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

Andrew Cunanan arrives in Chicago–and the rest is history.

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.

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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.

Next: Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: “Manhunt”

Tune in every Wednesday for new episodes of The Assassination of Gianni Versace on FX.