The Assassination of Gianni Versace Recap: ‘Descent’

Andrew Cunanan’s patience wears thin as he starts to dramatically unravel on this week’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

The most recent episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace begins to reveal bits and pieces of Andrew Cunanan’s twisted and broken state of mind as he starts to break down. The episode opens to Cunanan in a luxurious waterside mansion in sunny San Diego swimming naked in the pool. The timeline for this falls a year before he commits his first murder.

It is shocking to understand just how much Cunanan was able to accomplish in a short amount of time. In this flashback, he is pretending to be an art curator who lives with his wealthy, old client (sound familiar?).

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The client/fling, Norman, is throwing Andrew a birthday party with all of his closest friends, including Lizzie, Jeffrey Trail, and the love of his love, David Madson. So for someone who seemed to have it all, what exactly pushed him to go on a murder spree? This is what this episode helps us understand.

Cunanan’s goal in life has always been to be something he’s not, and in a similar fashion, he attempts to craft Jeffrey in a more “presentable manner” for the party. He goes as far as personally wrapping a present and asking Jeff to regift to him at the party. This is the moment where his subtle urges to manipulate start to shine through–and perhaps the beginning of one insane journey.

Cunanan’s love interest, David Madson, flies in from Minneapolis to attend the party but appears to form a connection with Jeffrey. This puts Cunanan in a state of panic as he heads to the bathroom to snort a line of coke. This is strike one on the path to Cunanan losing it.

And if that isn’t enough to send Cunanan off the rails, one of Norman’s friends approaches him to exchange a few harsh words. He tells Andrew that he is protecting Norman and knows exactly what he is up to which sets something off inside of Cunanan. And while the party already had two of Andrew’s victims in attendance, the entrance of Lee Miglin added a third. Talk about awkward, right?

This illustrates yet another connection Cunanan had to one of his victims and helps the audience begin to piece together the road that led him down a murder spree.

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Following the aftermath of his birthday party, Andrew sits down with Norman to go over a list of demands he has if they are to stay together as a couple. This moment seems quite odd seeing as how Cunanan needs Norman more than the other way around. Nonetheless, he begins to list off the need for a higher allowance, Norman’s entire inheritance, and a car.

Unfortunately for Andrew, Norman begins to attack him by revealing he knows exactly who Cunanan is. The truth hits Andrew like venom, as he begins to lash out. Despite Andrew being a basket case, Norman attempts to offer to help out in other ways but Andrew just won’t have it. He storms off after Norman refuses to follow the demands on his list.

Following his fight with Norman, Cunanan heads to the only place he can think of–his real home which is a small tiny apartment inclusive of one mattress and his dear mother. It is here where he begins to take revenge on Jeffrey, who he feels is trying to David away from him. Some episodes ago, we learned Andrew sent a postcard to Jeff’s house outing him as a gay man. In this episode, we see him committing the act of writing it.

Upon finding out, Jeffrey confronts Andrew and tells him he is moving to Minneapolis. The same place David Madson currently lives. Andrew perceives this as a threat and begins to court David into an all-expenses-paid trip to L.A. Even though David shows up for the trip, he ultimately ends up rejecting Andrew and his advances. He tells him he is not the one for Andrew and while Andrew requests he simply gets to know him. When Andrew begins to spin a web of intricate lies, David walks away once and for all.

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It has been quite some time since we’ve seen Versace in an episode, but lo and behold he made an appearance in this one. However, it was in one of Andrew’s dreams where Versace is his tailor and tells him they are not the same because he is loved, unlike Andrew. And this is where things get crazy. In a meth-induced state, Andrew goes back to Norman’s house violently shouting to be let into the house as Norman calls the police. Andrew goes back, broken and defeated, to his mother’s house where he tells her his next destination is…Minneapolis.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace airs on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. EST on FX.

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