《美国的罪恶》（American Crime）S01E01《Episode One》

该剧由奥斯卡获奖电影《为奴十二年》（12 Years A Slave）的编剧John Ridley打造，故事描述一起带有种族色彩的谋杀案及随后的审判过程给所有相关人员造成的影响——包括受害人及其家人、罪犯及其家人等。当一对住在莫德斯托市的夫妇遭人入室行凶后，由此引出的社会问题在当地引发强烈反响，人们将它视为反映当代美国人种族观、阶级观和性别政治的一面镜子。

莫德斯托（Modesto）是一座安静祥和的小城市，位于旧金山的内陆地区，四周农田环绕。这里看起来充满田园风光，可那只代表这座城市的一部分——因为黑帮、毒品走私和吸毒等丑恶现象的出现，这里越来越成为犯罪的高发区。一对年轻夫妇在自己家中遭遇袭击的消息最近占据了各种新闻媒体的头版头条。退伍老兵Matt Skokie在案发时当场死亡，他的妻子Gwen遭到强奸，然后被打得不省人事。这起悲剧在当地社会引发一场地震，给已经十分紧张的种族关系火上浇油，受害人、嫌疑人和他们各自的家人因此被联系在一起。

Matt的父亲Russ（Timothy Hutton）接到警方的电话后立刻从亚利桑那州飞过来辨认儿子的尸体。他和他的前妻Barb（Felicity Huffman）已经很长时间没有见过面了。Russ过去式个赌鬼，不仅输光了家产，还毁掉了一个原本美好幸福的家庭，Barb至今仍在为这件事生气。Barb离婚后一直在一处公共住宅里独立抚养Matt和他兄弟——他们是那里唯一的白人孩子，因此遭到歧视和虐待，Barb为此而感到后悔。Russ在得到必要的帮助后戒掉了赌瘾，但他花了很长时间才修复了和两个儿子的关系。

Russ和Barb受到了Gwen的父母Tom（W. Earl Brown）和Eve（Penelope Ann Miller）的款待。看着躺在病床上昏迷不醒、只能靠生命维持设备来勉强活命的女儿，Eve几乎精神崩溃，整日以泪洗面。尽管医生称Gwen即便苏醒过来也没有完全康复的可能，但Tom和Eve仍然抱有一丝希望：他们相信坚强的女儿不会放弃生命，她一定能活下去。

摆在两对家长面对最紧迫的问题是：他们必须决定是否要接受媒体的采访。Tom和Eve还没有做好准备，但Barb却希望媒体能持续不断地在显要位置用大篇幅来报道此事，以便逼迫警方尽快将伤害孩子的凶手绳之以法。此时距离案发已经过去七天，警方的调查工作毫无头绪，没有任何一个嫌疑人遭到逮捕。但那一切很快就会改变。警方称他们打算逮捕四名嫌疑人，其中包括尚未成年的Tony Gutiérrez。

独自抚养Tony的单身父亲Alonzo（Benito Martinez）坚称儿子Tony和女儿Jenny循规蹈矩，从来不和黑社会沾边。但……事实上Tony从父亲的车库里借走了一辆车，跑去见一个叫Hector Tontz的黑帮匪徒（Richard Cabral）。这或许是因为Tony太害怕Hector，不敢拒绝他的要求。糟糕的是，这辆车在犯罪现场出现过，因此Tony被逮捕了。晚些时候，Hector因为使用受害人Matt的信用卡而被警方逮捕。警方抓获Hector之后，Hector大声喊冤，称自己是清白的。他很快供出了阴险狡诈的犯罪分子Carter。

Carter Nix（Elvis Nolasco）和年仅20岁的白人女友Aubrey Taylor（Caitlin Gerard）是毒瘾很大的瘾君子，仿佛时时刻刻都需要买毒品。他们没有正当职业，身无分文，为了弄钱时常干出一些不计后果的事情。他们到处惹祸——例如在一家夜总会里，Aubrey因为和一群黑人女孩的「兄弟」在一起而被她们暴打一顿。警察很快赶到Carter和Aubrey的住处将两人逮捕。或许他们早就认识受害人？在对Carter和Aubrey的住处进行搜查时，警方意外发现了一个令人不安的秘密，调查工作出现戏剧性的大转折。案情变得越来越复杂，案件规模变得越来越大，更多的涉案人员浮出水面，这些人的生活也将因此分崩离析。

角色详解

该剧中的角色非常多，情节相对复杂。如果你想弄懂「谁是谁」，最好先读读下面这些文字。精力所限，我就不翻译了。

Russ Skokie (Timothy Hutton) Estranged from his family for many years after his difficult divorce, Russ had only recently started to make inroads with his son Matt before Matt’s death. “[He] never really knew them as children because he was in prison and had abandoned them financially and left them alone with their mother,” McDonald says of Russ’ brief stint behind bars. “The little that he did know, he didn’t know the truth about who his son really was, and he has feelings of: If he had only done something different as a young father, would the same results have happened?” Russ is “humbled” and determined to right his wrongs. “The heartache of his life is, once he did straighten his life out and did his time … he was never able to repair the damage that he did to his immediate family,” McDonald says. Russ and Barb’s other son, Mark, will also be introduced later in the season.

Barb Hanlon (Felicity Huffman) Still icy toward her ex-husband for leaving her alone with two sons and little money, Barb is the most determined to understand what happened to her son. As she and Russ seek answers about Matt’s death, they are also “forced to deal with the ramifications” of their marriage as they struggle with the secrets that are revealed about their son and his family. These secrets also force the former couple to confront their own past. But for all of Barb’s obvious issues with her ex, she and Russ also struggle to find common ground with their daughter-in-law’s parents, Tom and Eve Carlin. “[Tom and Eve] have always looked at them as a fractured and a broken family,” McDonald says, citing Russ’ gambling problems specifically. “I wouldn’t say that they have turned their nose up at them, but they probably look down upon them as a working class family.”

Tom Carlin (W. Earl Brown) A conservative, upper-middle-class businessman, McDonald describes Tom as a “a proud member of the establishment.” A protestant Christian, his faith also plays an important role. “He relies on his faith and he does it in a way that is admirable and I think that we treat it with a lot of respect,” he says. “I wouldn’t say the word stoic; I would say he is an honest man of integrity.” With his daughter Gwen in critical condition, Tom starts “finding out things about his wife and his daughter that he did not expect,” McDonald says. “His daughter is not the pageant queen that she has portrayed and his daughter and his wife had a relationship that he was not a part of. … He was not as fully aware of everything.”

Eve Carlin (Penelope Ann Miller) Like her husband, Eve is very religious. Unlike her husband, Eve “knows the struggles and the good and the bad and the ugly,” about their daughter. “It was a troubled marriage [between their daughter and Matt] and Tom didn’t know anything about the struggles his daughter was going through, but the mother was a counsel and a friend to her and that’s exposed publicly and it’s very difficult for them,” McDonald says. “They’re a very solid relationship and they’ll stay solid and they’ll rely on each other and each other’s faith to get through it, but it will cause a tension that they did not necessarily share everything.”

Alonzo Gutierrez (Benito Martinez) A widower and a devout Roman Catholic, Alonzo and his wife came to America legally in their teens. “They came here through the system and have always stayed within the system,” McDonald says. A business owner and a homeowner, Alonzo is “a believer in the system and that if you work hard and you don’t break the rules, then you’ll succeed,” McDonald says. “He feels like he is living the American dream and he just wants to keep his children on the straight and narrow and wants to instill in them that same work ethic.”

Tony Gutierrez (Johnny Ortiz) Because of his strict father, Tony is “a good middle class kid that is a little naïve too,” McDonald says. “His dad’s protection has kept him a little bit in a safe zone so he doesn’t really know how hard it can be out there and how difficult the streets can be.” Neither Tony nor his father have a criminal record, so when questions are raised about Tony’s involvement in Matt’s death, the entire family struggles. “I don’t think he has any idea what’s happening. Nor does his dad,” McDonald says. “That’s a big awakening for them as a family.” Father and son’s close bond will be tested. “To have it be exposed that your father is not as strong and can’t protect you makes Tony start to question that relationship,” he says. “As Tony gets into the juvenile system and becomes more part of that world, I think Alonzo is more afraid of, maybe, he doesn’t know who his son is.”

Hector Tonz (Richard Cabral) McDonald predicts that Hector will be the “most surprising character” to viewers. “In the pilot, he has tattoos. He’s a little bit of a gangster. He’s in jail. We don’t know what’s going on with him,” McDonald says. “He’s a very complicated person. There’s a heart of gold underneath that man and there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in why he’s doing this.” He may do questionable things, but “this is the only way he knows how to get by and it’s not out of choice,” McDonald says. “One of the things about this character that we wanted to do is present a stereotype to some degree and peel back the onion and realize who this man really is.”

Aubry Taylor (Caitlin Gerard) A free spirit who “wants to experience everything” and a “rebel,” according to McDonald, Aubry is rarely seen without her better half, Carter. “That’s the only person who really loves her and she’s going to hold on to him as tight as she can,” McDonald says. “She came out of the foster care system so when people come through that, they never really feel safe, and because they never really have a home, they never really have someone who they feel really truly loves them.” It doesn’t help matters that both Aubry and Carter are addicted to drugs. “When you look at people who are addicted to drugs, they tend to be addicted to feelings and emotions,” McDonald says.

Carter Nix (Elvis Nolasco) The allegations against Carter in regards to Matt’s death will pit his significant other, Aubry, against his sister, Aliyah (Regina King). “He had a job. He had a fiancée and when he met Aubry, she exposed him to this life of not just drugs but of living life to the fullest and of not being so shackled to the system,” McDonald says. “A strong black Muslim woman,” Aliyah will first pop up in Episode 3 to “try to pull [Carter] back to the world he once had before these two found each other,” he says. Carter once had a very close relationship with his sister, when he was in his teens and 20s, after the death of their parents. “She had no faith and he found this faith in this woman and in this drug culture and this living on the edge of society, and I think [Carter and Aliyah] come together in a way that is very powerful,” McDonald says. “It’s a beautifully heartbreaking relationship to see them try to get through this experience with her brother in prison. She has very strong beliefs, preconceived beliefs about race that we examine, and I think that plays into their relationship, too.”