"If the glove don't fit, you must acquit," Chandra tells the jury while questioning Detective Box, evoking, for the second time this trial, one of the most infamous murder cases in American history. She's referring to Naz's inhaler, which was found on Andrea's blood-drenched bed, tagged as evidence, photographed, processed. Then Box handed it through the holding cell's bars to Naz, who was struggling to breathe while in police custody. But, Chandra argues, it wasn't an act of mercy. Box gave Naz his inhaler back because it didn't fit the picture of a brutal murderer. It's an interesting theory—one that will never be fully explained. But why would she reference the O.J. Simpson trial here? It's a case in which a man famously walked free against overwhelming evidence against him.

It's a reference that The Night Of writers saved for the second-to-last episode in this eight-part series. They waited to remind us—when all the evidence had been laid out and both sides rested their cases—just before we, the jury, made our decision. We didn't see the jury selection process. We've only seen brief glimpses of the jury in the last few episodes. That's because the jury is all of us watching this case unfold on our TVs and computer screens, just as we watched OJ's trial in the '90s, and every high profile murder since then. The Night Of blurs the lines between reality and fiction. The intense realism of the show—right down to the stunning monotony of the court system—in many ways feels more lifelike than the glossy, sensationalized media coverage of OJ's and other trials. Chandra's glove comment, for all the good it did in court, was an allusion to our obsession with the reality and fiction of crime, true or otherwise. It's a comment that referenced, all at once, the parallels between O.J. and Naz, which have been plastered on our screens since the '90s: Racism in criminal justice, trials in the media, storytelling in court, arrogance of the prosecution.

But, in the context of this murder trial, Chandra's glove comment serves another purpose—it's the moment Box realizes he has the wrong guy. In her questioning of Box, Chandra builds the story of a detective, days away from retirement, who botched his final investigation. Why didn't he interview Duane Reade or Trevor Williams or Mr. Day? Think back to the very brief opening scene of this episode: Box is standing over another dead body. "What we have here is the same scenario as Andrea Cornish, wouldn't you agree? So where are all the news trucks?" Box asks the other detective. The camera switches to an overhead shot, and we see the the butchered remains of a young black woman way uptown, which is to say not a young white woman on the Upper West Side.

You'd think one of the city's best detectives with 33 years experience would pause and investigate a possible connection to Cornish. But, like the glove, a second murder doesn't fit with the narrative Box and the D.A. have stitched together. Whether consciously or subconsciously, he fucked up. And up on the courtroom stand he realizes it. Entering his own retirement party—the music playing, his friends handing him bullshit gifts and golf clubs—Box is distracted. His mind is on his final case and the innocent kid he might be putting away for life. If these bodies are indeed connected, what could that mean? That would likely point to Trevor Williams, Mr. Day or Duane Reade. It seems unlikely that Andrea's step father—notwithstanding the fact that he is a douche larger than the state of Rhode Island—would kill again, given his motive was money and not bloodlust.

With the series framed as such, we're left with the same question: Who killed Andrea Cornish?

There's no need to go through every piece of evidence, because we've seen all of it in excruciating detail. But there were a few twists in the courtroom that are worth noting. The prosecution is working to chip away at Naz's Bambi image (something he's not helping with what with the shaved head, the "sin" and "bad" tattoos and the occasional crack smoking...). Helen has called in a classmate who testifies that Naz sold him Adderall. They've also brought to the stand an old school administrator, who tells the jury that Naz was the only student who sent two others to the hospital for bullying him after 9/11. Two. Not just the one we, and Naz's defense, knew of.

But the defense, thanks to the holy-feeted John Stone, has a couple of their own tricks for the courtroom. There's Dr. Katz, who testifies that there was a missing knife from the house, that the blood on the knife was the result of a game, that the back door didn't lock, and that you could access the room through an upstairs window. All compelling arguments, which the prosecution tries to nullify by characterizing him as a famous pathologist who testifies in high profile trials, like, oh yeah, O.J. Simpson's.

We should also talk about bars. We've seen a lot of them in The Night Of, but in Episode Seven, they're more restricting than ever. This episode closes with Box sitting in a bar, looking not at all excited to take those new golf clubs for a spin and kick off his twilight years. Naz and Chandra share a kiss from behind bars, an extremely awkward moment between a prisoner and a civilian. (It's a not altogether believable kiss that brings to mind the perceived intimacy between Serial's Sarah Koenig and Adnan Syed.)

The most menacing bar of all in this episode was at the gym. Andrea's step dad, Don, picked up on John Stone trailing him. He knew Stone talked to his co-workers and his ex-wife, Jean Rothman, who had to call the police when Don assaulted her (she also kinda came on to Stone with a playful touch of her toes, because this show can't shake that foot fetish). So Don chokes Stone with the bench press bar. ("Bro, can I just get a spot bro?!") Then Don threatens Stone and his family. He's really not looking all that innocent.

But Naz isn't really looking innocent either. In fact, we know he's not innocent now. In a stunning final scene, Naz and Freddy walk from their cells to the main floor, where Naz distracts the guard (by picking up a new inhaler, of all things) while Freddy kills the man who had been receiving blow jobs from Petey. The transformation is complete. Though Naz's hand wasn't on the razor blade melted to a tooth brush, he's now a murderer. Whether he killed Andrea or not, in prison Naz has become the animal that his mother fears. Who can we blame?

So, we're left with that decision. There's so much evidence for and against Naz. There are a handful of other potential murderers with compelling motives. We've seen it all—living and re-living the night of a gruesome murder. We know what happened before. We know what happened after. But we don't know what happened when Andrea Cornish was stabbed multiple times in her bed. We might not ever know. But we still have to make a decision. Make it now, before the jury reads its verdict on TV next Sunday.

Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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