Clare: While This Is Us’ “Super Bowl Sunday” was the ep that we have all been waiting for, and it was an exceptional episode, it was kind of what we expected from This Is Us. It is for this reason I’m going with The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’s “The House by the Lake”. This episode was shocking, horrific, painful, uncomfortable, and gut-wrenching. The performances by Darren Criss and Cody Fern throughout couldn’t be faulted. Criss continues his no-doubt award-winning performance, but Fern was the amazing find in this episode. He had me from his elevator scene with Jeffrey Trail (Finn Wittrock). Watch this episode if only for Criss breaking down during Aimee Mann’s cover of “Drive” and everything after this. Some of the best TV in the past year.
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Clare: “When the police open the door they’ll see two suspects, not two victims” – Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Jenna’s MVP: Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan (American Crime Story: Versace)
Why he’s the MVP: When we first saw Darren Criss on Glee years ago, who could have predicted his versatility as an actor? In American Crime Story: Versace, he plays Andrew Cunanan, the serial killer who went on a murder spree in the late 1990s, killing designer Gianni Versace among others. Taking on characters based on real people is always tricky, but Criss certainly delivers. Besides the fact that he looks eerily similar to the real Cunanan, he also takes on a persona unlike any of his other previous roles. Criss strikes an effective balance between portraying Cunanan as the public saw him, and making his own creative decisions for the role.
In this week’s episode, “House by the Lake,” we follow Cunanan as he commits a murder in the opening act, forcing him on the run with his former lover and roommate, David. The episode heavily plays upon Cunanan’s affinity for escaping reality and living in a fantasy world, which Criss portrays brilliantly. In particular, his line delivery — with the rises and falls of his voice, making everything, even murder, sound like a game to Cunanan — really drives home just how delusional Cunanan is.
Cunanan is desperate to make a life with David, despite the horror he’s forced David to experience. Criss plays on Cunanan’s highly charged emotions toward David by having Cunanan toss him intense, wide-eyed stares and using very particular body language (touching David’s back here, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him there). All this adds to the viewer’s extreme discomfort and concern for David throughout their time on the run.
But Cunanan certainly isn’t a stable individual, and Criss effortlessly slips from sing-song contentedness into sheer mania by the end of the episode. One of the very last shots of the episode features Cunanan curled up holding David’s dead body (after Cunanan shot him in the head). Criss’ subtle changes of expression from sadness to apathy, even in such a small moment, are truly chilling.
There’s truly no way to escape Criss’ magnetism throughout the episode and the show in general. He’s taken a complex man and made him an even more complex character, and I can’t wait to see him shine in the rest of the season.
Continuing with moving backwards through the timeline of Versace’s death, we meet Andrew’s first and second victims of his killing spree, one week before the murder of Lee Miglin. Jeff Trail and David Madson both have supposedly been in romantic relationships with Andrew, now having a secret love for one another. Episode 4 takes us on a rollercoaster of the death of Jeff, Stockholm syndrome, the acceptance or lack of gay relationship’s in the 90’s and the death of Andrew’s first victim, David Madson.
Being a fan of American Horror Story, another one of Ryan Murphy’s wonderful creations, I was ecstatic to see Finn Wittrock (Dandy – whom made an appearance in Freak Show) join the season 2 cast as Jeff Trail. He portrayed the character as best as he could for the 5 seconds he was given before he died and fingers crossed, we get more of Jeff in the upcoming episodes. We was also introduced to upcoming actor of 2018, Cody Fern, who portrayed David Madson outstandingly and already has the public swooning over him. We must see him nominated for breakthrough actor of 2018 for this role or the world is doing something extremely wrong!
Whilst the Versace family have taken a step back in the latest two episodes and people not having the greatest reaction to this – I think it is incredibly important to also see Andrew’s back story and all the events that lead up to Versace’s death. This show is about remembering the loss of Versace and all of the fashion and glam he and his family provided, but we also need to sit down and remember the loss of Andrew’s other victims as well. If you do your research, all of these men gave so much to the world and need the recognition they was never given over two decades ago.
The Versace family will be making a return in episode 5, but for now though, I would like to share with you four of the best moments from American Crime Story: The Assassination of Versace, season 2, episode 4:
Jeff’s Death
So, here we meet victim number two. Jeff (Finn Wittrock) is a former lover of David’s (Cody Fern), leaving Andrew incredibly jealous. When Jeff appears at David’s apartment one night, this gives Andrew the perfect opportunity to take action and get rid of Jeff once and for all. As David is meeting Jeff at the building’s entrance to take him up to the apartment, David reveals to Jeff that Andrew proposed to him, however, he refused, due to gay marriage being illegal. This could easily have been way Andrew was triggered to murder Jeff, as he may have assumed the reason David refused his proposal was because he was still in love with Jeff.
When Jeff enters David’s apartment, Andrew charges and kills him by beating him in the head with a hammer. Andrew doesn’t really seem to realise what he has done and how much it had affected David, as he is so focused on making a life with David and continues to uncomfortably care for him by washing away Jeff’s blood off of their bodies in the shower.
There’s even a moment where you feel incredibly uncomfortable, but at the same time, it’s hard to not find Andrew’s actions when hiding Jeff’s body, dare I say, a little sweet. Realising David is still incredibly shook up by Jeff’s dead body being sprawled across his apartment floor, Andrew quietly wraps the body in a rug and ‘respectfully’ moves Jeff’s body himself, only requesting help from David when he really needs it. As scary as Andrew is and as sickening as that whole scene was, it’s so heart-breaking to see Andrew still taking David’s feelings in to consideration, even if he doesn’t know what a horrific thing he has truly done. You can see clearly that David has a special place in Andrew’s heart and he will do anything to make sure they stay together.
David, completely devastated, demands that Andrew and him need to call the police and confess. However, Andrew knows exactly how police investigations work and how they fail to understand gay people. Like Lee’s murder, Andrew leaves pornography and sex toys on David’s bed before the pair flee. He explains to David that as soon as the police realise this is a gay case, they will jump to all sorts of conclusions.
“They won’t see two victims, they’ll see two suspects.”
David and his father
David’s coming-out scene really had me feeling a lot of mixed emotions. After giving his father some good news regarding his archeology career, he also shares what he calls ‘bad news’ of him being gay. His dad’s response went like this:
“I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t make a difference. You know what I believe. Maybe you wanted to be told I don’t have a problem with it. But what I can say is, I love you more than I love my own life.”
So, David’s father is basically saying he doesn’t like gay people, but will always love his son. I mean, I appreciate his honesty of not being able to give his son what he wants to hear, however, saying how much he loves him anyway doesn’t completely make up for the way he worded things. It must have been incredibly hard for David to even reveal this secret, which is obviously shown when he becomes tearful and I can see him and his father have quite a close bond, which does make this scene a little heart-breaking to watch. The fact that his dad was unable to progress on accepting his son’s sexuality in the years to come, because Andrew had taken David away from him is also devastating and I can’t imagine the guilt his father may have felt for not being able to tell his son how proud he is and how much he accepts him for him. (If that would’ve been the case.)
Lies, Lies, Lies
We know Andrew is an absolute pro at lying and creating false stories up to lure in his next victims; for once, David confronts him about his manipulation and catches Andrew off guard. He recalls how Andrew fascinated him when they met in a bar one night in San Fransisco, a year and a half ago. Andrew had ordered David a drink, as he was sat alone and David admired how much people loved Andrew and his charm – once upon a time.
“I remember thinking; how hard do I have to work to live like him, like Andrew? ‘Cause I’ll do it. Except it was all a lie. You’ve never worked for anything. It was an act. Is that why you killed Jeff? You loved him. It was so obvious. But he figured you out in the end, didn’t he? It took him a few years but he finally saw the real you, and you killed him for it.”
Andrew attempts to change the subject by describing the life he promises to give David in Mexico, spurring out all these false possibilities and dreams that he believes could truly happen.
“You can’t do it, can you?” “I can’t what?” “Stop.”
David’s Death
As obvious as David’s future was, I still sat there for a whole 50 minutes praying and praying that Andrew would allow David to run free and live his life in peace. This wasn’t the case and my heart was shattered in to a million little pieces. In the restaurant, I wanted David to escape through the bathroom window without pondering or hesitating, but I believe that David only stayed because Andrew’s words remained with him and he was too terrified to confront the police because of the assumptions they were most likely to make. For his own safety, David stays with Andrew, making us wonder whether the connection between the two is mutual or if David is only staying because he doesn’t know what else to do.
Continuing on with their journey, David confronts Andrew over and over as to why he killed Jeff and whether or not it was planned all along to kill him in David’s presence. An enraged Andrew says multiple times that he does not want to talk about the past, however, David continuously riles him up until he is eventually held at gunpoint, no longer having convinced Andrew that they would start a fresh life together in Mexico. David’s fate is sealed when he is shot once in the back and again in the face. Andrew lays by David’s body, arms wrapped around him, for a while until he decides to get back in to the truck and escape alone.
Now all four deaths have been revealed, I have to say David’s death has been the most heart-breaking and devastating to watch. He met a man who he thought was the greatest man to walk in to his life, only to have been confronted by a monster later on. He was such an innocent man with so much potential in life, he never deserved what he had to go through and it angers me how Andrew Cunanan could be so selfish as to drag someone with so much potential as David, in to his twisted and sickening shenanigans.
It’s that time in my article where I once again have to describe Darren Criss’ portrayal of Andrew and once again, I can’t find a way to really sum up his talents. Darren is becoming more and more terrifying as the series goes on and you can’t help but be so mesmerised by his performances and how convincing he is as Andrew. All I’m going to say about Darren to finalise this week’s recap is, if I don’t see a photo of Darren struggling to carry all of the well-deserved awards that he wins in the coming months, did we ever really have a 2018?
American Crime Story’s enthralling first season which followed the 1995 trial of O.J. Simpson went on to win 9 Emmy Awards including Best Limited Series. What was truly fascinating about ‘The People VS. O.J. Simpson’ was the storytelling which not only focused on key players like O.J., the defence and the prosecutors, but also the jurors and the community.
And taking the very same story-telling method a notch higher, Ryan Murphy in the later episode of ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ shows the narrative of the first three victims of Andrew Cunanan played by Darren Criss. The show’s ability to have the audience hooked and still interested in the series without its title character, who is largely absent from the action, is commendable.
As Episode 3: A Random Killing focuses on the murder of second most high profile murder of a Chicago real estate developer, Lee Miglin’s family denied rumours of him and Cunanan knowing each other before the murder. However, as per the show, Miglin played by Mike Farrell invites Cunanan over to his house while his wife, Marilyn Miglin is away on a business trip. Investigators of the homicide too believed there to be a connection between Miglin and Cunanan. “Why would Cunanan go to Chicago, find Miglin, and torture him without some motive?” investigator Todd Rivard of the Chicago County Sheriff’s Department said. This explains why there were no signs of forced entry and no defensive wounds found in Miglin’s autopsy report.
Later in the episode, Cunanan drives to New York in the Lexus and then almost immediately heads south. On the road, he hears over the car radio that the police are able to track his movements through the car’s phone. Cunanan, realizing he has to ditch the Lexus, spots a red pickup truck and trails the driver, William Reese, to the Finn’s Point National Cemetery, a Civil War memorial where he is the caretaker. There Cunanan shoots Reese point blank and steals the truck.
The fourth episode: House by the Lake, backtracks the killings of Cunanan’s to his first victim Jeff Trail and Cunanan’s then-boyfriend, David Madson. American Crime Story executive producer Brad Simpson in a recent interview said, “Tom Rob Smith, the writer, had to invent a lot of what had happened based on what we knew from the crime scene and we knew about Andrew and David. We know there was this murder, and then we know they were in a car together, and we know that David begged for his life at the end. But we had to fill in what might have happened during that time.”
And while in reality, many neighbours reported the two taking their dog out for a walk, the narrative almost seemed like Stockholm Syndrome which would explain why David did not escape.
However, there’s no record of the two ever being seen together at a bar, diner or even in Madson’s jeep after leaving Minneapolis. It’s unknown why Cunanan took his time before killing Madson. It was up to Tom Rob Smith’s script and some impressive acting from both Criss and relative newcomer Cody Fern to fill in all the blanks there.
If any viewer had any sympathy or affection for Cunanan up until this point, these episodes strip that away entirely. He is terrifying and merciless, and downright cruel.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace Spotify playlist | updated to episode 4
Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ, “Albinoni’s Adagio” • Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life • All Around the World • Capriccio, Op.85 – Letzte Szene: “Kein andres, das mir im Herzen so loht” • Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Act 1: “Oh! quante volte” (Giulietta) • Gloria • Easy Lover • Back to Life • You Showed Me • Giacomelli: Merope: “Sposa, son disprezzata” (Merope) • A Little Bit of Ecstasy • Be My Lover • This Is the Right Time • A Certain Sadness • It’s Magic • St. Thomas • Pump Up The Jam • Drive
Don’t be diverted by the sleek clothes, vibrant colors or transformative work of its lead actors — the crown jewel in the medusa head of “American Crime Story: Versace” is necomer Cody Fern.
From a small mining town in Australia, with only one prior credit to his name, Fern plays the little-known David Madson — a pawn in the game of serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who famously gunned down designer Gianni Versace in Miami in 1997.
That Fern would stand out with his famous costars Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Darren Criss is as unlikely as it is exhilarating. His performance as Madson is the show’s true revelation, despite the halo Ramirez brings Gianni, the quiet dignity Cruz affords Donatella and the textured madness Criss gives us as Cunanan.
Let us explain. (Warning: Do not read ahead if you aren’t caught up on the show.)
“Versace,” produced by Ryan Murphy and his “People v. O.J.” team of Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson, shows Cunanan’s five-person murder spree in reverse. It hooks you with the spectacle and tragedy of Versace being gunned down on the marble steps of his palazzo and walks you back through Cunanan’s horrible journey to that moment.
On this timeline, we meet his victims and friends Madson and Jeff Trail (Finn Wittrock). At the top of the fourth episode, we witness Fern’s big moment: Cunanan violently bashes Trail in the skull and face 28 times with a hammer.
The violence is implicit and the camera doesn’t show the murder, just a slow push on Fern. He conveys abject horror and shock at the act unfolding in front of him. Only after the screams and grunts are through do we see a blood-soaked Cunanan, who immediately retreats into the arms of the terrified Fern, looking for approval.
Madson had a dog, and the animal used in the scene had such a strong reaction that the actors had to do a second take, Jacobson told TheWrap.
“The intensity of that murder was present there at the shoot,” she said. “What’s so great about Cody’s performance is that the horror of the murder is playing out across him.”
After the murder, Cunanan seizes on the violence and confusion to make Madson feel complicit. He pulls him into the shower and washes the blood from them both. He watches as Madson dresses and struggles to find an appropriate response to the crime he’s just witnessed.
Cunanan promises no one else will get hurt if Madson flees the scene with him, so the men set off together on a morbid little road trip. Here they both begin to weigh the consequences of their choices.
“We watched a lot of road movies from the 1990s, there was this trend of road movies. ‘Natural Born Kilers,’ ‘Wild at Heart,’ ‘Thelma and Louise.’ [Episode writer] Tom Rob Smith watched those, and we talked about this being a twisted version of that,” Simpson told TheWrap.
Indeed, Cunanan joyously belts out Technotronic’s “Pump Up The Jam” while Madson stares off into the distance, drudging up his internalized shame over being gay, and wondering how news of the crime will hurt his family, which struggled with his coming out, years before.
“The question becomes, ‘How redeemable is Andrew and how redeemable am I?” Fern said of the episode, speaking from the set of his new gig on “House of Cards.” “How complicit am I in the death of this other person, my best friend? Could I run now if I wanted to?”
To prepare for the episode, Fern said he read the famous testimony of Manson Family member Linda Kasabian, a key witness in the defense of the Tate-LaBianca murders.
“You got the sense that the light went out behind her eyes, ” Fern said.
The episode reaches a second crescendo when the fugitives stop at a roadside bar. Fern’s Madson keeps reaching the end of his emotional rope, only to find more rope. A lounge lizard (played by indie goddess Amie Mann in a stealth cameo) sings an impossibly sad cover of The Cars song’ “Drive.”
Madson escapes to the bathroom, where he breaks the glass of a small rectangular window above the toilet — “Maybe he fits through it, maybe he doesn’t,” Jacobson said.
Back in the bar, reality rushes to Cunanan and tears stream down his face.
When he looks up, Madson has returned to the table. The sweater he wrapped around his fist to punch the window is now tied on his waist.
“The shame, it’s something we wanted to explore in this entire season. Think about Versace. He came out before Ellen, and there were so few role models and people you could look up to. There was so much internalized homophobia, it’s so present with both of those characters, both Madson and Jeff,” Jacobson said.
“It’s more than the murder for Madson. It’s ‘People know you’re guilty for being gay, and guilty of being gay.’ That Cunanan plays on that is so disturbing,” Simpson said.
Tom Rob Smith’s teleplay for the episode is titled “House by the Lake.” That’s where the episode ends, and we won’t spoil what fate awaits the men there.
Interestingly enough, The Assassination of Gianni Versace chose to present another episode without, well, Versace. However, I am not complaining because it means lots and lots of Darren Criss channeling Andrew Cunanan–a role for which he is most definitely snagging an Emmy nomination.
This week we continue to learn about the murders that transpire before Versace’s untimely demise. The episode begins a week before Lee Miglin’s murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Andrew and his ex-lover, David Madson (Cody Fern). From the emotional tension of the scenes that follow, we learn that Andrew was rejected by David after he proposed to him–and believes that Madson is having an affair with their friend, Jeff (played by Murphy favorite, Finn Wittrock).
Cunanan’s psychotic crazy starts to pour out as he struggles with Madson’s rejection–and then proceeds to brutally murder Jeff with a claw hammer, aka his very first murder. After witnessing Andrew calmly take someone’s life, David tries to convince him to call the police. As we have learned, Cunanan’s ability to manipulate and emotionally blackmail is next-level and he uses this on David to stop him. He tells him that David will be arrested for being an accomplice to the murder–so, now what?
Whether out of obsession, love, or madness, Cunanan clings to Madson’s side after the murder. David’s absence at work alarms his co-worker who comes knocking on his door looking for him. Before they have a chance to enter and discover the both of them with Jeff’s body, Andrew and David flee the apartment.
Throughout the season, it’s alarming and strange that Cunanan shows no concern about leaving damning evidence behind–whether it’s the murder weapon or the body itself. With the help of the super, the co-worker gets into David’s apartment only to discover the scene of a gruesome murder. However, they initially mistake the dead body for David’s.
The co-worker recalls that David had a friend that was staying with him by the name of “Cuy-nan-nan”. The case takes a twist when the cops realize the body is not David’s because of the dark hair. This places the blame on David for the murder.
Meanwhile, Andrew whisks David away on a road trip–final destination, Mexico. The episode consists of a series of flashbacks showing David as a child and as a teenager coming out to his father. These moments come full circle in the final moments of the episode, but we’ll get to that later.
Andrew tries to connect with David as he maniacally jams out to music and tells him to begin “planning his new life.” While Andrew dreams of their future, David is riddled with paranoia over someone recognizing them, in the case the murder has been reported.
Meanwhile, the authorities visit David’s parents to report that he is a suspect in an ongoing murder investigation. At the same moment, David shares his concerns about his parents being affected with Andrew–who could probably care less. A moment of freedom grazes by David when they decide to take a pit stop at a bar. He breaks the bathroom window but surprisingly returns to Andrew to resume their trip.
This trip, however, is the end of David’s life. As much as Andrew tries to resist his psychopathic tendencies, he finds them taking over when David begins to attack him and calls him fake. The episode closes out with David and Andrew literally next to a house on the lake, where Andrew shoots him in the back and then in the face.
In his final moments, David hallucinates his father and snaps back for his final minute of life. The episode fades out with Andrew lying next to David’s dead body–his face oddly calm and peaceful.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace is diving head-first into the mind of Cunanan and his brutal, spastic murders. While we experience this horrifying journey through Cunanan’s mind, it highlights a very frightening crime story in America’s history. Now that we have seen all four of Cunanan’s murders, it begs the question–where will the story go from here? And will next week’s episode lead us back to Gianni and his story? I guess we will have to wait until next week to find out!
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