by Jorge Molina.
The first installment of American Crime Story made such a deep dent in culture by taking the O.J. Simpson murder trial, a case that was heavily imprinted in popular consciousness, and used it to analyze issues of race, sexism, and tabloid culture that still resonate today.
The second season focuses on, as the title establishes, the assassination of famed designer Gianni Versace in 1997 (shortly after the O.J. case) by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. And if the first episode is any indication of what the season as a whole will attempt, it will both broaden and narrow the cultural conversations that the first season tackled.
On the premiere episode, we get a first look into the mind of a murderer, the house of an icon, and the jet of a queen...
Episode 1 "The Man Who Would Be Vogue"
The premiere opens with Gianni Versace’s morning routine on the day of his murder. We follow him through the halls and patios of an overbearingly sumptuous mansion, in an exquisite tracking shot that indicates that excess is an everyday part of this man.
Then we see Andrew Cunanan played by a never-better Darren Criss who will inevitably and deservedly going to be showered with awards on the fall. He's contemplating, executing, and ultimately relishing the act of murdering Versace right on his front porch.
Opening with the murder is an indication that the series, much like in its first season, will not be focusing on the act itself, but rather on the players around it, and the culture that allowed it to happen. Gianni Versace was not the first murder Andrew Cunanan committed, and it was not the final chapter of his story. The series will delve both into the events that led him to commit that murder, and what happened afterwards.
This will be an exploration of Andrew Cunanan, who Darren Criss embodies with overbearing charisma, ambition, wide-eyed naiveté, and the right amount of flickering darkness to make us raise an eyebrow. We see that all throughout his life he has looked from the outside longing to belong, and that his magnetic personality and natural ability to lie through his teeth have carried him through.
In another superbly executed tracking shot, Andrew walks through a gay club with a friend, lusting not only after the boys around him, but this style of life. He meets Versace and insinuates himself into his life, landing a date at the opera he’s producing. He’s a serial liar, and to us it is evident, but you desperately want to believe him.
But this is also about the other players around him: the cops that are investigating Versace’s murder and are full of prejudices around his lifestyle. His lover and partner, Antonio D’Amico (played with impressive grace by Ricky Martin), who has to pick him up from the steps and spend the entire evening covered in his blood.
And it’s also about Gianni’s sister, Donatella, who is given perhaps the greatest television entrance in years: out of a jet into a limousine through the mansion, where, without a word, she’s swallowing her grief. And the moment Penelope Cruz finally speaks with that perfect accent, a couple of octaves down, we know Donatella means business.
She needs to keep the family company a family company, and will do whatever it takes to keep her brother’s legacy alive. It doesn’t seem Donatella will be much in the spotlight throughout the show, but Penelope iz making the best with her time, chewing every single piece of gold-coated scenery.
Whereas The People vs. OJ explored issues of racism and misogyny that reverberated in the present more than ever, Gianni Versace seems to be wanting to tackle both the homophobia and the celebration of gay culture that allowed these murders to happen. The majority of the players were gay themselves, and their relationship with that identity deeply influenced the case, either emotionally (with Ricky Martin’s character), strategically (all of Cunanan’s victims followed a very specific pattern), or legally (the Miami PD relationship with the local gay community was complicated, to say the least)
We’ll see exactly what statement the show frames around the murder as it develops, but the pilot doesn’t shy away from letting us know that identity politics will play a huge role in this; and that, yes, they are also still relevant.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace is perhaps a bit more scattered than its predecessor, but it also seems to enjoy itself a bit more. The show could develop into a lavish drama about passion and murder, or be an intricate exploration of broken minds and gay culture, or a combination of both. But wherever it takes us, I was in from the first moment Edgar Ramirez descended his spiral case in a silk bathrobe.