American Crime Story, the coming out of Gianni Versace in the fifth episode | 15 February 2018
Tag: february 2018
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace S02E05: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
JEFF TRAIL TAKES CENTRE STAGE IN A FANTASTIC EPISODE
When this season of American Crime Story began it was hard to imagine how it would compare to the popularity and acclaim of its first season. If anything, this season had a much tougher job than the first, tasked as it was with proving if this type of show could maintain said quality in the long term while telling distinct and different stories each season. Part of season two’s success is how different it is to The People v OJ Simpson. Instead of the equivalent of a Law and Order episode stretched to ten meticulously researched and dramatic hours, The Assassination of Gianni Versace has utilised the fact that, as a genre, crime is an environment for expansive story-telling.
The last two episodes, the first centring on the murders of Lee Miglin and William Reese, and the second on the murders of Jeff Trail and David Madson, have kicked the season into high gear by putting the victims of Andrew Cunanan front and centre. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell finally puts the spotlight on Andrew’s first victim, Jeff Trail.
To say that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the best episode of the season may not mean that much coming from me, considering I felt the exact same way about the previous two, but that just goes to show what a hot streak American Crime Story is on at the moment. The story that is being told here, the different aspects that branch out from Andrew killing Versace, create a rich tapestry that the late designer would have been proud of, if he made tapestries that is.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’s main focus here is rejection filtered through the attitudes towards homosexuality in the early to mid-90s. It’s an episode of contrast, taking us through the different experiences that Gianni Versace and Jeff Trail went through when coming to terms with who they are.
We begin with Versace, as he reveals to his sister Donatella his plans to officially come out as gay through an interview with Advocate. So far, the Versace family, apart from Gianni’s death. Have been used to add flavour to the main story rather than be the main course themselves; which is surprising considering the heavyweight talent playing them. Gianni coming out here is used as a contrast to the fact that Jeff, living in completely different circumstances cannot. Of course, Donatella has her own suspicions about why her brother is choosing to come out now. Apart from rhyming off a list of ways that this revelation could hurt their business, something that didn’t actually come to pass, she outright accuses Antonio of using the it as an opportunity to achieve a kind of fame of his own, confirming in the process that these two never got along. Finally, Gianni shouts both of them down, saying that it was his idea, his decision, words that reverberate throughout the episode.
The point of Versace’s role in this episode is that he wasn’t rejected by the industry that made him a superstar. Before his death there was no other fashion designer whose image was as deeply connected to his brand as the clothes he made. He even became an icon in the gay community which is one of the reasons he came up on Andrew’s radar in the first place.
Jeff Trail is a different story all together. A decorated and respected Naval Officer, Jeff’s identity is just as defined by his career as it is his sexuality. The problem is that these two things are directly opposed to each other. Homophobia in the military was a such heights in the mid-90s that most gay officers hid their sexuality from their colleagues for fear of abuse. For Jeff this culminates in the bravest moment of his life, when he came to the aid of an officer who was being beaten to death because he was gay. Jeff admits in a 60 Minutes interview, in which his face is hidden, and his voice is distorted, that he wishes sometimes that he let the officer die: that way he could have stayed hidden. He eventually leaves the Navy because he can’t take hiding anymore, but that doesn’t mean that he can fully come out of the closet.
This is where Andrew comes in as we see his and Jeff’s first meeting. Andrew comes across as everything that Jeff wants to be: comfortable in the gay scene, confident, kind, and generous. It’s Andrew that points out the fallacy of Jeff having to hide in order to do the interview while the men against him and his gay colleagues are free to talk about killing faggots in full uniform. Andrew’s not wrong, although he is clearly manipulating Jeff into needing him more.
So, Jeff is rejected from what he sees as his true calling in life, he even keeps his naval uniform in a place of almost worship in his bedroom closet, if that isn’t symbolism then what is? Now it’s Andrew’s turn to be turned away from people he thought cared about him. After years of his lies and manipulations, he even sent Jeff’s father a postcard to try and out Jeff, he arrives in Minneapolis to see Jeff and David only to be continually turned away.
As well as these deep thematic discussions, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell also boasts the best performances of the season so far. Finn Wittrock, known for playing psychopaths on American Horror Story, broke my heart as Jeff. His turmoil and anxiety was palpable in a performance of tragically human proportions. He is the only actor so far that has come close to Darren Criss in terms of quality.
10/10 – American Crime Story continues to rewrite the crime genre’s rule book when it comes to adapting a true crime case. No other show has put this much effort into the killer’s victims, giving them full stories where other shows relegate them to gory crime scene photographs. Halfway through the season, and American Crime Story is already one of 2018’s most important shows.
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace S02E05: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Review: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (Season 2 Episode 5)
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Season Season 2 Episode 5 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is another heartbreaking episode which showcases the homophobia of the 1990s which had been in the background on previous episodes, but is now front and center.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is impeccably acted as always and it is interesting to see how Jeff Trail and Andrew Cunanan meet. We only saw Finn Wittrock as Jeff Trail very briefly in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Season 2 Episode 4 “The House by the Lake,” before Andrew brutally hammered him to death.
However, the timeline is still not working as well as it should. When the episode opens in 1995 with Versace telling Donatella he is going to come out, I was glad that we were getting back to the Versace storyline.
Any scene with Donatella is mesmerizing.
The scene illuminates the stigma of being gay and what it can do to a business, even in fashion, which now, we would see as an accepting industry. Donatella assumes that Antonio wants the fame of being recognized as Gianni’s boyfriend.
But Gianni insists that it is his idea. He almost died and now he wants to share his story.
It’s something he must do.
Versace is only present at the beginning of the episode and then at the end when we see how very different Gianni and Jeff’s stories are told to the press.
It is so sweet when Gianni calls Antonio over and introduces him to the journalist as his partner for the past thirteen years. I love Ricky Martin more and more with each episode he’s on.
Jeff Trail’s conversation with a CBS camera crew is in a dingy hotel compared to the beautiful hotel suite Gianni meets Advocate magazine in. Gianni will be on the cover of the magazine, whereas Jeff will be in shadows and his voice masked like “a criminal.”
Jeff Trail came from a military family and was serving in the Navy under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which prohibited the military from discriminating against closeted homosexuals, but at the same time banned openly gay and bisexual people from joining the military.
As we see Gianni and Antonio walk the hotel hallways on the way to the interview intercut with Jeff meeting journalists in secret, I had kind of forgotten that Versace had even been a part of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The episode largely belongs to Jeff, but after Versace’s intro, we’re back to Andrew’s point of view, four days before the start of his murder spree.
Oh, and Andrew’s also injecting heroin.
As Andrew prepares to leave his life in San Diego, we see a typical serial killer shrine with images of Versace (including the Advocate cover) which shows that Versace was always a target. We also see that Andrew lives in a small room with very little possessions and a closet full of blazers.
He must keep up appearances.
The episode continues to jump between the fateful weekend Andrew comes to Minneapolis, the first time Andrew and Jeff meet, and Jeff’s time in the Navy.
I wish that we would have seen more of Andrew and Jeff’s relationship and how Jeff discovered that Andrew was a fraud.
The interview Jeff gives is a big moment on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” however, we see it three times. First, we actually see the incident Jeff talks about where he came to the aid of a fellow sailor who was getting beat up for being gay.
Then, Andrew watches the CBS tape where Jeff confides that he wishes he hadn’t saved the sailor’s life because it ended his military career.
And then, we hear the story again in the motel room with Jeff and the journalists.
It’s too repetitive and when we see Jeff tell the TV crew about the incident at the same time as Versace comes out to the world, Jeff’s story doesn’t make as big as an impact as it should.
What does make an impact is when Jeff tells Andrew that he has no honor.
The look on Andrew’s face is murderous.
Even more so when Jeff says, “No one wants your love.”
We don’t know why Andrew is the way he is but his motivation for murder is somewhat clear. He kills men who he either wanted to out, who he envied, or who he thought wronged him.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a good episode because of the way it handles the subject matter. The execution, however, however, is too clunky. It is too repetitive at times and Jeff and Andrew’s relationship could have been explored a little further.
Reviewer Rating: 3½ / 5 stars
Edgar Ramirez is featured in the February/March 2018 issue of Haute Living | 15 February 2018
‘American Crime Story: Versace’ recap: ‘House by the Lake’ – TheCelebrityCafe.com
When hearing the phrase “House by the Lake,” it’s most likely associated with good memories for most people. Something cozy, like a nice cabin perhaps. A place to relax and let life slow down.
But Andrew Cunanan is not most people, and from this point forward “House by the Lake” is going to mean something much, much different for him.
The fourth episode of American Crime Story: Versace — “House by the Lake” — once again dives further into Andrew’s past, before he ever met Gianni (it’s a little strange how Versace in is the title of the show and we’ve barely seen him the past couple of weeks, but we’re willing to roll with it).
This episode takes place one week before everything that went down with Lee in episode three happened — showing Andrew in a far more vulnerable state.
Andrew is living with David Madson (Cody Fern) — a young architect (he’s really got a thing for architects) whom Andrew seems to be head-over-heels in love with. David, apparently, doesn’t feel the same way as he’s starting to grow tired of their relationship and is looking for a way to escape Andrew’s requests for marriage.
The two are sharing some tense moments in David’s apartment — David receiving a promotion and trying then trying leave, Andrew standing around acting all creepy — when their friend Jeff (Finn Wittrock) knocks on the door. David’s confused why he’s here, but Andrew says he invited him over pretty much just out of spite: he’s pretty sure David is cheating on him with Jeff, and he wants to give the two “a chance to talk about me.”
A frustrated David goes downstairs to let Jeff in. They talk about how weird Andrew has been lately and head back into the apartment — which is where Andrew is waiting with a hammer.
BAM. Down goes Jeff. A couple of bloody blows to the head later, and he’s out for good.
David is horrified and doesn’t know how to react. Andrew quickly reassures him that he’s not going to kill him because he still loves him and all that. Sure Andrew, sure.
Still in shock, David thinks they should call the police but Andrew won’t hear for it. He tells him that they’ll both be locked up — David let Jeff in, it’s his hammer and cops hate gay people, and Andrew couldn’t live with himself if David had to go to prison. Oh yeah, Andrew has a gun too — one he stole from Jeff at one point — which further convinces David to go along with Andrew’s schemes.
After an awkward dog walk, the two wind up making a run for it. Good thing too, because it’s not long after the crime is committed that the police come knocking on David’s door.
At first, they assume that David’s body is the one they’ve stumbled upon. Then, after noticing the hair color doesn’t match, they make the next logical conclusion — it’s Andrew’s body. Upon this realization, they instantly run out of the apartment: they don’t have a warrant to be here, meaning anything they discover at this time won’t hold up in a court of law.
Finally, after they get a warrant and send the body down to the lab, they learn the truth: it’s Jeff. They send out an APB for Andrew and David, both of whom are long gone at this point.
Long gone, on their way to Chicago to try and get some money from Andrew’s friend Lee (sound familiar?) David is still a part of all of this, despite his constant confusion. We’re constantly seen flashbacks of him and his dad — a scene in which their hunting, another in which David comes out to him .
After stopping in a restaurant and hearing a cover of “Drive” by The Cars that makes Andrew breakdown and cry (which is, by far, the most emotion we’ve ever seen from Andrew. Maybe he isn’t as remorseless as we’ve been lead to believe), David — who had the chance to escape out a bathroom window — finally commits to the situation and returns to Andrew.
At least, he did in that moment, only to realize his mistake later. The next morning, David sees Andrew holding his gun — which he promised not to use as long as David was around. Andrew won’t admit to what he was doing, which then causes David to crack. He lets him know how much of a manipulator and terrible person Andrew is, how he killed Jeff just because he was in love with him.
Huge mistake. Huge. Like, yeah, David is right and everything but saying that face-to-face with a psycho killer probably isn’t the best idea in the world.
That’s what leads them to a house. After driving in tension for awhile, Andrew pulls over by a lake and drags David out of the car. David begs for his life, but there’s no saving him at this point.
David makes a run for it — and for a moment it looks like he might make it. We see David imagine that he makes it inside a nearby house, only to find his father there, offering him a cup of coffee. The illusion is touching, but only last a second. We snap back to reality to find David has been shot in the back and is bleeding out. Andrew lays with his corpse for awhile, only to then get back in the car and continue to his journey to Chicago. Look out Lee. Look out Versace.
‘American Crime Story: Versace’ recap: ‘House by the Lake’ – TheCelebrityCafe.com
‘American Crime Story’ Takes a Deeper Dive Into Jeff Trail’s Life Before His Murder
These past two weeks, American Crime Story has put forth two incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking episodes about the deaths that kicked off Andrew Cunanan’s murder spree, those of Jeff Trail and David Madson.
Madson was front and center last week, showing what ACS producers think most likely happened to him after Trail’s murder in his loft, interspersed with scenes of Madson and his father. This week, it’s Trail’s turn in the spotlight, as the show reveals his struggle as a gay naval officer and the way he met Cunanan.
Flashing back two years before his murder, we see Trail serving active duty in the Navy, stationed in San Diego. This is around the time when “don’t ask, don’t tell” was a new policy, but by all appearances, Trail loves his life in the military, even if it means hiding who he really is. That changes when he stops some fellow servicemen from beating another serviceman to death for being gay. This puts a huge target on Trail’s back and basically torpedoes his career.
The show makes it seem as though Trail meets Cunanan at a local gay bar and confides in him that he’s going to do an interview with CBS News program 48 Hours about gay people serving in the military. Cunanan makes a big show of talking about how servicemen who are against LGBTQ+ people in the military get to speak about it openly, while Trail has to hide his identity in order to even talk about the issue.
It’s a great point, though, weirdly, the timeline is a bit off. The 48 Hours special was filmed in 1993, which is around the time Cunanan and Trail met — not in 1995, as the show depicts, which may just be an error. There is also no evidence that Cunanan had anything to do with Trail’s decision to do the interview, but it does make for good storytelling and gets Cunanan more involved in Trail’s life in San Diego.
The show then jumps ahead to 1997, when Trail is already living in Minneapolis and Cunanan has come to visit him. It’s unclear if Cunanan’s jealousy over Trail and Madson’s alleged involvement started before he came to Minneapolis or after, but the show definitely uses that as the fuel that drives Cunanan to kill them both, though, in real life, the two were not involved. According to multiple accounts, the two were acquainted but not really even friends.
But Cunanan suspects the two are together romantically behind his back, so he invites Trail to Madson’s loft, and that’s where the episode ends for this story line, with Cunanan slamming the apartment door as he starts beating Trail to death with a hammer.
Outside of Trail’s story, we also get a few scenes with Gianni Versace after two weeks without any Versace material. This week, his experiences as a gay man dovetail nicely with Trail’s experience — they both give interviews about being gay, but while Trail has to conduct his in a seedy motel room with his face obscured by shadow, Versace, a celebrity, does his in a posh hotel suite with a glamorous photo shoot for The Advocate.
American Crime Story may be about Cunanan’s murder spree at its heart, but there is a thread running through it of the struggles gay men faced in the 1990s, as the movement itself was coming out of the closet and met with both support and violent hatred.
The juxtaposition of Trail and Versace is such an interesting framing device that it’s almost a shame we have to spend any time with Cunanan in this episode. Yes, he is the tie that binds all these men together, and Criss is doing an incredible job with the role, but his self-hatred and jealousy and the psychopathic way they manifest themselves is so ugly and manipulative and even jarring. It would have been nice to avoid him altogether for a week.
‘American Crime Story’ Takes a Deeper Dive Into Jeff Trail’s Life Before His Murder
American Crime Story
Like its predecessor American Horror Story, American Crime Story comes in the form of a miniseries. While its first season explored America’s racial divisions through the OJ Simpson case, this new series depicts the gay experience in the USA.
The Horror Story miniseries always had an appealing base narrative, although it tended to sag after a few episodes. Crime Story, by contrast, has had a better reception overall – perhaps because its grounding in historical events means it has less room to get lost.
This second series, subtitled ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’, begins with the 1997 murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace outside his house in Miami, before spinning backwards (and forwards) to tell the story of his psychopathic killer, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), and the impact of Versace’s death on his sister, Donatella, who is – to many viewers’ excitement – played by Penelope Cruz. Another notable appearance is Ricky Martin as Gianni’s long-term partner.
Unfortunately, Criss’ Cunanan lacks flavour: within 15 minutes he has exhibited every symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder, and it’s a bit too textbook, relying on shocking acts to provide psychopathic bite.
However, the show comes together around Cruz’s Donatella, who is a strong presence and provides the intrigue to power the first few episodes.There is a beauty to this show. It was filmed in and outside the grotesquely sumptuous Miami house where Versace lived and on the steps where he would eventually die. The contrast between the world inside the villa and the world outside, from Cunanan’s viewpoint, symbolises the contrast in gay men’s experiences.
Aesthetically it feels like a telenovela or a Pedro Almodóvar film, whilst on a more spiritual level it brings insight into the two Versaces, and both depictions have depth. Cunanan is a bit Crimewatch-esque, although all could change as the nine episode series continues and develops the rest of his story which involves, among other things, a four-man murder spree.
Alhough the key word in any of these ‘American -whatever- Story’ shows is ‘trashy’, in this case it works. The show has valid points to make about celebrity culture, such as the unpleasant couple who ask Gianni for his autograph on the day of his death. After he refuses, they manage later to mop up some of his blood onto a scrap of paper, showing perhaps how fame transcends or even thrives on death. Overall, it is a promising and unpredictable show that has a few cards left up its sleeve.
AMERICAN CRIME STORY Review: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
This week’s episode of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace looked like it was going to buck the recent trend of going backwards in time to see what Versace murderer Andrew Cunanan was up to before he got to Miami Beach. It opened in Milan in 1995, with Versace himself (still very much alive then) arguing with his sister Donatella about his decision to give an interview with an American publication in which he will reveal he is gay. His lover (and assistant) Antonio D’Amico is present as well.
This is the first time we have seen these characters in a number of weeks, as the previous few episodes focused entirely on Andrew’s backstory. So it was a pleasure to see them pop up here. It is a curious decision to put names like Penelope Cruz and Ricky Martin on the bench, so I was fully anticipating an episode devoted in full to the story of Versace’s coming out.
Nope. Totally wrong. After the cold open in which Versace and Donatella have a heated exchange over what his coming out might mean for the company, we flash back to a few days before Jeff Trail is murdered in Minneapolis (brutally with a hammer by Andrew Cunanan, which we saw last week). Cunanan is on the phone with a credit card company representative trying to convince them to let him put one last charge on his card: a flight to Minneapolis, where he assures them he will be able to make his debt right.
Meanwhile in Minneapolis, we see that Jeff is working a factory job. A coworker who he lunches with starts prying about Jeff’s past military experience. Jeff tells him he was an Officer and his friend wonders why he would leave that gig to come work here. Jeff is gets fired up pretty quickly, screaming at the man “It was MY choice!” He really makes a scene. As we know, especially from the title of the episode “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Jeff has most likely been dishonorably discharged from the military for being homosexual.
Soon Andrew is arriving in town, and Jeff and the fellow future Andrew victim David are at the airport to greet him. It’s clear that neither one of them wants much to do with Cunanan at this point, but Jeff speaks about a time where Andrew saved him, and so for old time’s sake is willing to put him up for a couple days. Andrew is all smiles of course, but it’s an eerie feeling the viewer gets realizing that within days this smiling man will be the end of both people there to welcome him.
The episode has its ups and downs in that we know where all this is leading. At times this makes it a little more dull than the last few episodes. At times it adds to the tension. We knew last week that Andrew had taken Jeff’s gun from his apartment without his permission, and the night he kills Jeff, Jeff comes to David’s apartment to retrieve the gun. So this week we see a scene in which Andrew goes through Jeff’s things. I’m not sure we needed to.
Much more interesting is the stuff with Jeff. We get a full backstory to this character, going back to when he was stationed on a ship in San Diego and decided to intervene when some of his fellow soldiers were beating another one to death for being gay. It’s a courageous act, but it is the very act that he later comes to regret. That sets off a chain of events that eventually leads to his death. People begin suspecting that he may, in fact, be gay. When he hears a fellow soldier who turned out to be gay cut a deal with the higher-ups to reveal everyone else he knew to be gay, but he would only be identifying them by their tattoos, Jeff sneaks away and literally tries to cut the tattoo on his leg off his body. It’s excruciating but speaks to his desperation.
Sadly, Jeff tries to hang himself. When he can’t do it, he heads to a gay bar for the first time ever. That’s where he meets the charming Andrew Cunanan. In the most interesting scene, we see Andrew lift Jeff’s spirits and we’re happy for him. But we also know that one day Andrew is going to bludgeon him to death with a hammer. Eventually, due to his meeting with Andrew, Jeff gets the courage to go on camera (though his face is not revealed) and speak about his time as a homosexual man in the military. He painfully laments how he regrets the greatest thing he ever did: saving that man from being beaten to death. This interview is paralleled by Versace’s own interview where he comes out of the closet; one with tentative pride and one with utter shame.
This is really what this series is all about. It’s zoomed in on specific character stories that speak to what was going on in America and the world at the time. That’s what The People Vs. O.J. did so well, and what I was worried this second season would fall flat with. But I stand corrected. These are important stories and interesting ones. And the show just keeps getting better.
TB gives it an A
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