American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace
No series this year has a closer relationship between its form and its function than The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the second volume of Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology drama, American Crime Story. Written entirely by Tom Rob Smith, the nine-episode season tracks the murders of the world-famous designer and four other victims by Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), a gay man who envied Versace’s lifestyle but lacked any of the positive qualities that earned it. Assassination disarms the audience by starting where many assumed it would end, with Cunanan shooting Versace on the steps of his South Beach mansion. Smith then moves backward in time and broader in focus than the celebrity who serves as its Trojan horse, giving the three other gay men who died at Cunanan’s hands their own extended eulogies. Assassination is one of the more damning portrayals of cultural and internalized homophobia ever dramatized; by withholding an origin story for Andrew until the very end, the show throws the spotlight not just on his victims, but on the society that created him. No wonder it didn’t become a smash hit. — Herman
The Best TV of 2018—So Far
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