Ever since it was announced that the next American Crime Story season would be about the murder of fashion legend Gianni Versace, the world has been on pins and needles waiting for it to premiere. With a powerhouse cast featuring Édgar Ramírez as Versace, Ricky Martin as his lover/partner of 15 years Antonio D’Amico, Penélope Cruz as Donatella Versace, and Darren Criss as his killer Andrew Cunanan, the hype surrounding this series has been huge.
The wait for this series ended Wednesday as Versace finally premiered, and the wait was definitely well worth it. Versace wasted no time getting down to the thick of things and setting up a series that will rock us to the core. For those expecting Criss to be anything like his Glee persona, prepare to be in shock as from the moment he is shown as Cunanan, you cease to see Criss and forget that he was ever America’s Teenage Dream. He’s that good.
So what went down during its premiere episode “The Man Who Would be Vogue”? Let’s discuss!
A Cold Opening: The series dives right into the last day of Gianni Versace. Versace starts his day off by having breakfast, taking a stroll around his gorgeous house, saying goodbye to his partner Antonio D’Amico as he heads off to play tennis, and getting his favorite magazines from his local newsstand. Andrew Cunanan, on the other hand, starts his day off sitting by the beach, contemplating life before walking into the ocean, screaming out into the void. Shortly afterwards, the would be killer is then seen throwing up as he braces himself to do what we now know to be one unspeakable act of horror. Cunanan then makes his way to Versace’s house, where he spots the designer opening his gate to return home. Cunanan then takes out a gun from his backpack and shoots Versace down.
We’re Going Back To Start: We are then taken back to the year Cunanan first met Versace at a gay club in San Francisco in October 1990. With this particular flashback, we get to know quite a bit about Cunanan, the wannabe social climber. He immediately gives you the impression that he’s “that guy” at the party — the one who shows up uninvited, then proceeds to inject himself into strangers’ conversations, which in this case was Versace’s but to his luck and credit, his boyish charm works on Versace, earning him a date to the opera. Cunanan presented a completely fictitious backstory, one that made him approximately 100 percent more Italian than he actually was, which totally appealed to the famed designer.
After scoring his date, Cunanan shares his luck (with greatly exaggerated and made up details) with several of his friends the next day, which make us question what exactly went down since we are seeing all of this through his eyes, giving us a glimpse inside of his crazy brain. While sharing his story with Elizabeth and Phil Cote, a straight married couple, he calls Versace the F-word but later on while talking to a fellow gay, Cunanan refers to his meeting with Versace at the opera as a date. “You tell gay people you’re gay and straight people you’re straight,” the friend states. Cunanan goes on his date with Versace (still trying to figure out whether this was real or not), and the two share a moment, which no doubt will go back to haunt him later.
Back To The Future: Flashing forward to the day of Versace’s murder, Antonio, while washing his hands, hears the gunshot and races towards the sound to find Gianni bleeding to death. After what seems ages, the police finally show up, without an ambulance though, which comes much later. Versace is then very slowly taken to the hospital, where he flatlines and is pronounced dead at 9:21am. The hunt for his killer begins, and the world is told of his death. D’Amico is questioned later on that same day about his relationship with Versace by an apparently homophobic cop, who doesn’t hold much respect for Versace’s and D’Amico’s relationship. The police seemed far more interested in details about Versace’s sexual behavior than the details surrounding his untimely demise.
After D’Amico’s questioning, the spotlight then turns to Donatella’s arrival and reaction to her brother’s death, which was shocking in itself. Most of her mourning breath was spent belittling her brother’s lover. When Antonio broke down in tears, her response was, “That’s not what I need from you right now.” Donatella later berated him for not protecting her brother, which she called his one job (ouch, low blow, too soon).
The episode finishes up with Cunanan still on the loose, buying newspapers with the headlines all about Versace’s murder and his involvement in it.
Instant Reactions/Questions:
Darren Criss must have watched American Psycho while preparing for this role. His Cunanan gave me some serious Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman vibes.
Not really digging Donatella’s treatment of Antonio at the moment.
Speaking of Antonio, Ricky Martin is doing a beautiful job showing his grief and pain.
The music in this episode is A+.
Did anyone else feel a stabbing pain in their hearts when one of the magazines Gianni picked out had a picture of Princess Diana, who would later die less than a month after Versace?
Quote of the Night:
“I tell people what they need to hear.” – Andrew Cunanan.
As great as the premiere of The Assassination of Gianni Versace was, I can’t help but think that its painted itself into a soft pink corner after watching Manhunt. Manhunt is not a bad episode, in fact its very, very good. It’s an episode that serves to explore and layer the two lead characters: murderer and victim, out with the context of the crime itself. If anything, Manhunt feels like a collection of deleted scenes from The Man Who Would be Vogue, that if edited together with the first episode would be something really special.
As it is, Manhunt slows the momentum of the season down with a feeling that American Crime Story is already going in circles. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as Andrew’s character necessitates a very real cycle of violence. The truth is that anything to do with Andrew already works like gangbusters, but the same cannot be said about Versace. So, like the episode, lets look at each character separately.
GIANNI VERSACE
Maureen Orth’s book, Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in US History, not only serves as the basis for the series but also contains one of the biggest controversies of the entire story. Orth’s book claims that Versace was HIV Positive at the time of his death, something which his family claims to be a lie. This is a Ryan Murphy production after all so if you bet that he and Tom Rob Smith would use this as a plot point you would be right. This plot point serves as the episodes opening as Versace and his companion Antonio D’Amico, played by the surprisingly impressive Ricky Martin, visit the hospital so Versace can receive treatment form an illness that the script doesn’t name.
We are then shown the consequences of this vague diagnosis as it reverberates among Versace’s closest confidants: his companion and his sister Donatella. Donatella blames Antonio for her brother’s illness which, if this isn’t true, is narrative choice that is in bad taste for everyone involved. At least Tom Rob Smith is aware at how controversial this direction is, but his comments to Vanity Fair, about Roth’s claims don’t really shed much light:
“She has no agenda or reason to push any point of view. She was interested in unpacking some of the myths around the murder, such as that Andrew had AIDS and was killing because of it. In fact, Andrew, this destroyer of life, did not have AIDS, and the person who did have H.I.V. was this great creator and celebrator of life.”
Whether you agree with this direction or not (I’m not a fan), it does serve a dual purpose. The HIV epidemic was still huge in the mid-90s and its effects serve as a narrative parallel between Gianni and Andrew’s closets relations within the episode. For Gianni it brings him closer to a monogamist life with Antonio, but it’s only another platform in which Andrew can perform on.
While Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin are clicking, the same cannot be said for Ramirez and Penelope Cruz. As Donatella, Cruz has the Emmy pretty much in the bag, and she excels when the role calls for that inner grit as well as the deep grief she feels at losing her brother. It’s a shame then that the show-stopping scene which the Versace siblings share doesn’t pack the punch its supposed to. It’s certainly interesting: Donatella is Gianni’s first muse and she is trying to help him look past his past success in order to keep up with the industry, but Gianni is high on his own legacy. Both actors are great here, and it’s another great contrast for Andrew’s similar listings of achievements that are nothing more than fiction. There is just a layer of affection missing from Gianni and Donatella’s scenes that is so obviously felt when they talk about each other to everyone else.
ANDREW CUNANAN
Darren Criss continues to blow my mind as Cunanan. He’s so manipulative and needy while watching him I was thinking that I wouldn’t fall for his lies. Of course, I would, that’s why he’s so dangerous. As good as Criss is Manhunt does tend to repeat much of his characterisation without moving the plot forward. Again, this isn’t bad, his relationship with Max Greenfield (who might be the best part of this episode) gives Andrew’s psychology more depth, but it still feels like this should have been part of the first episode.
Even if the show has slightly stalled character-wise, Manhunt does explore the elements of luck that stopped Andrew from being captured. He’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list before he kills Versace, and the straight as an arrow Federal agents have clumsily profiled him out of the places he inhabits. Perhaps the most interesting factor, apart from Andrew’s high-wire act of constant lies, is how a man’s fear of outing himself after Andrew nearly kills him stopped him from getting caught.
7/10 – The Assassination of Gianni Versace is proving to be a completely different beast from American Crime Story’s first season. While it’s still packed with great performances, and perfect period detail, its structure is holding it back from being truly great. The next obstacle is how the show handles Andrew’s killing spree. The show is already walking a stylistic line reminiscent of American Horror Story, so restraint is the key.
1994, Miami: Gianni Versace and Antonio D’Amico are in a hospital. Versace confesses to a nurse his fears of dying and recalls the death of a sibling in his childhood. The allusions to AIDS here are not subtle, but a certain poetry is created by using silence around the disease itself — a silence characteristic of that time period. Back at the mansion, Donatella wonders what will become of Versace (the brand) without Gianni.
Donatella confronts D’Amico, implying Versace’s condition is his fault and blaming the excesses of their lifestyle on Versace’s downfall.
Back to 1997 where fans of Versace are putting flowers on the footsteps of his mansion in his memory, shortly after his murder. D’Amico and Donatella’s feud continues, with the latter telling the former, “There’s no need for us to pretend anymore.”
Before the murder of Versace: Cunanan is seen stealing license plates. His mood is elevated as he drives in a red pickup truck, once again demonstrating his disconectedness from his crimes (we get it, Ryan Murphy).
Cunanan checks into a hotel with a fake passport. He’s running out of money but begins looking for drugs anyway. He meets a dealer at the hotel and the two discuss “being sick” — Cunanan claims he worked in an AIDS clinic and has recently lost his best friend and lover. He then goes on to claim Versace had proposed to him in the past. Clearly Cunanan’s life story is pieced together from both lies and truths, and the extent to which he’s even able to separate out which is which is questionable. He claims he could have been a great designer, too.
Police, meanwhile, are hunting for Cunanan in connection with other murders. Their commitment to the hunt is lackadaisical at best.
On South Beach, it doesn’t take long for Cunanan to find an older man to take him home. The two engage in some heavy BDSM while Cunanan expounds on his wealthy upbringing. His John considers calling the police after the scene gets too intense, but decides against it while staring at the ring on his finger.
Donatella and Gianni argue about design philosophy at a fashion show. American Crime Story’s limits reveal themselves here: the recreation of Versace’s looks and presentation (considering the actual house of Versace has disapproved of the TV series) looks impressively cheap and half-assed. The audience within the show claps adoringly at each outfit: hard to suspend disbelief here.
Anyway, Dontatella wonders: will Versace change his brand to reflect the times now that he does not feel conquered by his disease?
Later, D’Amico tells Versace he wants to get married and Versace demures: “You can say it in the morning, but can you say it in the evening?”
With Cunanan’s drug habit getting worse and whatever plaguing his mind deteriorating, he visits a gay club. He’s having some kind of manic fit, unsure of who he is. Credits roll over his confusion.
Murphy once again sets up a dichotomy between seriousness and camp, but the weight is heavier on the former aesthetic. He’s addressing real issues in gay life in the 90’s: both the lavish opulence in spite of crippling disease and the pitiable world of sex work and drug dealing. The two are contrasted sharply with each other throughout the episode: scenes of Versace’s over-stylized palace are contrasted sharply with Cunanan’s flop house. Murphy’s trying to capture something specific to that time period, and his delicacy around the AIDS crisis (mentioned only in the show’s parentheticals) is perhaps the most subtlety he’s ever shown. A thesis statement for his Versace series hasn’t quite yet emerged, but the players have been established and the scenes are set: what he does with the show from here is anyone’s guess.
The second episode, appropriately named, “Manhunt”, continued on the heels of last week’s dramatic episode. The story is being told in a bit of a reverse, back-and-forth manner to elucidate Cunanan’s journey to Miami.
The episode began with a flashback to March 1994, where Versace (Edgar Ramirez) and Antonio (Ricky Martin) are seen lurking the halls of a hospital. While the mystery of Versace’s health remains fairly unknown to this day–the show alludes to the possibility he may have been HIV positive.
His sickness plays a big part in this episode as he battles an “unknown” condition. Donatella (Penelope Cruz) holds his sickness over Antonio’s head, highlighting that their sexual escapades have caused Versace to fall ill. It was interesting to see the show tip-toe around Versace’s health. Perhaps, it was to prevent the wrath of the Versace family that continues to stand by the notion he was HIV negative.
But the subtle hints of his sex life intermingled with the mention of therapy that may help him all pointed to one thing–but we’ll leave that to speculation.
Darren Criss shone once again in this episode–channeling a creepy, sadistic, troubled individual. Unclear as to the timeline of his whereabouts, we see that he is in South Carolina. A pit-stop at an old school Walmart shows him switching out his license plate for another, all while creepily smiling at a little girl watching him in action.
As he prepares to drive away, we hear the news on the radio mention he is a suspect in the murder of Lee Miglin (his third victim). This moment and a highway mile sign clarify that this is before Versace’s death–and Cunanan is acomin’.
Donatella was a bigger part of this episode as she handled the arrangements for Versace’s cremation–which was quite interesting, to say the least. The mortician prepared Versace’s body, “restoring” him back to the way he once looked. This was some epic artistry (if one can call it that), as Versace lay there lifeless in his casket, but made us feel he would wake up at any moment.
And after all that fancy make-up and placing him in a beautiful casket–he was cremated and whisked away to Italy in a gold box.
The FBI was a hot mess this episode as they grappled with the manhunt for Cunanan. Clearly unprepared, the FBI agents were way in over their heads. They had only 10 copies of the wanted poster and no idea where to look for Cunanan.
This would present as a problem at the episode’s end when Andrew Cunanan would use his actual name on the paperwork. A moment when the suspicious pawn shop owner could have reported him–but there was no flier up on her bulletin board about him. Sigh, FBI.
Cunanan’s weird behavior went up a few notches this episode as he found a home in a beachfront hotel, Normandy Plaza. It is here where he meets Ronnie (Max Greenfield) and befriends him and continues to embellish and lie about his life.
One of the most bizarre moments of this episode was Cunanan scoping out elderly men to be an escort for and tormenting one he picks up on the beach. This torture session was inclusive of Cunanan wrapping the man’s face with tape, rendering him unable to breathe as he pranced around the room in his underwear. Suffice to say–he let him live.
While Cunanan’s dark side becomes more apparent this episode, Versace’s health went from dire to optimistic. In fact, Antonio even proposed to him–pledging he wants only him–and not the additional entourage of men in their lives. It was a bittersweet collection of moments in Versace’s life, only to be clouded over what was to come.
Out for a walk, Cunanan stakes out Versace’s home where he sees Versace on the balcony. Frazzled over the unexpected opportunity, he rushes back to the hotel for his gun–and bids farewell forever to Ronnie. Unfortunately for him, when he returns Versace has left for the night.
When murder plans fall through for the night, Cunanan heads to a cafe, where he is recognized by one of the employees (thanks to 90’s hit show, America’s Most Wanted). By the time the police arrive, Cunanan is gone and heads to the club where Versace was at.
The final moments of the episode leave us with a haunting feeling as we quietly hear Cunanan tell someone his full name.
The second episode of this intriguing installment was on par with the premiere–if not better. The story is getting darker, the events are coming together, and we are falling deeper and deeper into the twisted psyche of Andrew Cunanan.
Darren Criss’ performance is unlike anything else–and this episode was no exception. Those particular moments where his eyes went dark or an odd, uncomfortable smile took over his face were unlike anything we’ve seen before.
As the story continues to build, watching these events unfold and watching Criss will be absolutely epic.
“The Man Who Would Be Vogue” wasted no time taking us right into the epicenter of this season–the untimely, gruesome demise of Gianni Versace. The episode began with a calm, inviting instrumental as we watched Versace prepare for the day in his extremely lavish mansion in Miami.
Simultaneously, we got a glimpse of a man alone near the ocean, deep in his thoughts over what he was about to do. This man, we very quickly learn, is Andrew Cunanan, and the reason for his discomfort lies solely in the fact he is about to commit murder.
One of the things that instantly stood out in this premiere episode was the culmination of the background music mixed in with the dramatic camera angles. It brought us extremely close yet so far from the subjects it was focused on. Whether it was bird’s eye view or focused dead-on, something about the angles helped viewers connect with the brutality of the story being told.
The show took an interesting approach as the story unfolded in a bit of a reverse manner, starting off with the murder. However, a flashback takes us back to October 1990 in San Francisco at a private members-only club. It is here where Andrew and Versace meet for the very first time, and the interaction proves to be interesting, to say the least.
This interaction not only scores Andrew some time with Versace but upon some relentless effort, also snags him an invite to the opera. The scenes that follow highlight some of Darren Criss’ best work encapsulating Andrew Cunanan’s pathological liar tendencies.
While he tells his friends of the meeting with Versace, he flips the story, telling them Versace sought him out and even made condescending references to the fact Versace was gay. Throughout the rest of the episode, we see Cunanan’s character concoct a series of embellished lies that left us wondering, he can’t possibly be lying, right?
A quick jolt back to the present brings us to the moment Cunanan takes Versace’s life. From here on begins Cunanan’s run from the authorities. Glimpses of Cunanan maniacally laughing and smiling brought all the chills and fright, as we watched him celebrate his success. Kudos to Darren Criss for literally killing it in this episode.
What was perhaps the most interesting aspect of this episode was the investigation into it. Instead of shifting the focus to the crime at hand, the police questioned Versace’s boyfriend, Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin) about their ‘extracurricular’ activities.
It’s safe to assume this was Ryan Murphy’s attempt to highlight some of the social prejudices of the time. Watching the cop repeatedly ask D’Amico about how he and Versace were partners was next-level cringe. Knowing they were gay, he continued to prod and refused to hear the truth.
The story could not progress without the introduction of Donatella Versace (Penelope Cruz). Flying into town upon hearing of her brother’s death, her presence surely shook up the story a bit. Cruz was the perfect choice to play Donatella, whom she truly encapsulated in style, voice, and personality. Her entrance into the story resulted in Versace, as a company, pulling out of the pre-planned IPO. It also began to push D’Amico out of the picture and right into the background.
As the episode came to a close, information about Cunanan’s whereabouts surface at a local pawn shop. However, upon breaking into the apartment, the police find a junkie in his place. In the final moments, we see Cunanan glancing at magazines heading Versace’s murder. With a creepy, sinister smile, he buys every single one of them.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace dove head first into one of the most brutal celebrity murders of the 90’s. His murder made its mark on the world–most notably, the fashion world. Ryan Murphy’s take on this was beautiful, haunting, and poetic. It also nostalgically thrust us into the 90’s, at a time where dystopian futures rule our television screens.
If the premiere is any indication, we are in for one hell of a ride as we dive deeper into this complicated story–and Cunanan’s mind. Let’s just say come next award season, we won’t be surprised if the series and cast are nominated in every category–with Darren Criss whisking away an award.
There are a lot of deliberate ambiguities woven into the storyline of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, most of them related to Andrew Cunanan and the smooth, effortless lies he tells about himself. As I noted last week, it’s often unclear whether what we’re seeing is a) what actually happened in reality, b) what actually happened in the show’s fictionalized version of reality, or c) Cunanan’s self-aggrandizing, unreliable version of events. But the season’s second episode opens with a discussion of what has become the most controversial fact vs. fiction element of the show: Versace’s HIV status.
The Versace family has released a pair of statements denouncing the show as “sad and reprehensible” and specifically taken issue with its depiction of a “medical condition.” In the source material for the series—the bookVulgar Favors, by Vanity Fair journalist Maureen Orth—it is reported that Versace was HIV positive at the time of his death, which the Versace family has always denied.
With that context established, let’s get into five talking points from tonight’s episode “Manhunt.” Plus, keep track of this season of American Crime Story with this timeline of Andrew Cunanan’s murder spree.
1. According to the series, Versace had already come close to death—and miraculously cheated it—shortly before he was murdered.
“After everything he survived… to be killed like this?” Donatella says, quietly heartbroken, after we’ve seen flashbacks to Versace seeking treatment at a hospital, hiding behind sunglasses until a nurse reassures him, “there are no journalists here.” Though the terms HIV and AIDS are never used, the implication is clear: Versace has a condition which requires a cocktail of drugs, and he is determined to keep it secret at all costs. He’s become too sick to work, or even walk at a normal pace, and confesses to Antonio that he’s becoming bitter as a result.
2. The story of Andrew Cunanan’s rampage is being told in reverse.
This won’t remain strictly the case throughout the series, but last week depicted Cunanan killing Versace, and this week takes us back roughly two months to the day he first arrived in Miami to stalk Versace. At this point, Cunanan had already killed four people, landed a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, and stole the red pickup truck he’s driving from his fourth victim, William Reese. On the subject of which… let’s talk about that singing scene.
Cunanan is utterly elated in the wake of all this bloodshed, and Darren Criss’s pure manic energy throughout this episode is breathtaking. As he cheerfully drives through South Carolina towards Florida, he turns on the car radio and flips right past a station that mentions his name as a suspect in the murder of Lee Miglin. He lands, instead, on a station playing Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” a peppy disco fave whose lyrics are actually deeply disturbing if you listen closely:
Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria? Gloria, don’t you think you’re fallin’? If everybody wants you, why isn’t anybody callin’?
Can’t imagine why Cunanan would sing along to this with such gusto!
3. Versace’s illness brings out long-buried tensions between Donatella and Antonio.
In the aftermath of Versace’s death last week, it was clear that these two do not see eye to eye. This week—between Versace’s illness and the company’s struggle to stay relevant in a changing fashion landscape—exacerbates their differences. Antonio claims Donatella has never been supportive of his relationship with Gianni, despite how long they’ve been together, while Donatella clearly feels that Antonio has never been a real partner to her brother. “You’ve given him nothing,” she spits—not stability, not respect, not children—and though she doesn’t say this explicitly, it’s clear she blames Antonio for Versace’s inferred illness, in light of their proclivity for three-ways. I wish I were more engaged by Versace’s relationship with Antonio, but their scenes together feel strangely lifeless to me, and I think it’s because Ricky Martin is miscast in this role.
4. “We were friends. That was real, right?” “When someone asks you if we were friends, you’ll say no.”
It almost seemed like Cunanan might have made a friend in Ronnie, the wiry Miami Beach local played by New Girl’s Max Greenfield—if Cunanan were capable of feeling anything for anyone, which is highly debatable at this point in the story. The above dialogue exchange is heartbreaking because Ronnie is so vulnerable, but it’s actually one of Cunanan’s few honest moments: he knows, at this point, that he’s living on borrowed time and is going to be caught, and that Ronnie will eventually deny knowing him for his own good.
But that’s not the only moment where Cunanan is unexpectedly honest with Ronnie. Maybe he doesn’t consider Ronnie to be important or influential, so the stakes are low. When Cunanan’s just come back from an outing—which involved seducing, terrorizing and nearly suffocating an elderly man with masking tape—a justifiably nervous Ronnie asks a wide-eyed, jittery Cunanan "What did you do?” Cunanan’s reply: “Nothing. I did nothing. I’ve done nothing my whole life. That’s the truth.” That is the truth, and it might be the last time we hear it from Cunanan.
5. Watching Cunanan slip from one false identity to the next—sometimes within a single sentence—is dazzling.
I cannot say enough about the sharp, scary writing for Cunanan, nor about Criss’s flat-out terrifying performance. This is someone who practices in the mirror for everyday conversations and creates entire personas on the spot; when he checks into the beachside motel in Miami, he’s Kurt! He’s from Nice! He’s a fashion student who traveled all this way just for a few words with Versace! To Ronnie, Cunanan effortlessly describes his close personal friendship with Versace; to the elderly man he seduces, he waxes poetic about the lobster and cracked black pepper his mother used to bring to him for school lunches. Is any of this true? Who knows? It’s not even entirely clear that Cunanan knows, or that he cares.
This is all embodied so beautifully in a dizzying final nightclub scene where Cunanan, still high on the thrill of his crimes, is approached by a young man who asks what he does. “I’m a serial killer!” he says gleefully, the club music loud enough to drown out his confession, and then launches into a cheerful verbal breakdown, listing one fake profession after another: he’s a banker! He’s a writer! He imports pineapples from the Philippines—a reference to the story he told Versace last week about his father’s pineapple plantations. But most importantly? “I’m the person least likely to be forgotten.”
One of the big questions surrounding The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story was how the show would translate Andrew Cunanan’s killing spree and the titular designer’s death into episodic drama. While last season’s The People v. O.J. Simpson mined much of its emotional climaxes from re-enactments of hours of courtroom footage, there appeared to be less detailed source material from which the show could spin stories.
As we learned more in this week’s episode, the show borrows inspiration from Vulgar Favors, a book by Maureen Orth. The Versace family dismisses the book (and thus at least parts of the show) as conjecture and rumor. This includes some dramatic license to flesh out history and exploring Versace’s (alleged) HIV-status.
The source material might lend the final product to something more sensational (read: trashy) than what we were treated to, but thankfully even the poetic license is tempered by another collection of stellar performances. Darren Criss continues to defy his teen dream Glee fame with chilling intensity. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ricky Martin (as Versace’s partner Antonio) is merely serviceable, turning in something more akin to a daytime soap performance. Luckily, many of his scenes are shared with Penelope Cruz, and no one wears tragedy and beauty better than she does (even in her Donatella drag).
Let’s recount the story as told in last night’s episode, “Manhunt.”
1994: A frail Versace and Antonio make their way through a hospital corridor. Once they’re assured there is no press, the doctor informs Gianni that there is treatment now. The not-so-subtle subtext: He’s HIV-positive, a fact that’s never been confirmed abut Versace and his family denies to this day.
His condition further fractures the relationship between Antonio and Donatella. She blames Antonio for leading Gianni into dalliances with men over the years, thus resulting in the diagnosis. Despite Antonio’s assertions that Gianni was a willing participant in these romps, Donatella refuses to see her brother as anything other than a traditional family man. Antonio is quick to point out, they’re not “allowed” to have that kind of family.
May 1997: Andrew Cunanan heads down to Florida through Florence, South Carolina in the red pickup truck he lifted from a recent victim. At this point, he’s already wanted by the F.B.I. for four previous murders.
He checks into a seedy seaside motel, and, after sweet talking the woman at the front desk by pretending to be a naive, French fashion student, he meets Ronnie (New Girl’s Max Greenfield).
Ronnie tells Andrew about how he thought his life was over when he found out he was positive, but the new drugs gave him an unexpected new lease on life he wasn’t prepared for.
Andrew tells Ronnie that he had a relationship with Gianni back in San Francisco, much more than we’ve seen so far. He also tells Ronnie that he lost his best friend and love his life to HIV/AIDS.
Meanwhile, the Miami F.B.I. is being briefed about the manhunt for Cunanan. The Miami detective wonders why they hadn’t handed out flyers yet and why they’re not canvassing the popular gay hotspots like nightclubs and the cruising beach. They explain Cunanan works as a sex worker and murders his johns.
And that’s exactly what he’s up to. Ronnie leads Andrew to the cruising beach to pick up a john. He meets an older man who takes him back to his hotel. Once inside, Andrew asks about the man’s business (he manages 5,000 employees), but the man assures him he can be submissive. “You have no idea,” Andrew responds before wrapping the man’s head entirely in duct tape, covering his eyes, nose and mouth.
As the man struggles to breathe, Andrew prances around the room, relishing the power. At the last moment, he punctures a hole over the man’s mouth, allowing him to breathe. Then he makes the man order him lobster.
The man is shaken, even asking the room service attendant to come back for the plates in 30 minutes. Andrew regales him with tales about taking lobster lunches as a child, before leaving. The man puts back on his wedding ring, calls 9-1-1, but can’t tell them the story for fear of outing himself.
Two central themes are at play here. The first is how Andrew is driven to dominate successful men, men he believes were blessed by the good fortune that never smiled on him in the ways it does in his stories. More than the fact the man is closeted, it appears that Cunanan is more interested in punishing him for his power, not his shame.
Not that shame isn’t a factor in this story. While the show doesn’t put shame as a motivator for Andrew’s murder, it does seem to be suggesting that discomfort with the gay community impeded the authorities.
July 1997: Months later, Gianni and Donatella argue about the direction for their next Versace runway show. She wants emaciated models dressed drab, while Gianni is all about celebrating life. They decide she can dress her models, and he will dress his. Predictably, Gianni’s models steal the show.
Later, Gianni toils over his sketchbook while Antonio busies himself with a pretty young thing. The next morning, Antonio tells Gianni that he’s done with messing around and wants to marry him. “You can say it in the morning, but can you say it in the evening?” Touché.
Elsewhere, Andrew pawns the gold coin we saw in episode one. The shop clerk (Cathy Moriarty) takes a look at him like she knows him from somewhere, glances over at the wanted posters — IF ONLY THE F.B.I. HANDED OUT THOSE FLYERS, Ryan Murphy screams in the audience’s faces — but since there is no poster of him, she gives him the money.
Cunanan’s been casing the Versace compound since he’s been in town. One night, he sees a Donatella drag queen attempt to shout her way in, but Gianni lovingly shoos her away from his balcony. Jackpot.
Andrew rushes home, grabs his gun and gives Ronnie some cash. When Ronnie asks if their friendship was real, Andrew instructs him that should anyone ask, they were never friends.
On his way out, Andrew stops at a sub shop where one of the sandwich artists recognizes him from America’s Most Wanted. Cunanan grabs his tuna sub (gross) and leaves before the cops arrive.
He ends up at a nightclub called Twist, one of the hotspots the Miami F.B.I. suggested flyering earlier in the episode. (IF ONLY THEY— yes, yes, Ryan Murphy, we get it.) Earlier in the evening, Versace and Antonio were there, too. They left before Andrew arrived, but not before Antonio can tell Gianni that, yes, he still only wants him.
Inside the club, Andrew meets a boy and rattles off a list of his occupations: finance, cop, paperback writer and, of course, serial killer.
After Gianni’s Death: Donatella dresses the corpse before cremation. She packs up the ashes and carries them on a flight without Antonio.
It’s a small scene, but it speaks to another way Versace’s sexuality impacts this case. The series is poised to explore the perceived legitimacy of Gianni and Antonio’s relationship, as two gay men as well as two gay men who also slept with other people. By taking Gianni’s remains, it’s clear Donatella believes Antonio has no claim.
March 1994, Miami. An unsteady Gianni, wearing sunglasses and with his hoodie up, is helped down a hospital hallway by Antonio. He pauses when he sees the room at the end of the hall, and its inhabitants: two frail-looking men, apparently receiving transfusions. The doctor from the previous episode approaches and murmurs, “There are no journalists here.” Gianni removes his hood and shades as he’s told in VO, “There are drugs; the therapies are complex, difficult. But there are options.”
We cut then to Gianni and Antonio and the doctor in her office, but before Gianni talks about his other sister, let’s…just get into it with The AIDS Rumor, which if I understand correctly is the Versace family’s primary objection to American Crime Story. The show to this point has taken pains not to identify Gianni’s malady, I imagine primarily to avoid a lawsuit, but also possibly in part to create a meta conversation about what viewers might presume is – and what law enforcement did presume was – afflicting a gay man. I think it’s Richard Lawson in last week’s episode of the Still Watching: Versace podcast who notes that the mid- to late nineties marked the end of the period in the culture in which every story about gay men centered around HIV/AIDS, or at least dwelt in the shadow of the disease. And if this is the diagnosis that Gianni received in 1994, we hadn’t quite gotten to the point with the cocktail and various other advances in treatment where we thought of AIDS as a manageable chronic condition; we didn’t quite think of it as an absolute death sentence the way we had even five years prior, but the odds still weren’t great.
Those odds had improved somewhat by the time Gianni was killed – but this was not widely understood, and if I’m not mistaken the family was determined to keep the diagnosis secret, if only for business reasons, so they went with a cover story about a “rare ear cancer” that had a cheerier prognosis and nothing to do with Gianni’s sexuality (and with which the doctor’s bromides above would dovetail), so as not to upset the investor herd before the IPO. The family also made sure to retrieve Gianni’s body extremely quickly from the M.E.’s office, and had it cremated just as quickly, no doubt motivated by the same fear that his actual condition might become public. It can be a little hard to plug into this particular strain of paranoia here in 2018, but if you lived through the eighties…my God, the contortions public figures would go through, felt they had to go through (and were not wrong), to deny that they were ill or that it was AIDS. Freddie Mercury in particular, it just became the only thing anyone had to say about him despite his repeated denials. (I love that he wouldn’t give the press the satisfaction until literally the day before he died. “Fine: it’s AIDS. Happy now? Great. BYE BITCHES.”) And what was his other choice? Admit it, and then on top of facing the end, he’s got to do it in the corner, heaped up with judgment. What a grimy and unjust way for the world to do Freddie after everything he gave it.
This is, then, what the Versace family wanted to avoid, and I get it. I guess I get it still continuing 20 years later, their rigid refusal to engage with this reality, because who knows what clauses lurk in various partnership agreements about transparency or due diligence or whatever. Not that I wouldn’t get behind a “yeah, he had AIDS, and it was ONE THING about the guy so fuck off” attitude, because duh, but: this is where it is right now. Where the show is, I think, is implying as strongly as it possibly can without opening the network to a full-court libel press that Gianni Versace had received an AIDS diagnosis, and because 1) I think this is likely and 2) it speaks to the larger story, to Andrew Cunanan’s story, and to the time in which we find their stories, this is how I will also proceed. End sidebar. “Thank God.” Yeah, wait ‘til I start getting granular about mint marks. You’ll long for the halcyon days of this paragraph.
Okay, so: back to the doctor’s office. Gianni relates that, before Donatella was born, his older sister Tina became very ill with peritonitis. His parents sent him to live with an aunt and uncle, but he got homesick and ran all the way home – to find his sister in an open casket, “surrounded by white flowers.” Nobody told him she had died. “Until that moment I believed that if you get sick, you can also get better,” he says grimly, and: see above. The line makes more sense if you don’t think he’s talking about ear cancer, no?
Back at the manse, Antonio tucks Gianni into a big sleigh bed. Donatella comes in to stroke Gianni’s forehead, and tells Antonio she needs to talk to Gianni. She takes his hands in hers and they look at each other before she quavers, “What is Versace without you?” It will be you, he tells her. “What am Iwithout you?” “You will find out,” he smiles. She lies on his chest and he strokes her hair.
In the hallway outside, as Donatella is rummaging through her handbag for a Morley (hee), Antonio half-asks, half-states, “You blame me?” Next to a pointedly Callipygian statue on the same table as her handbag
Donatella asks if Gianni wasn’t enough for Antonio – he had to have more men, more fun, and Gianni went along with him. Antonio says Gianni “chose to,” but Donatella corrects him: Gianni chose Antonio, and went along because of Antonio. “I am not a villain,” Antonio sighs, adding that Gianni isn’t a saint. “My brother has a weakness for beauty; he forgives it anything,” Donatella says, putting on her jacket and turning to face Antonio. “But I am not my brother.” No shit, Antonio says, but Donatella isn’t done, asking why Antonio didn’t give Gianni a family when he knew Gianni wanted one. “Because we’re not allowed!” Antonio duhs. Donatella snarks that he could have found a way. She’s heading out when Antonio explodes – fairly quietly; they’re still outside Gianni’s sickroom – that he’s always been there for her; what has she ever done besides belittle him, and Gianni for choosing him? She whirls around: what has Antonio given Gianni – safety? stability? kids? She’d respect him if he’d given Gianni anything, but he’s given him nothing.
Gianni and Antonio walk on the beach. Gianni says that, before, he could channel negative emotions into creating; now, he’s too sick. He starts to have an anxiety attack, saying he just wants to get “out of me.”
At the villa, Donatella, her arm party of huge gold bracelets, and her pork-roast-sized flip phone are smoking on the steps when the men return. She takes Gianni’s hand; he turns to face them both and announces that he won’t get through this if they can’t be a family. He goes inside. Antonio glares flatly at Donatella from behind his shades. She is chastened enough to look away.
July 16, 1997. It’s nighttime. Rain sprinkles the impromptu shrine that has sprung up outside the villa’s front gates. Donatella watches from inside, weeping. She’s heading further back into the house, past where Antonio is half-lounging in that same anteroom, and Antonio tries to get her to talk to him, but she’s like, Gianni’s dead, we don’t have to pretend anymore, and closes the bedroom door.
A mortician places a picture of Gianni next to him on the slab, and begins filling in the wound in his face and a scrape on his shoulder. As he’s being made up, Donatella comes into the courtyard, sunglasses on, and turns to look at the house, and specifically the balcony of Gianni’s room. Then, shielded by umbrellas, she runs the gantlet of flashbulbs and gets into a car.
At a funeral parlor, Donatella approaches Gianni’s open casket. A crucifix is pointedly affixed to the inside of the lid. She slowly draws her sunglasses off and stares, fear flickering across her face. Penelope Cruz looks very young in this shot. An attendant behind her unzips a suit bag; cut to Donatella carefully zhuzhing the lapels and the necktie on Gianni in the casket. Once he’s ready, Donatella’s face crumples as she looks down at him. She bends down to kiss him and continues to cry, murmuring in Italian.
The casket is pushed into the crematory oven.
Gianni’s ashes are carefully transferred to a baggie, which is affixed with a golden tag reading “GMV.” The baggie is put in a box and sealed with diplomatic-pouch tape.
The box is put into a gold ornamental urn, topped with flowers, and carried onto the family’s private jet by Santo, where Donatella sits next to it and says through tears, “After everything he survived – to be killed like this.”
After the title card, we’re in May of 1997. Cunanan is driving the red pickup through Florence, SC. He pulls into a mall to find some South Carolina plates to steal, and as he’s affixing them to the truck, he notices a girl watching him. He arranges his face into what he thinks is a cheery smile. The girl isn’t having it.
He lets the smile melt off, chucks the old plates in the truckbed, and pulls out, powering up with some Oreos and milk and dialing around on the radio. After sampling some country tunes and a bulletin about the murder of Lee Miglin – in which he is named as a suspect – he comes upon Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” which is just the thing, especially the line “If everybody wants you / why isn’t anybody callin’.” He bellows that one out the window, and as my esteemed colleague Tara Ariano noted on The Blotter Presents last week, this is quite a performance of mediocre car-singing from an actor known for his, you know, singing. But he’s really feeling himself as he bellows along, past a sign reading “Miami 650"…
…and Ms. Branigan carries us into a helicopter shot of the Miami beachfront, the Versace villa, and Cunanan speeding into town in the pickup. At the Normandy Plaza hotel, Cunanan walks past Ronnie – the guy they found in his room at the end of the premiere – smoking sketchily on the front lanai and into the lobby, where a tacko portrait of Marilyn over a fake mantel seems to tell him he’s in the right place. When a desk clerk finally appears, Cunanan makes a big show of saying he doesn’t have a reservation, but maybe they might have a room for him anyway? She’s like, it’s an SRO, Blanche; chill. Cunanan gives her a French passport as ID that says he’s Kurt DuMarrs, and starts blathering on about how he was born in Nice and she should visit sometime, and he came all the way to Miami to talk to Gianni Versace because he’s a poor fashion student, and blah blah some outfit of Carla Bruni’s with a gold belt, I don’t even know. But somewhere in there he charms the desk clerk.
Less charming: the room itself. The common areas of the motel don’t look so bad, but the interior hallways and the rooms: Wayne Grotsky.
Literally nothing is going to show dirt and fingerprint grease like that institutional pink. But Cunanan seems unbothered, and starts unloading his backpack right onto the jizzfest that is the room’s comforter, like, did we not all know not to do that yet by 1997? I feel like we did. Mostly this is so we see the gun again, which is pointless telegraphing of something that…already happened, but Cunanan heads over to the villa and marches up to the front gate and tries the front door. It’s locked, doy, but Cunanan looks a little angry, and also a little confused, like he expected his imaginary future friend Gianni to have left it open for him.
The next morning, Cunanan buys a disposable camera (kids, ask your parents) and a ball cap and sunglasses at a kiosk, which is also displaying the "MADMAN!” cover of Sports Illustrated devoted to Mike Tyson chomping Evander Holyfield’s ear. Cute – and it places us around the Fourth of July, 1997, as the coverline on that issue is 7/7/97. Cunanan heads back to the front gates and snaps several pictures of them and the house, then stares creepily into the eyes of the Medusa on the front door. Later, he carefully lays the developed pictures out in front of him in a grid, the same way he did the magazines last time, but the spell is broken when he reaches for his wallet and finds only three dollars inside.
The FBI agents are briefing Dets. Luke and Bitchface on Cunanan’s greatest hits (as it were). Bitchface isn’t clear on why they assume he’s in Miami, versus L.A. or San Diego; Agent Stan non-answers that they working under the assumption that he’s headed to the 305. Bitchface justifies her moniker:
But I’m calling her Det. Lori from now on because WTF, FBI. Luke gives her a “fuckin’ feds” brow pop, but they try to help, as Lori runs down the local gay hotspots on a city map and offers to give the Fibbies a tour. What she gets in return is some Agent Stansplaining, as he condescendingly tells her that she hasn’t read the case file, but Cunanan isn’t going to follow a pattern she can predict; he’s a “predatory escort,” so he’ll be targeting older, closeted guys – who tend to hang in Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. Lori’s like, okaaaaay so but don’t you want to even canvass South Beach, hand out some flyers? The agents shrug that they only have ten flyers printed right now, and anyway, they “aren’t a priority for us.” “That’s certainly clear,” Lori mutters, and starts making black-and-white photocopies her own self. She pins one to the middle of the bulletin board.
Cunanan returns to his room and, despairing of the crappy side-alley view from his window, rehearses his pitch to Desk Clerk to switch rooms to an ocean view. Naturally, it’s obnoxiously glib and contains a reference to Cap Ferrat, but the mojo he worked on her earlier sustains itself, and soon he’s sauntering out onto his balcony and surveying his domain, Gianni-style. He locks eyes with Ronnie, kibitzing down on the sidewalk…
…then too-casually cruises down to the front lanai and introduces himself as Andy.
Max Greenfield’s whatever face here is everything, hee. Ronnie overheard the clerk call “Andy” “Kurt.” Cunanan snappishly asks what she calls Ronnie, then. But despite this bitchy beginning, when Cunanan asks if Ronnie knows where to score, Ronnie seems to oblige. They walk down the street, Ronnie sighing that he doesn’t “do this kind of work” anymore: “Look at me.” Greenfield looks fairly fit here, but thin, and is styled scruffily and moving somewhat listlessly, so the inference we’re supposed to draw is apparently the same one Cunanan does, as he launches into a monologue about how he used to work at an AIDS outreach center in San Diego. He denies being sick himself, but he might admit it to Ronnie if he were; Ronnie doesn’t tell most people, because they freak out. He came close to dying a few years back, he goes on, but then they “handed [him] these magic pills,” and he had his life back…but he didn’t know what to do with it, so he came to Miami, to be by the ocean. Cunanan’s witty-repartee face has fallen by the time Ronnie asks if he has lost anyone. “Lost my best friend. And the love of my life,” Cunanan says, failing to clarify that he killed them, but we’ll get to it. “Recently?” Ronnie asks. “This year.” “Both of them?” Ronnie presses, likely thinking that in eighty-seven, to lose two of your closest people to the virus would track, but in ninety-seven it’s a little more unusual, particularly given that Cunanan says he’s not HIV+.
Ronnie doesn’t push it, but as Cunanan takes a whore bath at a beachside shower station and brags about knowing Versace – with a name-droppy reference to an It restaurant in San Fran clearly memorized from a Vanity Fair or similar – Ronnie makes a series of “…k” faces. There’s been some discussion on the forums about Criss’s choices here – that you don’t really see the charm the real Cunanan was evidently famous for. But you also don’t see the somewhat squashy physical presentation of the real Cunanan, for which the charm was supposed to make up in a world that prized a hyper-toned physique; what you do see is the way the social contract tends to paper over outré or awkwardly meretricious behavior like Cunanan’s, which in the larger context of “how was this ‘allowed’ to happen” is effective.
Anyway, Ronnie does manage not to burst out laughing at the idea that a guy who’s one step up from homeless was proposed to by Gianni Versace at any point, as Cunanan claims. Ronnie says Gianni’s very popular “out here,” very friendly, though Ronnie’s not into his clothes. “That’s because you don’t know him,” Cunanan snips. Ronnie’s like, well, I can look at the shop windows and form an opinion, but Cunanan isn’t having it and takes Ronnie to school on Gianni’s invention of Oroton. That is pretty cool, but Cunanan is way too intense about it for get-to-know-you small talk with a guy he just met: “I see the man behind it. A great creator. The man I coulda been.” Ronnie cocks a brow: “Been with.” That seems to snap Cunanan out of it somewhat, but then he lifts his face to the spray while the piano does a V.C. Andrews kind of a thing, like, we get it.
On the beach, Cunanan locks eyes with an older gent, then gets up, telling Ronnie that he shouldn’t worry about money, he’ll split “this” with Ronnie fifty-fifty. He emphasizes that he takes care of his friends: “That’s always been important to me.” Ronnie doesn’t know what to say, and I have a couple of suggestions, but Ronnie’s Spidey sense probably kiboshed “we just met, Galahad, settle down” as possibly triggering Braggy Carmichael. Cunanan heads over to the gent and completes the pick-up. Ronnie watches speculatively.
Back at the gent’s room, Cunanan gets kind of weird about how many times the guy’s “done this before – two, three?” and then asks how many people work for him, “in business.” Five thousand worldwide, he’s told, and makes this face
but apparently that’s the gent’s kink, as he breathes that he can be submissive. “You have no idea,” Cunanan informs him, and then we’re hearing “Easy Lover” as Cunanan straddles the guy and carefully swathes his entire head in duct tape. Once the last airway is covered, he leans in with that Starman look of scientifically curious remove: “You’re helpless. Accept it.” He dismounts, cranks the music, and fondles various items on the dresser as the gent struggles. “Accept it,” he says. “Accept it!” He fan-dances around the room as the taped-up gent gets more and more agitated, and the music seems to get steadily louder; this is shot very effectively, as I also began to get agitated on the guy’s behalf.
Cunanan approaches the bed, holding a pair of surgical scissors and regarding the guy with a mixture of curiosity and lust, then hops onto him, whispers, “Last chance,” and finally plunges the scissors through the tape over the gent’s mouth when the gent follows his direction and submits.
Later, Cunanan tucks into some expensive room-service filet and lobster. At the door, the gent whispers to the waiter to come back in half an hour, “for the trays,” then backs away from the door and the end of the bed where Cunanan is perched, stuffing his piehole and making up some story about his mom packing lobster in his school lunches. All the other kids had PB&J, and “there I was with my little sachet of cracked pepper, all wrapped up like a gram of cocaine.” Cool story, bro. He polishes off a glass of champagne, locks eyes with the gent, drops the flute on the floor with a clunk, and departs without another word. The gent can’t wait to throw the bolt, fish his ring out of the ashtray, and call 9-1-1, but when he’s asked what his emergency is, the gent is too weighed down by his wedding band to go through with it and hangs up.
Back from commercial, it’s “back to life, back to reality” with the opening strains of the Soul II Soul hit, and wow, I actually missed this song. Like, it was ehhhhhh-verywhere for a while and I never thought I would feel “oh yeah, you!” about it, but I do. Pity about the context, which is July 6, 1997, and we’re backstage at a fashion show, where Gianni is complaining that the models Antonio hired “look ill.” This seems like an anachronism to me, so if Gianni actually was at the forefront of pulling back from anorexic waifs, hit me in the comments. Certainly Donatella has taken some shelling in the not-at-all-distant past for using runway talent who looked dangerously underweight. And here she is now, cutting past the models standing around outside smoking and into the dressing room, where she asks them to give her the room: “I need to talk to my brother.” Maybe take him aside, then? It’s…the dressing room and they’re working?
Donatella tries to head him off all “you agreed to try them,” but Gianni’s like, my models should look like they eat, have cocktails, fuck, enjoy life – “What do these girls enjoy?” “Front covers?” Donatella says pointedly, going on that “everyone” is talking about Galliano and McQueen and what they’re doing next. Gianni, standing next to a carefully hung card with Shalom Harlow’s name on it,
doesn’t want to guess trends. His designs have to come from his heart first. The debate continues, Donatella saying he’s gotten too predictable, too “known,” blah blah blah. Like they’d really get into this 1) minutes before the walking starts, 2) in English instead of Italian. Point is, Gianni’s celebrating the miracle of his return to health, and doesn’t want to do the “stark and morbid” runway Donatella prefers. Donatella freshens her contouring and rolls her eyes as Gianni describes the “Versace bride” who is not dainty and pure, but proud to have loved many before choosing the one man for her. She’s kind of won over by his enthusiasm by the end, though, only correcting him that it’s their show, not his.
Backstage, Donatella peeks out and looks worried as the runway looks – proceeding down what looks like a ramp placed over Gianni’s own pool – are greeted with polite applause. The applause gathers in strength, and when the bride comes out, the response is what Gianni predicted. Donatella shakes her head and throws him a “yeah, okay” thumbs-up.
Cut to Ronnie procuring drugs for himself and Cunanan. They smoke crack together as a breeze stirs the vertical blinds, and Ronnie gets the high giggles, but Cunanan is broody, and goes into the bathroom to start wrapping his own head in duct tape. Outside the door, Ronnie says he used to be a florist, and he was thinking of starting a little flower pop-up, a two-man operation: “You and me.” They get along well enough, no? And anything’s better than working that beach, right? “…Andy?”
“I’m gonna take a shower,” Cunanan says affectlessly. “Me too, with lye, in a different time zone,” Ronnie does not say, going with “Yeah, a-a shower, why not?” He perches worriedly on the end of the bed, smoking and staring at the bathroom door. I would say it’s a good thing he can’t see the other side,
but if nothing else about Cunanan has moved the needle to Hell No for Ronnie, I doubt a crazy wall would do it either. Cunanan unwraps his head, somehow pulling out zero hair in the process, and stares at himself in the mirror.
When he emerges, apparently not having showered after all, he starts dressing silently. After a moment, Ronnie asks as gently as possible, “Andrew? What’d you do?” “Nothing,” he says, still staring at himself, but in the mirror over the chest of drawers this time. “I’ve done nothing my whole life. And that’s the truth.” Ronnie looks sad for him and holds up the pipe: “We’re out.” “I’ll get more,” Cunanan says, going for “soothing half-smile” and landing on “nauseated volcano.”
Gianni is lost in sketching thought in his bedroom as, on the bed, Antonio canoodles with a third guy. He hops out to tell Gianni to join them. Distractedly Gianni says he’ll be right there. Antonio strips off his undies and hops back into bed with the guy. Gianni looks at them making out with an expression of contentment, then returns to sketching.
The next day, Gianni finishes a lap and fetches up on Antonio’s legs at the end of the pool. Antonio muses that he doesn’t “want this” anymore; he wants Gianni, to marry Gianni. Gianni smiles that Antonio says it in the morning: “Can you say it in the evening?” He swims away. Antonio bites his lip and wisely doesn’t argue the point.
Cunanan heads into the pawn shop to hock the gold coin. Pawn Star Cathy asks where he got it. He says it’s a remarkable story. Good save. I’ll spare you the coin-nerd background, but I wonder if a pawnbroker with any experience shouldn’t have known based on the coin in question that said story involved a felony; it’s a Saint-Gaudens double eagle – one of those coins that will look familiar even to people who don’t know anything about coins, which is basically everyone. The prop here has a “mint mark” that says “COPY,” which I also find amusing. …Right, nobody cares, sorry! Anyway, as she’s weighing the coin, she checks her most-wanted posters; Cunanan, who’s filling out the forms with his real name and address, isn’t among them.
He’s out walking later when he sees a queen serving Donatella realness rattling the front gates of the estate and begging “Johnny” to let her in. A security guard notes that the real Donatella has a key, and Gianni comes out on the balcony all “enough already, kid” – “big kiss for you, but I cannot let you in, one is enough.” Hee. Cunanan watches the drama unfold, then jogs back to his room; fishes the gun out from under the mattress (ew) and loads it; rips down his crazy wall; and bids Ronnie adieu. “Will I see you again?” Ronnie asks. “I’m sure of it,” Cunanan double-meanings, and is peaceing out when Ronnie snarls down the hall after him, “You don’t have that money, do you.” Cunanan stops, comes back, and counts out the money, holding it up to Ronnie, at which time Scrip Dork McGee over here notes that, at least as far as the fifty is concerned, Props found an old one from before the 1997 printi– “Buntsy. We agreed that nobody cares.” Right, you are so right, sorry again. Ronnie is also chastened, but takes the money, then asks gravely if they were friends. “That was real, right?” But Cunanan is in full infamy-groundwork-laying mode and responds, “When someone asks you if we were friends? You’ll say no.” He hurries away; Ronnie ruefully watches him go.
Lori’s leaving the cop shop and sees that the Cunanan Most Wanted poster is mostly covered over with other flyers already.
The man himself is reading his Condé Nast book in a park across the street from the estate when Gianni and Antonio emerge. When we cut back across the street, Cunanan is gone…
…to get some stakeout grub. The guy at the sandwich shop immediately spots him and skives off into the back to call 9-1-1; the “white guy who killed four white guys” whom he saw on America’s Most Wanted is in the shop, ordering a tuna combo. The cops show up shortly thereafter, but Cunanan’s gone again.
At Twist, Gianni and Antonio cut the line and head into the club, greeting various friends and other regulars. They settle in at a table to watch a go-go boy with angel wings working it for tips.
Cunanan fetches up back at the estate. He doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry or fleeing. He finds the bedroom windows dark, and his eyes darken in turn. He heads into Twist – with his backpack, which made me want to smack the bouncer upside the head. I forget we didn’t always live in this after-the-events-of world. Somewhere, Det. Lori gets a stabbing pain in her ass because Cunanan is right where Agent Stan told her not to bother looking, searching the dance-floor crowd for Gianni while La Bouche’s “Be My Lover” blares down. Cunanan checks the bathroom…
…but Gianni and Antonio are already outside, heading home. Gianni hangs back, seemingly to let Antonio pick up, but Antonio frowns and repeats that he doesn’t want that anymore; he wants Gianni. They nuzzle. It’s a bittersweet moment, knowing what happens, and also knowing that the actors know each other well IRL and wondering what it’s like for them in the scene, when of course they also know what happens. Gianni gives him a vaguely sad “if you’re sure” look, and off they go.
Inside, Andrew roams the dance floor, deflating, as Lisa Stansfield tells the assembled that “this is the right time / to believe in love.” A cutie named Brad locks onto Cunanan and close-dances up to him and asks what he does. “I’m a serial killer,” Cunanan chirps. Brad: “Whuh-it?” Cunanan, giggling: “I’m a banker!” He’s a stockbroker. He’s a cop! He builds movie sets and skyscrapers! Imports pineapples! Brad begins to draw away, concerned, as Cunanan tells Brad, but mostly himself, “I’m the person least likely to be forgotten. …I’m Andrew Cunanan.”
From the beginning we’ve known that Andrew Cunanan fancied himself a man of finer tastes. Even while on the run for a murder spree, he still took the time to purchase just the right Wayfarer knock-offs or order a surf ‘n’ turf meal from a wealthy john. Did Cunanan wear just any old bathing suit? Nope, it was magenta Speedo all the way. And when it came to rat-infested, crumbling junkie motels, you better believe Cunanan asked for an ocean view. Yes, even the lowest of human existences can leave room for glamour.
“Manhunt” continued last week’s premiere with even more backstory of where both Versace and Cunanan had been in their respective lives before the titular assassination. And like last week, it took what everyone knew about the case (from sensationalized tabloid coverage mostly) and filled in the gaps with new facts, genuine insight, and arresting beauty. Let’s talk about it!
We began with an unrecognizable, anonymous man in disguise.
Underneath this ingenious, identity-concealing ensemble was none other than famous fashion designer Gianni Versace. But this costumed ruse would be for neither heist nor romp. No, he was at a clinic receiving bad news about a blood test he’d recently taken. And while this episode was careful to keep things vague, this scene, added to a later scene in which he could barely walk unassisted, was meant to suggest that Versace’s life had once been threatened long before Andrew Cunanan ever pointed a gun at him. You can probably guess what the illness was. But as a reminder, the ’90s were an especially bad time for a specific group of people.
Versace’s diagnosis played heavily into this episode’s central concept. That he’d been able to fight off his illness using state-of-the-art medicines, he’d slapped the grim reaper across its tacky face, and he’d begun to embrace life as only a formerly dead man walking could. Which, as Donatella Versace noted, made his later murder all the more devastating.
But death comes for us all, even those who can afford to have their facial bullet wounds spackled over and their cremains laid to rest so fabulously.
Even when reduced to several ounces of ash, Versace still flew first class. Honestly touching.
We then cut over to Andrew Cunanan, who was currently speeding on the freeway scream-singing “Gloria.” Which, we’ve all done that, and in my case nearly every day. “Gloria” is one of the greatest songs of all time. As we quickly discovered, Cunanan was only just arriving in Miami, so this act of free-wheelin’ joy came after he’d murdered his first four victims. Yep, he was now murder-jazzed, and it was time to spread his brand of awful in a beach community!
Cunanan showed up at the dingiest motel with the most beautiful oceanfront view in Miami. It was clearly a faded stucco hell pit of junkies and, well, other serial killers I’m guessing. Between the presence of a junkie Max Greenfield and a duct-tape gimp mask, this was like if American Horror Story: Hotel had been crossed with Miami Vice. Into it.
Meanwhile the FBI had arrived in town around the same time, but this local Miami detective lady quickly realized they were terrible at their jobs and had not tried particularly hard to catch this gay spree-killer yet. They hadn’t even made any copies of his “Wanted” poster! And as we’d learn later, citizens were ready and willing to report a Cunanan sighting, which made it all the more frustrating that the FBI had been so slow to spread the word. (Thank God for America’s Most Wanted.)
As you can imagine, Andrew Cunanan made fast friends with junkie Max Greenfield, and after a heartfelt scene in which Greenfield’s character talked about his HIV diagnosis, the two schemed openly about how to make quick cash and/or buy some junk to smoke. An enterprising liar and conman, it was almost charming that Cunanan still resorted to turning tricks sometimes. I guess that was easier than, like, check fraud or whatever.
So, sex work for local lonely hearts was now on the menu! Congratulations, Miami fellas!
Except, whoops … there was the pesky fact that Andrew Cunanan was a total psychopath. Which meant that this john’s simple request to be dominated led him to finding himself suffocating under a face full of duct tape and terrorized within an inch of his life while Andrew Cunanan danced around the room in a pink Speedo.
Yeah this was one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve seen in a Ryan Murphy joint, but the terror was effective. The disturbing vibe continued even afterward, as the terrified john sat watching Cunanan finish a lobster meal, waited until Cunanan left, and then debated whether to call 911 and report the assault. Alas, the wedding ring he placed back on his finger suggested why the crime ultimately went unreported. Again: The ’90s really sucked.
But enough darkness, it was time to remember what made Versace famous! In this scene, Donatella urged Versace to change things up and compete with his more goth-inspired competitors Galliano and McQueen, but Versace made clear that he was in the business of joy and beauty and life, especially now that he had his health back. Donatalla couldn’t help but see his point.
And credit to this show for not only producing a convincing fashion show (with convincingly Versace-ish looks) but also even casting a runway model who resembled Shalom Harlow to play Shalom Harlow! Miss her. Come back, Shalom.
As though we needed more evidence that Andrew Cunanan was unhinged, we got this cute scene where he smoked tons of drugs, then went to the bathroom for some quiet time. In this case quiet time involved wrapping his head and face in duct tape and also admiring the intensely insane serial killer wall he’d created in the bathroom:
Yeah, I think we’d recalled Cunanan as being an out-of-control party boy or whatever, but this series has done a lot to prove he was insane in a scary and singular way. Just a bad-time-guy lookin’ for trouble.
We also got glimpses into the romantic life shared by Versace and his lover, Ricky Martin (as himself, jk). And though their lifestyle of hooking up with men together and going to the clubs was nothing they were ashamed of in their private life, we could sense that the straight world would never understand their situation. Versace himself doubted that his partner truly loved him enough to want to be married (which … gay marriage? What a futuristic concept in 1997!), yet they still were clearly everything to each other. It would be romantic if we didn’t know where this was all heading.
We then got another classic Cathy Moriarty appearance, in which we saw the incident when Cunanan sold a stolen coin to her at her pawn shop and she remembered it enough to contact the police after the shooting. And again, she’d even glanced at her collection of “Wanted” posters before making the sale, underscoring again that the authorities’ slow-to-act tendencies toward gay crime had almost directly led to Versace’s murder. But at least we can all continue to count on Cathy Moriarty when we need her!
I loved this brief scene when a drag impersonator of Donatella showed up at Versace’s manor and demanded to come in and hang out. He was polite enough about it, noting that one Donatella in his life was enough, but still. She DID look fun to hang out with. I probably would’ve let her up.
That night, Versace and his lover went out to the local dance club Twist, and Andrew Cunanan followed them there, presumably to shoot him right there in the club. But Versace ended up ducking out before the encounter happened but not before his lover informed him that even at night, even amid opportunities to be around other men … he still chose Versace and wanted to marry him. Again, except for the line of strangers behind them and the bad ’90s techno wafting in the air, this was an incredibly touching and romantic moment. These two.
Inside, a clearly dejected Cunanan was approached by a random hottie, and he responded by having a borderline meltdown in which he listed all the different fake occupations he’d ever pretended to be. Including, of course, serial killer. But while the random hottie had no reason to think Cunanan was being serious about any of them, it was a chilling notion that someone who had spent a lifetime lying about his accomplishments was now going to try to make a name for himself in a more tragic and gruesome way. Ugh, he was the worst.
“Manhunt” functioned best as a continuation of last week’s introduction to the story and setting. And like last week, it relied on visuals and physical performance more than written dialogue, and was just as spellbinding. Tense, funny, emotional, and troubling all at once, this is a fascinating world to explore and I can’t get enough. Obviously it’s a dark story and doesn’t promise to get any lighter by the end of it, but I can’t help myself. That this is even on the air (and executed so perfectly) is enough to give someone a new lease on life. How very Versace.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime StorySeason 2 Episode 2 “Manhunt” is disturbing, emotional, and compelling. It still is struggling with time jumps, but overall, “Manhunt” is really starting to show us who these characters are—for better or for worse.
The look on Donatella’s face as she sees Gianni in the casket—wow. Seeing Donatella lose her composure is just heartbreaking.
On “Manhunt,” we get a glimpse into Gianni and Antonio’s relationship and see that American Crime Story is going with the theory that Gianni was HIV Positive. Donatella thinks that Antonio is to blame for her brother’s illness. These scenes provide more insight as to why Donatella has been so dismissive of him after Gianni’s death.
As Antonio points out, Gianni is not a saint. However, Antonio is enough for Gianni but is Gianni enough for Antonio?
The question is answered with a particularly sweet moment at the end of the episode where Gianni and Antonio kiss outside the nightclub and go home together. It’s also bittersweet because it won’t be long before Gianni is gunned down.
Meanwhile, we see Andrew in May 1997 as he hits the road towards Miami after stealing license plates in South Carolina. He is jubilant as he sings to “Gloria” and it’s hard to imagine that he has already killed four men.
In Miami, Andrew’s lies continue, and he makes a friend in Ronnie, an HIV positive addict who is also staying at the Normandy Hotel.
I find the scenes between Ronnie and Andrew to be really interesting. Andrew loves an audience and spinning tales of his life but Ronnie doesn’t completely buy it.
I also may have a tiny crush on Max Greenfield with his handlebar mustache.
There are a few scenes with Miami detectives and the FBI and we see how the FBI has already bungled up the investigation of Cunanan in Miami. They don’t distribute flyers, which is a huge mistake as pointed out when Andrew goes to the pawn shop and uses his own identification.
The pawn shop owner actually looks at a bulletin board of wanted men in the area.
Andrew Cunanan is not one of them.
They also don’t listen to Detective Lori Wieder who says that they should look at all the gay nightclubs, including Twist, which is where Andy ends up at the end of the episode. The FBI say that Andrew is probably hitting up old men in Fort Lauderdale.
That isn’t entirely inaccurate as Andrew goes back to an older man’s hotel room after meeting him on the beach. He’s a married CEO of a company and tells Andrew he can be submissive.
The following scene is incredibly disturbing as Andrew wraps the man’s face with duct tape and restricts his breathing and then dances around in the hotel room before straddling the man with a pair of scissors.
Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan continues to amaze me.
The weakest part of “Manhunt” is the time jumps. The episode starts in 1994 with Versace being very sick. I didn’t mind this flashback because it shows the close relationship between Donatella and Gianni and then explains why Donatella doesn’t like Antonio.
It also shows that Gianni was once close to death but then managed to survive. It’s sad to know that he’ll be dead only a few years later.
The episode then jumps to May 1997, the day after Gianni’s murder in July 1997, a fashion show a few weeks before his death, and then some time in the months/weeks leading up to the murder while Andrew’s in Miami.
What was the point of seeing Andrew in South Carolina? It only showed us how strangely calm he is after he’s already committed a few murders.
And the Versace fashion show? It does show Donatella and Gianni butting heads, but I kind of think it’s purely so Gianni can talk about how life is beautiful.
It makes it all the sadder when his life ends so violently.
Overall, “Manhunt” is a riveting episode and I can tell how much I enjoyed it because I simply didn’t want it to end. The acting is incredible, the music is upbeat but oddly unsettling, and the subject matter is compelling.