Tag: 2.06

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

Versace: Andrew Cunanan’s Relationship with Norman Blachford

There was a brief time between 1994 and 1996 when Andrew Cunanan was living the gilded life of luxury he had long envisioned for himself. As a man of minimal work ethic, though, the route he took to richness was a shortcut—existing as the paid companion of Norman Blachford, a socialite who made his money in sound-abatement equipment. According to reports, Blachford was not Cunanan’s first sugar daddy. He had a darker distinction—being the last benefactor before Cunanan began the downward trajectory that would conclude with his multi-state murder spree.

As Vanity Fair contributor Maureen Orth reported in Vulgar Favors: the Assassination of Gianni Versace, on which the current season of American Crime Story is based, Cunanan met Blachford in 1994—shortly after Blachford, then 58, lost his partner of over 25 years to AIDS. “Norman was alone and very eligible,” wrote Orth. And Cunanan, well, “Andrew did his homework,” according to a San Diego restauranteur who spoke to Orth for a report that ran in Vanity Fair. “He would investigate older, wealthy gay men who didn’t have families, and he would place himself in those circles. And that was his living.”

“Andrew had his own rise,” explained American Crime Story writer Tom Rob Smith. “He found these various, wealthy older men to live with. He ended up in a multi-million-dollar condo in La Jolla—this beautiful paradise. He was given an allowance and traveling to the South of France. And he throws it all away—he can’t tolerate the notion that he is a kept man.”

Indeed, in Wednesday’s episode, “Descent,” a friend of Blachford’s astutely tells Cunanan, “What a volatile mix you are: too lazy to work and too proud to be kept.”

The irony of Cunanan’s commitment to being kept is that he worked hard to be considered “a jewel in the crown of La Jolla’s closeted society”—according to a source for The Washington Post. The same friend alleged that Cunanan could “hold a conversation on nearly anything—politics, antiques, wines, Elton John. If an older man was interested in orchids, Cunanan would go out and buy every book available on orchids and plants and soon he would be talking about the subject as if he had studied it all of his life.” He ensured that he was cultured—visiting the opera, museums, and society events—and he studied the interests of eligible men as though he was preparing for a test.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Smith made an important distinction about Cunanan’s motivations.

“I think it’s wrong to think of him as the ‘Talented Mr. Ripley,’ [the cutthroat, scheming character Patricia Highsmith created],” Smith said. “Mr. Ripley is someone who is always hustling and is aware that he’s angling things… . I think Andrew thought he was a husband or a partner in his own right. I don’t think he understood that he was a hustler, otherwise he would’ve been happy with his lot.”

“Descent” provides a snapshot of Cunanan at the moment he should have been satisfied. He had found Blachford, a man who reportedly provided him a monthly allowance of $2,500; a brand-new Infiniti; trips to New York to see Broadway shows; international vacations; access to credit cards; and a front-row seat in his high-society circle. He had been able to convince Blachford to sell his property in Scottsdale, Arizona—as he told his friends, he disliked the climate and allergies he suffered in Arizona—and eventually upgrade the La Jolla home to a handsome property atop Mount Soledad, overlooking the bay. He finally had found the means to live the illusion he had been spinning. In his mind, though, Cunanan deserved more.

According to Orth’s reporting, Cunanan complained to friends about Blachford’s cheapness, and suggested that he was actually doing Blachford a favor by being his companion—alleging that the relationship disqualified him from a (fictional) large family inheritance. Cunanan was restless, and according to a report in New York Magazine, by the time the couple made it to Southampton for a week in the summer of 1996, “Cunanan struck out several nights on his own and popped up at a round of gay house parties, introducing himself as ‘Andrew DeSilva.’ To exacting South Fork playboys, his act was pretty transparent. ‘He was a flaccid conversationalist, and there was nothing really distinctive about him at all,’ says the man who put Cunanan and Blachford up at his house. ‘Every other word from his mouth was about how rich his father had been in La Jolla.’ ”

Blachford was able to look past Cunanan’s obvious tall tales, and see his potential. Blachford encouraged Cunanan to go back to school, but Cunanan would not have it. Cunanan’s ego had inflated to fit his grandiose illusions. When the couple returned from their vacation in 1996, Cunanan threatened to leave Blachford if he did not buy him a $125,000 Mercedes convertible; fly him first-class; raise his allowance; and write him into Blachford’s will. In “Descent,” when Blachford refuses to acquiesce to the demands, Cunanan packs his bags, expecting Blachford to beg him to return. Blachford does not, though. And Cunanan, having miscalculated, finds himself in free fall. Not only is he suddenly without a benefactor, but he is without a lifestyle and a love interest. (Though the American Crime Story episodes paint a hazy timeline, David Madson had pulled away from Cunanan by this point because of his secrecy.)

“Andrew’s descent is that [after the breakup with Blachford] he moves into a small apartment in Hillcrest and descends into crystal meth until he’s lost everything,” explained Smith, who notes that in next week’s episode, viewers will see how Cunanan’s fall from grace mirrors his fathers.

“Whereas his dad flees to Manila and restarts, Andrew has nowhere left to go … [so] he goes to Minneapolis and has a breakdown,” said Smith. “When you look at the shapes of [Cunanan and his father’s] lives, that, to me, was absolutely the key of Andrew. As a child, Andrew absolutely believed his dad’s lies and that he was this amazing man. And then suddenly that was all ripped away [when his father left the family].”

In “Descent,” Smith wrote a brief exchange that cuts through the complex psychological saga of this serial murderer with ice-cold precision. At Cunanan’s 36th birthday party, he is cornered by a skeptical friend of Blachford’s who sees through Cunanan’s duplicitousness. When the friend insults him, Cunanan replies by pointing to the party guests in the next room, saying, “That room is full of people that love me.”

Without hesitation, the friend replies, “Then that room is full of people who don’t know you.” And for a split second, before shifting back into delusion autopilot, even Cunanan seems to agree.

Versace: Andrew Cunanan’s Relationship with Norman Blachford

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Episode 6: A Nothing Man

Episode 6: ‘Descent’

In a poignant moment of this week’s episode, perhaps the most poignant of the series so far, David Madson, the down-to-earth Minneapolis architect who has become the unfortunate object of Andrew Cunanan’s obsessive affection, looks across a lavish room-service dinner into the eyes of the man who one day will kill him.

“We had a great time in San Francisco,” David tells him. “One great night. And maybe there was a chance, but … I get the feeling you don’t have many great nights with people — am I right? So when you do, it feels huge, it feels life-changing.”

It is intended to be a gentle letdown — one that Andrew, of course, can’t or won’t accept. It is also a reminder that this series is about failures of recognition: not only failures to recognize gay lives, worth and dignity, but also failures of self-recognition.

After my last recap, in which I lamented this show’s failure to offer a compelling explanation for Andrew Cunanan’s homicidal rampage, some readers faulted me for seeking a motivation, much less redemption, where none can be found. One reader, Toni from Maine, argues:

Obviously, Cunanan hated the wealthy old men he serviced as a gigolo and hated the younger men he desired who didn’t want him and, feeling time slip away, started retaliating against life by murdering those he resented, which he found to be a drug more powerful than anything he’d ever experienced. Eventually, he murders Versace, the genius artist, who he’s more jealous of than anyone.

Obviously, Cunanan hated the wealthy old men he serviced as a gigolo and hated the younger men he desired who didn’t want him and, feeling time slip away, started retaliating against life by murdering those he resented, which he found to be a drug more powerful than anything he’d ever experienced. Eventually, he murders Versace, the genius artist, who he’s more jealous of than anyone.

That succinct hypothesis is very much supported by this episode (brava, Toni!), in which Cunanan’s dismal career as a rent boy, his failure to attract men his own age and his jealous rage are examined in considerable detail. I’ve come to accept that origin-of-evil questions are outside the scope of “American Crime Story.” But that acceptance doesn’t make this unrelenting portrait of pathology any easier to absorb.

The episode begins in 1996 — a year before the murders — at the spacious San Diego villa of Norman Blachford, a sixtysomething businessman who, after losing a partner to AIDS, became Andrew’s sugar daddy. In exchange for free housing, a luxury car and a monthly housing allowance, Andrew gives Norman advice on acquiring art and antiquities, and occasional sex.

Norman also throws Andrew a birthday party, to which Andrew invites the object of his infatuation, David. To impress him, Andrew asks his friend Jeff to impersonate the naval officer he used to be and to present Andrew with a gift of Ferragamo shoes — as a sign, Andrew says, that he is loved. (Jeff agrees, grudgingly, to present the gift but not to dress up.) The stunt backfires: Jeff and David take an immediate interest in each other, but not so much in Andrew. And we know from a previous episode that they will end up getting together, which Andrew discovers before killing them both.

Andrew’s pathologies are apparent to anyone who bothers to look. Norman’s protective friend Gallo spots Andrew snorting drugs and confronts him. “You think Norman’s the lucky one, don’t you?” he says. “But you’re wrong: You’re the lucky one.” Andrew is only able to parade himself around like an equal because Norman, who has built an immensely successful company from scratch, is generous enough to want Andrew to feel that way.

When Andrew insists that he is Norman’s equal and then tries to storm off, Gallo delivers the bons mots that will prove to be an unfortunate understatement: “What a volatile mix you are: too lazy to work and too proud to be kept.”

That mismatch between Andrew’s laziness and ambition comes to the forefront when he presents Norman with an ultimatum: He demands a higher living allowance; first-class flights; a Mercedes-Benz XL600; and a place in Norman’s will, as his sole heir. Norman refuses. He has performed some “due diligence,” he says, and has learned that Andrew is not Andrew DeSilva, Ph.D., the estranged son of New York millionaires, but Andrew Cunanan, college dropout, who was recently working at a Thrifty drugstore for $6.16 an hour and living in a cramped condo with his mother, MaryAnn.

It is an extraordinary scene. Confronted with the truth, Andrew remains in denial. When it becomes clear Norman won’t relent, Andrew grabs a patio chair and smashes a glass tabletop with it — a mere hint at the serious violence to come.

Andrew’s aggression also extends toward Jeff, whom he suspects of trying to steal away David, particularly after Jeff says that he is leaving San Diego to move to Minneapolis, where David lives. Ever in denial, Andrew persuades David to fly to Los Angeles, where Andrew has reserved a room at a five-star hotel and buys David an expensive suit. Andrew can’t stop lying — asked what he does for a living, he suggests that he is financing a major movie — and the dinner culminates in excruciating fashion with Andrew declaring, “David Madson, you are the only one I have ever really truly loved.”

David, the industrious son of a Wisconsin hardware-store owner, gives Andrew what amounts to a final chance, asking simply for the truth. Andrew still can’t stop his prevarications. He says his father was a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch who later returned to the Philippines “to run vast pineapple plantations”; that his mother oversaw a literary publishing house until she retired; and that his parents adored him so much that they lavished little Andrew with the master bedroom, a credit card and an occasional lobster when the school lunch wasn’t good enough.

Andrew seems unaware that high-achieving people from modest backgrounds tend not to be impressed by tales of pampered childhoods.

In the remainder of the episode, we learn more about Andrew’s drugs and dreams. (Maureen Orth’s book “Vulgar Favors,” upon which the series is based, says that Andrew was a drug dealer, not just a drug user.)

In one bizarre scene, Andrew dreams that he has walked into a Versace boutique and is being measured for a suit by the designer himself. His self-indulgent lament:

What could be more generous than spending everything on other people and being left with nothing? What could be more generous than finding soul mates for other people and then ending up alone? People have taken from me, and taken from me, and taken and taken from me. Now I’m spent. And they say this man has nothing left to give. And a man with nothing to give is a nothing man.

The fantasy Versace replies, more than a tad sardonically, “That is very poetic, sir.” Andrew tells him: “This world has wasted me. It has wasted me while it has turned you, Mr. Versace, into a star.”

Andrew adds: “We’re the same. The only difference is you got lucky.”

Consumed by self-pity, delusion and addiction, Andrew hits bottom. He returns to Norman’s mansion, desperate for money; Norman threatens to call the police. Finally Andrew goes home — to his mother’s dingy apartment.

MaryAnn seems, if such a thing is possible, even more deluded than her son. She believes he has been traveling with Versace to Tokyo, Sydney, Moscow and Milan. She gives him a bath.

Although we don’t know much of her story yet, she appears simple-minded and emotionally fragile, and her hold on Andrew nonexistent. Telling her that the next stop in his glamorous life is Minneapolis, Andrew drives off to begin his murderous spree. She will never see him again.

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Episode 6: A Nothing Man

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Recap: What Caused Andrew’s Descent Into Madness?

The sixth episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, is titled “Descent,” and that’s very appropriate. We’ve already seen Andrew Cunanan’s murder spree where he killed five people. But now it’s time to go back even earlier to see the tipping point, the thing that pushed him into madness.

However, it’s not just one thing. This episode is filled, from start to finish, with potential reasons for why Andrew became a serial killer, from financial ruin to drug addiction to romantic jealousy to a mother who is more Norma Bates than June Cleaver.

Andrew’s Birthday Party

This episode starts in 1996 when Andrew is living in a lavish home owned by Norman, Andrew’s interior decorating “client.”. It’s one year before the murders and Andrew is celebrating his birthday, though it’s all one big attempt to woo David Madson.

Andrew is head-over-heels in love, romanticizing David as someone he could spend the rest of his life with. But he admits to his gal pal Lizzie that he’s pretending to be someone who he hopes David will love. He even gives Jeff an expensive present to give to him in front of David so that David will think Andrew’s friends love him.

The whole thing is obviously a crazy and terrible plan. Very few successful relationships are built on a foundation of deceit. Andrew reeks of desperation when David arrives and he seems to get a bit jealous when David and Jeff meet as they have an easy, flirtatious chemistry.

Andrew’s descent begins quickly, snorting cocaine to take the edge off and being confronted by Norman’s friend who sees Andrew for what he really is, a con man who uses people to get what he wants without working for it. Things get more chaotic for Andrew because Lee Miglin is also there, desperate to talk to him.

Lizzie takes a photo of Andrew with Norman, Lee, David and Jeff as Andrew says that he’s with all of the people he loves. That’s a tad heavy-handed, considering the fact that he’s going to murder three of them in the next year.

Andrew vs. Norman

After the party, Andrew has a list of demands for Norman if he’s to continue living with him, including being written into his will. Norman isn’t OK with this and reveals that he has investigated Andrew and knows that all of his fanciful stories about having millionaire parents are lies. Norma knows that Andrew was working in a thrift store two years ago, living with his mom in a condo.

Norman is willing to help Andrew by paying for him to go back to school and sharing his life with him, but Andrew is too proud. He doesn’t want to work for anything. Even after being confronted with the truth, Andrew still can’t help himself from lying and demanding that Norman give him what he wants. Norman refuses and Andrew has a hissyfit, throwing a chair through a glass table and leaving.

Andrew goes back to his crappy apartment. Jeff visits him, upset because his dad just received the infamous postcard. Jeff is very upset and also reveals that he’s moving to Minneapolis for a job. Andrew gets mad because he thinks Jeff is trying to steal David from him, but Jeff is simply tired of being unhappy.

Andrew and David’s Weekend Getaway

Desperate to win over David, Andrew calls him and invites him to Los Angeles for a weekend getaway in a five-star hotel. This is yet another story we’ve already heard about over the past few episodes, where Andrew spends a ridiculous amount of money to trick David into thinking that he’s rich and sophisticated.

David is impressed, but he explains to Andrew that he’s not the one for him. Andrew doesn’t accept this, insisting that they are meant to be together and David is the only person he truly loves. David explains that they had one fun night in San Francisco, but Andrew is making more out of it than it really was.

David tries to give Andrew one last chance to see if they can work as a couple, asking him for the truth about his parents. Andrew continues his wild lies about his rich, successful, loving parents, and it seems like David is starting to realize that none of this is true.

The Descent

After David leaves, Andrew goes to a gay bar and talks to a drug dealer, asking for something stronger than what he normally gets. This is the true descent. Andrew injects himself with crystal meth and goes into a hallucinatory dream where he meets Gianni Versace.

In his dream, Versace fits him for a suit while Andrew waxes poetic about how he’s so generous, giving everything to everyone, and he is left with nothing. Andrew turns into a total psycho, claiming that Versace thinks he’s better than him, insisting that they are the same and the only difference is that Versace got lucky. It’s clear from this dream sequence that Andrew is resentful and jealous, fixating on the fact that Versace is loved while he is not.

Andrew’s drug addiction quickly spirals out of control. Desperate for more money to buy more drugs, he goes to Norman’s home, but he’s locked out. Andrew begs to be let in, but Norman refuses.

With nowhere to go, Andrew visits a crappy condo and meets his mother. She’s exactly who Norman said she was and nothing like the literary publisher Andrew has claimed she is. She’s happy to see him and seems to be just as delusional as he is, believing that her son is a fancy, jet-setting success. She gives her adult son a bath, which is evidence that Andrew may have always been destined to be a serial killer because this is some real Norman Bates-level creepiness.

Andrew tries to tell her that he’s unhappy, but she’s off in her own world, complaining about all the big shots who look down on her, but now she can look down on them because her son travels the world with Versace, designing costumes for the opera. I see we’ve reached the point of the series where the show blames the awful mother for Andrew being the way that he is.

This episode certainly had a lot of triggers for Andrew: Norman kicking him out, David rejecting him, the paranoia over Jeff trying to steal David from him, spending way too much money, becoming more addicted to drugs and the way he was raised by his mother. Instead of giving one explanation, the show decides to throw a dozen reasons for Andrew’s descent into becoming a serial killer, and I guess you can decide which one you think is the primary reason.

What do you think was the biggest cause for Andrew’s descent?

‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Recap: What Caused Andrew’s Descent Into Madness?

TV tonight: ‘Survivor’ tries to ‘reverse the curse’ in new season

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
FX, 10 ET/PT

As the series continues moving backward in time, we get to know more about spree killer Andrew Cunanan’s (Darren Criss) backstory and the how he became intertwined with the men he would later kill. Tonight’s episode shows Cunanan at a particularly desperate period of his life and depicts the beginnings of his relationship with David Madson (Cody Fern), with whom he becomes obsessed. Criss’ performance remains unsettling, managing to make Cunanan terrifying even in episodes without scenes of violence.

TV tonight: ‘Survivor’ tries to ‘reverse the curse’ in new season

TV Weekly Now | Best Bets for Feb 28, 2018: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Well, he always wanted to be famous and he was willing to do quite literally anything to accomplish that dubious goal. In the new episode “Descent,” however, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) has reason to reflect that he should have been careful what he wished for, as he celebrates his birthday in San Diego. Actually, however, there’s scant reason to celebrate, given that there are unmistakable signs that his life is falling apart completely.

TV Weekly Now | Best Bets for Feb 28, 2018: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story