This season of "American Crime" is about a lot of things -- racism, classism, homophobia, sexual assault, masculinity, mental health and more. But perhaps the most important topic explored is relationships between parents and their children.
No episode has demonstrated this truth better than Episode 7.
Kevin LaCroix and Eric Tanner are prime examples. Eric has internalized shame about his gay identity due to his mother's homophobia, and Kevin parrots his mother about women chasing after him for his money.
Becca Sullivan, Coach Dan Sullivan's daughter, is another example. Until this episode, she hadn't played a big role, but we've recently learned that she is the resident drug dealer at The Leyland School. She sells Taylor Blaine the drugs that ultimately lead to his downward spiral, resulting in him taking a gun to Leyland.
What is interesting and heartbreaking about the scenario is that Taylor asks Becca to "hang out," which is apparently code for sex. She makes some crack about him being gay, and blows him off when he confesses that he just needed to be with someone. But the fact that Taylor shot a classmate is not solely Becca's fault, and that's important to acknowledge.
If there's one thing I can predict this season, it's that Coach Sullivan won't be paying attention or asking the hard questions of his daughter or his team. Speaking as someone who has coached basketball, I believe it would be nearly impossible for him not to overhear the hateful language his players use casually. He prefers an ignorance is bliss philosophy. He doesn't want to know what happened at the Captains' Party or what's going on with his daughter. He's a hands-off parent and coach, and so it makes sense that his daughter would mirror that behavior with Taylor. Becca doesn't want to know anything about Taylor's struggles beyond how she can help solve them with drugs. If she had spent time listening to him, maybe Taylor never would have spiraled. Maybe.
Let's talk about Taylor.
He shot Wes, one of the basketball players who beat him up at the end of Episode 6. How he got to that point is a mixture of a lack of mental wellness, drugs, and good, old-fashioned resentment. But another equally important factor is Anne Blaine, his mother.
Taylor doesn't report the assault by the basketball players. Instead, he hides out with the guy he's seeing (the creepy bathroom guy from a couple episodes back). Taylor doesn't even tell his mother. His counselor keeps telling him to confront things or else the stress of it all will get to him. It's easy to point to this as a premonition for what ultimately happens this episode, but I think that's only a piece of the puzzle.
So much of Taylor's interactions with his mother in the early episodes are him begging her to let everything go so this can all be over. Taylor has received very public backlash in his world. Everyone in his immediate surroundings knows some story of what happened to him. Everyone has an opinion about him and his family. He has no space to heal, and almost no one believes him anyway. Anne, though well meaning, ended up creating many unintended consequences for her son. It is impossible to separate Anne's missteps from Taylor's ultimate action.
"American Crime" is encouraging parents to rethink how they approach their children. Though this may feel like an extreme scenario, "American Crime" makes it feel real.
That's why it's terrifying.
Lines That Haunt Me
"It feels like you're swimming, while the rest of us are sinking a little deeper" -- Coach Dan Sullivan
"We could have done this much better" -- Leslie Graham
"I just wanna be with somebody" -- Taylor Blaine
Catch new episodes of "American Crime" on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Katie Barnes is a digital media associate at ESPN. Follow them on Twitter at Katie_Barnes3.