important to remember that the rape culture we live in is the same rape culture that judges and police officers live in. This is why we see Taylor Blane’s rape case get dismissed by both the school and the judicial system in this season of American crime. If Taylor were an upper class female that got raped by someone off the streets, the case would have likely been perceived as legitimate. Unfortunately, Taylor was a gay male who originally wanted to have consensual sex with another male but instead got attacked. Another problem with society’s beliefs being warped like this is that they will also warp the beliefs that the victim has about his or herself. The way Taylor was continuously ridiculed, shammed and terrorized throughout the season manifested inside of him causing him to lose confidence and sanity and eventually snap by killing Wes Baxter (Michael Seitz). Ultimately, Taylor ended up in the scenario he is in now because of the way rape culture has shaped everyone’s beliefs. Now he is left with the choice between prison or letting his rapist be his savior.

A world without rape begins with a world without prejudice. To eliminate rape, we must first eliminate sexism, racism, classism and any other form of prejudice. All these issues intersect with one another therefore with one there is always going to be the other. We see these issues intersect a lot throughout this season. Terri both feels high and mighty for her class status but also feels like no matter what people are still going to judge her and her family for their color. Terri also believes racial stereotypes about people of her same race that are lower in class status. Many people looked at Taylors case differently because of their sexist beliefs of rape after he was outed as a gay individual. Eric was chosen to sit out during a game rather than Kevin because of the dynamics of his home. The list goes on and on but the main point the show is getting at is that one issue someone faces can change how a new issue will affect them. In the last episode of the season all the ugly truths have come to the surface and it’s interesting to see how everyone pays for their actions in different ways. Terri got relocated for making prejudice comments, Becca got sentenced to juvie for selling drugs to Taylor, Taylor is facing potential prison time for killing Wes and Eric (Taylors rapist) gets the opportunity to help Taylor out by speaking for him in court. There are many things wrong especially with Eric’s scenario. He should be in just as much trouble as Taylor considering our justice system sees rape and murder very similar in regards to punishment. Unfortunately, the fact that Poor Eric came from a broken home but thrived as a star on the Leland basketball team also intersect with his situation. With any prejudice still active in society there will continue to be cases handles unfairly and unjust.

Broadcast and Reception

Pilot Viruet, of the website A.V. Club, writes in her review of American Crime Episode Ten that “American Crime wraps season two with as little resolution as reality.” This is exactly what American Crime was trying to accomplish with season two, because it has spent the entire season showing the reality of trauma and rape cases. “This isn’t the point of American Crime. It’s not an open-and-shut case, a criminal procedural the figures out who is at fault and swiftly locks them up. Instead, it’s a series that prefers to take a more nuanced look at one singular crime and the effects that ripple throughout the victim’s/accuser’s family, friends, and community.” The reviewer writes on, “This season of American Crime wasn’t so concerned with exposing the hard truth about what went down with Eric and Taylor at the party but instead wanted to explore the varying truths that vary from person to person.” The reception of Taylor shooting and killing Wes throughout this review is that of sadness and understanding. “Taylor speaks about the shooting and says that when he heard the gun go off, it was the first time since the party he stopped feeling like a victim. This ongoing feeling of being a victim, of being useless or helpless or endlessly guilty – these are all natural feelings for rape victims and most spend forever trying to learn how to get rid of those feelings. For Taylor, the idea of take a plea deal instead of going through trial is more appealing; he doesn’t have to rely on his rapist’s testimony, and he doesn’t have to keep feeling victimized while on the stand.” Viruet finishes off the review by writing that “After spending 10 weeks with these two boys, we’re desperate to know more about what happened, but we know that this is how reality works: there are no clean endings, no right answers, and no resolution.”

Katie Barnes, of ESPN, begins her review by asking, “What was the point?” She discussed how there were very few storylines that were actually wrapped up. “Uncertainty, however, is precisely the point,” she writes, “There is no way to know the truth of what happened that night, not after everything that has happened.” This reviewer writes about the belief of the system’s wrongdoing with Taylor “The system ensured Taylor could not get justice for what happened to him, even turning him into a villain in many people’s eyes. The narrative trajectory is not unlike what many survivors of sexual assault experience.” Taylor has spent the whole season having be viewed at as a liar or as a victim. He could not find justice from his school, or the police. He should have been able to find comfort in those places, rather than pain. “The finale brought all of the swirling themes from this season together and left us on the edge of our seats wondering what will happen to Taylor. In some ways, we ended right where we started, but in others that couldn’t be further from the truth. When the screen faded to black, however, I couldn’t help thinking that if more characters in the show had cared to ask ‘What happened to Taylor?’ then we might have never gotten here in the first place.”

References

Harding, Kate (2015). Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture—And What We Can Do About It. Boston (MA): De Capo Press. ISBN 9780738217024.

Buchwald, Emilie; Fletcher, Pamela R.; Roth, Martha (2005). Transforming a Rape Culture. 2nd Edition. Minneapolis (MN): Milkweed Press. ISBN 9781571312693.

Clark, Annie E.; Pino, Andrea L. (2016). We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out. New York (NY): Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 9781627795333.

Category:2015 television episodes