The Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “House by the Lake”

Interestingly enough, The Assassination of Gianni Versace chose to present another episode without, well, Versace. However, I am not complaining because it means lots and lots of Darren Criss channeling Andrew Cunanan–a role for which he is most definitely snagging an Emmy nomination.

This week we continue to learn about the murders that transpire before Versace’s untimely demise. The episode begins a week before Lee Miglin’s murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Andrew and his ex-lover, David Madson (Cody Fern). From the emotional tension of the scenes that follow, we learn that Andrew was rejected by David after he proposed to him–and believes that Madson is having an affair with their friend, Jeff (played by Murphy favorite, Finn Wittrock).

Cunanan’s psychotic crazy starts to pour out as he struggles with Madson’s rejection–and then proceeds to brutally murder Jeff with a claw hammer, aka his very first murder. After witnessing Andrew calmly take someone’s life, David tries to convince him to call the police. As we have learned, Cunanan’s ability to manipulate and emotionally blackmail is next-level and he uses this on David to stop him. He tells him that David will be arrested for being an accomplice to the murder–so, now what?

Whether out of obsession, love, or madness, Cunanan clings to Madson’s side after the murder. David’s absence at work alarms his co-worker who comes knocking on his door looking for him. Before they have a chance to enter and discover the both of them with Jeff’s body, Andrew and David flee the apartment.

Throughout the season, it’s alarming and strange that Cunanan shows no concern about leaving damning evidence behind–whether it’s the murder weapon or the body itself. With the help of the super, the co-worker gets into David’s apartment only to discover the scene of a gruesome murder. However, they initially mistake the dead body for David’s.

The co-worker recalls that David had a friend that was staying with him by the name of “Cuy-nan-nan”. The case takes a twist when the cops realize the body is not David’s because of the dark hair. This places the blame on David for the murder.

Meanwhile, Andrew whisks David away on a road trip–final destination, Mexico. The episode consists of a series of flashbacks showing David as a child and as a teenager coming out to his father. These moments come full circle in the final moments of the episode, but we’ll get to that later.

Andrew tries to connect with David as he maniacally jams out to music and tells him to begin “planning his new life.” While Andrew dreams of their future, David is riddled with paranoia over someone recognizing them, in the case the murder has been reported.

Meanwhile, the authorities visit David’s parents to report that he is a suspect in an ongoing murder investigation. At the same moment, David shares his concerns about his parents being affected with Andrew–who could probably care less. A moment of freedom grazes by David when they decide to take a pit stop at a bar. He breaks the bathroom window but surprisingly returns to Andrew to resume their trip.

This trip, however, is the end of David’s life. As much as Andrew tries to resist his psychopathic tendencies, he finds them taking over when David begins to attack him and calls him fake. The episode closes out with David and Andrew literally next to a house on the lake, where Andrew shoots him in the back and then in the face.

In his final moments, David hallucinates his father and snaps back for his final minute of life. The episode fades out with Andrew lying next to David’s dead body–his face oddly calm and peaceful.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace is diving head-first into the mind of Cunanan and his brutal, spastic murders. While we experience this horrifying journey through Cunanan’s mind, it highlights a very frightening crime story in America’s history. Now that we have seen all four of Cunanan’s murders, it begs the question–where will the story go from here? And will next week’s episode lead us back to Gianni and his story? I guess we will have to wait until next week to find out!

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: “A Random Killing” recap

This week’s episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace whisked us away to the windy city of Chicago. An eerie flashback shows Cunanan at the site of Lee Miglin’s murder which takes place before Versace’s–and it was not pretty. Before focusing on Cunanan, the episode spent time on Lee and his wife Marilyn’s life together, which is not as it appears.

While Marilyn was all the hype on the Home Shopping Network, Lee was known for his accomplishments in real estate. Unbeknownst to his wife, Lee dabbled in other extracurricular activities–a.k.a. hiring young, male escorts. Cue, Andrew Cunanan.

The episode opens with Marilyn returning home from a trip to a freakishly quiet home. The feeling of impending doom was palpable as she enters the home and learns of her husband’s demise. What exactly went down?

The episode wastes no time intricately unfolding Cunanan’s involvement with Lee. Lee and Marilyn’s marriage was a sham and with her out of town, Lee takes the opportunity to invite over his young male escort–Cunanan. As we have witnessed Cunanan doing in previous episodes, he duct-taped Lee’s face for some brief moments of erotic asphyxiation. Yikes. This was an incredibly horrifying moment as we witnessed a sexual escapade turn into one hell of a brutal murder.

With Miglin’s murder behind him, Cunanan stole what he could. This includes the gold coin, which he later pawns in Miami along with Miglin’s car. This was an interesting trend through Cunanan’s murders–stealing the car of the individual whom he had just murdered. Unfortunately for him, the police began tracking his whereabouts via the car phone.

As the manhunt for him began, Cunanan headed to New York City to spend some time in the Versace store. It was only natural he began preparing for the murder he would commit mere months later.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace explained the episode’s title very poetically through Lee’s wife when she refused to acknowledge his involvement with male escorts. She believed it to be a random killing, and nothing more. The idea of a “random killing” persisted when Cunanan learned about the police tracking him and opted to steal another car.

In true Cunanan style, he selected a victim, murdered them in cold blood, and sped off with their car.

This episode was an interesting shift from the previous ones as they did not even focus on Versace. Instead, we were given more insight into the complicated, scary mind of Cunanan–and the events leading up to Versace’s murder.

The series has been doing a stellar job of going past the series title and honing in on who Cunanan was–and what drove his insanity.

This episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace was slightly more disturbing than the two that preceded it. This is merely due to the fact that as we learn more about Cunanan, the more frightened we feel.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: “A Random Killing” recap

Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “Manhunt”

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.

This episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace took us further into the rabbit hole that was Andrew Cunanan.

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.

Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “Manhunt”

Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “The Man Who Would Be Vogue”

“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.

Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “The Man Who Would Be Vogue”