We’ll never really know exactly what caused Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) to embark upon his murder joyride across America, which would end in Miami Beach, with Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramírez) shot dead on the designer’s front steps. The trail of corpses and witnesses who remember seeing Cunanan with his victims before their untimely deaths are really all we have to go off of, a body count that includes the spree killer’s associate Jeffrey Trail (Finn Witrock), bludgeoned with a claw hammer in the Minneapolis apartment of Cunanan’s ex, David Madson (Cody Fern). Just days after city authorities found Trail’s body, Madson’s corpse was pulled out of Rush Lake, Michigan by a pair of fisherman. But by that time, Cunanan was already well on his way toward Chicago for his ill-fated date with Lee Miglin.

Like last week’s “A Random Killing”, “House By the Lake” doesn’t have a single scene featuring the namesake of The Assassination of Gianni Versace. However, the focus on Cunanan’s first and second victims is starting to help the non-linear narrative chronology that creator Ryan Murphy and writer Rob Tom Ford have chosen to tell this tale make much more sense. Just how we jumped back in time to further understand and sympathize with Versace – who battled a supposed HIV diagnosis before getting gunned down right as he regained the creative spark he’d lost while sick – the last two hours have placed us inside the lives that were shattered by this sociopath’s blaze of infamy. Much like Marilyn Miglin (Judith Light) struggled to keep it together while mourning the death of her closeted husband, here we watch as Madson deals with watching his secret lover get beaten to death with a simple tool, before being taken hostage by his terrifying beau.

In fact, this attention to empathy reminds us that not only were these real people who were killed by Cunanan – a fact that can sometimes become lost as we fall deeper into American Crime Story’s design of refitting true crime atrocity into pulp fiction – but it also shines a light on individual gay experiences during a time when being queer in America was damn near impossible without getting persecuted for it (not that it’s easy nowadays, either). Through a series of flashbacks, we dive into David’s mind as he zones out on the drive Andrew forces him to take after the cops get called to Madson’s flat. We see his relationship to his father – a burly alpha male who took him hunting and fishing like “real men do” with their boys – only to find that his son is a homosexual. In one of the series’ most nakedly honest scenes thus far, the dad responds to his aspiring architect son’s coming out from behind a workbench in his garage with rather startling emotional clarity:

“I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t make a difference. You know what I believe. And maybe this isn’t what you wanted to hear. Maybe you wanted to be told I don’t have a problem with it. I can’t say that. But what I can say is I love you more than I love my own life.”

Though this is a rather amazing moment of progressive thought for a late ‘80s parent, casually unsettling homophobia still creeps into the ‘90s police investigations of Cunanan’s Minnesota killings. In a scene similar to how Versace’s partner Antonio (Ricky Martin) was questioned by detectives about their sexual history mere hours after Gianni was killed, the minute these detectives discover David’s gay, their whole approach to the scenario changes. The gloves come on, shielding them from any homosexual blood. Despite eyewitness accounts from friendly neighbors, the immediate assumption when they learn that David is blonde, unlike the body in the living room, is that he has killed Andrew. These two fags obviously had a lovers’ spat.

The thought process is practically painted all over their faces as they examine gay porn and sex toys found in the apartment that have nothing to with the crime at all. It’s a sickening moment of gut-level bigotry that never needs to be verbalized to be felt. When questioning David’s distraught parents, one officer bluntly informs them, “Oh, trust me, there’s a lot you don’t know about your son.” Juxtaposed against the flashbacks of David’s surprisingly tolerant father, these scenes become all the more heartbreaking. Society was never going to accept gay men at this point in history, despite this rock of traditional masculinity and values being able to reconcile his seemingly faith-based disappointment in his son’s sexual orientation with the simple fact that he’ll always love him, no matter what.

Light’s performance as Marilyn Miglin was brilliant last week, but Fern might outdo her here by creating The Assassination of Gianni Versace’s most tragic figure thus far. Criss continues to earn every ounce of praise that’s been heaped upon his performance as Cunanan this season – alternating from chilly, black-eyed stares, to callously dancing in the car to “Pump Up the Jam”, to cuddling with Madson’s body on the shore after he shoots him in the back. But David’s decision to stay with his attacker (which Fern sells without a line of dialogue) – when he could’ve snuck out the bathroom window of a shithole bar they make a pit stop in – stands in stark contrast to the clandestine second life Lee Miglin was living (and would ultimately die because of).

As Andrew takes David’s hand in the middle of that dive, and the two listen to a shitty cover of The Cars’ “Drive”, we see Madson momentarily understand this lonely, desperate psychopath. Through all the abuse, punishment and (ultimately) death Cunanan doles out to this equal, the same struggle with loneliness and rejection can be found in his eyes. Just as Murphy & Co. are choosing to memorialize the dead, the dead empathize with their killers, ultimately leading to their final fates.

THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE Review: “House By The Lake”

ACS: …Gianni Versace: “A House by the Lake” – Blog – The Film Experience

The greatest strength of the second season of American Crime Story has become the amount of care, attention, and empathy devoted to Andrew Cunanan’s other victims. For the second week in a row, the show steps away from the titular Versace case to tell a self-contained story about the humanity of one of them. This week we focus on David Madson, a boy that Andrew was infatuated with…

Episode 4: “A House by the Lake”
This week’s episode takes place one week before the last one, before Andrew headed to Chicago to meet (and eventually also murder) Lee Miglin. We see that he has been staying with his friend David in an apartment that not coincidentally resembles a concrete prison.

David is an up-and-coming architect (Andrew’s victims being builders and creators is a theme the show is clearly exploring), who was charmed by Andrew at first. He’s started to see his rough edges and wants out. Their friend Jeffrey Trail (played by pretty boy and Ryan Murphy regular Finn Wittrock) shows up one night after being called upon by Andrew. “You can talk about me while you bring him up,” he says to David threateningly but, also, almost as a plea.

And David and Jeff indeed talk about him; about how they are both sorry for and fed up with Andrew. They were both romantically involved with him at one point, but now are in love with each other. However, before this love triangle can reach any conclusion, they step into the apartment, and Andrew murders Jeffrey in one of the most chilling sequences that have ever played inside the Ryan Murphy-verse (and that includes ‘verse includes someone bathing in their mother’s blood.)

What follows for the rest of the episode is a contained psychological thriller; a small horror movie in which Andrew holds David hostage. First physically inside the solid rooms of his apartment, and then emotionally as they make their escape.

If last week’s episode explored the emotional burdens of being inside the closet, this episode is about feeling trapped outside of it. From the very start, Andrew dissuades David from calling the police or his father, because they will be biased against them. He instead convinces them that running away together will be not only the most convenient option for them, but almost a dream-like destiny.

It is never explicitly stated if, as they were both travel cross-country having left everything (including a murdered lover) behind, David ever really had any real hopes of escaping and making it out alive, or if he resigned himself from the moment Andrew was beating Jeffrey with a hammer in front of him, knowing he would eventually have a similar fate.

David goes through an emotional examination of his life, his decisions, and the roads that brought him and Andrew together. It is filled with melancholy, regret, and resignation courtesy of Cody Fern’s outstanding breakout performance. He makes David a paralyzed creature whose survival instincts are postponing an inevitable end. His eyes fill with quiet desperation as his hopes gradually flame out. Watch out for this guy; he’s going to be big.

Up until this episode, Darren Criss has managed to effectively balance the psychotic and charming sides of Cunanan. In this episode he falters a bit. There are points within “A House by the Lake” where his take on this serial killer verges on the parodic. It’s confusing, too, since this episode takes place before the rest of what we’ve seen on the show, but Cunanan seems to be emotionally ahead of it in his choices.

“A House by the Lake”, like last week’s episode, doesn’t touch on the titular narrative, other than revealing again why the manhunt for Cunanan eventually took so long.

If the backward format of the show continues, we could go back further in time to explore Cunanan’s background before the murder spree, but it’s more likely we return to the Versaces. Nevertheless, I hope the thematic explorations and nuances that the show has delivered for the last two weeks can be carried on into the more famous story. They’ve been insightful hours of television.

‘American Crime Story’ Episode 4 Spotlights The Loneliness Of Andrew Cunanan’s Victims

Episode four opens in Minneapolis, 1997, one week before the events of last week’s episode. A young architect, David Madson, probes Cunanan about an argument that occurred a few days ago. Cunanan suggests he has no regrets about the words he spoke.

Another young man, Jeffrey Trail, comes over, and the two whisper about Cunanan asking for David’s hand in marriage before re-entering the apartment. The conversation between Trail and Madson indicates a deep amount of pity for Andrew, but it also hints at the secret affair they were having behind Andrew’s back.

As soon as the door opens, Andrew attacks Trail with a hammer, killing him. In shock, David demands that Andrew call the police. Manipulatively, Andrew claims that Madson will be implicated in the killing and will probably wind up in jail himself.

“They hate us. They’ve always hated us,” says Andrew of the police.

Andrew manages to convince Madson to refrain from contacting his family as well. Andrew starts preparing for the body’s disposal. He’s eerily calm.

Madson, slowly, begins to help.

“I promise you, no one else will get hurt. As long as you’re by my side,” says Cunanan.

A building manager and a concerned co-worker swing by David’s apartment after he fails to show up at work. Cunanan and David have already fled, leaving behind David’s dog. The co-worker discovers blood-stained floors and walls.

The co-worker mistakes the body she discovers for David’s. When police arrive to investigate, they reach for gloves when they find out David is gay. Police start hypothesizing about what went down.

“All this extreme stuff, it goes wrong,” one says upon finding gay porn and a paddle. They assume the murder pertains to an anonymous sexual encounter.

Upon interviewing the co-worker more, they learn David had a guest this past weekend. After further inspection, they realize the body is not David’s, but then mistakenly assume that it’s Andrew’s. They leave to obtain a search warrant and assert that David was likely the murderer.

A flashback: David as a child. His father is taking him on a hunting trip. David is horrified by the sight of a dead animal. His father reproaches him for his terror, but seems understanding of his disgust.

“I never want you to be sad,” says his father.

Back in ‘97, Andrew tells David he’s going to find Lee Miglin to get some funds for an escape to Mexico.

“We make such a great team, and the truth is we have no one else,” says Andrew. David stares off into the distance, somewhat dissociated.

At a rest stop, David thinks a woman is looking at them with disdain. Andrew threatens to run her off the road, but David begs him not to. Later, David tells Andrew about his fear of being discovered and of all the secrets the police will tell his family.

“Was I really afraid, when I got in this car with you, that you were going to kill me?” David asks. “Or was I afraid of the disgrace, the shame of it all? Is that what I’m running from?”

David and Andrew stop at a bar for something to eat. David goes to the bathroom and contemplates escaping through a window, but doesn’t.

Another flashback: David’s father congratulates him for perfect grades. David says that he’s gay.

“You know what I believe,” his father replies. “What I can say is that I love you more than my own life.”

In ’97 again, David recalls the night he met Andrew and describes his envy over Andrew’s riches — until he realized that Andrew’s whole life was a lie.

“You can’t do it, can you?”

“Do what?”

“Stop.”

In the car, David accuses Andrew of planning the killing. David tries to get Andrew to pull over, and Andrew pulls a gun.

“It’s not real.”

“It could have been.”

Fleeing from gunfire, David is shot in the back by Cunanan. In his last breaths, he has visions of his father’s kindness. Andrew drives away.

For two episodes now, “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace” has not shown the Versace family. Instead, Murphy has chosen to create a melancholic diptych on the hideous power of gay shame and loneliness. Andrew’s victims (at least in Murphy’s imagination) were not salacious interlocutors, nor were they complicit in Cunanan’s bloody rampage.

Instead, they were unwitting participants in the psychodrama of a deeply disturbed man — victimized as much by Cunanan himself as by the homophobic society that forced them to bury their desires. His victims’ internalized self-hatred, fortified and created by the intolerance of the world they occupied, are what bound them to Cunanan.

‘American Crime Story’ Episode 4 Spotlights The Loneliness Of Andrew Cunanan’s Victims

edgarramirez25: I just woke up like this, thanks to @therealnicolettasantoro for helping feel cozy this morning 😉 • [ for @townandcountrymag March cover shot by @tommunrostudio ] #acsversace#acsversaceenfx #acsversacenofx