The series that defies expectations: American Crime

American Crime wrapped Season 3 - probably the last season, as the New Yorker reported -and I have to state once more that I'm blown away by the quality of this series, far better than we have any reason to expect from a network broadcast. Time and again, we expect, from a lifetime of conditioning, that these seasons (each season is a completely separate drama, with no overlapping characters, but with many actors appearing in two or all 3 seasons, notably Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton, both extraordinary in very different, and demanding, roles) will go for reconciliation, for some form of a happy resolution at least in some of the plot lines, but John Ridley's vision is always more dark and, frankly, more honest. One example among many, in the final episode Huffman engages in a heart-to-heart with her drug-addicted, imprisoned sister, explaining how she and her husband are seeking custody of her sister's two young girls; we expect something like thanks, gratitude, a pledge to overcome the addiction and step back into the family on release from prison - but, no, the sister is angry and accusative and bitter. This scene - and many others - have the trademark Ridley attributes - extreme close-ups, really focusing in on what the characters are saying, focusing on expression - a true stage actor's talent - and, as Emily Nussbaum noted inthe NYer, very little use of music, and these scenes could be used in an acting class: limited by highly charged text, what can different actors make of these scenes, now far can they push them, in what directions? What should their faces say? As in each season, Season 3 was not about a single "American Crime" but about several crimes; the plot strands - death and murder in migrant labor camp, runaway teen addicted to Rx, mistreatment of Haitian nanny being the 3 main ones - coincide in time and place but have only slight overlaps - until the final episode when, as M. noted, the series comes together by bringing all the main characters into a courtroom, where some will confess, others begin a trial: It's as if one were to look at everyone in a courtroom on the same day and think, what are your stories? What brought such different people to the same place?