The previous two Season 15 episodes were of exceptionally high quality, "Surrender Benson" was surrounded by a lot of hype and lived up to it in a tension laden and superbly performed episode. And "Imprisoned Lives" was a perfect example of how to do a ripped from the headlines storyline well and one of the better and more tactful examples of this type of story from the latter seasons (which is saying a lot, as most of the later ones weren't great).
"American Tragedy" unfortunately was a major disappointment. Not a tragedy of an episode but after following on from such a promising start it was a shame to see such a drastic decline on a story that could easily have been done well. While having its moments, "American Tragedy" suffers from being over-stuffed, over-written and from being heavy handed and not in good taste. Didn't care for it on first watch, and don't care for it every bit as much.
It does have good things. It is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. That the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time is great too. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much.
Did think that the regulars were fine and Raul Esparza continues to bring so much spark to his material, just like he gave so much spark throughout his time on the show. Jeffrey Tambor is suitably smarmy and is a sturdy presence.
Cannot say the same for Cybil Shepherd, who comes over as very stiff and melodramatic here throughout. Hated how her character was written too, to the extent that it unbalanced the episode by a large degree, found her to be too caricaturish and too much of a cartoon. Actually found myself not caring at all whether she was guilty or innocent. None of the supporting characters are interesting or worth caring for, and one of the episode's biggest problems is the distastefully one-sided and stereotypical portrayal of southern people. There is a lot of trite and over-heated dialogue, other than some nice one liners from Barba. Too much of it also came over as too preachy.
Which was true for "American Tragedy" as an overall whole, preachy and too much of a political statement while exploiting a still raw case by staying too faithful to it. The story in particular is badly executed, it has such a kitchen sink-like quality to it. It tries to do too much and ends up not being tense or suspenseful in the least. Olivias therapist subplot is illuminating for her character but slows the episode down in momentum. Couldn't get past Bill Irwin's creepiness in 'CSI' to find him plausible as a sympathetic doctor. The ending is unrealistic.
Overall, mediocre at best disappointment. 4/10.