Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.doesnt seem like it should be necessary.
The names Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.
ButUnsolvedonly focuses on the rappers lives for a fraction of its running time.
(Kading, who wrote the bookMurder Rap, is also a coexecutive producer ofUnsolved.)
From the very beginning,Unsolvedannounces that its scope will be large and its lens will be wide.
One of them is black and the other is a white dude who could pass for Joe Dirt.
For a couple of minutes, as all of this transpires, it feels like the channels been changed.
What has any of this got to do with Biggie Smalls or Tupac Shakur?
The whole Lyga-Gaines sequence directed, along with four other episodes, by executive producer andPeople v. O.J.
The sequence is compelling, but its also purposeful, adjectives that apply to much ofUnsolved.
Another adjective that applies, at times, toUnsolved: overwhelming.
I watched the first seven episodes back-to-back and sometimes had to do some internet research to keep my bearings.
Its not a deal-breaker by any means.
In fact,Unsolveds sense of detail is one of the things that elevates it.
But bear in mind that you really need to pay full mental attention to this show.
Blame it on the fact that there are too many bios on these guys already.
It helps, too, that the cast of this thing is so superb.
Yes, I could.
Will I ever see Pierce in a TV show and not immediately and joyfully shout Bunk!
despite the fact that this wonderful actor has appeared in hundreds of other shows and movies other thanThe Wire?
No, I will not.
In an ensemble this solid, it can be challenging for one performance to emerge as a standout.
Simpson physically and emotionally illustrates that internal struggle beautifully; he should be remembered when Emmy-nomination time comes around.
I am no expert on the Smalls or Shakur cases not even close.
But you cant argue with the fact thatUnsolved, just likeThe People v. O.J.
That picture tells us there arent merely two sides to this American crime story.
There are a whole lot more than that.
