What I’m Watching: American Crime Story: Impeachment

American Crime Story: Impeachment: Season 3, Episode 5 “Do You Hear What I Hear?” (B)

We’re slowly getting to the meat of this story, when Monica’s story begins to become public and there’s no turning back. That’s the part I know a little bit more about, including certain names like Ken Starr. Dan Bakkedahl, an actor I’ve seen in comedic parts in “Life in Pieces” and “Made for Love,” doesn’t seem the most natural fit to play him, but this show has also cast other performers like Billy Eichner who represent out-of-the-box choices. It does all feed in to the sensational nature of this show, like with Monica becoming increasingly paranoid while “Carol of the Bells” was playing at Linda’s Christmas party, though of course she didn’t have any idea how much more worried she should have been given that Linda was actively working to deceive and record her, panicked about how to protect herself when she was informed that the single-party recordings she had done in Maryland were illegal. The eagerness of the investigators to get their hands on the recordings was understandable given how they would clearly prove something even if they weren’t technically admissible, something that has come up repeatedly in recent years with figures like Donald Trump and Bill Cosby where the disqualification of certain existence didn’t mean exoneration but rather that it couldn’t legally be used against them in court. Mike’s assertion that having the tapes was a relief since a jury would hate Linda indicates that her celebrity whistleblower status won’t be what she imagined, and there’s no way that Monica is going to see what she’s done as any sort of protective or friendly act.