Despite all the sensationalism, Aaron Hernandez’s story is a sad one. First and foremost for his victims, who were mercilessly murdered and injured for no reason, and also for Hernandez himself, who lost an enormous amount of talent and opportunity because he could not overcome his demons.

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandezthe first part of Ryan Murphy’s spin-off of American crime storychronicles the rise of University of Florida and New England Patriots tight end from humble beginnings to fall from the athletic mountaintop, and dramatizes the many factors that conspired to doom him. Star-less but with a strong lead performance from Josh Rivera, it’s compulsively watchable and detailed, if—in Murphy tradition—about as subtle as a gridiron gang tackle.

Despite a few flash-forwards in the first two episodes, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandezpremiering September 17 on FX, is a simple overview of Hernandez’s life, beginning in Bristol, Connecticut, where he and his brother DJ (Ean Castellanos) were groomed as football players as kids by their father Dennis (Vincent Laresca), a domineering former UConn star who sabotaged his dreams by getting involved in a robbery that left a police officer dead.

Dennis is hostile toward his wife, Terry (Tammy Blanchard), and controlling toward his children, though part of the latter is driven by his desire to see D.J. and, especially, Aaron, avoid the mistakes he made. To do so, he demands that Aaron follow in his footsteps and join D.J., an aspiring quarterback, at his alma mater. When Dennis suddenly dies, however, Aaron is enticed by a recruiter to transfer to the University of Florida, where he plays under Coach Urban Meyer (Tony Yazbeck), who is similarly concerned about Aaron’s tendency to party and get into trouble but nonetheless recognizes that his gifts could lead him to the NFL.

Michael Parmelee/FX

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez introduces Dennis and Urban as the first of Aaron’s many father figures who nurture his abilities and disappoint him by refusing to stay with him and curb his worst impulses. Created by Stu Zicherman (based on the Boston Globe and Wondery podcast “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez & Football, Inc.”), the series passes the buck without letting Aaron get away with it, and that balance helps offset the overall bluntness.

Aaron’s fixation on living up to Dennis’s idea of ​​masculinity is complicated by his homosexuality, which he hides to avoid the arrows and slings of virtually everyone around him, who uses the f-slur to emphasize their intolerance. This is confusing and frustrating for Aaron, who dates many women—and marries and has a child with high school sweetheart Shayanna Jenkins (Jaylen Barron)—while simultaneously having secret affairs with both a classmate and, later, coach Chris (Jake Cannavale), whose affections he can’t resist.

Rivera is constantly at the center of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandezand his nuanced and angry performance is the main reason to stick with the show. His Aaron is a man at constant war between his light and dark instincts, and he captures his pain, resentment, and anger without sentimentalizing him; the character is both a byproduct of his upbringing and circumstances, and an individual who, regardless of his poor role models and unfortunate losses, actively chose to make the wrong decisions.

He is fundamentally fragmented and has little to hold on to to keep him on the right path. He is an uncontrollable phenomenon, yet remains successful while losing his grip on himself. Rivera portrays him with equal parts heart and menace.

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez portrays its protagonist as a child with evil desires and a victim of paternal control, sexual abuse (by his uncle), domestic turmoil (forcing him to live with his cousin Tanya (Lindsay Mendez), who often feuds with Terry), and a culture in college and professional football that allows for misconduct as long as young men perform on the field.

This is all true, and yet the show’s lack of sensitivity often makes it seem overly obvious, killing any mystery or suspense. As Urban betrays his promise to mold Aaron into an adult, New England coach Bill Belichick (Norbert Leo Butz)—who drafts him after being rejected by numerous teams for understandable character issues—makes it clear that he’s no babysitter. Still, he and the team, along with Aaron’s agent Brian Murphy (Thomas Sadoski), work hard to protect Aaron from the consequences of his actions, teaching him that he can get away with anything—a lesson that ultimately proves to be his undoing.

Eric Liebowitz/FX

Ten episodes, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez takes the time to untangle the many threads that entangle Aaron, from the tensions between his marriage and his homosexual affairs, to his endless pot smoking, to his friendship with Alexander Sherrod (Roland Buck III), a drug dealer who shot Aaron in the face (out of insane paranoia) but didn’t kill him. That crime isn’t the only one Aaron commits, as it’s preceded by a fatal drive-by shooting and followed by the execution of Shayanna’s sister’s boyfriend Odin Lloyd (J. Alex Brinson). In each case, the motivating factors are Aaron’s violent tendencies (rooted in his warped ideas about masculinity) and drug-addled delusions, not to mention a brain damaged by years of concussions, as post-mortem findings reveal that he suffered from extreme CTE.

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez‘s protagonist is a perfect storm of corrosive influences, horrible situations and inner torment, all culminating in his incarceration for multiple murders and a drug-fueled suicide. Zicherman’s series is never tasteless or insensitive, treating its material with a melancholic sobriety that turns it into a minor tragedy. Nevertheless, it is often sloppy, to the point where it feels a bit like a Wikipedia article come to life.

Nor do the cheap CGI effects for the football action and characterizations conceived in no more than two dimensions help matters, whether it’s the hard-nosed Urban, the hard-nosed Belichick or the pious Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger), who fails to use Jesus to correct Aaron’s wayward course. Still, this latest ripped-from-the-headlines saga is never dull and often gripping for casual viewers and NFL fans alike, and Laith Wallschleger’s Rob Gronkowski gives it a surefire shot of perpetual brilliance.