Tag: 2.06

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Questions Andrew Cunanan’s Motives in Episode Six

If you believe people can be monsters, devoid of the tiniest drop of humanity, then surely you would place Andrew Cunanan in that category. I’m not certain I agree; it’s too easy to dismiss everyone who commits a beastly crime as evil, delusional, or a sociopath. Cunanan may well have been all three of those things, but he was also a person with dreams and desires whose life went disastrously awry. And The Assassination of Gianni Versace would be empty crime porn if it didn’t try to understand why he ended up at Versace’s villa with a gun in his hand.

Now that the show’s reverse-chronological timeline has gotten past Cunanan’s five murders, writer Tom Rob Smith faces the difficult task of discerning his motives—a particular challenge because he didn’t live long enough to be interrogated or interviewed about his killing spree. This week’s episode opens a year before Andrew broke bad and follows him until that final flight to Minneapolis. Its title, “Descent,” pretty much captures his trajectory during that year.

Andrew is loving life at the beginning of the hour, swimming naked at a mountaintop mansion with an ocean view, in La Jolla. The home, we learn, belongs to his sugar daddy, Norman Blachford (Michael Nouri). Meanwhile, Andrew is trying to impress a long-distance boyfriend, his future victim David Madson. “Who are you trying to be?” his old friend Lizzie asks at his birthday party. “Someone he can love,” Andrew replies. (Is it fair to say he loved Madson? I’m not sure love was part of his emotional repertoire—what’s more important is that he wanted Madson more than anything else in the world.) But by the end of the episode, Andrew is broke, has lost both men, and is crying his mother’s tub as she bathes him. This is what hitting rock bottom looks like.

At this point, the show’s timeline gets a bit confusing. The previous episode alternated between scenes set in 1997, just before Andrew killed Jeff Trail, and flashbacks to 1995, when Smith has them meeting for the first time (even though they actually met years earlier). “Descent” begins at the midpoint between those two moments, the top of a long slide into desperation. So it’s worth taking a second to break down who the new characters are and what roles they played in Cunanan’s life before we get into Smith’s interpretation of his motives.

Norman Blachford

Before he was a murderer, Cunanan was a kept boy. His intelligence, social connections, and knowledge of the arts made him a sort of courtesan to the older, wealthier gays in San Diego (Vulgar Favors author Maureen Orth compares him to a geisha). At the time, Cunanan was calling himself Andrew DeSilva and had adopted a cover story designed to win the sympathies of these men: Before coming out and being disowned by his rich parents, he’d been married with a daughter.

Cunanan had certainly courted other men from this circle by the time he met 58-year-old Norman Blachford in 1994. Blachford had made his fortune selling sound insulation. He’d just lost his partner of a quarter-century to AIDS and was cautious about letting a new lover into his life. Cunanan persisted. In July 1995, he moved into Blachford’s home. (You can read more on that period here.) As part of their arrangement, Blachford bought Cunanan an Infiniti, made his credit card payments, and gave him $2,500 to spend each month. It’s unclear how often they slept together; Cunanan claimed their relationship was platonic, and the bedroom they shared really did contain twin beds, but acquaintances told Orth that was impossible.

The dual birthday parties in “Descent”—a snoozefest for Blachford’s friends and a blowout for Cunanan’s—actually took place in August 1995. That insane scene where Cunanan orders Trail to wear a pair of Ferragamos, give Cunanan another pair as a present, and lie about his occupation, though? Cunanan didn’t meet Madson until a few months after that party. Otherwise, the incident reportedly happened more or less as written.

Cunanan’s arrangement with Blachford started to dissolve the next summer, ostensibly over the Mercedes SL 600 (a $125,000 car) we see him demand in the episode. Smith sticks close to the facts here, too: When he walked out, Cunanan expected Blachford to come crawling back to him, but was instead forced to find a cheap apartment of his own.

By then, his relationship with Madson had also deteriorated. He made a last-ditch effort to win Madson back, in April 1997, during an expensive weekend trip to Los Angeles—where, fun fact, a friend of Madson’s introduced them to her pal Lisa Kudrow. As we see in the episode, despite Cunanan’s extravagance, the gesture failed. (When Madson says to Cunanan, “I get the feeling that you don’t have many great nights with people,” it’s the show’s most honest moment to date.) Madson insisted to Cunanan that he only wanted to be friends. In “Descent,” he ruins his final chance with Madson by feeding him a new, unbelievable life story—and it’s pathetic. The truth is, by then, they’d already broken up, and Madson was dating other people.

The scene where a desperate Cunanan pounds on Blachford’s door at night is fiction. But Cunanan did place one last call to Blachford, the day he killed Jeff Trail, acknowledging that they were through and to announcing an upcoming move to San Francisco. “Blachford was somewhat puzzled by the call,” Orth writes. “He already knew that Andrew was leaving.”

MaryAnn Cunanan

This week’s American Horror Story moment came courtesy of “Orange Is the New Black” and “The Sinner” actress Joanna Adler, who plays Cunanan’s mother in high Grand-Guignol style. That scene where he’s curled up in the tub and she’s promising him “I’m gonna make you smell like you again” is as fantastical as it looks. The last thing Cunanan is known to have done in San Diego was throw himself a farewell dinner party. But that’s not to say that the real MaryAnn Cunanan was so different from the bizarre character we meet in “Descent.”

As you may have suspected, MaryAnn was never the sophisticated publisher Andrew talks up to Madson. The daughter of Italian immigrants, she was born in Ohio and moved to California at 19. She soon married Pete Cunanan, the father of Andrew and her three other children (all of whom we’ll likely learn more about later). Awed by his precociousness, the couple were as indulgent of young Andrew as we’ve seen his character suggest throughout the show. MaryAnn remained loyal to him even after his death, insisting that he wasn’t capable of killing five people.

Orth describes MaryAnn as “very fragile, by turns garrulous and stupefied, teetering on the brink of total emotional meltdown. Mainly, she seems to be all sweetness and light, but her mood can swing at any time.” She’d been seeing a psychiatrist for years before her son’s murder spree and subsisted on disability payments; you can see the exterior of her humble National City, CA home in this article. A devout Catholic, she’d give away what little money she had—although, when Andrew was little, she spent wildly and used sex to wheedle big purchases out of Pete.

Andrew’s Motive

Does the terrible year that plays out in “Descent,” plus everything we’ve seen in previous episodes, add up to a believable motive for Andrew? Well, it’s clear he’s got very little left to live for by the time he flies to Minneapolis—no Madson, no Blachford, no Trail, no money, no success. If you’re already abusing drugs and have always lacked a moral compass, that loneliness and desperation might well be enough to turn your thoughts toward violent crime.

Then there’s his belief, one that’s pretty rich for a kept boy, that everyone uses him. In a strange, red-lit vision of an encounter with Gianni Versace, Andrew announces, “I happen to believe that I’m the most generous person that ever lived,” before demanding, “What could be more generous than spending everything on other people and being left with nothing? What could be more generous than finding soulmates for other people and ending up alone?” Cunanan really did feel this way. Orth reports that he dropped a ton of money on his friends, that he often set them up on dates, and that he assumed people only spent time with him for those reasons.

Shakier is this idea that Cunanan killed Versace because he was obsessed with the designer and his achievements. That’s the argument underlying Cunanan’s dream, in which he attributes Versace’s success to luck and seems to get off on the powerful man taking his measurements. The designer may have been on Cunanan’s mind as a target; a friend who drove him to the airport told Orth that he’d gone on about his hatred for Versace, a man who he said “came from nothing” and made his reputation through “hard work.”

Cunanan’s supposed resentment toward high achievers is Orth’s fixation. While it makes sense that Smith would pick up on this argument, the extent to which he uses it to keep Versace in the story is a bit much. Did Cunanan make Versace collages and tell his mom that he traveled the world with the designer, making opera costumes? Probably not. I get that Smith is painting Versace as the light to Andrew’s darkness. But the approach flattens out both characters—and Cunanan’s story is absorbing enough to make the embellishment feel kind of unnecessary.

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Questions Andrew Cunanan’s Motives in Episode Six

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ Episode 6 Recap: Somebody to Love

“He’s a house. He’s a home. He’s a yard and a family and picking kids up from school…he’s a future.”

“They say this man…this man has nothing left to give. And a man with nothing to give is a nothing man….This world has wasted me.”

Ominously directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton and featuring absolutely stunning dialogue from series writer Tom Rob Smith, “Descent,” the sixth episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, is the first and only episode so far to steer entirely clear of murder and its aftermath. Yet somewhere between those two statements above — the first is a description of his beloved David Madsen to his friend Lizzie, the second a description of himself to a meth-induced nightmare vision of Gianni Versace — Andrew Cunanan dies. The old Andrew, anyway, the Andrew capable of warmth and charm and moments of honesty amid the lies. It’s not hard to identify the specific spark of vitality that gets snuffed out to make his dark rebirth into the new, lethal Andrew happen, either. When his hope dies, the old Andrew dies with it.

“Descent” depicts some of the final normal, happy moments of Andrew’s life, or at least as normal and happy as Andrew’s life ever really gets. In splendid fashion, it introduces us first to the high-rolling luxury lifestyle afforded him by his status as the live-in designer/decorator/boyfriend of his wealthy benefactor Norman Blachford (Michael Nouri, dignified and excellent), then to Norman himself, on the eve of a lavish birthday party being thrown in Andrew’s honor. There’s even a return to the slightly fisheyed lens that captured the Versace palace in Miami during the cold open of the premiere, a visual indicator of splendor that’s almost too big to be contained by the camera. At this point Cunanan is living like an idle member of a wealthy Game of Thrones house, lounging naked on the balcony before swimming naked in the pool while Laura Branigan’s shit-hot single “Self Control” gives him an air of anachronistic ’80s cool.

But even if this cold open doesn’t end with a murder the way the first episode’s did, it does end with this stark reminder of the horror soon to come.

How do we get there from here? A combination of factors. Like the dark clouds that loom in the background of the otherwise perfect party in the hills (a weather detail Horder-Payton makes subtle but stunning use of), trouble is brewing in paradise. Andrew is beginning to drive away his friend Jeff Trail with his constant embellishments and lies; in this case, they involve dummying up a fancy fake gift for Jeff to present him as a present in lieu of a real one, just so he looks better in front of David Madson, the would-be love of his life and the unwitting guest of honor at the party.

Andrew also forces Jeff into the painful position of pretending to still be an officer in the Navy, a wound you can see is still very raw with him. (“It just sounds so impressive.” “I know it does.” Oof.) “I just need him to see that I’m loved,” Andrew tells Jeff as he presents him the ringer gift. “I do love you, buddy!” Jeff says, attempting both to reassure Andrew that this is true and, it seems, reassure himself that Andrew deserves it.

This is a fixation for Cunanan, and not one he simply cites while forcing friends to be complicit in his lies. He’s more open and direct about it with Lizzie, when she asks him point blank “Who are you trying to be?” “Someone he can love,” he replies. The sadness here is deep enough to fill an in-ground pool. In his own weird way, he’s reaching out desperately for genuine affection. You can’t help but wonder if, had he been more genuine himself, he would have gotten it.

Meanwhile, Andrew’s relationship with Norman is beginning to sour, even relative to its already transactional nature. Smitten as he is with David, Andrew can’t help but become more obvious about his lack of interest in Norman and his attempt to woo his other man. Norman’s friend David Gallo (SNL vet Terry Sweeney, thoroughly delightful here) is a true queen of thorns, and he’s got Andrew’s number from the jump. The two men exchange catty, cutting insults like an antagonistic pair of characters in a sitcom, but it takes a turn for the serious when Gallo corners Andrew outside the bathroom where he’s just gotten high. Norman, Gallo says, built a company from scratch, then reeled with grief after watching his previous, more serious partner waste away and die from AIDS, a horror he feels Andrew couldn’t possibly comprehend. Gallo himself sounds like he’d rather die than see his friend hurt again, an innate core of decency that shines through all the Wildean put-downs and bon mots. “That room,” Andrew says as he withdraws from the confrontation, “is full of people who love me.” “Then that room is full of people who don’t know you,” Gallo calls after him.

And what does Andrew do after fleeing his enemy’s brutal read? He runs interference between David and Jeff, two people he ostensibly cares about, because he sees they’re hitting it off. There’s a great bit where Andrew cockblocks by mentioning Jeff’s boyfriend, who may or may not actually exists. “Is he still working at that mall?” he says with false good cheer. Without missing a beat, Jeff replies “…he works for a living, yes.” It’s not clear if Andrew, whom Gallo says is “too lazy to work, too proud to be kept,” realizes he’s just been insulted again. He then blows off none other than Lee Miglin, whose presence at the party makes it more difficult for Andrew to make his move on David. Finally he stages a photo op with Norman, Lee, David, and Jeff — “All the people I love!” Gallo was right, man. Gallo was right about all of it.

Anyway, at some point after the party Andrew presents Norman with a preposterous list of demands if he is to continue gracing the older man with his presence. Norman, firmly but not unkindly, replies by revealing that he knows everything Andrew has told him about his life, including his last name, is a lie. “You investigated me?” Andrew says indigantly. “Youinvestigated me,” Norman replies. He understands that Cunanan researched and targeted him to gain access to his wealth. The thing is, he doesn’t even really care! He cares more about the lies (“I already have a PhD.” “You do not have a PhD!”), the laziness (“What is it about having an education and the idea of work that you find so insulting?”), and the squandered potential (“Being smart is useless unless it’s in the service of something.”). So, despite his affection and admiration for Andrew, which is sincere despite it all, he breaks things off. In response, Andrew breaks a glass table. Violence is starting to creep in around the edges.

It bleeds through more strongly when Jeff comes to see Andrew in his new, barren apartment, furious that Cunanan sent a postcard to his parents’ house that nearly outed him. “How funny,” Andrew replies with a sneer. Jeff slams him up against a wall, ordering him to stay away from his family; “I never thought that you were capable of being violent,” Cunanan replies with self-righteous shock. But when he hears Jeff is moving to Minneapolis for a job David hooked him up with, his own command that Jeff stay away from David has the unmistakable tinge of violence to it as well. Andrew’s last-ditch attempt to spark something with David by blowing all his credit on an absurdly lavish hotel weekend, where even his attempts to be honest about his upbringing sound, sadly, like utter horseshit, is not enough to convince David that Andrew’s marriage material.

Then come the drugs — serious, shooting-up drugs — the hallucinations about Versace as a man who just got lucky while Andrew didn’t, and a scene straight out of Less Than Zero (the real-life Andrew’s favorite movie) in which he stumbles, fucked-up and desperate, through the hills and onto Norman’s estate, pounding on the glass door and begging for help as his ex calls the cops on him. Things are literally going downhill. That’s the difference between Versace and Andrew, according to the dream-Gianni: “I’m loved.” Andrew is not.

The episode ends where, perhaps, it has to: at Andrew’s mother’s place. She’s the one person who will always love him, in her own revolting way, but it’s love he doesn’t want, can barely stand. It’s painful to watch as she treats him like a child, sexualizes her care for him, uses his fake success in the costume-design industry as a cudgel with which to beat frienemies she resents, expresses horror at his assertion that he’ll never have children. She bathes him like baby, the inverse of his nude solo pool swim.

He leaves for his final rendezvous with Jeff and David the next day. His voice as he says “Goodbye, Mom,” is not harsh, but it’s hopeless. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Minneapolis to be born?

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ Episode 6 Recap: Somebody to Love

‘American Crime Story’ Review: ‘Descent’ Begins The Downward Spiral

This week’s American Crime Story review takes a look at the latest episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace, “Descent.” Spoilers follow.

1996, La Jolla

It’s a full year before Andrew Cunanan’s killing spree, and now we’re going to start to learn what makes him tick. The Assassination of Gianni Versace’s backwards narrative has kept Andrew mostly a mystery to us, but this week’s episode, “Descent”, reveals one of the tipping points that would lead him to murder.

Andrew is living at a gorgeous mansion in La Jolla, California. The first moments of the episode show him pulling up to the estate and later diving into a pool. How can Andrew afford all this? The answer is, he can’t. This is actually the home of a wealthy man named Norman. Later, the house will be swarming with people – it’s Andrew’s birthday, and Norman is throwing him a party.

To Andrew, the party is an opportunity to win over David – a man he will eventually murder. His relationship with Norman isn’t sexual, he insists; he merely lives with Norman out of necessity. What he really wants is to be with David. Maybe. “David is a future,” he says. “And up until now I’ve only dated the past.”

The fact of the matter is, Andrew doesn’t know what he wants. But he thinks being in a relationship with David will somehow magically solve his problems. Yet when David arrives at the party, things don’t go according to plan. Jeff, another of Andrew’s future victims, is at the party as well, and Andrew attempts to stage a scene – he gives Jeff an expensive gift – new shoes – and then asks Jeff to give them back to Andrew as a birthday gift, in front of everyone. When Jeff questions the reasoning behind this, Andrew’s answer is blunt and to the point: “I want to seem loved.”

Perhaps this is the curse of Andrew Cunanan: not so much to want love, but rather to have the appearance of being loved. And when Andrew doesn’t get what he wants, he proceeds to spend the rest of the episode burning every single bridge he has. The party doesn’t go as planned – Andrew can barely get any time with David alone, and David and Jeff proceed to hit it off immediately, much to Andrew’s annoyance. Lee Miglin, yet another future victim, shows up as well, and tries to get Andrew alone, also to Andrew’s annoyance. As far as Andrew sees it, his perfect day has been ruined, and his only way to deal with this is by lashing out.

“This World Has Wasted Me’

Long after the party ends, Andrew unveils a “list of requirements” he wants from Norman, including more money, a new car, and being written in Norman’s will as his sole heir. This attempt at emotional extortion backfires, and Norman calmly reveals he knows everything about Andrew, and that Andrew has be lying to him – and everyone else – about his background for years. After refusing to Andrew’s demands, Andrew storms out, assuming Norman will demand he comes back.

It doesn’t happen.

And things only get worse for Andrew from here. He torches his friendship with Jeff by trying to out Jeff to his parents. Then he torches any chance he has with David with an elaborate, expensive, foolhardy getaway: Andrew calls David and tells him he’s paid for an expensive trip for the both of them. David seems hesitant, but agrees to come along.

During the getaway, Andrew takes David clothes shopping; “I want you to dress like the man you’re going to be.” Here, he’s literally trying to make David into his ideal partner, regardless of what David thinks.

Later, during a romantic dinner that’s anything but romantic, David says, “Andrew, I’m not the one.” Desperate, Andrew insists, “You are the one.” David, trying to be kind, says he came on the trip because he wanted to see if he and Andrew could take the next step, but feels like it won’t work because he doesn’t really “know” Andrew. He wants Andrew to be honest with him. Andrew agrees to “tell the truth”, but when he starts talking about his parents, David can tell Andrew is still lying. Weary of it all, David gives up and says he’s tired, effectively closing the door on any real relationship with Andrew.

From here, Andrew spirals deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. His drug use increases, and after shooting up crystal meth, he proceeds to have a red-tinted fantasy/hallucination where Gianni Versace is measuring him for a suit. “This world has wasted me,” Andrew tells Versace with a flat, dead voice. “While it has turned you…into a star.” When Andrew asks what the difference is between himself and Versace, the Versace hallucination replies, “I’m loved.”

The lowest moment for Andrew comes when he attempts, and fails, to break back into Norman’s house. With nowhere left to go, Andrew pays a visit to his mother, in a truly unnerving scene that provides our first real clue as to why Andrew is the way he is.

His mother, Mary Ann, is clearly emotionally and mentally unwell, and she proceeds to babble on almost incoherently the entire time Andrew is there. When Andrew lets his guard down and confesses to his mother that he’s unhappy, she doesn’t seem to hear him at all. He is truly, entirely cut off now – no one seems to be listening to him anymore. No one is buying the bullshit he’s sold so convincingly all his life. Before long, he’ll head to Minneapolis, and his killing spree will begin.

Descent

After the previous American Crime Story episode “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, “Descent” is a bit of a disappointment. This was probably inevitable – “Don’t Ask…” was the best episode of the entire season so far, and now that we’re going back even further in time – to a full year before Andrew’s murders begin – the show has run dry of big, shocking moments. Instead, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is settling into a sad, somber groove in which he begins to slowly reveal Andrew’s history.

There’s a problem with this: we’ve spent so much time watching Andrew do terrible, destructive things that it’s nearly impossible to muster up any sympathy for him at this point. Yes, getting a glimpse of Andrew’s nerve-wracking mother provides some insight into Andrew as a person, but it might be too little too late.

Director Gwyneth Horder-Payton keeps the episode moving along briskly, and some stylistic flourishes – a fast camera push-in on Andrew’s face at the party, signifying him realizing he’s losing control; the red-tinted drug hallucination with Versace – stand-out.

Darren Criss continues to impress with his layered, frantic performance. Some of the best moments of this episode revolve around Criss showing Andrew’s often pathetic desperation – during the party, when he senses David not paying enough attention to him, he attempts to stage a big, flashy scene that doesn’t go according to plan. Watching Criss portray Andrew’s panicked desperation at that moment is remarkable.

Actress Joanna Adler lays it on a bit too thick as Andrew’s mother Mary Ann. I understand that this is a tough balancing act – the character shows up seemingly out of nowhere with only a few minutes left in the episode, and Adler has to get across how damaged this individual is in short period of time. Still, Adler goes way too big in these scenes, portraying Mary Ann as someone so unstable that it’s hard to believe she’s able to survive on her own without being hospitalized.

Adler fairs a bit better in next week’s episode. Next week, American Crime Story travels even further back into Andrew’s history, and shows us his humble, tragic origins.

‘American Crime Story’ Review: ‘Descent’ Begins The Downward Spiral

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ recap: Three is a party

We gave it an A

We reunite with Andrew Cunanan in a beautiful beach home, arms laden with shopping bags, wearing sunglasses, and diving naked into a pool. It’s the the closest he’s come to the first morning we saw Gianni Versace experience in the pilot: Cunanan found a way to live that rich and famous life — the only difference is he never earned it.

Cunanan meticulously wraps a gift in Tiffany-blue wrapping paper and carefully selects an outfit from a closet curated like a department store. He wipes some cocaine on his gum. This little scene — we’re reminded — takes place one year before the murders began. And so what, we must ask, caused this man who seems to be so on top of the world to completely snap?

Cunanan is having a birthday party, and we get a glimpse of the wonderful Annaleigh Ashford again as a pre-murder spree friend, Lizzie, interrogating him about his new gay lifestyle and questionable relationship with a much older man, Norman (in whose beautiful home he’s been staying). “I…curate his art,” Cunanan answers, when Lizzie asks what he’s been doing at the house of the older man. But even though he’s a live-in boyfriend, Cunanan only wants David.

Jeffrey arrives first, wearing a suburban dad’s uniform of bad jeans and a button-down shirt, and Cunanan tries to manipulate the scene a little better for David’s benefit, so Cunanan looks more “loved.” He buys Jeffrey a new pair of shoes and asks him to corroborate the white lie he told about Jeffrey still being in the Navy. “But Jeff — being an officer in the Navy just sounds so impressive!” Oh how innocent his manipulations began.

David finally arrives, all the way from Minneapolis, and Cunanan kisses him on the lips. It’s obvious that David is impressed, and also impressed when Jeffrey presents Cunanan with his self-bought gift, right on cue. But the chemistry between Jeffrey and David is also immediate, and sends Cunanan into the bathroom for another line of coke.

It’s one of the older Norman’s friends who puts Cunanan in his place, attempting to protect his friend: “Too lazy to work, too proud to be kept,” he sneers at Cunanan. “That room is full of people who love me,” Cunanan said, gesturing to the party. “That room is full of people who don’t know you,” the man replies.

Cunanan is desperate to interrupt David and Jeffrey’s immediate report, but he’s thwarted by a familiar face: Lee Miglin, who came all the way from Chicago, clearly crazy about Cunanan even though Cunanan is embarrassed by him. Cunanan is surrounded by all of his future victims in a group photo—the next scene shows he’s scratched out all of their faces but David’s.

Cunanan presents requests to Norman in order to stay together: an increased living allowance, a car, and his entire inheritance. But Norman is a savvy businessman, and he fires back with the one thing Cunanan hates the most: the truth about who he is. Norman knows Cunanan’s real name. He knows that he had been working minimum wage and living with his mother. Norman presents the facts and Cunanan walks away, silenced. Norman is too generous with Cunanan — he offers to increase his living allowance and pay for his college (“I already have a PhD!” Cunanan shouts). He sees through the lies and still wants to help him. “You can have this life, if you work for it, but if you won’t, you must share it with me,” Norman says. He refuses Cunanan his list, and after throwing a chair through a glass table, the boy sulks off like a petulant child. “I’m leaving. I expect you to call.”

Cunanan’s real home is a miserable oatmeal apartment with a bare mattress, and we see his first act of vindictive revenge: the postcard attempting to out Jeffrey to his father, for the sin of Jeffrey hitting it off with David at the party. Jeffrey confronts Cunanan and holds Cunanan against the wall. He tells Cunanan he got a new job — in Minneapolis. Where David lives. “I’m leaving,” he says. “I thought you should know.” Jeffrey gives Cunanan a filthy look as he leaves.

Cunanan now does what he has to to win back David: offering a fully funded trip to Los Angeles, the desperation in his voice only slightly audible. One can only imagine the credit card debt he’s racking up. David has come, but it’s obvious he’s uneasy, especially when Cunanan makes it clear he imagines them sharing a future. Cunanan drowns him in expensive gifts and fancy food — more desperation.

And David feels guilty. “Andrew, I’m not the one,” he says, after offering to pay for half of everything. “I’m sorry.” The truth of the situation’s weirdness comes out — they had one great night together in San Fransisco. Just one. And Cunanan is trying to recreate their perfect meeting.

“So know me! Get to know me!” Cunanan cries. David, it turns out, just wants to know the real Cunanan. The two of them gleefully peel off their jackets and sit across from each other. David asks about Cunanan’s parents, but his eyes go dull as Cunanan continues to spew lies about his extravagant upbringing.

Cuannan goes back to his apartment alone, with no messages on his answering machine and a massive credit card bill. In the story he tells to the bartender that night, he proposed to David and David said yes. In his meth-fueled dream, Versace is tailoring his suit. “We’re the same!” Cunanan says to Versace’s cold arrogance. “The only difference is you got lucky!” Versace says that that isn’t the only difference. “Oh yeah?” Cunanan says. “What else you got?” Dream-Versace doesn’t even smile. “I am loved,” he says.

Now Cunanan is twitchy and strung out. His stories to the bartender don’t make sense. He doesn’t have money to pay his meth dealer. And so he returns to the house where he had so recently hosted a birthday party. He pleads on his hands and knees for Norman to let him in, barking Norman’s name, while Norman lifts a phone to call the police.

Cunanan has nowhere to go but his mother’s house. She believed his lies, she brags about him to her friends, and she comforts him, bathing him in a tub like an infant. And then he’s sent on his way — off to do all of the great things she thinks he’s doing.

What city is next, she asks.

“Minneapolis.”

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ recap: Three is a party

Dailybreak.com

I’m beginning to think this show isn’t really about Versace. Yes, he appeared in Cunanan’s drug-fueled dream tonight, but he’s barely been in the last four episodes as we travel back in the timeline to a year before the murders. To be honest, I can’t say I really mind. Versace’s story seems rather one-dimensional. He and Donatella clash while managing their fashion empire and Donatella hates Versace’s partner, Antonio. Every appearance by these three seems like a repeat of that storyline. OK, we get it.

The portrait of Cunanan, a pathologically lying psychopath wrapped in self-loathing and designer clothes, has been much more compelling. I think a lot of that is owed to Darren Criss for laying on the charisma thick like honey. Finn Wittrock and Cody Fern have also sparkled as two of Cunanan’s friends-turned-murder victims, Jeff Trail and David Madson.

In this episode, we finally discover how Trail and Madson met, which has been bugging me for the last two episodes. They were introduced at Cunanan’s birthday party, thrown by his sugar daddy, Norman Blanchford. There were no murders this week and all these fringe characters converged at one party, including his friend Lizzie (Annaleigh Ashford), Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell), Trail and Madson. There is no indication this actually happened (the party did, but Trail is the only one confirmed to have been in attendance), but knowing what we know now, it was a thrilling assembly of personalities. I also quite enjoyed the super b*tchy interactions between Cunanan and one of Blanchford’s friends, who was clearly onto his trickery.

From day one, I understood that a lot of this show’s plot was invented for dramatic effect. I’m starting to grasp that maybe 75 percent of the show is made up. Investigators that know Cunanan did certain things at certain times (like that L.A. hotel stay was totally real). But almost every conversation is fictional. That seems crazy to me, because if someone told such tall tales, was flashy with money and had so many friends, you’d think people would know more about him and remember talking to him. That, or the other people in the conversation are dead. This is frustrating, but leaves a blank canvas that gives the writers a lot to work with.

Once again, Cunanan was portrayed as pathetic in this episode. He’s trying desperately to make Madson love him and he shows off hard. The rejection only makes him plummet further into drugs, lies and sorrow. Now it makes sense why he gets so pissed when Madson eventually rejects his proposal. The same goes for the sneaky postcard he sent Trail’s father – this is why Trail is so unhappy to pick him up at the airport. This rejection and the jealousy Cunanan feels when he thinks Madson and Trail are a couple is a clear motive for murder. Case closed.

What about Versace, though? It’s beginning to seem that it was not personal at all. It wasn’t an affair gone wrong or anything juicy. Versace was just an obsession; a symbol of all Cunanan wasn’t. He got caught in the crossfire of Cunanan’s twisted mind.

I loved the interaction between Cunanan and his mother this week. Finally, we see where this guy actually came from and from her dingy apartment to her frumpy housecoat, it’s not what you would expect. You think that Mama is going to talk some sense into her child, but no. She seems delusional in her own way, obsessed with how much everyone else has and how much she lacks. This is where he gets it from – she isn’t going to save him or do anything to prevent the awful things about to happen. It finally makes sense…a little.

Luckily, we get more of Mrs. Cunanan and her unhelpful wisdom next week, along with more on how Cunanan met Norman Blanchford. This oughtta be good.

Dailybreak.com

Recapping ‘Versace’: Episode 6, ‘Descent’

As we enter the back half of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” it’s becoming clear that this is the Andrew Cunanan story. The show is less an examination of how the fashion designer was murdered but why he was murdered, putting the spotlight on his killer, marvelously portrayed by the dynamic Darren Criss. This is another week where we don’t see the Versace crew, including Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez (Ramirez’s Gianni does appear in one scene but as a figment of Andrew’s imagination) and Ricky Martin.

In the sixth episode of the season “Descent,” directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton and written by Tom Rob Smith, the show travels further back in time – a year before Andrew went on his cross-country murdering spree. The episode opens with Andrew celebrating his birthday in San Diego where he’s living with an older, wealthy man named Norman (Michael Nouri) in a fabulous seaside house. But it’s all a show, an attempt to woo and impress David Madson (Cody Fern). Andrew explains to his best friend Elizabeth Cote (the wonderful Annaleigh Ashford), that he’s staying with Norma “curating” his home and designing its decor. Andrew goes on to say he sees a “future” with David and that he’s trying to be “someone he can love.”

Also at the birthday party is Jeff Trail (Finn Wittrock), dressed in blue jeans and sneakers. Andrew hands Jeff a pair of fancy loafers to wear for the party. Jeff has brought a gift for Andrew, but Andrew gives him another gift to pass him in its place.

“I want [David] to see I have really good friends,” Andrew tells Jeff. “…I need you to look the part.”

“What does a good friend look like?” Jeff asks. “How is this going to help?”

“I need him to know [that you love me],” Andrew says.

Jeff finally agrees but before Andrew tells him that he told David he is still serving in the Navy. He reluctantly agrees.

As the episode goes on, it continues to dig into Andrew’s compulsive lying as well as his drug addiction. Not only does he lead David to believe Norman’s house is actually his, but he tells him he used to design clothes with Gianni Versace. Later in the episode, we see Andrew doing hard drugs.

“We’ll have a house like this one day. Maybe this very one,” he tells David. Shortly after, Jeff hands Andrew the gift Andrew gave him, which turn out to be a pair of Ferragamo shoes.

That’s when Jeff and David meet for the first time – and seemingly make a connection, upsetting Andrew.

“Descent” also features one of the few characters in the series who acts as a direct foil to Andrew. One of Norman’s friends, played by “Saturday Night Live” alum Terry Sweeney, is fully aware of Andrew’s lies and act, giving him a hard time throughout the episode, letting Andrew know he’s on to him.

“I have a birthday present for you, it’s a piece of advice. You think Norman is the lucky one. You’re wrong, you’re the lucky one,” he tells Andrew. “Norman is a conservative old queer… most men would make it clear you’re an employee, but he wants you to feel like you’re an equal. But you’re not an equal.”

He goes on to say Norman was vulnerable when he met Andrew and that his partner died of AIDS, suggesting Andrew preyed on his friend during a difficult time.

“What a mix you are,” he tells Andrew. “Too lazy to work, too proud to be kept.”

“I need to get back to my party that room is full of people who love me,” Andrew says.

“Then that room is full of people who don’t know you,” Norman’s friend responds.

As the party continues, Andrew grows more concerned about Jeff and David getting closer and he attempts to balance out his lies. Later on, Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell) shows up at the party, adding to the episode’s fever dream quality – like at the end of “Alice in Wonderland,” where Alice confronts all the characters she’s met throughout her bizarre journey.

After the party, Norman confronts Andrew about his lies, his past, and his current behavior. He says he won’t be taken for a fool, and if Andrew can’t share his life with him then he has to leave Norman’s multi-million-dollar home. This upsets Andrew, who smashes Norman’s glass table with a chair and announces he’s leaving but “expect[s Norman] to call me.”

Andrew indeed leaves, moving into a crummy studio apartment. Jeff then visits Andrew, and the two fight about Andrew sending Jeff’s father a postcard that suggested Jeff is gay. During their argument, Jeff tells Andrew he’s moving because he’s unhappy, and Andrew contributed to that unhappiness.

Andrew then invites David to Los Angeles, where he arranges a five-star hotel stay, rents a sports car and wines and dines David, continuing his unhealthy, lying lifestyle. Despite all his attempts to impress David, which includes buying him a new suit, David still isn’t connecting with Andrew and tells him so.

A desperate Andrew tries to impress David even more but it doesn’t work and David says the two can’t take the next step in their relationship. He says he wants to get to know the real Andrew and get to the truth. But Andrew can’t help himself and he continues to lie about his family, saying his dad was a wealthy stockbroker and his mother ran a successful publishing house. David, however, sees through Andrew’s lies; an excellent Cody Fern plays the moment so well you can see David’s face drooping in disappointment.

“David, I’m a good person, who wants to be good to you,” Andrew says.

“One day you’re going to make someone very happy. I know you will,” David responds.

After things dissolve with David, Andrew is left feeling helpless and spiraling out of control. Parts of “The Assassination of Versace” have had a dreamlike quality, as writer Tom Rob Smith had to create a number of moments. “Descent” features one of the most vibrant and creepy scenes in the series, where a drugged-out Andrew envisions himself meeting Gianni Versace; the scene is cloaked in a crimson red glow as Andrew debates with Gianni about the life he should have had and that Gianni stole it from him.

“People have taken from me and taken from me… now I’m spent,” he tells Gianni, as he measures him for a suit. “This world has wasted me while it has turned you, Mr. Versace, into a star.”

“You think you’re better than me? You’re not better than me. We’re the same – the only difference is you got lucky,” Andrew adds.

“It’s not the only difference, sir,” Gianni says.

“What else you got?” Andrew asks.

“I have love,” the designer responds.

After the nightmare, Andrew, disheveled, high and desperate, tries to break into Norman’s house late at night, pleading with him to take him back. Of course, Norman doesn’t and threatens to call the police.

The next morning, Andrew goes to his mother’s home, who lives in a sad one-bedroom apartment. The end of “Decent” is completely devastating, as it’s the first time we see Mary Ann Cunanan (Joanna P. Adler), who is a sad and unhinged woman.

“I’m unhappy,” Andrew tells his mother, who ignores him and launches into a story about how she ran into a friend and bragged about Andrew working with Versace, traveling the world – of course, none of this is true and only adds to Andrew’s self-hate in the moment.

“I wish you could stay with me,” Andrew’s mother says, holding her son. “But I have to share you with the world.”

As Andrew leaves, he tells his mother he is going to visit Minneapolis – where David lives and where Jeff eventually moves.

“Descent” gives more context to Andrew and why he is the way he is, but it’s only scratching the surface of what’s to come.

Recapping ‘Versace’: Episode 6, ‘Descent’

‘American Crime Story’ Recap: Andrew Cunanan’s Life Spirals Out Of Control

American Crime Story is taking a look back at the year before Andrew Cunanan decided to kill Gianni Versace, William Reese, Lee Miglin,David Madson, and Jeff Trail on a murder spree. In 1996, Andrew is living large with the wealthy and older Norman Blachford. Andrew is basking in a life of luxury — sometimes completely naked — that he hasn’t worked a single minute for. Norman’s friends understandably don’t approve of Andrew and believe he’s taking advantage of Norman. Andrew throws a lavish birthday party for himself, and it’s all about getting David Madson to truly notice him. Andrew swears to David that there’s nothing sexual going on with Norman, but with the life Andrew is living with Norman, it’s hard for David to see otherwise. With Norman, Andrew just sees opportunity. With David, Andrew sees a future.

But Andrew refuses to let David see the true Andrew Cunanan. When Jeff arrives at the party, Andrew gives him a gift to give back. It’s all part of impressing David. “I need him to see that I’m loved,” Andrew says. David arrives at the party, and Andrew’s world stops. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world does. Norman’s friend tells Andrew off big time. Andrew is not Norman’s equal and never will be. Andrew spots Jeff and David talking at the party. His concentration is interrupted by none other than Lee Miglin, who is desperate to get Andrew’s attention. Meanwhile, Andrew is desperate to get rid of Lee so he can get back to David.

Later, Andrew makes multiple outrageous demands to Norman. Norman finally sticks up for himself and calls out Andrew’s lies. Norman is well aware that Andrew comes from absolutely nothing and is in no position to make these over the top demands. He wants Andrew to finish his degree and work hard for once in his life. Andrew doesn’t want that “ordinary” life. Norman refuses to meet Andrew’s demands, so Andrew leaves.

Jeff’s father gets the postcard from Andrew that implies his son is gay, which is probably payback for chatting up with David. Jeff confronts Andrew about it, but Andrew refuses to take the blame. Jeff reveals he’s moving to Minneapolis, and Andrew warns him to stay away from David. Andrew immediately invites David to a secret getaway. After an extravagant time out, David tells Andrew that he’s not the one for him. “You are the only one I have ever truly loved,” Andrew says. David wants Andrew to be real with him, but Andrew can’t break down those lies.

Andrew quickly runs out of money and turns to hard drugs for relief. He hallucinates an entire conversation with Versace. “This world has wasted me,” Andrew says. “While it has turned you, Mr. Versace, into a star.” Andrew truly believes that people like Versace just got lucky in this world. He couldn’t be more wrong. Andrew’s downward spiral continues. When he’s desperate for money, Andrew goes to Norman’s place, but he’s shut out completely. He made his bed, and now he’s got to lie in it. With nowhere to go, Andrew returns home to his mother. Andrew wallows in his own pity, while his mom continues to feed the lies that Andrew’s told. The episode ends with Andrew heading to Minneapolis, where his crime spree began.

‘American Crime Story’ Recap: Andrew Cunanan’s Life Spirals Out Of Control

Behind Andrew Cunanan’s Breakdown On ‘American Crime Story: Versace’ [RECAP] – Towleroad

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with another installment of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story delving further back into the unraveling of Andrew Cunanan. Perhaps more than ever before, ACS has provided an exact breaking point from when Cunanan went from merely a huckster to a full-blown threat.

Before we get into last night’s episode, we need to talk about what went down two weeks ago. The episode aired the same evening as the horrific tragedy in Parkland, Florida, and I just couldn’t bring myself to devote this much brainspace to such a violent story. However, the episode was particularly relevant to this season’s (and this website’s) thesis.

Focusing on the parallel coming out stories of Jeffrey Trail and Gianni Versace, the episode tackled visibility and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell with visceral storytelling punches. We witnessed Trail’s uneasy coming out while serving in the Navy, including rescuing a fellow officer suspected of being gay, attempting to cut out his own tattoo to avoid being identified from random hookups and culminating in an “anonymous” TV news interview.

At seemingly the same time, Versace sat down with The Advocate for a tell-all about living as a gay man with his partner, Antonio (Ricky Martin). Even with the contrast between the buttoned-up military world and the creative fashion world, both men share a struggle. Donatella tries to warn Gianni against doing the interview at all.

It’s a neat narrative bow that encapsulates this season’s theme. Not only did the shame, secrecy and stigma around both men’s sexualities create an enormous burden on both of their lives, but they likely played a significant role in their deaths.

From a storytelling perspective, it’s almost too neat a bow. I’ve griped before about how all the unknowns in these men’s stories have led to writers taking too many liberties. Sometimes it feels too salacious, while other times it comes off cheesy (like the ending of a Grey’s Anatomy episode). For example, the previous episode ended with Jeffrey’s answering machine playing messages from his family announcing the birth of his niece, unaware he was already murdered. In reality, Jeffrey’s sister gave birth before he was killed. It’s a small gripe, but it cheapens the overall product in a way The People v. OJ Simpson avoided.

On to this week, it feels as if we’re journeying further into speculative fiction.

It begins with Andrew returning home to a gorgeous oceanside home, fully appointed with outstanding views, gorgeous swimming pool, all the finest things. It’s not his, of course. It belongs to the older man, Norman, and Andrew is working for him as a live-in interior designer. It’s a year before any of the murders, and Andrew is preparing for a lavish birthday party.

His straight lady friend is there, curious (as are all of us) about the nature of his relationship with Norman, his feelings for David and how Andrew labels himself. To hear Andrew tell it, Norman is strictly professional, David (whom he recently shared a wonderful time in San Fran) is the love of his life and he doesn’t like labels.

He’s playing a dangerous game at this party. With so many people from different facets of his life all together in one place, the lies are bound to catch up with him, so Andrew is forced to shuffle around the party, making sure no one is left alone too long to start putting pieces together.

One person who already has Andrew figured out is Norman’s quippy friend. He mocks Andrew, telling him he’s “too lazy to work, too proud to be kept.” He also is quick to remind him that if that party, a mix of Andrew’s “friends” and Norman’s, is truly a room full of people that loves Andrew, “then that room is full of people that don’t know you.”

When Jeffrey arrives, Andrew immediately has some notes for him. First, here is a bigger, nicer gift to present to Andrew in front of David so David knows how loved he is. Also, here are nicer shoes. Oh, and one more thing, please lie to David about still being in the Navy because that sounds so much better.

By the time David makes his grand entrance, Andrew’s eyeballs might as well be full heart emojis. Andrew rushes over, so excited David made the trip from Minneapolis. He shows him around, but starts to get a little uneasy about how friendly David and Jeffrey are. Also, hey, look! It’s Lee Miglin! Let’s all take a group photo, Andrew!

After the party, Andrew confronts Norman about their relationship. Maybe it was seeing David that made Andrew realize what he was missing out on, but whatever the reason, Andrew wants to renegotiate the terms of their arrangement. He wants a larger allowance, first-class travel arrangements and to be the sole heir in his will. Norman ain’t having it.

He’ll up the living allowance, but there’s no way he’s budging on the rest. He’s no dummy. He already investigated Andrew and knows he’s not Andrew DeSilva. He knows all about Andrew’s real identity and past. He’s willing to provide for Andrew, but he’s not willing to play the fool.

This is not a good enough answer for Andrew. He picks up a chair and smashes it through the glass table on the patio before making a dramatic exit.

In a tiny, unglamorous apartment, Andrew gets a visit from Jeffrey. Apparently, Andrew “accidentally” sent a flirty little postcard to Jeff’s dad, essentially outing him. It’s definitely a threat, as Andrew gets more and more threatened by Jeffrey’s relationship with David. Speaking of which, Jeffrey wants to tell him that he’s found a job. In Minneapolis. Thanks to David.

Taking that news about as well as you’d expect, Andrew reacts by inviting David to Los Angeles for a lavish weekend. He’s booked a fancy hotel, fancy meals, fancy shopping, all under the auspices of working on a Hollywood set. The entire set up makes David profoundly uncomfortable. It’s obvious Andrew has feelings for him, and he shows David how much he cares the only way he knows how: Treating him like a kept man.

Back at the hotel, David can barely choke down his lobster dinner. In an attempt to forge an authentic connection with Andrew, David tries to get him to cast aside all these affectations and share something truthful. Even now, Andrew can’t do it. He’s still the heir to a pineapple fortune. He still had the master bedroom as a child. His mother still brought him lobster to school. David’s not buying it. He’s done.

Rejected and alone, Andrew hits the bar. He regales the bartender with tales of his romantic weekend and how David wants to spend the rest of his life with him. After giving the barkeep a hefty tip, he sidles up to the drug dealer/close-up magician who demonstrates how much more powerful his latest offering is compared to Andrew’s current fix using a big ol’ flame.

He’s not kidding. Andrew shoots the stuff and hallucinates (I think?) a meeting with Gianni Versace. Waking up back in his messy apartment, Andrew is desperate for another fix.

Back at the bar, a visibly strung-out Andrew can barely keep his lies straight. He tells the bartender that he and David were going to Paris! To see the Vatican! No, Rome! Rome! Because they’re saving Paris for the honeymoon! The bartender wants none of this mess. Andrew tries to get another hit from the dealer, but the time has come for him to pay his tab.

Andrew tries going back to Norman’s place, but in the state he’s in, Norman calls the cops.

Andrew has nowhere left to turn. He’s alienated Norman, Jeffrey, his drug dealer, the bartender. So he heads home. Actual home.

His mother welcomes him with open arms. She takes him to the bath and scrubs him clean, working hard to get him to smell like himself again, whatever that means. She’s proud of the life she thinks he’s made for himself. It’s heartbreaking to hear her recount how good it felt to tell another mother, someone who was much better off than their family, how successful Andrew had become.

As he leaves, he tells his mom he’s on his way to Minneapolis. “They have an opera house in Minneapolis?” she asks, wondering how his work assisting Versace with opera costumes will lead him to the Midwest.

“No, mom, I don’t think they do.”

This is the closest we’ve seen to Andrew being a sympathetic character. Though, watching this story in reverse, is it possible to view him in any kind of humanizing light after the horrors we’ve seen him commit? The strange stylistic choices continue to muddy the message of Versace. I’m starting to get very concerned about how this season will end. It’s looking more and more like a typical Murphy, American Horror Story-esque, heavy-handed finale.

What do you think of this season?

Behind Andrew Cunanan’s Breakdown On ‘American Crime Story: Versace’ [RECAP] – Towleroad