Uncovering The Spoilers Buried In The Music Of American Crime Story: Versace

Showrunner Ryan Murphy decided to start The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story with the titular designer’s death. For the first eight minutes of the show, there is minimal talking. We hear only the greetings as Versace (Edgar Ramírez) encounters various characters at the start of his day and the screams of Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), who was in the midst of a killing spree targeting gay men. What overwhelms our senses are the sounds of “Adagio in G Minor,” a haunting piece of baroque, Italian composition that we’ve all heard on screen many times, from Flashdance to Casanova to Manchester by the Sea. Though effective, it is not a particularly original choice. But, another layer is added to the story ACS: Versace is telling us if you explore the murky history of this piece of music.

“There were a couple of others we were trying, all in the same classical, Italian landscape,” the show’s music supervisor, Amanda Krieg Thomas, told Refinery29 on a recent phone call. Murphy, who directed the first episode, chose to set the sequence to a single piece of music and had the show’s composer, Mac Quayle, record a new version of this song to picture, so the arrangement matches up perfectly with the action.

There is a duality to watching a man who will lie, steal, and kill to serve his own ends execute another man in a moment scored by someone who perpetrated the most significant scam in classical music history. A musicologist named Remo Giazotto claims to have discovered the adagio, circa 1949. Giazotto was writing a book on the 18th-century Venetian master Tomaso Albinoni and said he had found this fragment of music in his archives, consisting of six bars of a melody. Giazotto took the liberty of finishing the composition, and the “Adagio in G Minor” was born. Except that Giazotto’s story wasn’t true. There is no proof to support that Albinoni wrote that fragment of music. Giazotto retracted his story later in life and took sole credit for the piece.

When it comes to pop music, of which the show has an abundance, powerhouse female vocalists from the late ‘80s and early ’90s are the stars in ACS: Versace. “It’s different from The People Versus O.J. Simpson in every way, but that show was a snapshot of the period, and that’s what we did for it musically as well. This season, the vision from Murphy was more focused on Cunanan and the type of music he would have grown up with; songs that would have been around him and in the places he went to that he’d be listening to,” Krieg Thomas says. The universe of ACS: Versace is aurally made up of women: club and radio jams by Lisa Stansfield, La Bouche, Indeep, Soul II Soul, and Jocelyn Enriquez all make appearances. And, of course, Laura Branigan whose cover (with its rewritten English lyrics) of “Gloria” became a hit in 1982. Her take is revived in episode 2, when Cunanan blasts it while he sings along in a stolen truck, taken from a man he killed.

“Murphy is such a fan of music, and for many of the moments, he knew what he wanted. ‘Gloria’ was one of those; he’s a big Laura Branigan fan,” Krieg Thomas said, which is probably not something anyone has said in decades. Her assertion bears itself out, though; the show uses another Branigan track, a No. 1 hit that has been all but forgotten in modern times, “You Take My Self Control,” in a future episode. “It works really well on many levels — it’s so incongruous with what just happened, he’s murdered people, he’s driving, and we hear this happy, upbeat song,” Krieg Thomas continued. She noted that the lyrics speak to what is happening: “Gloria, you’re always on the run now / Running after somebody, you gotta get him somehow” and “Gloria, don’t you think you’re fallin’? / If everybody wants you, why isn’t anybody callin’?”

A checking of the boxes (fits the show’s aesthetic, lyrically speaks to the scene) is noticeable at numerous moments in the first two episodes alone. “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” plays when Cunanan meets Versace in a club in San Francisco, letting us know something is afoot. “Be My Lover” plays while Cunanan fruitlessly searches for Versace in a South Beach club in a fit of desperation. It’s a sickening foreshadowing when Phil Collins & Phillip Bailey’s “Easy Lover” plays as Cunanan ties up and dominates a john. Under the Miami Vice aesthetic of this ’80s hit lies a cautionary tale about a lover who will leave and deceive, giving you nothing but regrets. As for talk that it might be an homage to American Psycho, Krieg Thomas said, “although it’s pulled from the same easy listening palette, it wasn’t a reference point.”

In episodes 3, 4, and 5, the soundtrack pivots to speak to us about the other men Cunanan killed: Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell), Jeffrey Trail (Finn Wittrock), and David Madson (Cody Fern). With Lee, it’s a resetting of the aesthetic by using songs coded for older gay men; where Doris Day and Astrud Gilberto play on the hi-fi. With Trail and Madson, the work is largely done by the show’s score, which sets a mood of horror to match the change in cinematography to the darker, harsher tones of Minnesota sunlight and Madson’s industrial loft. In episode 4, the foreshadowing is heavy when Madson and Cunanan are in a bar listening to Aimee Mann sing the saddest version imaginable of “Drive,” a morose uber-hit for the Cars in the ’80s. Madson’s tears along with the lyrics, “Who’s gonna pay attention / To your dreams? / Who’s gonna plug their ears / When you scream?” let us know that there was no escape. Not to the outside world where gay men were vilified, and not with Cunanan on a Bonnie and Clyde-esque murder spree.

The show uses music to tell us about Versace, as well. His South Beach soundscape is not so different from Cunanan’s, full of club music and dance hits but with flourishes of Italian classical dropped in to remind us where he comes from. In episode 2, there was a moment where the real Versace spoke. In another theme for this show, that of cover songs, they lifted a track that Versace used in his final fashion show for the scene with Donatella (Penélope Cruz), dropping the Lightning Seeds cover of “You Showed Me” in after their big fight over models and how to build a fashion brand. Reports have the siblings fighting quite a lot at the time, with Donatella trying to find her place in the house of Versace after her brother’s return upon his recovery from an illness. The use of this song in his real life may have simply been reaching for what was in the air at the time — it was the height of Britpop, and in his other shows he had used adjacent tracks like “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Or, it might have been a carefully constructed message to his sister. That we even ask the question, however, is entirely thanks to its presence in the American Crime Story universe.

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 5 Recap: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Homophobia has been lingering in every episode of this season of American Crime Story, but “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” gave it the explicit attention it deserves. I appreciated seeing how Naval officer Jeffrey Trail (Finn Wittrock) met Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), but this was definitely also the slightly more heavy handed, learn-something episode of this season. I might also just be salty because this is the first time the choice of having a jumpy timeline made things less suspenseful à la all the repetition of scenes in How To Get Away With Murder. Maybe some people like that blanket of understood sadness over everything (since we know Trail is going to be killed by Cunanan), but I can’t say I’m a big fan.

Wait, what did I learn though? For starters, I never knew fashion designer Perry Ellis died at 46, likely of complications from AIDS, although he denied he was sick up until the very end, which is truly a testament to the shame and stigma that especially surrounded the disease in the early ‘90s. What Donatella Versace (Penelope Cruz) mentions about the rumors that Ellis had contracted AIDS after he appeared too weak to take a final bow at his own show without assistance, is true. He also lost his long term partner to an AIDS-related illness, and his company was bought by a larger fashion company following his death. Two details I feel are worth mentioning because it means that his eponymous clothing line has actually been designed and run by other people for nearly my entire life when I had assumed he was alive and wearing expensive polos this whole time.

As dark as the ACS series is, I’m thankful that it offers the opportunity to highlight not-evil people like Perry Ellis or Gianni Versace’s (Edgar Ramirez) graceful or forgotten moments. Ryan Murphy has said that he was proud and admired Versace for his real-life coming out interview in The Advocate. It was moving to watch Versace decide to live his life without shame or apologies. I was a little emotional when he brought Antonio (Ricky Martin) to the couch because it felt almost like they were getting married with the interviewer as their priest.

It’s intentional that the name of this season is “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” because Murphy has been explicit that he sees Cunanan’s murders as politically motivated, since he went out of his way to out people and often humiliate them. The idea of sending a gay person’s parents a postcard (like the one poor Trail had to grapple with) is so obscenely inappropriate it makes my blood boil. In previous episodes, Cunanan exhibits internalized homophobia, but it seems to show in more emboldened ways with each passing episode. When Cunanan is talking with Trail, he says people will only see him as a “f*ggot,” and I’ll admit that I was shocked to watch the words leave the Glee star’s mouth.

The only moment that chilled me more than Criss’ use of the f-word was seeing Cunanan at the San Diego port bar because it forced me to reckon with the hard truth that predators walk among us in plain view all the time, and we just don’t know it. I also hate watching him be a Cheshire cat tormenting Trail while he’s still just a “baby gay.” I’m surprised that later in the episode, Cunanan took offense to being told he has no honor because dude has no honor.

It’s irritating to watch someone like Cunanan push the limits of regular friendship and hospitality so far with Trail and his ex David Madson (Cody Fern). Cunanan is also sometimes just bitchy and hearing him say things like “when I found you” makes me uncomfortable, because Cunanan has this manipulative way of acting like he “made” people, and that they owe him big time. He actually pushed it even further and says, “I saved you.” It feels like the most outright egomaniacal he’s been.This week was hard because people’s intuitions were right so often: Trail is done with him, Madson tries to cut down their amount of time together, and on and on. Trail and Madson knew Cunanan sucked, but you can’t report someone to the police for sucking. You can fall into a black hole wondering how things might have been different if he had reported his gun stolen to the police, but who would really do that to a former friend?

I hope the remaining episodes give us more time with the Versace family. Although they fight, they bother me so much less than Cunanan. The probable psychopath even manages to make eating cereal look evil. When Cunanan is looking down at his colorful bowl of Fruit Loops, an image of Allison Williams in Get Out flashed before my eyes. I’m torn because the more time this show spends on more normal people outside the Versace family, the more it seems grounded in reality. I almost couldn’t listen to Trail’s family’s voices on his voicemail. The final words of the episode were successfully realistic, and that much more disturbing.

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 5 Recap: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 4 Recap: “House By The Lake”

I wish I was not the kind of fool who roots for a happy ending because The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story keeps putting my heart in a vice. This week’s “The House By The Lake” was another visually distinct episode that started out in Minneapolis, and followed architect and nice man David Madson (Cody Fern) on the run with Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss).

The start of the episode was such a classic horror show. It was immediately tense, and Cunanan was so looming. I realized that I hate him so much now, which is impressive considering how likable Darren Criss normally is. Every interaction between Madson and Cunanan inside that ominous ‘90s apartment feels like it goes on forever, and it reminded me of the uneasy gut feeling Get Out built up, where you can’t help but yell at the screen, “Run!” I just wanted the tension to end so badly.

I lost some respect for Cunanan’s charisma in this episode since he is actually not that great of an emotional manipulator. Not that emotional manipulation is such an admirable skill, but I sense Cunanan takes pride in it. The ugly truth of this episode is that Cunanan is actually just physically threatening Madson the entire time. Some moments feel like more gentle coercion maybe, but a significant amount of the episode takes place at gunpoint. Later, when Cunanan is trying to be sweet and offer Madson the carrot instead of the stick, I just wanted to slap the glasses off his handsome face. It got to the point where it was therapeutic for me to have Madson as my onscreen surrogate, getting madder and madder at him until the very end.

I keep harping on this because I’m brilliant and always right, but women are yet again the ones who follow their intuition and check on Madson’s apartment. Maybe we were meant to feel the detective’s judgment of homosexuality, but it also felt to me like there was a subtle distrust of the women by the cops, when in fact, they appeared to be helpful. Without them, it could have taken way longer to start the investigation. I also just thought the cops were garbage because who would ever say, “your friend’s the killer” after taking a few quick glances around a loft? Ass. Plus, his comments to Madson’s parents that there’s a great deal they don’t know about their son were incredibly condescending and ultimately inaccurate, but I appreciate that American Crime Story frequently revisits the sometimes antagonistic relationship between victims, their families, and the police. All parties are human, and the system is imperfect.

The rest of the episode reminded me of Misery on wheels. After the moment when Cunanan tells Madson that he should start thinking about his new life, I realized what an insane hostage experience Madson is having. Why would he want a new life? His life seems good. He’s working as a hot shot architect in a more hip version of the American Psycho apartment. I would almost go as far as to say that Cunanan might have misjudged the extent of Madson’s loneliness and loyalty to him, judging by how much resistance he gets from him at each step of the journey.

A beautiful shining oasis of calm in this episode came when I realized it was Amy Mann singing that gorgeous cover of The Cars’ ”Drive.” She was so casual, almost as if she’s rubbing it in your face that being fabulous isn’t hard for her. We also see Cunanan cry, which terrifies me, but is also a dirty trick that got me to think maybe I’ve been wrong about him. When Madson woke up alone in the next scene, for one naive moment, I was hoping Cunanan had let him go.

I thought Cody Fern did a masterful job of playing David, who was a real lover of Andrew’s. I thought he looked incredibly young, and it turns out he was only 33 when he was murdered. He was absolutely someone with a full life ahead of him, and the scene where he presented his achievements to his dad while also coming out to him reminded me of the “Best Little Boy in the World” hypothesis, or the idea that some gay men will seek out traditional and measurable successes in a potential attempt to deflect attention away from their sexuality. A little digging into Madson’s real life revealed that he had applied and been accepted to both architecture and law school. Cunanan told his friend’s that Madson was the love of his life, which must be taken with a grain of salt because of his compulsive lying, but it is interesting that he’s one of the only love interests we’ve seen so far that was roughly a peer. But as soon as you start to like someone in this series, they’re gone. Given the frantic pace, Cunanan’s red Jeep is starting to feel like the only recurring character I can count on.

I was caught off guard but not mad when the episode slipped into surrealism for its big finish. When Madson is drinking coffee with his father, I knew he was dead, but I still left 1% of my heart open to the possibility that he got away, or that someone else was inside the trailer. I think true crime does a darkly magical thing: you know what’s going to happen and it still manages to be shocking and painful.

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 4 Recap: “House By The Lake”

The Most Outrageous Lies Andrew Cunanan Has Told On “American Crime Story”

Darren Criss, who plays Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, did a lot of press ahead of the show’s premiere, but it’s an interview with Buzzfeed’s AM to DM that I can’t stop thinking about. Watching the series back, Criss said parts of the season felt “as if we’re watching one of Andrew’s own delusions.” That’s what so much of the show is about, really. Not just the murder, but the lies that surround it, and perhaps more poignantly, the lies Cunanan told himself that got him in this position.

But that’s a little more nuanced than I’m trying to get right now. I’ll leave his psyche up to the phycologists out there, and instead focus on what’s really entertaining: the crazy, batshit lies Cunanan spouts to his friends and acquaintances in order to seem cool. It’s almost impressive how brazenly the character ignores the truth, confidently contradicting scenes we just saw happen.

I guess that’s why Criss definitely, truly deserves an Emmy (you can fight me on that). The actor so convincingly delivers these lies that you, the viewer, start questioning the truth. That’s why I’ve made sure to fact-check these claims against Cunanan’s own life story — or at least, the claims he hasn’t already contradicted himself. He has certainly had a wild life (and death), but there are some things that are too outrageous to be true, even for a killer.

Despite the 10-episode arc, I’m worried we may never know what really went on inside Cunanan’s brain, and even if the show tells us, is that just another delusion? Your guess is as good as mine, but ahead are the most outrageous things the character has said that we know for certain never happened.

Cunanan says he and Gianni Versace met before at a garden party in Italy.

He tells his friends that, contrary to what we just watched, Versace introduced himself to Cunanan at the club.

Cunanan says he picked pineapples on his father’s pineapple plantations in the Philippines — but while Cunanan was half-Filipino, he was born and raised in California.

Cunanan told Versace his father was the personal pilot for Imelda Marcos, the First Lady of the Philippines.

Cunanan also told Versace that his father runs his businesses abroad, but was just in town driving around with his boyfriend following his coming out. Actually, his father deserted his family when Cunanan was 19 to escape arrest for embezzlement.

One of Cunanan’s alias’ Kur DeMarrs, a man who was born in Nice and moved to America to become a fashion student. He tells the receptionist that he’s traveled to Miami to speak to Versace, who he claims is very excited to talk with him.

Cunanan says he dedicated his life to helping sick people in San Diego.

He also claims his best friend and his lover both died in the same year from AIDS/HIV-related complications.

He says Versace proposed to him during a romantic meal at Stars, but things didn’t work out and now they’re friends.

The Most Outrageous Lies Andrew Cunanan Has Told On “American Crime Story”

“American Crime Story” Proves One Type Of Soul-Baring Scene Is Always TV Gold

Life as a woman in this world is difficult. So very difficult. We’re forced to deal with everything from societal gaslighting to rape culture and systematically sexist policies. Since the world can feel like a battlefield — and women are socialized from birth to believe we’re too weak to defend ourselves with traditional means — many have turned the “feminine” accoutrements left to us as armor. A shining example of this is makeup, a shield countless women use to create the version of themselves they want the world to see. That’s why, as Wednesday night’s American Crime Story episode proved, there’s no more revealing a television scene than the moment a female character removes all of that protection.

The latest episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace, “A Random Killing,” gives us two such looks at Marilyn Miglin (Judith Light), home shopping beauty mogul and wife of Andrew Cunanan’s (Darren Criss) third victim, Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell). The first quietly reveals all of the work Marilyn puts in to remain a conventionally beautiful woman, and how important that status is for her. Off goes the pinky-red lipstick. Then the false eyelashes. Eventually, the defined eyeshadow disappears. It’s messy work, but, in Marilyn’s mind, necessary work.

The final step in her process is meant to subtly highlight the tragedy of the character. Once all of Marilyn’s makeup is gone, she puts a few drops of what appears to be perfume on her neck and then down her décolletage. It’s a purposefully sexual move, one a woman only enacts if she hopes someone — like, say, her husband — will be close enough to her cleavage to take a deep, arousing whiff. Yet, viewers know no such seduction is possible since Marilyn’s spouse is a closeted gay man counting down the hours until his male escort arrives; it doesn’t matter how appealing Marilyn’s chest is, Lee isn’t interested. But, at least she can hope, right?

Unlike most Ryan Murphy-Brad Fulchuck set pieces, we don’t learn all of these details through dazzling colors and camp. Rather, the scene is completely silent, and it still manages to tell us everything we need to know about this proud, hopeful, image-obsessed woman. That’s because these are the moments where, in front of a mirror and surrounded by cosmetics, the manufactured version of a woman collides with the true one and her idealized dream.

This is what makes the second time we see Marilyn remove her makeup so powerful. First, she tries to contain her composure following Lee’s murder by applying even more cosmetics. “I know what they’re saying about me,” see says, steely as ever while swiping what looks like a second coat of blush on her cheeks. “‘How could a woman who cares so much about appearance appear not to care?’” Continuing to fiddle with the contents of her cosmetics bag to battle back the grief, Marilyn details her and Lee’s love story from her own point of view.

Finally the emotional dam breaks, and Marilyn’s first instinct is to ruin her perfectly-done eye makeup. “I loved him,” she says between sobs. “I loved him very much.” Overcome, she then absentmindedly dabs at her mouth, slightly smearing her pink lipstick. In her most powerful moment, Marilyn growls, “There, is that better? Am I a real wife now?” All of this occurs because Marilyn is forced to confront her faux-calm exterior and devastated interior in front of that mirror.

Although Marilyn’s makeup-free appearance on TV is the latest one to quietly — or sometimes not-so-quietly, considering that much-needed meltdown — plunge the depths of steadfast women, it’s certainly not the first. The greatest modern example of this trend still hails from How To Get Away With Murder’s “Let’s Get To Scooping,” when Annalise Keating (The Great Viola Davis) removes every last stitch of makeup amid the chaos of finding out her husband’s nudes are on the cellphone of a murdered college student. Where Marilyn’s scenes explore her own self image and grief, HTGAWM gets to the heart of what it means to be a powerful, dark-skinned Black woman in a white world.

The findings of that investigation is it’s an exhausting uphill battle. In the now-iconic closing scene, we see Annalise remove her wig to reveal her cropped natural hair, pull off her fake lashes, and wipe away a full face of makeup. If you look closely, you’ll notice Annalise’s foundation is markedly lighter than her actual skin tone. But, that’s just another way to get by. Plus, it’s unlikely she could find the appropriate shade in the wealthy neighborhoods of Philadelphia. This is Annalise at both the end of her rope and at her most real. Finally, at her most honest, she’s ready to ask her husband why his penis is on a dead girl’s iPhone.

The biggest cosmetics strip down after Annalise’s arrived three years later with the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel pilot, when we find out the titular marvelous Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) goes to sleep every night in a full face of makeup. She then wakes in the middle of the night to remove it, falls asleep, and wakes once more with the sun to re-apply. This way, her husband of nearly half a decade only sees Midge at her radiant best.

So, whether the women of television are battling grief, devastation, or lifetimes of self-doubt, ditching makeup can unveil it all. No wonder it’s called war paint.

“American Crime Story” Proves One Type Of Soul-Baring Scene Is Always TV Gold

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 3 Recap: “Random Killing”

This week’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story was a heartbreaking departure from the first two episodes. All the fun of what we’ve seen so far — South Beach’s color and fire throwback jams like Soul II Soul’s ”Back to Life,” Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” and La Bouche’s “Be My Lover” — was stripped away to reveal the undeniable brutality of Andrew Cunanan’s (Darren Criss) murders. I appreciate how much care has been taken in showing the way trauma ripples out in people’s lives, because a death doesn’t happen in a vacuum, its shrapnel stays lodged in people’s families, friends, and culture for years after.

Just as soon as I’d typed that I felt sick, because Andrew Cunanan appears to be the kind of killer who was highly concerned with his legacy and who is or is not a “great man.” I’m curious about Cunanan’s motives, since his intentions at times appear to be to out and potentially humiliate the powerful men he’s taken as clients. It would be easy to paint him as a “have not” who wants to destroy the “haves” because he’s jealous, but that flattens out some of the more nuanced and dark intentions I think he had. Take for example, the conversation Andrew has with Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell) about his dream building at his desk. Andrew appears to almost be guiding him into saying what he wants the person he knows he is going to destroy to say. It’s almost like he needs his trophies to be worth more because then he will be robbing them of a more full and rich life. I worry he viewed himself like a gladiator who proved his strength by destroying other strong men.

He might also have just been a regular sociopathic killer, with very little complex motivation beyond wanting to kill. TV often gets a bad rap for sensationalizing real life events, but it’s interesting to note that the actual murder of Lee Miglin was even worse than what we saw. According to The Washington Post, he was stabbed over 20 times with a screwdriver and had his throat sawed open with a hacksaw. Following this murder and before Cunanan made it to Florida to stalk and kill Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramírez), he was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. I just kept going back to how high profile he was for so long, and yet, he was still able to kill more at least two more people.

But let’s get to the women. The motif of women’s intuitions was back with a vengeance. I was moved and deeply disturbed by Marilyn Miglin (Judith Light) almost being afraid to search her impeccably clean, white house, for fear of confirming her immediate suspicions. It’s slightly ambiguous if she simply knew something was wrong, her husband was dead, or her husband had been having affairs with men, but the moment when she says, “I knew it,” hooked me. Long after the episode, I was thinking of how she is yet another strong matriarch thrust into a leadership position by the untimely death of her partner. Sounds like Donatella, no? Finally, I know it’s small, but the cop who found Andrew Cunanan’s car was also a woman, and I don’t think any casting (especially of a woman) is ever by accident.

It’s heart-shattering to me that Donatella and Marilyn are both so aware that their reactions will be immediately be judged. When a desperate Marilyn finally cries and says, “Am I a real wife now?” I felt a pang of sadness for her, but I also felt guilt because I realized I had been waiting and judging her for not crying yet, too. I had been caught, and I thought I had been on her side. I think that’s why her final monologue to camera was so chilling. Her heavy makeup even reminded me of Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream, but her words about what the public will never know, and what it means to be a couple rang true. If anyone deserves to have the last word on her husband’s life, it’s her.

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 3 Recap: “Random Killing”

The Undeniable Power Of Donatella Versace In “American Crime Story”

If the premiere episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story focused on the violent shooting of Gianni Versace on the front steps of his Miami mansion in 1997, episode 2 — set partly in 1994 — tackles a very different brush with death. This time, the assailant isn’t handsome serial killer Andrew Cunanan, but Versace’s own body.

The rumors about Versace’s HIV-positive status remain unconfirmed to this day — Vanity Fair contributor Maureen Orth, whose book the show is based on, first reported the fashion designer had HIV back in 1997, but there haven’t been any significant breakthroughs since then.

Still, I’m not here to comment on Gianni Versace the man, but Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez) the character. And the character, according to Ryan Murphy’s vision, starts off “Manhunt” by seeking treatment for a unnamed disease we are meant to deduce is HIV. This unforeseen development means Donatella (Penelope Cruz) is called upon, three years before her brother is eventually murdered, to start thinking about what the empire they’ve built will look like with herself at the helm.

We catch a glimpse of her vision later in the episode when Gianni, feeling a renewed sense of purpose after the medication starts controlling the symptoms, dismisses the models she’s hired for a fashion show as “morbid.” He wants his brand to celebrate life. She feels they’re just going in the same old direction — there’s fresher, younger talent in the news now. They need to compete to stay relevant. In the end, Gianni gets his way, describing his final look: a Versace bride.

“She will be proud, and she will be strong,” he declaims. “And that’s how I will end my show.”

It’s a haunting exchange when you consider that only a couple of short years later, Gianni would, in fact, hand his show over to a woman prouder and stronger than he could have imagined.

As the episode pivots back and forth between those earlier years and the direct aftermath of Gianni’s death — not by disease, but by a random act of violence — we see Donatella struggling with her competing ideas about the direction the company should be heading in, and her insecurity at having to replace the man known worldwide as a creative genius. The fact that Tom Rob Smith, who wrote the episode based on material from Maureen Orth, chose to portray this ambivalence is significant. Power isn’t something women of that generation — and still today — took for granted. Often, it was obtained in chaos, when no other recourse was available.

Watching this episode, I was struck by the parallels to Meryl Streep’s performance as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in The Post. Like Donatella, Graham was thrust into the spotlight in the aftermath of a tragic event: her husband’s 1963 suicide. In the years that followed, she took the local paper she had inherited and turned it into one of the most powerful and iconic American journalism institutions, navigating ethical and political crises like the Pentagon Papers and Watergate along the way. What’s interesting about Liz Hannah’s script, however, is that, like Smith’s, it doesn’t shy away from the real feeling of helplessness and inadequacy that many women feel when they are handed the keys they were denied for so long.

It’s fascinating to see a woman like Donatella Versace, now so indissociable from the brand she has been in charge of for over 30 years, and a fierce female force, feeling inadequate. But it’s also strangely comforting.

Imposter syndrome, or the feeling that you don’t belong somewhere you’ve worked long and hard to arrive, is something even the most successful women struggle with today. We have undeniably made strides since the late ‘90s: young girls are no longer being taught that their dreams are limited to that small space between the kitchen and the bedroom. But that doesn’t mean we are always welcome in the boardroom, or in the laboratory, or government. It’s okay to feel uncertain and afraid. What matters is how you face those insecurities. Then, like Donatella, you, too, can become a boss bitch.

The Undeniable Power Of Donatella Versace In “American Crime Story”

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 2 Recap: “Manhunt”

If the first episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story scared me, the second episode, “Manhunt” almost lured me into being intrigued but feeling a little dirty about it. I was a hesitant rubbernecker made aware of how a particularly scary monster can feel impossible to look away from.

The introduction of Ronnie (Max Greenfield) felt like an exploration of the disturbing phenomenon, where people know there’s something off about a person like Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), but are unable or simply don’t want to bring themselves to stop talking to him. It reminds me of the folklore that vampires, ghosts, demons, and witches all have to be invited into your home in order to enter. To be fair, that folklore sounds a bit victim-shame-y if I think about it long enough.

For guys doing drugs in a seedy hotel, Ronnie and Andrew have an almost sweet, sad-sack friendship. TVLine noted that this actually the second time that Ryan Murphy has cast Greenfield as a drug addict. I found the New Girl star’s makeup and hair so convincing that I wasn’t sure it was him at first.

Ronnie’s presence is understandably heavy because he’s living at such a unique historical moment: he’s HIV-positive and assumed he was going to die any second. Suddenly, he is given newly discovered treatment and is not immediately dying. He’s based on a real person, and I found myself thinking of him and this especially fragile time in his life for the rest of the episode.

Andrew and Ronnie’s dark and dingy life is harshly contrasted with Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramírez) and Antonio D’Amico’s (Ricky Martin) glamorous lives – they included a fashion show he hosted atop his own devastatingly beautiful swimming pool for Christ’s sake. Seeing Gianni walk – er, glide? arm in arm with two models in glittering dresses does remind me why fashion shows are a cultural problematic fave. I ate up every word of Gianni’s speech about his artistic intentions and vision. It was at times a bit self-important, but it made me respect him and what he was trying to do. It also allowed me to see what might have made Andrew fall in love with him. I’m actually not sure if I think Andrew was in love with him, or if he simply had a jealous obsession with his seemingly perfect life. Gianni does seem like the ideal symbol to fixate an envious rage on. He lives flamboyantly and acts almost like the unofficial mayor of South Beach. I’m reminded of this when his staff bowed to him in the first episode.

I see now that the choice to start the season off with the murder itself and then work up to it chronologically is a classic stab and twist. Seeing the tenderness of Gianni and Antonio’s relationship warms your heart until you remember that their desires lining up is happening days before Gianni will be assassinated. Knowing this painful timing makes the moment from the first episode when Donatella (Penelope Cruz) is berating her brother’s lover for not trying to give him a family all the more heartbreaking.

One more example of people knowing something is not quite right and doing nothing comes along when Andrew takes a client and nearly suffocates him. We watch the man he dominated consider calling the police, but decide against it. I’m not sure what I’d want that man to have done, but it’s interesting to see by the look on his face that he knows on a gut-level he was not safe until Andrew left. I couldn’t help but notice that we’ve seen two examples of women whose intuition tells them to act. Detective Lori Wieder (Dascha Polanco) thinks they should be flyering the very area where Andrew is, and the woman in the pawn shop reports Andrew and doesn’t hear back from the FBI for days.

As the episode goes on, Andrew’s behavior becomes more and more unhinged. It feels like a wink to the camera when he tells the guy at the bar that he’s a serial killer, but it does show just how frayed and sloppy he is becoming. There’s a lot of glorifying serial killers for being so careful and calculated, but Andrew is unraveling and might even be enjoying being almost-caught at every turn. Still, I’m hooked because I really wouldn’t put anything past someone with such a clear absence of a moral compass and his back getting further and further up against a wall.

“ACS: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace” Episode 2 Recap: “Manhunt”

“American Crime Story: Versace” Complicates The Serial Killer Tale

Serial killers have always been a macabre form of titillation, but it feels like they’re having an especially big moment right now. Mindhunter introduced us to the people who first coined the term. TNT’s upcoming The Alienist will put a period piece twist on serial killing. And, American Horror Story has been trafficking in the topic for years. Now, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s other FX brainchild, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, will tell TV’s latest serial killer tale from an entirely different perspective. While watching Versace, premiering January 17, be prepared to ask yourself, “Am I sympathizing with a mass murderer?”

Where ACS’s premiere season, The People v. O. J. Simpson, took great pains to investigate the lives of the lawyers behind the “Trial Of the (20th) Century,” Versace isn’t nearly as preoccupied with the lives of the people who make up the justice system. You’ll see the police officer hot on the trail of Versace’s villain, serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss at his most frightening), but you shouldn’t expect to check in with their kids every week. Or, for that matter, even remember if these cops have kids.

Although this is mostly a good choice on the anthology’s part, it means fans will see less of Orange Is The New Black’s Dascha Polanco, who plays Miami Beach detective Lori Wieder. The real-life cop was one of the two openly gay members of the police force during the actual 1997 hunt for Andrew Cunanan, according to the book Versace was based upon, Vulgar Favors. Since ACS takes great pains to explore the pervasive homophobia of the late ‘90s, it would have been great to see the miniseries explore the perspective of lesbian woman of color in such a traditionally conservative, male world. Alas, with all but one episode made available to critics, it looks like Versacedidn’t find the time for such a deep dive.

While the lack of much law enforcement intrigue means less of Polanco, her button-ups, and certain nuanced looks at the LGBTQ+ sphere, it means there is a lot more time to spend with the person who commits Versace’s titular Assassination, Criss’ Andrew, and the victim of that assassination, iconic designer Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez). Thanks to the lush settings, beautiful clothes, and so-good-they’re-scary performances, it’s extra time you’ll appreciate.

We first meet these men on the morning one of them will slaughter the other on the steps of his own home. We know little about them other than the fact Cunanan is a person clearly battling some dangerous demons; Versace, on the other hand, starts his tranquil mornings by putting on his self-designed boxer briefs. Cunanan screams on the beach while carrying around a gun and an obsession with powerful men. Versace takes in the views of that beach from his overwhelmingly grand seaside palace. These are two men who seem like they couldn’t live in worlds farther apart.

The trick of Crime Story season 2 is in trying to convince you murderer and victim aren’t very different at all. Criss’ version of Cunanan, like all true-to-life reports of the infamous serial killer, reveals a shockingly likable, charismatic man, in a similar style to Versace’s genuine, beloved presence. The only difference is, Cunanan’s charming persona masks a violent, disturbing pit of cruelty.

We’re not dealing with the generally unattractive, immediately unnerving imprisoned murderers of Mindhunter here. Rather, Cunanan is a predator who hunts by camouflage. Because his hunting grounds are the highest, most expensive echelons of gay culture, he perfectly embodies the ideals of that time. He’s handsome. He’s inviting. He has the right watch. Even though you know Cunanan is actually a serial killer, it’s difficult not to enjoy simply seeing him move through the less bloody portions of Versace — and that’s the point. All of those little feigned personality manipulations are what helped Andrew Cunanan get away with actual murder for so long.

But, Cunanan isn’t all flash and likability. He’s also an obsessive killer who ended the lives of at least five men. That is why most people I’ve talked to about the show immediately yell, “Darren Criss is so scary!” and admit to having nightmares about the guy best known for being Blaine from Glee. Darren Criss is so scary in Versace, putting on and removing Andrew Cunanan’s many masks — affable, gay up-and-comer, heterosexual fashionisto, stone cold killer – on a second-by-second basis solely rooted in whatever suits him best in a precise moment. At times, you watch him copy emotions obvious to others around him as a simple way to go sight unseen. It’s chilling.

If people’s first reaction to Crime Story season 2 is to shriek in terror over Andrew Cunanan, their second is, and should be, swooning over the strength of Penelope Cruz as Gianni Versace’s devastated, famed sister Donatella Versace. Many people could be considered the beating heart of the series, including Gianni himself or his bereaved boyfriend Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin), but Donatella is its unquestionable powerhouse. From the second you see a grief-stricken Donatella in all her platinum blonde glory enter the proceedings, still wearing an all-leather ensemble despite the Miami heat, you know she isn’t here to play.

“American Crime Story: Versace” Complicates The Serial Killer Tale