FX's new miniseries Clipped on Hulu is based on Ramona Shelburne's ESPN 30 for 30 podcast The Sterling Affairs. Like the podcast, the new series, executive produced by Gina Welch (Castle Rock, Feud), takes viewers behind the scenes of one of the most disturbing events in the history of professional sports. The entire story unfolds as if the narrative were one giant racist cliché. However, what happens is terrifyingly real.
Welch captures critical figures guilty of their revealing and astonishing ignorance. Clipped focuses its attention on three notable people. One of them is Coach Doc Rivers (an incredibly effective Laurence Fishburne). After winning an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, Rivers takes his abrasive style to the land of sun-drenched dreams: not to the Lakers, but to sports' biggest joke, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Creator: Gina WelchStars: Kelly AuCoin, Michael Heidemann, Jock McKissic
The Clippers have been a clumsy franchise for decades. Its owner, Ronald Sterling (Ed O'Neill, playing the darkly unconscious man), and his wife, Shelly (a phenomenal Jacki Weaver, giving the series its most complex performance), hire Doc to turn their life around. the franchise. However, Rivers soon discovers that Ronald Sterling needs more boundaries and a filter. He even tells Doc not to hire a player because he's white.
Doc struggles to minimize the owner's toxic influence. However, that becomes impossible when Ronald unleashes a series of racist, clumsy, and delusional rants on the audience. He is recorded by his assistant, V. Stiviano (Cleopatra Coleman of The Last Man on Earth), whom Ronald has been “mentoring” for years. The series then focuses on how Rivers keeps the team focused under grueling circumstances that spill over onto the court.
Clipped is a compelling and uncomfortable experience, focusing on making a sobering comedy out of the situation. The writers of the series emphasize the theme of ignorance on multiple fronts, drawing critical lines with the ignorance of the main characters as a central theme. Welch and his staff cleverly lead the Sterlings, for lack of a better term, to hang themselves as if they were his life in a rich white bubble that eventually bursts.
This isn't a Disney movie, so it's not like these characters are going to learn their lesson. This ignorance runs deep, and the couple reportedly made their fortunes as slumlords in historic minority communities. Ron is cheeky but doesn't seem to realize that his thought process is wrong. Shelly seems warm and horrified by her husband's actions, but she carelessly defends him and boldly claims that he is not racist, not by a long shot.
O'Neill's natural expression, which is very difficult to interpret, is comical and quickly turns the Sterling man into a joke. Even Coleman's character shows ignorance by trying to exploit an oil well of social media fame. Fishburne's Rivers watches most of the series and plays a fish-out-of-water character. He sees the property's behaviors for the first time while his players already experience them firsthand.
While his character is even ignorant, trying to keep his team focused on sports when something of greater importance happens around him, the gravity of the situation comes to a head in the two best scenes of the Serie. One is when Fishburne approaches the NBA commissioner, since handling the situation on his own has become too much. The other confronts Shelly when she finally tells him how she feels about the Sterling family.
This is where Clipped comes into its own, becoming a cultural satire that begins to take its toll. The series doesn't quite manage to keep the narrative tone and storytelling consistent. (Also, the supporting actors are overshadowed by the leads); The episodes “Let the Games Begin” and “Winning Ugly” best represent the series. However, directed by the outstanding Fishburne, the series is always thought-provoking entertainment, no matter where it leads.
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