The sixth episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, is titled “Descent,” and that’s very appropriate. We’ve already seen Andrew Cunanan’s murder spree where he killed five people. But now it’s time to go back even earlier to see the tipping point, the thing that pushed him into madness.
However, it’s not just one thing. This episode is filled, from start to finish, with potential reasons for why Andrew became a serial killer, from financial ruin to drug addiction to romantic jealousy to a mother who is more Norma Bates than June Cleaver.
Andrew’s Birthday Party
This episode starts in 1996 when Andrew is living in a lavish home owned by Norman, Andrew’s interior decorating “client.”. It’s one year before the murders and Andrew is celebrating his birthday, though it’s all one big attempt to woo David Madson.
Andrew is head-over-heels in love, romanticizing David as someone he could spend the rest of his life with. But he admits to his gal pal Lizzie that he’s pretending to be someone who he hopes David will love. He even gives Jeff an expensive present to give to him in front of David so that David will think Andrew’s friends love him.
The whole thing is obviously a crazy and terrible plan. Very few successful relationships are built on a foundation of deceit. Andrew reeks of desperation when David arrives and he seems to get a bit jealous when David and Jeff meet as they have an easy, flirtatious chemistry.
Andrew’s descent begins quickly, snorting cocaine to take the edge off and being confronted by Norman’s friend who sees Andrew for what he really is, a con man who uses people to get what he wants without working for it. Things get more chaotic for Andrew because Lee Miglin is also there, desperate to talk to him.
Lizzie takes a photo of Andrew with Norman, Lee, David and Jeff as Andrew says that he’s with all of the people he loves. That’s a tad heavy-handed, considering the fact that he’s going to murder three of them in the next year.
Andrew vs. Norman
After the party, Andrew has a list of demands for Norman if he’s to continue living with him, including being written into his will. Norman isn’t OK with this and reveals that he has investigated Andrew and knows that all of his fanciful stories about having millionaire parents are lies. Norma knows that Andrew was working in a thrift store two years ago, living with his mom in a condo.
Norman is willing to help Andrew by paying for him to go back to school and sharing his life with him, but Andrew is too proud. He doesn’t want to work for anything. Even after being confronted with the truth, Andrew still can’t help himself from lying and demanding that Norman give him what he wants. Norman refuses and Andrew has a hissyfit, throwing a chair through a glass table and leaving.
Andrew goes back to his crappy apartment. Jeff visits him, upset because his dad just received the infamous postcard. Jeff is very upset and also reveals that he’s moving to Minneapolis for a job. Andrew gets mad because he thinks Jeff is trying to steal David from him, but Jeff is simply tired of being unhappy.
Andrew and David’s Weekend Getaway
Desperate to win over David, Andrew calls him and invites him to Los Angeles for a weekend getaway in a five-star hotel. This is yet another story we’ve already heard about over the past few episodes, where Andrew spends a ridiculous amount of money to trick David into thinking that he’s rich and sophisticated.
David is impressed, but he explains to Andrew that he’s not the one for him. Andrew doesn’t accept this, insisting that they are meant to be together and David is the only person he truly loves. David explains that they had one fun night in San Francisco, but Andrew is making more out of it than it really was.
David tries to give Andrew one last chance to see if they can work as a couple, asking him for the truth about his parents. Andrew continues his wild lies about his rich, successful, loving parents, and it seems like David is starting to realize that none of this is true.
The Descent
After David leaves, Andrew goes to a gay bar and talks to a drug dealer, asking for something stronger than what he normally gets. This is the true descent. Andrew injects himself with crystal meth and goes into a hallucinatory dream where he meets Gianni Versace.
In his dream, Versace fits him for a suit while Andrew waxes poetic about how he’s so generous, giving everything to everyone, and he is left with nothing. Andrew turns into a total psycho, claiming that Versace thinks he’s better than him, insisting that they are the same and the only difference is that Versace got lucky. It’s clear from this dream sequence that Andrew is resentful and jealous, fixating on the fact that Versace is loved while he is not.
Andrew’s drug addiction quickly spirals out of control. Desperate for more money to buy more drugs, he goes to Norman’s home, but he’s locked out. Andrew begs to be let in, but Norman refuses.
With nowhere to go, Andrew visits a crappy condo and meets his mother. She’s exactly who Norman said she was and nothing like the literary publisher Andrew has claimed she is. She’s happy to see him and seems to be just as delusional as he is, believing that her son is a fancy, jet-setting success. She gives her adult son a bath, which is evidence that Andrew may have always been destined to be a serial killer because this is some real Norman Bates-level creepiness.
Andrew tries to tell her that he’s unhappy, but she’s off in her own world, complaining about all the big shots who look down on her, but now she can look down on them because her son travels the world with Versace, designing costumes for the opera. I see we’ve reached the point of the series where the show blames the awful mother for Andrew being the way that he is.
This episode certainly had a lot of triggers for Andrew: Norman kicking him out, David rejecting him, the paranoia over Jeff trying to steal David from him, spending way too much money, becoming more addicted to drugs and the way he was raised by his mother. Instead of giving one explanation, the show decides to throw a dozen reasons for Andrew’s descent into becoming a serial killer, and I guess you can decide which one you think is the primary reason.
What do you think was the biggest cause for Andrew’s descent?
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Recap: What Caused Andrew’s Descent Into Madness?
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