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The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

There’s no doubt that the ’90s were a different time. The internet was in its infancy, cell phones were massive bricks, and people all across this great nation could smoke indoors like it wasn’t a big gross deal.

The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story salutes our former, looser attitudes towards indoor smoking by showing us the strong bond that Los Angeles District Attorney Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson) had with those delicious cancer sticks. We’re often told throughout the series that Nicole and O.J. were in love, but the only real passion we see onscreen is when Marcia sucks on her cigarettes.

The jury might be losing their goddamned minds, but Marcia’s keeping her cool…by lighting up. How many did she get to burn this week?

Cigarette #1

Marcia Clark is a queen and the courthouse smoking lounge is her kingdom. Johnnie Cochran might be the ringleader of the trial’s media circus, but in here, he’s a scab. She will pick him off, slowly at first, gingerly testing the wound, until she grows bored and rips him off. Oh, and how she destroys him! She tells this man to fly hence to the day care! For this is the smokers’ lounge, only adults — smart, sexy, self-assured, single, high-strung, stubborn, cancer-ridden adults — are allowed here. Be gone, peasant! The queen needs her “me time.”

Cigarette #2

Can a truce be made? Can common ground be found? Can two people so diametrically opposed to one another agree to disagree? Scholars and philosophers have tried to unravel this puzzle for millennia, but it all comes down to coffee. Johnnie offers Marcia a sweet cup of concord for her troubles. Will she accept it? Yes. Will she bow to him? No. Will they calm it with the jury selection war? Sort of. But who needs friends in life when you already have the constant companionship of nicotine addiction?