If we very briefly imagine the previous seven hours of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace as a kind of twisted superhero movie, then this eighth episode is very much the ‘origins’ prequel. The penultimate episode reaches way, way back into the two lives of the main protagonists and gives some fascinating and much-needed context and explanation for the grisly events that were to follow.

This week’s slice of The Assassination of Gianni Versace recovers well from previous weeks’ ever-so-slight slackness, delivering a quite remarkable hour of television. It’s a tale of childhood. Well, two childhoods, to be exact. The first is that of the famous fashion designer of the title. We see his supportive, caring and loving mother nurturing his gift for design and instilling into him values like hard work and dedication. The second childhood is that of Andrew Cunanan’s – the spree killer who would go on to gun Versace down outside his home in 1997. As you can imagine, the parallels between the two backstories are limited, to say the very least…

While Young Versace is encouraged, involved and taught how things work, Young Cunanan is put on a mile-high pedestal by his domineering father. Constantly told he’s special and better than others with little explanation as to why, we quickly discover how Andrew grows up into the man he does. He sees his father schmooze, lie, cheat, scheme, steal, use violence and ultimately run when things got too hot – tricks the older Andrew will employ all too readily as 1997 approaches.

The reverse chronology of the series has left us wondering if we would get a full explanation or exploration as to Andrew’s psychology and, at the beginning of this week’s instalment, we were still slightly concerned. But such was the level of detail and realism that followed, the audience’s patience and dedication so far were to be rewarded no end. Our killer is now a fully-rounded figure.

There’s been a rather familiar pattern to this series and this week’s episode wasn’t keen to break the mould. Each episode seems to glimpse the famous Versace but cut away from him – leaving you wanting more. We’re then shown Andrew Cunanan, expertly and mesmerisingly played by Darren Criss. To top it off, every week, a new character is paraded and the actor behind them totally steals the show. This week that thief is John John Briones, who steals the show so brazenly and completely there should probably be a warrant out for the man’s arrest.

While portraying Andrew’s abusive father Modesto Cunanan, a Filipino immigrant, Briones also guides us through a secondary subtext – that of the deception of The American Dream. It’s a familiar trope for US TV and movies to explore, but it’s no less fascinating for it. Modesto buys into ‘The Dream’. He works hard. He starts a family. He continues to work hard. He erects a flag in his front yard that he proudly salutes each morning. He carries on working hard… And in the end? He’s left with very little. The American Dream works for America, but not the average American. It’s an interesting side note to the episode’s narrative and helps round out Andrew Cunanan’s worldview somewhat.

Another little story that’s played out – again, not first the first time – is that of the damage that greed can do. Modesto’s trade is stockbroking and seeing his rise and fall brings to mind shades of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. The violence and destruction that the 1980’s need for greed caused also hints a little at Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho.

The structure of this series, which we had been slightly concerned about, has turned out to be a stroke of genius. We started with the crime. Then we slowly worked backwards to see how it came to be. And just as we learn the ‘origins’ backstory of Versace’s murderer and begin to feel sorry for him, we move into next week’s final episode. Where, presumably, we’ll see the cold-blooded slaying once more and the frantic manhunt, followed by the story’s conclusion.

There is still a slight disconnect between Andrew Cunanan the man and Andrew Cunanan the murderer, though. Perhaps the final episode will fill in that blank for us. Or perhaps we’ll be left with the altogether more difficult dilemma of how to process a strangely likeable killer of four innocent people. We’ll have to wait and see.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace episode 8 review – Dead Good