'American Crime' Spoilers, Plot Recap: Series Premiere Deals With Murder Aftermath

"American Crime" premiered on Thursday at 10/9c on ABC and brought with it an interesting premise and a closer look at race relations in the United States.

The series took off with the police informing Russ Skokie (Timothy Hutton) about the murder of his son Matt (Grant Merritt), an Iraq war veteran, inside his home in Modesto, C.A. Matt's wife Gwen was injured in the apparent home invasion. She subsequently lapsed into a coma as a result of the assault and possible rape.

Russ flew to Modesto joined by his former wife, Barb (Felicity Huffman) who, when she heard that the assailant was possibly a Hispanic man, described him as an "illegal."

The suspects involved in the murder were shown. First up was a tattooed Hispanic man named Hector (Richard Cabral), who used Matt's credit card to buy headphones. Police found out that he was a low-level member of a crime gang.

Meanwhile, a Latino father, Alonzo (Benito Martinez), was seen reminding his daughter and son about the need to adhere to their strict family values and to always stay within the bounds of the law. He objected to his daughter dating. He then warned his employee not to bring tattooed people to the workplace. Finally he attempted to bond with his son Tony (Johnny Ortiz) by helping him repair a classic car.

The story then shifted to Barb. She revealed that after her divorce, she had to bring up her two sons in a public housing project and had to face racial discrimination because she was white. This left her bitter and resentful of the "illegals," blaming them for the death of her son as she spoke to a reporter.

Also part of the narrative was a portion devoted to a mixed race couple, a black man Carter (Elvis Nolasco) and a white woman Aubrey (Caitlin Gerard) who were both drug addicts. While at a bar, their drugs were stolen and this led to Carter beating a drug dealer to get more. Meanwhile, the cops found out that the car belonging to Tony was used to commit the crime. They subsequently took him into custody. Tony told the cops that he had lent the car to Hector for $50. This did not prevent the police from arresting him as a suspect.

The police also arrested Hector after he tipped the police about Carter's involvement. The police then arrested Carter and his girlfriend Aubrey. They latter offered to release Aubrey if she admitted that Carter was involved in the crime.

The twist in the plot happened in the last part of the episode when Russ was informed by Detective Thompson that a large amount of drugs was found in Matt's home which pointed towards him being an addict and a dealer.