"ACS: The Assassination of Gianni Versace", Episode 2

by Jorge Molina

Last week’s premiere episode planted the seeds for the plot and the thematic elements we will follow all season: Andrew Cunanan’s simultaneous magnetic charm and deep sense of isolation, Gianni Versace’s obsession with living fully and beautifully, and Donatella’s practical approach to both fashion and her brother.

In the second episode we dive deeper into each of these, stepping back to the months before Cunanan assassinated Versace to get a sense of the mental and emotional state that each of the players found themselves in before the tragedy...

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"ACS: The Assassination of Gianni Versace", Episode 1

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...

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