Editor’s Rating: ★★★★☆
As we learn more about Andrew Cunanan in this episode, I have a very serious question: Is it considered skinny dipping if he’s still wearing goggles? I find it very curious that Andrew swans around this big, expensive home in La Jolla, a wealthy suburb of San Diego, and dives into the pool overlooking the ocean in his birthday suit, but takes time out to put on some reflective goggles that make him look like a figure in a David Hockney painting as he emerges from the water.
All joking aside, we all knew this wasn’t Andrew’s house. Instead, it belongs to a wealthy older gay gentleman named Norman. Not only is Norman rich and willing to keep Andrew in the manner in which he’s become accustomed, he’s also rather handsome. And he also hasn’t made Andrew put out in three months, either. This is the easiest salary a rent boy like Andrew has ever drawn.
It’s the day of Andrew’s big birthday party and we learn a number of things very quickly. First of all, he is deeply disliked by Norman’s friends, a set of old queens with the vicious tongues right out of Boys in the Band (now back on Broadway!) because they think that Andrew is only interested in Norman for his money. Gil even reminds Andrew that he is nothing more than Norman’s employee, something that his fragile ego can hardly bear to grapple with.
The other thing we learn is that he’s willing to enlist his closest friends in his lies. He tells his friend Lizzie that she has to help him convince David, who is coming from Minneapolis just for the party, that he can afford this grand house all on his own. When Jeff shows up for the party, seemingly one of Andrew’s only actual friends, Andrew forces him to wear fancier shoes, lie about his job, and even gives him a fake present to pretend be brought. He wants David to think that he has really great friends, even if he has to say, “Versace doesn’t make shoes,” under his breath when Jeff hands him the box. (Wrapped in Tiffany blue, of course.)
Yes, this whole party is just to impress David. Andrew even blows off Lee Miglin, who could have been another giant source of income if he were really sick of Norman, but instead he’s trying to chase his love for David. “He’s a home,” Andrew tells Lizzie about him. “He’s a yard and a family and picking kids up from school. He’s a future and up until now I’ve only dated the past.” The problem is that, as soon as David shows up at the party, he’s giving off major “I’m just not that into you” vibes. He’s flirting with Jeff right in front of Andrew, wondering where he’s going to sleep in the house (because he obviously won’t be sleeping with Andrew), and just generally treating him the way he would any friend.
The funny thing about Andrew is that he doesn’t see how flimsy his lies really are. They’re like a pointillistic painting: From far away it all makes sense, but when you give it even the slightest bit of scrutiny, you realize how it doesn’t all quite fit together. Everyone knows it, including Jeff, Lizzie, David, and certainly Norman. I don’t think Norman really needed to hire an investigator to find out that Andrew isn’t who he says he is, but he did anyway. He finds out that Andrew is poor and lived in a shitty condo, that he dropped out of state school after only one year, and he used to work in a drug store.
What’s amazing is that these people are always trying to save Andrew. Just as David did in Minneapolis, Norman also offers to help him. Andrew approaches Norman and tells him that since he cost him the love of David, he wants more money, a fancy car, and to be written into the will as Norman’s sole heir. Norman says that he will do that, but only if Andrew treats their relationship like a real partnership, not like he’s doing Norman some huge favor. He also offers to keep paying Andrew, set him up at a university, and pay for his degree. It’s a generous offer, but Andrew would rather continue living in his privileged fantasy than actually have to work hard.
Norman asks specifically about that aversion to hard work and earning the luxurious life that he craves. “It’s just so ordinary,” Andrew whines, before smashing the table, walking out on Norman, and going to live in a seedy condo that looks like it’s somewhere very close to the airport. (Why are all the worst places to live always near the airport?)
While he’s there, we learn that Andrew sent a postcard to Jeff’s father trying to out him as some kind of threat. I never entirely understood what this gambit was all about. Is he trying to extort Jeff by saying he’ll out him to his parents? Jeff doesn’t have any money. During this exchange, we also learn that Jeff is moving to Minneapolis, possible to be closer to David.
Andrew freaks out and invites David on a last-minute vacation to Los Angeles, where he says he’s hard at work on a movie. But David sees right through all of Andrew’s lies because Andrew doesn’t behave like an actual rich person. Real rich people never talk about “five-star hotels,” they just go and stay in them. A real rich person would never throw his keys at the valet. That’s just something that people do in movies, like running into the street and shouting, “Taxi!” Andrew is always projecting what he really is, an insecure kid playing rich.
When David shows up, he’s uncomfortable with all of Andrew’s very staged displays of wealth and says he’s not interested in that world. Not only are Andrew’s attempts transparently fake, they’re also not the right way to impress someone like David. He gets one final chance to be authentic when David takes off his jacket and clears the table and asks Andrew to tell him about his real life. Instead, Andrew just manufactures more lies about his parents and his mother bringing him lobster dinners at boarding school. You can see David resign himself to the fact that Andrew will never change. “We had a great time in San Francisco,” David tells Andrew, blowing him off. “One great night. Maybe there was a chance, but … I have a feeling you don’t have many great nights with people. So when you do, it feels life changing.” Even when trying to let him down gently, David is still trying to help. Andrew really does prey on the nicest guys.
After that failure, Andrew gets into injecting crystal and we see how life altering it is. He imagines himself with Versace, but even then Versace doesn’t behave like a real person, he’s just a receptacle for Andrew’s bitching. He says that he’s the most generous person in the world and he’s given everything to the people he loves, but he doesn’t do it out of generosity. He does it so that he’ll have love and acceptance. Andrew never realizes it’s something he can’t buy.
Quickly, we find out where all of his pathology comes from. When Andrew hits rock bottom and runs out of money thanks to his crystal habit, he goes to see his mother in her shabby apartment and she gives him a sponge bath, which is really, really weird. It’s like Bates Motel weird. As his mother launches into a story about running into a woman in the supermarket, we realize that Andrew is just like his mother. She says that family is everything, that she gave it all up for him, that she just wants him to be something great so that she can share in his glory.
In a rare vulnerable moment, Andrew says that he’s unhappy. He wants to be honest with the one person who truly understands him and where he comes from. But his mother doesn’t want to hear it. She wants to believe in the lie that she created. She wants her son to be extraordinary, even if it’s fake. With that, she seals her son’s fate. He gets in his car and heads off to Minneapolis, starting a spree that will eventually lead to the murder we’ve been working backwards from all season.
Author: acsversace news
The Assassination of Gianni Versace Episode 6 Review: Descent
With episodes three through six, The Assassination of Gianni Versace has placed the lives of Cunanan’s victims front and center. They are used as a lens to explore Andrew, but they are also shown to be people in their own right, with their own lives and motivation before Cunanan was through. Listing the names at the opening of this episode was a stark reminder of the stakes of the series.
There’s been a certain amount of criticism over how little the series has focused on Gianni Versace. Certainly, given the title, the viewer is entitled to be annoyed. But from an ethical standpoint, honoring three of the other four victims is a worthwhile pursuit, and it has made for excellent television.
However, it’s the absence of an episode devoted to victim number four, cemetary caretake William Reese, that exposes the show’s intentions more clearly: he is the only victim who (undisputedly) had absolutely nothing to do with Andrew Cunanan. It’s purely a situation of the wrong place at the wrong time, which means there’s little his death (or life) can do to shed life on who Andrew Cunanan was, or why he became a spree killer.
Therein lies the rub of true crime: even when it endeavors to honor the victims of a particular crime, it’s almost always in service to more exposure for, and a better understanding of, the perpetrator of the crime, rather than their victims.
The presence of Lee Miglin at Andrew’s birthday party, and in a picture alongside Andrew, David, Jeff, and Andrew’s paramour of the week, is startling. For one thing, a picture of Andrew with three of his five victims would be a big deal on it’s own. Second, Miglin’s family disputes to this day that the two ever met. Futhermore, to show a photo being taken is a bold assertion in anything based on a true story, since it insinuates that the photo actually exists. I couldn’t find any such photo online, nor any mention of it in discussions about whether Miglin and Cunanan knew each other. To portray it here feels like an overstep of the contract that true stories make with their audience, since it would be reasonable to assume the photo was real based on this episode, and I have yet to hear about even a purported existence of such an image.
Andrew’s host is an interesting figure, as is his friend who clearly has Andrew’s number. Andrew clearly isn’t fooling anyone; his older lover has no delusions about their situation. Yet he is firm when Andrew tries to overstep with his extravagant requests, and the incentive to value the older man more dead than alive. “If you want to live this life, you have to work for it. Or you can share it with me. There is no third way.” Much of Andrew’s actions could be seen as looking for that third way. More troubling still, is the fact that in spite of his taste for the good life, he clearly didn’t kill for it. So what, then?
The Andrew Cunanan of “Descent” is fittingly desperate and sad. He’s modeling his life around the kind of person he thinks David could love, which is heartbreak to watch when it’s played so well, but Ryan Murphy and Darren Criss won’t let us forget what’s to follow, even for a second. Andrew is transparent in his attempts to thwart David and Jeff’s chemistry upon meeting, doing everything he can to keep them apart, appear single to David without alienating any of his older patrons too much, and scrambling to project the kind of life that he mistakenly thinks will appeal to David.
This episode, more than any other, demonstrates the warning signs of Andrew’s earlier abusive behaviors. Obviously the physical violence is the most extreme, but there’s more to learn from how he acted before he escalated to such extreme violence. It’s important to state clearly here that Cunanan’s victims are not to blame for not noticing the signs or not speaking up. However, it’s worthwhile to point out abusive behavior whenever it occurs, in the hopes that it helps to keep more people safe.
Much of Andrew’s behavior comes from the classic power and control wheel of the world of intimate partner violence and sexual assault – I’m thinking here of the way he plays the victim when Jeff gets physical in response to Andrew sending the postcard to Jeff’s father to out him, which is itself an act of abuse. Andrew tries to gaslight Jeff and whatever audience he may have, real or imagined, into thinking that Jeff’s actions were more aggressive and threatening than they really were. Andrew effectively flips the conversation so that instead of answering for his betrayal, Jeff has to answer for his reaction to it.
There’s an interesting dynamic at play here that’s not often discussed on mainstream media, that of abuse between members of the LGBTQ community. Andrew’s reaction to Jeff plays up the idea that Jeff is larger and more masculine, making himself seem more vulnerable. Further, so many of the red flags that David, Jeff, and others noticed about Andrew’s behavior would have been easily dismissed due to myths related to intimate partner violence. For example, Andrew lacked a physical advantage, one that is often credited with so much of the imbalance in heterosexual power dynamics. In earlier episodes, Jeff and David shrugged Andrew off as harmless though annoying, or even cruel.
Unfortunately, the downplaying of emotional and verbal abuse is all too common, and it allows more intimate partner violence to flourish. Andrew’s ability to manipulate myths and assumptions around homosexuality and intimate partner violence helped him fly under the radar and ultimately hurt more people.
★★★★☆
The Assassination of Gianni Versace Episode 6 Review: Descent
The Man Who Delivered All the Shade and Sass on The Assassination of Versace Has an Awesome Ryan Murphy Story
Unlike his other hits, Ryan Murphy’s macabre and sometimes downright scary The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story has little to no hilarious moments — that is, until Episode 6, when one of Norman Blachford’s friends Gallo shows up to tear Norman’s live-in con artist friend Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) to shreds. “Only the queen of England has two parties,” Gallo quips to Andrew, who’s convinced his benefactor to fund two soirees.“I’m afraid you’re not that sort of queen.” But the zinger of all zingers comes when Gallo shoots the unforgettable searing dagger, “What a volatile mix you are — too lazy to work and too proud to be kept.” Gallo, as the kids say, read that bitch for filth.
Gallo’s lines are expert examples of the gay tradition of “reading” and “throwing shade,” but the wig-singeing sass with which the barbs are delivered is hardly accidental: the man tearing Andrew a new one is Terry Sweeney — a pioneering writer/performer who was the first openly gay cast member of Saturday Night Live.
Sweeney’s casting in Versace has several layers of resonance — mostly because Sweeney is a living embodiment of the series’ main thesis about societal homophobia. Despite becoming memorable for his impersonations of celebrities including Nancy Reagan, Joan Rivers and Diana Ross during his run from 1980-1986, Sweeney spent 10 years after SNL out of work, as Hollywood balked at hiring an out gay actor. But that’s only partly why Sweeney’s scene-stealing role in Versace feels like a full circle moment. In his early SNL days, a young gay reporter reached out to interview him for a story. That reporter’s name? Ryan Murphy.
“I was one of the first people he ever interviewed,” says Sweeney, who left Hollywood for Beaufort, S.C. in the mid-2000s. “I could tell he was a young kid and we had a great interview and he wrote a lovely article about me. Who would dream years later someone that works for him would find me and hire me for this part?”
Sweeney got the part after meeting a producer for Versace at a dinner party in Ojia, Calif., a small, New Age-y town about two hours northwest of Los Angeles. “He was looking at me during dinner and said, ‘You’re the person we’ve been looking for, you’re Gallo.’” Not mentioned in the source material for the show Vulgar Favors, Gallo seems to be a composite of Norman Blachford’s older, wealthy friends who were trying to warn Norman about Andrew. It’s Sweeney’s first dramatic role. “I can now officially call myself a drama queen,” he quips. Director Gwyneth Horder-Patyon patiently guided him through relaxing into his body, “doing less” for the camera and reminding him of Gallo’s purpose. “She wanted me to be a tough, scary old queen” he says. “Gay people, drag queens — we have this ferocity we can call upon that is fearless and it’s intense. That’s what I was calling upon in that character, our strength.”
In the years after Saturday Night Live, Sweeney called on that strength as well as self-reliance to keep afloat. He wrote for movies (Shag), sketch comedy (MadTV) and got parts here and there; Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David hired him to tussle over a tennis racket with Elaine on Seinfeld, and he got roles on Family Matters and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But for a gifted comic actor with several seasons of SNL under his belt, the offers were nowhere near what they should have been, a fact Sweeney recounts somewhat ruefully but with a sugary aplomb rather than the bitterness that could’ve easily consumed him. “At that time [gay people] were so invisible. People said ‘Wow, you’re so brave I would never want to destroy my career like that.’ Or ‘Why couldn’t you say you just haven’t met the right girl yet? Well, the right girl would have to have a penis. People would call you in to audition and the agent would go ‘They went another way. And you’re like, ‘Hmm what could that mean?’”
As Versace depicts, Sweeney’s early adult years coincided with rampant anti-gay discrimination that not only affected his career prospects but also seeped into everyday life. His time on SNL ran parallel with the onslaught of AIDS — the day he signed his contract, newsstands blared the news that Rock Hudson had contracted the disease — and he, like many other creatives in New York, lost friends in droves. The irony of impersonating Nancy Reagan, who, along with her husband Ronald famously refused to acknowledge AIDS, wasn’t lost on him. “They were acting like nothing was happening. I thought really? I’ve been to 10 memorials for people who are in their 20s. So something is happening. I hate to ruin your dinner on your new china.”
The death toll ebbed in the 1990s but the institutionalized homophobia lingered; Sweeney recalls a confrontation with a police officer in Beverly Hills who’d hurled a slur in his direction around 1994. “I couldn’t stand it anymore. I said, ‘Hey! I’m a faggot. I live in Beverly Hills, and this faggot pays your salary and doesn’t want to hear you talking about him like this in a public place!” Even so-called liberal spaces weren’t an entirely safe haven: Sweeney turned down an appearance on a “coming out”-themed episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show because a producer told him he couldn’t talk about drag on TV. “[The producer] says, ‘We’re trying to put a positive image out about gay people, that you’re not freaks; you’re just like everyone else.’”
Now married (he and longtime writing partner Lanier Laney have been together 36 years) and the author of a comic memoir Irritable Bowels and the People Who Give You Them, Sweeney is keenly aware of how humor can be a weapon against bigotry. But he’s grateful for the activists too, for being unafraid to get confrontational when it’s called for. “It’s time for all kinds of people to reassert themselves. Whether it’s kids protesting guns, African-Americans…all kinds of groups are coming out together.” Versace, he says, does a good job of showing just a small piece of what gay people were up against only 20 years ago; it is, as Ryan Murphy told TV Guide, a work of activism in its own rite. Of course, Sweeney and Murphy were thrilled to reunite so many decades later, the resonance of the occasion not lost on either of them.
“We just love each other,” Sweeney says. “He was a joy to work with. He loved what I did and he was quoting my lines. I have so much respect for what he does.” Recognizing the shift that’s taken place in society and Hollywood, he’s back in Los Angeles, ready to share his talents one more time. “I want to do worthwhile work,” he says. “I think now there’s more opportunity than ever.”
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’: Cody Fern talks playing David Madson
It’s quite possible you had never seen Cody Fern before. The young Australian actor has only a few credits to his name. But Fern is unforgettable on FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Andrew Cunanan’s second victim and good friend, David Madson. Viewers saw David’s murder in episode 4, but due to Versace’s backward structure are now able to see the beginnings of the relationship.
EW talked to Fern, who was recently cast on the final season of House of Cards, about landing this major break and acting in this true-crime saga.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you get this Versace role?
CODY FERN: I was actually in London at the time because I was working on a feature film that I was writing and directing. So I was in London because I went to work on the script with my writing partner. I was in a little bit of a rut in terms of where I was as an actor. I was always up for big roles, and it was always between me and one other. I was really selective about the work I wanted to do. I was frustrated because I wasn’t getting the gig. It always came down to star name, this that and the other. So I actually decided I was going to take a year off from acting and just focus on writing and directing. I had jokingly said the only thing that was going to put this production on hold would be if Ryan Murphy, HBO, or David Fincher called. So it’s funny now.You grew up in Australia. Were you aware of the Versace murder?
Being from Australia is isolation from this story in once sense, but I also think it’s a generational divide. I knew there was Gianni Versace, but I didn’t even know Versace had been murdered. So I was new to the story as a whole. Before I started filming, I read Vulgar Favors. So I came to know everything as I was actually in the story, and that was phenomenal. I think it’s something the series does so brilliantly in the kind of switch-and-bait of we think we’re entering the world of one killing, but we’re actually entering into this story that hadn’t been told: There are four other victims that nobody knows about.Was there any thought to reaching out to David’s family?
I considered reaching out to the Madson family. First and foremost, we have Maureen Orth’s book. Second, you have Tom Rob Smith, who’s phenomenal as a writer. There was some discussion whether it or not it was appropriate for the actors to reach out to the families because it’s really dredging something up. I think everyone had a sense of wanting to protect the families from that kind of exposure. There are survivors of this tragedy and they are the family members, and it will be up to them as to whether or not they watch the series, so I think we wanted to keep it as their decision. I didn’t approach the Madson family out of respect. But when you have Tom Rob Smith’s writing and Maureen’s research, you’re in a good place.Tell me about episode 4, which was the most intense for your role. The entire hour is a building sense of dread, ending with David’s death. How was that shoot?
Emotionally, it was incredibly fraught. It was a huge upheaval. It was something I couldn’t separate being on set and taking the work home. It really affected me psychologically. It was so dark. At the same time, I felt so supported and so free to explore and to take risks and to really go there. So in one way it was the easiest thing I’ve ever done because Ryan works in a particular way where he selects every single person he’s working with. Being on set, it runs like a family so you feel very protected and very safe and nurtured. But then, of course, emotionally it’s one of the most taxing things because not only are you dealing with the literal things David is going through, but he’s also going through an incredible amount of shame that has built up since he had conscious thoughts. I think that was something that was also a layer we wanted to bring to the show, in dealing with homophobia and internalized gay shame. So that was the hardest thing to deal with.The murder of Jeff Trail and the hostage situation that ensues was its own particular beast, but I had Darren [Criss] to act opposite. He’s so unhinged and so brilliant. I never knew what he was going to do or what choice he was going to make. It was a wonderful experience, but it was also incredibly difficult.
The way the show is structured, you basically have to create your character backward. Like we meet David at the breaking point of his relationship with Andrew, and in tonight’s episode we see the beginning. That must have been a great challenge as an actor?
I actually preferred it in a strange way because what we see of David is somebody who’s at the end of his rope in his friendship with Andrew. Pretty soon on, Jeff is killed, so you have a character that is thrown into complete emotional disarray. So you get to explore the extremes of what David is feeling, the end of what he is as a human being. It was easier to find the crystal of who David was and what he was willing to fight for. Episode 4 really explores the arc of shame and his feelings of complicity in this murder, and he has been in the closet for so long and thought it was a sickness that brought this about. At the very core, David is fighting for what is right and what is good. Finally, fighting for his life in a way that says, “I’m not going to go down for this thing just because you say I am.” It meant that working backwards, I knew the very essence of who David was as a person. Then you get to form chemistry as actors, between Darren and myself. We became such good friends. We went through such extreme things together.It was just announced you’re joining House of Cards.
I’m over the moon. I’m thrilled. House of Cards I’ve watched since the first day. I was shaking the first day meeting Robin [Wright] because she’s such a powerful figure to me in the course of who I’ve become as an actor. It’s thrilling.Can you tease anything about your character?
There have been rumors about who my character was. I read an announcement saying I was the lover of Kevin Spacey’s character, which is completely inaccurate and false. That’s not the case. But I can also tell you I’m NOT a good guy.
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’: Cody Fern talks playing David Madson
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ Episode 6 Recap: The First Instagay
In my initial review of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, I described Darren Criss’ performance as Andrew Cunanan as “like an Instagay of the ‘90s: opportunistic, narcissistic, and a pathological liar.” We’ve seen flashes of that so far, particularly the pathology of dishonesty. But it’s in this sixth episode, “Descent,” that we see Andrew as the original Instagay fully flourish.
Andrew is throwing a birthday party for himself. He’s hosting it at the home he shares with his wealthy lover, Norman Blachford (Michael Nouri), in La Jolla, California. And everything about it has to be perfect. From his friend and future victim Jeff Trail’s presentation of his birthday present (Andrew actually bought a pair of shoes to give him instead of Jeff’s actual gift) to how he talks about his living situation (Norman isn’t a sugar daddy, Andrew is just living with him to redesign his home!), Andrew’s whole presentation is a construction.
Even how we first see him in this episode is bullshit. We see Andrew, nude, taking an extravagant dip into Norman’s pool on this gorgeous property — as if Andrew is directing the scene himself, convincing his audience that all this is his. As the episode goes on, and the narrative escapes Andrew more and more, we learn just how false this tableau is.
Speaking generally, my issue with Instagaydom at large comes down to dishonesty. The very act of sculpting your life — through what you choose to post, what lighting and filters you use, who you’re photographed with — is like lying in grand form. Now, you could argue that social media invites such curation, be it on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. I wouldn’t disagree with you there. But we all work to put forth our best selves, our funniest selves, our smartest selves. That’s true of real life as well.
What I find troubling about doing the same on Instagram is that it’s such a physical medium that allows for little context. See this white, cisgender, gay man with perfect abs? See him hanging out with dozens of men just like him, traveling on a seemingly infinite budget from fabulous location to fabulous location? An Instagay isn’t going to tell you that this is all a fabrication, a carefully designed life meant to attract more attention that will, in most cases, ultimately be converted into advertising revenue through sponsorships. They want you to believe in that fantasy. Context is the enemy of success on Instagram.
So we have a generation of young queer people who are growing up seeing these Instagays as not just a form of success, but the pinnacle of success. These hyper-stylized lives are seemingly achievable. Maybe it’s harmless and I’m being anxious over nothing. But I think, were I a young gay person trying to come into my own in 2018, I’d be constantly comparing myself to Instagays. And I think, in my mind, I’d lose that battle every time.
Andrew’s life, on the other hand, has context. If that first nude swim is what we’d see on his Insta story, the rest of the episode is what we’re not seeing posted on an Instagay’s feed. The party turns into a disaster, with every attempt to flatter Andrew’s crush, the adorable architect David Madsen (another future victim), foiled by the fantasy unraveling. After the party, his tantrum to Norman falls on deaf ears, and Andrew finds himself cut off from his funding. Finally, an extravagant trip to Los Angeles, all spent on worthless credit cards, to seduce David proves futile.
“Descent” is the story of Andrew’s perfectly curated life falling apart. This is how the spree killer we’ve seen in the episodes so far came to be: his lies consumed him, and his attempts to cover up his pathetic core were unsuccessful. Andrew Cunanan may have been the original Instagay, but he lacked the filters and the platform to keep up the charade. At episode’s end, he’s left a husk of his former self, being washed in a bath by his mother.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story is as much about how a killer is made as it is about his killings. Through its reverse storytelling structure, we learned more about the latter first. But now, we’re seeing the former — seeing how the seemingly perfect life slipped away from him.
That’s a lesson that’s still true: There is no such thing as the perfect life, no matter how it’s presented online. People get older. Looks fade. Money runs out. A fantasy is just that — and it’s only so long until the truth is revealed.
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ Episode 6 Recap: The First Instagay
Andrew spirals out of control in a compelling American Crime Story
“Descent” B+
“Descent” is a lonely and isolating episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which is sometimes even heightened when Andrew is seen with other people. At the same time, it also remains unforgiving; there are instances where you almost want to feel sorry for him (the ending comes to mind) or when it offers hints to partially explain his actions, but the episode smartly never commits fully to these ideas. It’s these scenes where the effectiveness of the backwards timeline (which ended up growing on me) is most on display: you can’t ever feel truly sorry for Andrew because we’ve seen the vicious, brutal murders.
What “Descent” is most concerned with is depicting Andrew’s, well, descent as he spirals further into drugs, sadness, and desperation, becoming more unhinged with every moment. It also wants to simply shed more light on Andrew’s character in general—again, I presume, with a blend of fact and fiction. “Descent,” which jumps back a year before the murders, begins at Andrew’s birthday party while he’s on a mission to do one thing: win over David.
The only thing that’s bigger than Andrew’s current obsession with David is his forever obsession with being seen as someone much better than who he actually is. Andrew struggles to control other people’s perception of him, as if trying to craft his own narrative. He even wants to have two birthday parties: one for Norman’s friends, and one for Andrew’s—even though he’s ostensibly living off Norman (vaguely as a kept boy), he doesn’t want his peers to know that he’s shacked up with an older man. He wants them to think he’s available, he’s rich, he’s successful, and he’s in control. He especially wants David to see this.
It’s hard to parse how much of Andrew’s infatuation with David is real—or maybe he just thinks it’s real?—vs. how much he just thinks the two of them will look good together to outside people. But there seems to be some truth to Andrew’s infatuation (and the hope that the two of them can build something together) as he describes his feelings to a friend: “[David’s] a home. He’s a yard and a family, and picking kids up from school. He’s a future.” (Also of note: He says all this while still not being able to fully admit that he’s gay.) But despite Andrew’s efforts to impress—which includes a reluctant Jeff ordered to give Andrew a particular gift that Andrew himself picked out, and also lying to say he’s still a Naval Officer—David’s eyes are elsewhere. It’s David and Jeff who hit it off, not David and Andrew who nervously watches the two chat before slipping away for some confidence-boosting drugs. You can see Andrew start to unravel during this party, full of nervous and paranoid energy, and increasingly upset that he’s not in control.
Control is such a recurring theme in this episode: personal control, control over people, control over relationships, losing control to drugs and madness, relinquishing control to a familiar family figure. Reeling from the party not going his way, Andrew hands Norman a list—an ultimatum, really—about what he wants in order to stay. But Norman isn’t as foggy as Andrew assumed; turns out, Norman already investigated Andrew and found out all about his lies. Among them? Saying his parents are New York City billionaires, that was he was disowned when they learned of Norman, and that he has a PhD. Andrew’s a mix of frustrating contradictions: The notion of going back to school is “insulting” because it’s “ordinary”—Andrew’s biggest fear, it seems, is to be a normal, ordinary, forgettable person—yet he still puts enough importance on being educated that he lies about having a doctorate.
Andrew loses the control he thought he had over Norman, and both David and Jeff are next. A glossed-over element from “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”—the postcard that Andrew “accidentally” sent to Jeff’s father—occurs in this episode, and Andrew plays dumb (“Why would I do that?” and “Your parents always assume”) but now it’s clearer that this move to force Jeff out is another way Andrew attempted to exert control over the men in his life, especially when they weren’t catering to his will. With Jeff moving to Minneapolis for a propane job—not for David, he emphasizes, but that’s surely a part of it—Andrew see this as two men he brought together, one of whom he “loves,” leaving him on the outside.
Andrew tries to regain control through David, surprising him with a ticket to Los Angeles and a free stay in a fancy-as-hell hotel, treating him to big meals and new clothes (“Dress for the man you’re going to be,” he advises). He tries to woo David by sort-of speaking honestly, per David’s request, and does sprinkle in some real details (his parents’, and especially his mother’s, spoiling him to a bizarre extent) with some toned-down lies. But that doesn’t work either. Andrew is left alone, now controlling the fictional narrative in his head, telling a bartender about his engagement and honeymoon.
In a drugged-up fantasy sequence where Andrew, high on crystal, imagines Versace as his tailor, Assassination once again tries to draw parallels between murderer and victim—while astutely showing Andrew’s warped self-perception. Andrew is sort of right in believing that he’s given a lot to people but that’s different from believing the world has “taken” from him. And his generosity isn’t about being generous at all: it’s about buying people’s affecting, forcing people into trips, manipulation and control through material items. “The world has wasted me,” Andrew says, even though it’s turned Versace “into a star.” In a searing exchange, Andrew wonders aloud about the difference between them and ultimate chalks it up to luck; imagined-Versace chalks it up to being loved.
Stray observations
- “Descent” shows the rock bottom Andrew hit before going on the killing spree—though I’m not sure how much of a span this episode covers: weeks? Months?—eventually begging Norman to let him in, and then retreating back home where his mother bathes him. (Also eerie: “This is not your smell.”
- Choice line from Norman: “Being smart is useless unless it’s in the service or something.”
- Lee Miglin was at the party! Which feels a little too much like tying a neat little bow on connecting the men (Lee, David, Jeff, and Andrew all in one photo), but it was quick enough.
- “Who are you trying to be?” “Someone he can love.”
Andrew spirals out of control in a compelling American Crime Story
Tonight’s ‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Sees Andrew Cunanan Slowly Unravel
The Assassination of Giani Versace is back after a two-week hiatus, and Episode 6 delves into the not-quite-yet-murderous—but still utterly horrifying—Andrew Cunanan of 1995. Though he’s still repressing his violent urges at this point, Cunanan’s relentless thirst is on full display during his 26th birthday party in California, a lavish and deeply fraught affair that ends up marking the start of Andrew’s descent into violent madness.
Here are five talking points from tonight’s appropriately titled episode, “Descent.”
1) The opening moments emphasize the biggest fact vs. fiction divide in this show.
In brief: Andrew Cunanan’s physique. In Vulgar Favors, the book upon which this series is based, author Maureen Orth notes on several occasions that Cunanan gained a large amount of weight towards the end of his life. Unusual for a crystal meth user, he had a big appetite, and was apparently self-conscious about his body in contrast to the chiseled physique that was de rigueur in the gay community. Let’s just say that this is not the case with Darren Criss’s Cunanan, whose slammin’ bod has been on display in earlier episodes this season, and is highlighted in this week’s opening sequence.
Andrew arrives at a palatial house in California, strips naked and takes a swim in the pool. It’s the kind of ostentatiously luxurious setting in which he’s most at home—but of course, the house is not his. It belongs to Norman Blachford, the wealthy older man who allegedly “kept” and bankrolled Cunanan for several years before the murders. Though the real-life nature of Cunanan and Blachford’s relationship is still unknown to this day, American Crime Story posits them as a couple. On the show, Andrew tries to pretend he’s just Norman’s interior designer, and that he has his own apartment back in New York, but the truth behind their “arrangement” is clear to everyone who attends the party.
2) Despite being entirely murder-free, Andrew’s birthday party is the show’s most excruciating sequence yet.
Despite his involvement with Norman, Andrew still thinks he can have it both ways—he’ll keep the wealthy older companion to pay for his lifestyle, while also pursuing what he sees as true love with David. “He’s a future,” Andrew tells Lizzie of David, “and so far I’ve only dated the past.” He’s determined to win David, and in order to do that, he wants to transform himself into “someone David can love.” This sounds like a touching sentiment, until you remember that it’s coming from Andrew Cunanan.
Andrew’s version of being “someone David can love” turns out to mean peacocking— and he ropes poor Jeff Trail, who at this point is still a real friend, into playing along. He gives Jeff a lavish gift to give back to him at the party, which is one of the most obnoxiously extra moves I have ever seen on screen—not to mention rude as hell, since Jeff brought an actual gift—and also gives him a nicer pair of shoes to wear. Jeff draws the line at pretending to still be a naval officer, and later in the episode, he and Andrew come to blows over that postcard we heard about in Episode 4, with Jeff openly accusing Andrew of trying to out him.
Andrew’s lies are beginning to catch up with him and clash with each other, and the party sequence culminates with a photograph that really sums up this messy collision of Andrew’s two worlds. On one side of Andrew, Norman and Lee Miglin; on the other, David and Jeff, who have only just met but have already struck up a warm, easy rapport that’s infuriating Andrew. “It’s everyone I love in one photo!” Andrew coos, but there’s a manic glint in his eyes from this point on, and it never really goes away.
3) Norman’s friend David is having none of Andrew’s nonsense.
And it’s deeply enjoyable to watch. This David sees through Andrew from minute one of the party, and it’s clear from their interaction that their mutual dislike goes back some way. David sees Andrew as the opportunist he is, taking advantage of Norman in a vulnerable moment following the death of Norman’s longtime partner from AIDS.
“What a volatile mix you are,” David tells Andrew, in one of several catty, telling, exchanges. “Too lazy to work, and too proud to be kept.” That line lays the groundwork for Norman and Andrew’s eventual separation, which comes after Andrew presents a list of absurd demands to Norman in exchange for continuing their relationship. By now, Norman has looked into Andrew enough to figure out that “Andrew De Silva” is an alias, and just about everything he’s ever said about his past is a lie.
What’s amazing, though, is that all this lying isn’t a deal-breaker for Norman—he’s willing to overlook it. What he’s not willing to overlook is Andrew’s laziness, and when he offers to pay for Andrew to go back to college and finish his degree, it prompts a rare moment of honesty. “What is it about education and work that you find so insulting?” asks Norman, to which Andrew spits, “It’s ordinary!” They’re at a stalemate, and so Andrew smashes a glass table and storms out with the admittedly fabulous closing line “I expect you to call.” Spoiler: Norman will not call.
4) There was, at one point, the possibility of something real between Andrew and David.
Thanks to the show’s reverse chronology, the history of these relationships is deliberately ambiguous, and so it hasn’t been clear up until now whether Andrew’s obsession with David is fully delusional, or whether it sprung from something real. But “Descent” suggests that it’s the latter. Andrew makes yet another desperate grand gesture, flying David first-class to California for a spontaneous getaway at a luxury hotel, and though David is clearly on his guard, he still seems somewhat genuinely charmed.
“I wanted to see if we could take the next step,” he admits to Andrew, but tells him that their first night together in San Francisco—a meeting we’re yet to see onscreen—meant more to Andrew than it did to David. “I get the feeling you don’t have that many great nights with people,” David says, with real empathy. “So when you do, it feels huge.”
Andrew insists he’s willing to do anything if David will give their relationship a chance, so David calls his bluff and asks him to tell the truth. “Get rid of all this,” he says, moving them away from the lavish three-course room service dinner and earnestly asking Andrew to give him a genuine response for once.
And for a few seconds, it feels like Andrew might actually do it. He begins to tell what seems to be truth about his father, a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch who has now returned to the Philippines. But then the truth gives way to a lie, and David gets visibly sadder and angrier as the lies keep coming. As it turns out, telling the truth about himself is the one thing Andrew won’t do, even for David.
5) Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace meet again.
In a crystal meth-fueled dream sequence after his getaway with David falls apart, Andrew visits Versace’s store, where Gianni himself is waiting to serve him. Bathed in hellish red lighting, Andrew complains about how many people have taken and taken from him, and how “this world has wasted me, while it has turned you, Mr. Versace, into a star.”
Dream Gianni is calmly taking Andrew’s measurements through this rant, but when Andrew tries to draw a parallel between their lives, he has to object. “You think you’re better than me, but we’re the same,“ Andrew says. "The only difference is you got lucky.” Gianni’s reply cuts right to the heart of everything that drives Andrew’s rage: “Not the only difference, sir. I’m loved.”
What’s interesting about this is it’s an overt dream sequence, but Gianni and Andrew’s opera date in the first episode can also be interpreted as a dream—even Darren Criss himself is not convinced it wasn’t. “As we were shooting it, I was like, Is this just in Andrew’s head?” he told Esquire. “We don’t know! The grandeur of the show in general is almost like a machination of Andrew’s brain. There’s a beauty and a color and a sweeping, operatic feel to the show that feels like we’re seeing it through the eyes of an unreliable narrator.”
6) Andrew’s visit to his mother is a sad, scary interlude that hints at the upbringing that shaped him.
On the one hand, Andrew’s mother is clearly devoted to him—she’s ecstatic to see him, and bathes him while singing an Italian lullaby, a sequence that’s simultaneously moving and creepy. On the other, though, her love seems extremely conditional on Andrew’s success. Everything she says to him, almost without exception, is about his “accomplishments,“ which are, of course, pure fiction. She’s particularly thrilled that Andrew is traveling the world with Gianni Versace designing costumes for operas. She’s so preoccupied with his success that she’s not actually listening to him at all, and chooses not to notice that he’s clearly in crisis; when he says outright that he’s unhappy, she acts as though he hasn’t spoken. As it turns out, this visit to his mother’s house came right before Andrew’s visit to Minneapolis, where his murder spree began. “They have an opera house in Minneapolis?” his mom asks, sunnily, and in a truly great line delivery from Criss, Andrew replies: “No, mom. I don’t think they do.”
Tonight’s ‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Sees Andrew Cunanan Slowly Unravel
American Crime Story: Versace Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Descent
So, I’m just going to put this out there right away: I was not a fan of this episode.
From Lee Miglin’s death, to Jeff Trail and David Madson, I’ve been completely engrossed in the show’s expedition into the past. But I was officially lost this week and not in the least bit intrigued.
Perhaps I’m in the minority though? Maybe you thoroughly enjoyed yet another peek into the fantastical, make believe world that Andrew Cunanan exists in. Maybe you thought American Crime Story: Versace Season 1 Episode 6 was a good way of culminating this part of the story.
I would have to wholeheartedly disagree with that assessment.
Let’s begin with this birthday party. Jumping back in time to a year before his murder spree, Andrew seems to be living the dream. He’s staying in a breathtaking mansion in California and getting ready for his birthday party.
And who’s throwing this swanky affair? Norman Blanchard. Oh, Norman. It’s pretty clear from the onset that Andrew doesn’t just work for Norman. These two are tied together, but it’s hard to tell at first if they’re tied together physically, emotionally or both.
It turns out that for Andrew, his tie to Norman is purely financial.
We’ve seen over the weeks that Andrew not only thinks very highly of himself, but he also believes he’s owed something from the world. He’s as narcissistic as narcissistic gets.
The way he approaches Norman with all his outlandish demands is incredibly insulting. And Norman just sort of takes it, but not before letting Andrew know that he’s no dummy.
You’ve made a beautiful home. I want you to be happy, I really do. And I don’t mind that you tell a few lies to smooth over the discomfort of this arrangement. Hell, I can allow you all of the lies that you want. Except for one. That I’m a fool.
I wanted to like Norman but I honestly felt nothing. He was a lonely older man who was trying to help Andrew, but also enabling him in many ways. Andrew throwing a hissy fit and escaping that situation was a blessing for him.
So anyway let’s circle back to the party, where Jeff and David meet for the first time and Lee Miglin makes a very awkward appearance.
Andrew has this fixation on David that we’ve seen in prior episodes, but it’s on full display here. To go through the effort of buying and wrapping a gift for yourself and then basically forcing your friend to present it to you, just to show some guy your friends like you is beyond weird.
Jeff handles the situation well because Jeff is a decent human being who does seem to care about him. David also seems to care for Andrew but not nearly as much as he cares about him.
Andrew: I need to get back to my party. That room is full of people that love me.
Gallo: Then that room is full of people that don’t know you.The party is odd and an eclectic mixture of people, as it seems as if most of these people are just there because Norman knows how to throw a party. When Andrew hops in a picture with Norman, Lee, Jeff and David and declares them all the people that love him, it’s single-handedly one of the most awkward and chillingly sad moments of the series.
We get a small taste of the falling out between Jeff and Andrew and it’s not only just about the postcard, but Andrew’s jealousy. There’s an ease about Jeff that easy to fall for and Andrew’s worst fear is that with Jeff and David in the same city, David will soon fall for Jeff and suddenly he’s the outsider seeing his two “best” friends fall in love.
Andrew being Andrew, he thinks the way to David’s heart is through money. Poor David is very clearly not buying anything that Andrew is selling but he goes along with it until he just can’t anymore.
But even knowing that he isn’t in the same place as Andrew, David decides to give him a chance. David is inherently good. That much we’ve clearly seen over the past few episodes. But he’s never better than when he sits pensively and listens to Andrew spin yet another tale about a childhood that just never existed.
Everything that follows the impromptu LA trip is a disaster.
Tiring of cocaine, Andrew goes for something a little harder and hits rock bottom. And rock bottom is not begging outside of Norman’s house.
Rock bottom is the home of Mrs. Cunanan.
It’s very apparent that Andrew must have had one hell of a childhood with a mother like that. She’s a doting mother and an affectionate woman, but it’s all rooted in this belief that somehow her son is better than others. Her son is a star. She has the ‘maybe we didn’t have much growing up, but my son made it!’ type of attitude.
And that’s an okay attitude to have when it’s rooted in reality.
At this point in time, Andrew is a shell of himself. Gone is the macho bravado and confidence. Instead he’s defeated and forced to rely on the one person he knows has some kind of love for him.
The only word I can think of to describe their interaction is depressing. When your own mother brushes off your pleas for help to continue convincing herself that you’re better than the bitchy neighbors kid, you realize you’re truly alone in the world.
What did you guys think of ‘Descent’? What are you hoping to see over the last few installments? Do you miss the Versace storylines?
Editor’s Rating:★★★☆☆
American Crime Story: Versace Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Descent
Ricky Martin praised for his acting in The Assassination of Gianni Versace
In the first episode, Ricky’s Antonio took on a major role in the show, as he was quizzed about his relationship with Gianni, including their sexual relationship, while he is covered in his blood.
Antonion is also seen having a frosty relationship with his sister, Donatella.
Known for his catchy pop hits, including She Bangs and Livin’ La Vida Loca, the dramatic turn was a surprise welcomed by fans, who praised him for his portrayal of the grieving lover.
“Wow. #AmericanCrimeStory had a great first episode and really set the tone. And who knew Ricky Martin could act?! #GianniVersace #90sforever” wrote one fan.
Another wrote: “Ricky Martin is frigging AMAZING in #Versace. I assume he’s up for awards just based upon the first episode.”
While another couldn’t help but add: “If nothing else, I’m delighted to see Ricky Martin! I’m not expecting a chorus of She Bangs but if it can happen….. #AmericanCrimeStory”
A fourth simply wrote: Who knew Ricky Martin could act?
Meanwhile, a second strand of tonight’s episode followed serial killer Andrew Cunanan, 27, played by Darren Criss.
Cunanan had already killed four men in the US when he gunned down 50-year-old Versace on the steps of his Miami home.
The drama is based on a 1997 book by journalist Maureen Orth, who spoke to witnesses claiming Versace met his killer Cunanan in San Francisco nightspot Colossus in 1990.
Penelope Cruz plays his sister Donatella, who gained the keys to his fashion empire after his death.
Meanwhile, the real life Versace family have slammed the producers of the show, including creator Ryan Murphy, for going ahead with the production – claiming that the book it was based on was a “work of fiction” and denied any involvement.
The statement read: “As we have said, the Versace family has neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV series about the death of Mr. Gianni Versace, which should only be considered as a work of fiction.
"The company producing the series claims it is relying on a book by Maureen Orth, but the Orth book itself is full of gossip and speculation. Orth never received any information from the Versace family and she has no basis to make claims about the intimate personal life of Gianni Versace or other family members.
“Instead, in her effort to create a sensational story, she presents second-hand hearsay that is full of contradictions.”
At the end of each episode, a title card has been put in place that reads: “This series is inspired by true events and investigative reports. Some events are combined or imagined for dramatic and interpretive purposes.
“Dialogue is imagined to be consistent with these events.”
Ricky Martin praised for his acting in The Assassination of Gianni Versace
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