phantom

I agree that the production of this finale was much tighter - no scripted arguments between eliminated contestants and with the masters presenting two tattoos in addition to the contestant finale presentation there was plenty of critique and less filler. Was Ollie's suit made of leather? I felt like DJ was the pre-ordained winner all year so no surprise there. Same with Josh. Juan was a much more humble guy and I thought his chest piece was the best. His was the easiest for me to decipher on the screen - both Roly and Josh had me searching to find the heads/tails of their animals. I have a soft spot for Anthony and appreciate him trying out the Polynesian but DJ's head piece was really amazing and showed well from any angle.

Thanks for adding this. I've done extra research on other episodes before and also discovered lots of potentially pertinent information left out. Can you elaborate on what you have heard or direct me where I could read about it? I read in some articles that the family thought the cruise line and FBI weren't being totally forthcoming and cooperative but didn't see any detail. But I maintain that it was unethical to name the musician 20 YEARS after she disappeared when he has never been implicated criminally or civilly in her case and no evidence (in the context of the show) was provided to show he was most likely involved or knew more. Plenty of other episodes have mentioned a person of interest and described the circumstances but not given a name.

It's weird or morbid to say, but I am glad this show is back. Ashley Summers: I wept for her. If she was still alive somewhere watching the coverage how would she feel that it took her family TWO DAYS to notice a 14 year old was missing? I generally pooh-pooh the idea of every missing white girl being sold into sex slavery (see Amy Bradley below) but unfortunately could see her being lured away pretty easily by someone pretending to give a crap about her. Logan: another messed up family dynamic. The tension between the two sides of his family was baffling. He was confused and upset, and I wouldn't rule out a suicide. Did he and his father ever make actual contact? I wasn't sure. The white childhood friend was such a freaking goober with his "Logan was the only black/mixed race kid in town but there was NO racism, nope, none at all because I didn't see it." Ugh. Amy Bradley: I was yelling at the TV the whole episode and am embarrassed because her family still desperately misses her and that POS "special forces" guy deserves a hot room in h-e-l-l. But she must have fallen off that boat or jumped. I've been on a number of cruises and none of the alternative scenarios make any sense. How could three people in that room not hear her open the balcony door (which would make a huge woosh and rush of air and possibly even slam behind her) walk through the room and out the cabin door? I'm afraid that her dad doesn't actually know what time he saw her on the balcony - it would make more sense that he woke when her brother came in off the balcony, and not later. And there was no mention of whether or not she and the brother had been drinking, which honestly tells me they probably had been. And zooming in and naming the black musician she had been dancing with? Come on! When you work on a cruise ship many of the roles are expected to interact with the passengers and help them have a good time. To imply with no evidence that this guy had something to do with her disappearance? And why would he do that anyway? He would only have met her 48 hours before at most and would have to develop a foolproof plan and get accomplices in that amount of time? I was once invited to the crew area on a cruise ship of a similar size by a waiter (I was young and dumb to follow him but I was fine and left pretty quickly). There were crew members everywhere and a few gave the waiter huge side eye and told him they were all going to be in trouble for me being down there. The idea that the musician could sneak an unconscious passenger down to the crew area and get her off the boat unnoticed is not super plausible without a giant conspiracy. Amy was a white girl on vacation with a well-off family. All the stops were pulled out to search for her when she went missing. Rewards were offered, the FBI was called in and the local police did a helicopter and boat search. Women like that are NOT targets of sex traffickers precisely because of the attention they create when they go missing. I hope her family can find some peace someday.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. This was such a letdown - why not just have the two on the same team go head to head if they insist on one student per master getting to the finale? At least be somewhat transparent about what's going on rather than making us accept that jacked-up pinup as finale-worthy versus some skin trauma that I assume will heal (I know nothing about getting tattoos so correct me if this isn't right?). Yikes. I like Roly but that was a terrible tattoo.

I'm pretty sure the scene aired on TV. I didn't watch any promo clips or any other coverage of the show, and remember he got upset during the walk when he wasn't feeling well but refused Antonio's offer of assistance and said something like, "Just get me/us out of here!" I went back and re-watched at the time because I had zoned out for a second and couldn't figure out why he was so crabby while walking on a beautiful beach in Miami, haha.

I thought we did see that beach scene? In one of the earlier episodes where Gianni is ill and gets testy while walking on the beach?

This has been the eternal debate on Project Runway - do they reward innovative design or good tailoring? Look at the first two winners of the mothership show - Jay McCarroll made delightfully weird chunky knit stuff and earmuffs while Chloe made expertly crafted gowns that were in no way innovative. Jay was denigrated as too artsy-craftsy and Chloe was repeatedly called "just a patternmaker." The judges want someone with a unique perspective that appeals to skinny rich ladies and impeccable technical skills and that's darn near impossible.

Interesting, thanks for the detail. The articles I read said there was no dispute that Antonio was entitled to a good deal of money (whether legally speaking or because it was the right thing to do by Gianni), but they had to negotiate exactly how much and lump sum verses monthly payouts, living arrangements, etc. Whereas the dramatization made you think the locks would be changed on him tomorrow. We can agree that the truth is murky so they went with the most dramatic possibility. And the same conflicting reports re the dog food - the owner didn't have a dog, according to several articles, so why would there be dog food there? But again, if it had been unoccupied for months why was there any food at all? It's very confusing. But I loved that they made the 72 year old caretaker a badass ninja with the dramatic stop, drop & roll.

Very interesting finale. Andrew's lack of dialogue in the episode was such a contrast to the other episodes where he talked so much. He was forced to sit quietly with himself and make a reckoning that all he would get was infamy as a murderous pervert (in the eyes of media and law enforcement). I don't care if the dog food consumption was true or not, it was a great touch to ensure you didn't feel sorry for him as the net tightened. Ronnie's speech at the police station was certainly accurate for the time, but sounded like a speech and not something the detectives would just sit around and listen to while trying to find Andrew and stop the killing. It was over the top to imply that Donatella and/or the Versace company was going to leave Antonio destitute and homeless. Why couldn't they have done the same scene with Donatella making it clear that Gianni provided for him financially, but he would not be considered family or even a close associate any longer? Still devastating without just making up things that didn't happen. It bothered me SO MUCH that the sung version of the 23rd Psalm at Versace's funeral was done in ENGLISH. Ugh.

Add me to the chorus that the guys all looked so sharp at the Smithsonian. I couldn't figure out when they filmed this as the museum is open every day of the year except Christmas. It must have been an early morning shoot because from the rooftop even the National Mall looked empty. Oh, Ken. I am a total cynic and assume everything on reality shows is packaged, produced and pre-ordained. But I so want to believe that Ken has actually done the work to become such a zen master. He would show flashes of irritation but quickly extinguished them and pulled himself together every time. I have never been more proud of someone I don't know. I teared up when Anthony was hugging him and weeping. As for the fashion? I am fine with Fabio going forward because he makes stuff that is more interesting to look at. Not always my taste but something other than endless red carpet gowns (Anthony, I love you but you know it's true!) and sophisticated but expected elegance (Stanley). it's usually a cliché when a designer makes nothing but what they would personally wear, but Fabio has such a different aesthetic that I forgive him.

I saw his dad as a hustler. He was always working to convince everyone he was legit and successful. He had his spiel down pat and could convince some people to fork over money. After Merrill Lynch he still talked his way into other job(s) at a legitimate business. He found ways to own a house, buy a fancy car for a son too young to drive, pay for expensive private school and an enviable wardrobe. Even if these were obtained/maintained fraudulently and it was not an admirable way to spend his time, it took a lot to keep the balls in the air. Once Andrew realized his dad was a fraud, he could suddenly see Modesto furiously paddling underneath the façade and IMO was disgusted that his dad had put so much energy into a life that crumbled so easily. Andrew found people who would give him what he wanted just for being himself (whatever version of himself he was living at the time). It didn't work so well for Andrew in the end either, but I could see him trying to be a better crook than his dad.

Although I thought the episode dragged quite a bit (we get it show, his dad was the OG lying, abusive narcissist) I did find myself thinking about it a lot after watching. The saying that goes like "nature loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger" is on point for Andrew Cunanan. He had some kind of predisposition that became a bomb waiting to go off when mixed with his childhood of being bizarrely worshiped and spoiled while seeing his mother and siblings terrorized or ignored. Internalizing a worldview that there are only aggressors and victims in life and how to become the former and manipulate the latter. That gaslighting is normal behavior and love is conditional. That his father, for all his failings, DID work hard, even if it was working towards scamming people. And that hard work left him hunted by the law, penniless and disgraced. Andrew was going to out-Cunanan his father. Gain more material success and notoriety with far less effort. Though I thought the Versace childhood scenes were sweet, it was unnecessary filler in my opinion. Would have been more interested to see GV in early adulthood.

This show was never believable - you are looking for people who are a)openly admit they are terrible cooks who b)have the time to take off from life to be on TV and c) WANT to be on TV. And the characters suddenly can make pasta from scratch after a few lessons? Right. That said, I enjoy watching Anne teach - she is able to steer the cooks so they can figure things out on their own as they progress. Tyler can lead his cooks by the nose step-by-step, but they don't really learn why or what they are doing to produce the results. So Anne's students have less sophisticated food, but are more confident in the preparation. Sharon was my favorite - I can't believe with the show's emphasis on wacky characters they never had him do a challenge as his drag alter ego. I found Steven insufferable from the twee bow ties to the constant digs at his ex-girlfriend.

I'm sure Norman felt terrible- he seemed to be a decent guy. It was more rhetorical musing on my part about what it must have been like to know you could have been one of his victims but were not. It makes me think that Andrew's killing was not pre-meditated before he traveled to Minneapolis. Or he considered Norman a burned bridge he could no longer manipulate.

I keep thinking back to the flashback scene in the first episode, when he is living with the married couple. His giggling, giddy stories of rubbing shoulders with celebrities and meeting Versace clearly entertained his female BFF even if she knew it always bulls**t when it came to Andrew. As viewers we are perpetually poisoned knowing how the story ends, unlike everyone he knew in the earlier years. Someone who was the life of the party, bought the drinks and was always up for a good time could be forgiven a lot of seemingly inconsequential lies. There was also probably a lot of churning of social circles too so unlike the birthday scene, there were rarely too many people who knew ALL the lies he told. The juxtaposition between Norman (who lived) and Lee Miglin (who died), was heartbreaking. Both were willing to indulge a petulant younger man for companionship. But Norman had firm boundaries and friends willing to protect him. Andrew knew Lee was far more vulnerable being so tightly closeted. I wonder if Norman felt survivor guilt?