S02.E04: House By The Lake

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Minneapolis architect David Madson is forced to go on the run with Andrew Cunanan.

[Aethera]

A reminder: Please don't discuss events that happen outside of the current episode. Not everyone posting/watching is familiar with the entire story.

[Spartan Girl]

This episode felt like a horror movie. I'm just glad the dog didn't die.

[Jazzhands]

I didn’t think this show could get any more brutal than last week’s episode, and yet here we are.  Also glad the dog didn’t die.

[Primetimer]

American Crime Story heads to Minneapolis for the ends of Jeff Trail's and David Madson's journeys in Sarah D. Bunting's old-school recap of S02.E04.

View the full article

[Emmeline]

Holy crap, I missed the first 15 minutes the first go round so I’m just catching it now.  That first murder was brutal.  Actually both Jeffrey Trail and Lee Miglin suffered horrible deaths.  We will never know what really happened when Cunanan went on the road with David Madson.  It’s a shame Madson couldn’t escape Cunanan.

[Shadow Wave]

A couple of small nits with the excellent recap. David's father is using a shotgun, not a rifle. Also, I don't think that the news reports specifying a "claw hammer" is unusual; it's pretty common for people to also have a ball-peen hammer and/or a tack hammer, even if not everybody knows the terminology.

 

However, I do like the recap explaining what bothered me about the episode: David not making any effectual attempt to fight back. Watching the episode, it was frustrating to see him so passive. The co-worker (I think) mentions that Andrew is taller than David, so perhaps in real life Andrew was physically dominant, but Cody Fern is noticeably bigger than Darren Criss and I kept thinking he'd do well in a struggle with him.  It's a mental dominance, though. Poor guy. It was so horrifying and difficult to watch.

[Jazzhands]

3 minutes ago, Shadow Wave said:

A couple of small nits with the excellent recap. David's father is using a shotgun, not a rifle. Also, I don't think that the news reports specifying a "claw hammer" is unusual; it's pretty common for people to also have a ball-peen hammer and/or a tack hammer, even if not everybody knows the terminology.

 

However, I do like the recap explaining what bothered me about the episode: David not making any effectual attempt to fight back. Watching the episode, it was frustrating to see him so passive. The co-worker (I think) mentions that Andrew is taller than David, so perhaps in real life Andrew was physically dominant, but Cody Fern is noticeably bigger than Darren Criss and I kept thinking he'd do well in a struggle with him.  It's a mental dominance, though. Poor guy. It was so horrifying and difficult to watch.

Same here.  When Andrew first started attacking Jeffrey (more Finn Wittrock, please!), I was practically yelling at the TV,  “Grab something — the lamp, anything! Protect yourself and your dog! He’s going to turn on you next!”  I didn’t recognize the actor who played David, but I thought he was excellent.  

[Blakeston]

I found it disturbing how much the actor playing Madson looked like Matthew Shepard. It felt like a deliberate choice - so far as I can tell, in real life, Madson didn't bear any resemblance to Shepard.

[Shadow Wave]

11 minutes ago, Jazzhands said:

Same here.  When Andrew first started attacking Jeffrey (more Finn Wittrock, please!), I was practically yelling at the TV,  “Grab something — the lamp, anything! Protect yourself and your dog! He’s going to turn on you next!”  I didn’t recognize the actor who played David, but I thought he was excellent.  

You can see the problem the writers had, in that nobody really knows, or will ever know, what happened in the days they were on the lam. 

I agree, Cody Fern (David) was excellent. Apparently he's Australian, which I wouldn't have guessed.

[AttackTurtle]

That was awful.  You know what’s going to happen, but still hope that it will be different.

The actor playing David reminded me of a young Andrew McCarthy and I thought he was fabulous.

[hoodooznoodooz]

4 minutes ago, AttackTurtle said:

That was awful.  You know what’s going to happen, but still hope that it will be different.

The actor playing David reminded me of a young Andrew McCarthy and I thought he was fabulous.

I thought he looked like Andrew McCarthy and Dax Shepherd. He's a better actor than Andrew McCarthy.

Maybe he didn't try to intervene while Andrew was attacking Jeff because he was in shock. It was gruesome what he was watching happening to his friend.

Why did David suddenly want to return to the loft with Andrew and Prints when he saw the mom and her son? Did he think Andrew might hurt them? They had passed other people outdoors, no?

I liked everyone mangling Andrew's last name. 

[TheOtherOne]

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: Fact-checking Episode 4, ‘House by the Lake’

 

Vanity Fair: Versace: Why David Madson Didn’t Try to Escape Andrew Cunanan

 

What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in The Assassination of Gianni Versace’s Gruesome Fourth Episode

Edited February 8, 2018 by TheOtherOne

[voiceover]

I jumped into the series last week, because I stupidly thought it was going to start in February.

But what I've been thinking about during the wince-inducing, need-a-shower moments, is that Medusa was the Versace logo.  Her face, with snakes instead of strands of hair, turned men to stone.  And David's stunned, shocked, immobility (and

Spoiler

Lee's last week

), made me think: Andrew as Medusa.  

A thing that has no doubt been explored, but, hand to God, it struck me for the first time tonight during the shower scene.

[andromeda331]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was worried about the dog. That was brutal. Poor Jeff and David. I did like the diner seen with Jeff telling Andrew exactly what he was. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by andromeda331

[voiceover]

Now I want to buy a CD of Aimee Mann covers.  That was. AWESOME.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I spent the first ten minutes terrified that Andrew was going to kill that poor dog. I already knew that he killed Jeff and David but  I couldn't remember if any of the articles mentioned anything about the dog. I started googling to see if I could find any info because I knew I could not handle even the fictional off screen murder of a dog.

I found this article that talks about Andrew's life and some of his rich boyfriends in San Diego. It mentioned that the dog was left in David's apartment so I knew I was safe to keep watching the episode without one hand over my face. Prince made it out alive! The poor dog was probably traumatized but at least he escaped.

While I was googling, I also found this article from the San Diego Reader which has a lot of detailed information about several of Andrew's rich boyfriends in San Diego including one from Arizona who he convinced to move to San Diego. The Reader is a local alternative paper that often writes about things that the San Diego Union-Tribune (the mainstream paper) ignores. At the end of this particular article, the Reader points out that the UT used only news about Andrew and the murders that were from the wire service, which is kind of head scratching considering that he grew up there. I don't know how far back into Andrew's past the show intends to go, but as someone who used to live in San Diego, I found the detailed background info about Andrew's life in San Diego before all the murdering took place interesting.

I wish we could find out exactly why David stayed with Andrew after Jeff was murdered. I'm guessing it was a combination of initially being in shock and then fear (of being murdered himself or of Andrew killing more people). The frustrating part about this episode was that only the beginning and the end really happened. Everything in between is conjecture. We have no idea what really happened between David and Andrew between Jeff's murder and David's murder (aside from the fact that the left Minneapolis in David's truck).

Did Andrew really think they would just go to Mexico and everything would be fine?

Edited February 8, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Primetimer]

American Crime Story heads to Minneapolis for the ends of Jeff Trail's and David Madson's journeys in Sarah D. Bunting's old-school recap of S02.E04.

View the full article

[Tdoc72]

I guess we will never know what happened after they left the apartment but this was a hard episode to watch. I kept wanting Jeff to do....something. Jump out of the car, climb out the window of the bar, just get up and walk out of the bar or restaurant. So sad. 

[SWLinPHX]

It's so hard to sympathize with Cunanan, although we are supposed to see his side as well.  I have tried but with each episode I find him too egotistical, pretentious and phony.

[Robert Lynch]

Aimee Mann hardly ages. She has to be a vampire overnight.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Aimee Mann hardly ages. She has to be a vampire overnight.

Haha, coincidentally, I remember when she did a similar cameo (as a singer at a bar) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2002. She looks exactly the same over fifteen years later!

[txhorns79]

Quote

It's so hard to sympathize with Cunanan, although we are supposed to see his side as well.  I have tried but with each episode I find him too egotistical, pretentious and phony.

I don't get the impression we are supposed to sympathize with Cunanan or see his side.  He has no "side."  He murdered a bunch of innocent people for his own petty, selfish reasons. 

[vixenbynight]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I wish we could find out exactly why David stayed with Andrew after Jeff was murdered. I'm guessing it was a combination of initially being in shock and then fear (of being murdered himself or of Andrew killing more people). The frustrating part about this episode was that only the beginning and the end really happened. Everything in between is conjecture. We have no idea what really happened between David and Andrew between Jeff's murder and David's murder (aside from the fact that the left Minneapolis in David's truck).

Did Andrew really think they would just go to Mexico and everything would be fine?

 

Everything that had happened during the timeframe of Andrew basically kidnapping David after he killed Jeffrey is conjecture at this point. Maybe David was still in shock and not able to truly get his thoughts together on how to get away from him. Andrew really was not going to let him out of his sight or out of being able to keep control of him. David couldn't risk him from hurting anyone else AND I do think a part of not knowing what to do, came from a place of thinking that once folks know the truth about him, that it would bring disgrace and shame to his family.

When David confronted Andrew about how he literally could not stop himself from telling lies, putting on airs of grandeur and basically calling him out as a pathological liar, Andrew kept saying that he didn't want to hear it. He couldn't accept that David finally saw the real him and I think that he wanted to believe that he could have had a life with him in Mexico. Andrew wanted someone to love him, someone to be there for him, even with ALL of the things that he had done and maybe that is why he held off from killing David quickly. 

2 hours ago, SWLinPHX said:

It's so hard to sympathize with Cunanan, although we are supposed to see his side as well.  I have tried but with each episode I find him too egotistical, pretentious and phony.

I have absolutely no sympathy for Andrew and I do not see his side of why he went on to murder these people, basically destroying their and their families lives out of bitter jealousy, resentment and anger over what he felt he should of been able to have (without actually working to achieve it on his own).

Edited February 8, 2018 by vixenbynight

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Quote

A couple of small nits with the excellent recap. David's father is using a shotgun, not a rifle. Also, I don't think that the news reports specifying a "claw hammer" is unusual; it's pretty common for people to also have a ball-peen hammer and/or a tack hammer, even if not everybody knows the terminology.

Thanks for the kind words -- and the correction; I'm never going to know the differences amongst guns on my own. Well, except a .44, which isn't relevant here. (I...hope.) 

 

re: the claw hammer -- maybe it IS common. My point was the terminology, though, that if you ask 10 people on the street to go into a hardware store and get you "a hammer," 8 of them will come out with the claw kind. The other 2 will ask which sort of hammer you want. (Where I live, it's more like 4/6, but this neighborhood has a high concentration of tradespeople.) 

[CofCinci]

9 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

This episode felt like a horror movie. I'm just glad the dog didn't die.

I was so scared watching this.  Did I even breathe during the first 10 minutes?

As for why David didn’t fight back... During a trauma, our limbic system goes fight, flight or freeze.

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I don't get the impression we are supposed to sympathize with Cunanan or see his side.  He has no "side."  He murdered a bunch of innocent people for his own petty, selfish reasons. 

Further, I feel with each episode he becomes more of a monster.  Initially, I worried this series would glorify him or gain sympathy but that is not the case.  I’m pretty sure Andrew is dead, but I want to google it just in case. 

[CofCinci]

5 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was worried about the dog. That was brutal. Poor Jeff and David. I did like the diner seen with Jeff telling Andrew exactly what he was. 

Each time the dog’s leash was tied, I silently chanted “oh please don’t kill the dog.”

[LennieBriscoe]

3 hours ago, SWLinPHX said:

It's so hard to sympathize with Cunanan, although we are supposed to see his side as well.  I have tried but with each episode I find him too egotistical, pretentious and phony.

I disagree with the premise. AC is being depicted (accurately, IMO) as the psychopath he was. We have not been shown scenes of, say, introspection as he is driving, or regret post-murders, or flashbacks to any childhood trauma; we are fed no "He's depraved on accounta he's deprived" ("West Side Story") rationalizations. (Unless I've forgotten them already! Then, mea culpa!)

There have been no scenes of any of Andrew's victims mistreating, misleading, betraying, or threatening him. Versace was shown as affable and approachable, Miglin as affectionate and pathetic, caretaker Reese as humble and family-oriented, Trail as friendly and normal, and Madson as hard-working and meek. Andrew murders, even sadistically tortures, and moves on, a human shark.

If there has been any "What's the Matter with Andrew?" it's been implied by the relationships his victims had that he is incapable of: Gianni's's 15 years with Antonio; Lee's lengthy "partnership" with Marilyn; William Reese's mention of his family; the friendship of Jeff and David; and the love, if not understanding, of David's father for him.

To me, Darren Criss has been superb. Yes, Judith Light, Mike Farrell, Edgar, Penelope, Ricky, Max. But only Criss has been in every episode; only Criss has had to portray a character in many different and self-made harrowing circumstances, a young man with only the most tenuous hold on reality and none on morality.

It's relatively easy to imagine wielding a knife or shooting a gun, but how does a psychopath converse, dine, dance, sing, drive, control his facial expressions, behave "before and after"? When is it OTT acting, when one is portraying an OTT person? It was an actor's "meta-moment" when Darren as Cunanan was shown mimicking a woman's shocked gestures (at the news of Versace's slaying).

Emmy, baby; Emmy.

ETA: None of the above is from outside the television series.
 

Edited February 8, 2018 by LennieBriscoe

[andromeda331]

37 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

Each time the dog’s leash was tied, I silently chanted “oh please don’t kill the dog.”

I kept yelling at the TV. "Not the dog! Not the dog! Get away from the dog!"

[kj4ever]

If that dog died I was going to have a major problem.

This episode didn't hold my attention like the others, probably because there was way to much Andrew, which sounds funny considering the show is about him, but when tempered with people doing a masterful job his sub par acting is tolerable.  The gentleman playing the architect was decent, but not enough to make up for Darren's obvious "I'm playing a sociopath!!" act.

[Chaos Theory]

Oh come on the dog was never going to die. Not on a network show.  A pregnant woman having triplets has a better chance of getting axe murdered then a pet on a network show.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[Florinaldo]

A very harrowing episode, and not only because of the violence, but also because of the psychological manipulation and dominance AC is depicted as wielding so easily over DM. I thought the cast did an excellent job, not only the three young leads (although JT got dispatched early), but also the supporting roles like David's father.

This episode underscored for me the possible impact on the viewer's response to the series of the narrative choice to tell the story mostly backwards. The very first episode starts with the last murder, the most famous and certainly the "hook" that got people's attention, network executives and viewers alike; the name "Versace" in the subtitle is a surefire way to generate a minimum amount of fascination and interest. But now, after seeing the pre-Versace murders, we understand that the most famous murder was far from the most horrible one. True, it is a terrible thing to have you life snuffed out for no good reason except a sociopath's ambition to become famous; but at least GV barely had time to register what was happening and it was over in a matter of seconds for him.

With Lee and Jeff, we are confronted with a level of violence that is several orders of magnitude more severe; even the caretaker had some time to reflect on his probable death as AC was forcing him into the basement and to suffer the resulting anguish, just as David did during their long drive and the final minutes by the lake. Might the level of torture or extensive violence suffered by the less famous victims generate conficting sentiments in the viewers, perhaps even a little guilt at being so focused on the designer's death because of the glamour factor, while neglecting the others?

In this episode AC was resolutely cold-blooded, a revenge machine out to make his friends pay for faults he imagines were committed against him, with perhaps only one or two very fleeting flashes of the charmer we saw in the first episode's San Francisco flashback.

And then there's that scene in the restaurant, where he seemed almost human for a few seconds as he listened to that song and its very apt lyrics, before putting his frozen-eyed mask back on and snapping back into his delusions about his future with David. Their trip is the only stretch in the episode where tries to come alive (the singing in the car) and break out of his icy shell, even if it's only an illusion. The scheming manipulayor was also fully at play. I liked that the writer and the actor did not try to really humanise him or to generate sympathy for him in those moments; they always let us know that he is constantly putting on an act, even for himself. It's rather difficult to empathise for a killer after you have seen how brutal and callous he was with his victims, even those he called his friends.

I think we will fully appreciate what we saw yesterday night only when we learn more about the events that led AV to turn on his friends and start on his downard spiral of murders. 5 episodes left and the show has told us that there are no further murders in store from AC; that should be an interesting feat of scriptwriting and directing to keep up our interest.

[darkestboy]

This episode was easily the best of the bunch so far.

Excellent performance from Cody Fern as David Madson and I liked that this episode gave us a lot of scope into him before Andrew murdered.

Jeff got killed pretty quickly in this episode but at least we're seeing more of him in later episodes, so that's something.

David got a good reading of who Andrew was and I did like seeing him tearing him apart before his death, 9/10

[Blakeston]

49 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Oh come on the dog was never going to die. Not on a network show.  A pregnant woman having triplets has a better chance of getting axe murdered then a pet on a network show.

FX regularly shows things that the traditional networks never would. Case in point - that poor dog in the pilot of Damages.

The more I think about this episode, the more I'm disappointed in it. It could have been a fascinating look at how Stockholm Syndrome works - but David never appeared to have Stockholm Syndrome. He didn't seem to identify with Andrew at all, and he was regularly calling him out on his flaws, and making feeble attempts at escape.

Most of the time, he just came across like a physical coward.

The writer of the episode told Vanity Fair that when David chose not to escape from the bathroom window, the point they were trying to make was that America in 1997 was so intimidating for a gay man that it wasn't much better than life on the road with a murderer. But I don't think the episode got that across very well. David was thriving at an enviable job in a fairly gay-friendly city, and was out to at least one of his colleagues who didn't seem to have any problem with it. He was even out to his macho father.

[TobinAlbers]

I know the coming out scene between David and his father is conjecture, but as it was the whole thing was heartbreaking and real and bittersweet at the same time.

David's father obviously suspected but to hear him verbalize it was another thing. God bless him, he asked for a moment to process the reality so 'he wouldn't say something stupid.'  Then he swerves back to the whole 'You know what I believe and I have issues' with David just waiting for the unleashing of hell or whatever, eyes filling with tears, with the kicker being his father saying bottom line 'I love you more than I love my own life' with David just bawling in relief in even that acceptance. Then his dad tells him there's no need for tears which David almost laughs as he wipes his eyes.

And then his father asking why he waited (again he obviously suspected/knew) until he got his degree and David waves the degree and says 'Good news....' indicating he felt his coming out would be the bad news.

The whole thing just really affected me. That poor kid. So accomplished and so scared and afraid of disappointing his father and his dad having his issues but reconfirming that he loves him. And then that shame possibly keeping David from saving his own life and just calling the cops because Andrew (at least in this depiction of events) hit David where it hurt - how it would've affected his father.  David didn't really get what his father said when he told him he loved him more than his own life. He'd have NEVER wanted his son to die to protect his pride. He'd have gotten over the 'humiliation' to have his son alive.

And the actor playing his father was really great. He defended his son tooth and nail and even when the cops tried to implied he didn't know his son, we see that he did.

[LennieBriscoe]

14 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

It is almost as if all of his victims are all paralyzed by fear

 

19 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

t also bothers me that it seems like no one ever fights back against  Cunanan. 

Trail was taken utterly by surprise in the doorway, knocked out probably instantaneously by a hammer. Reese was unarmed, up against a gun. Miglin thought he was simply participating in a sex "game" and was incapacitated and blinded virtually immediately. Versace, also unarmed, was ambushed at his front gate.

WHO, pray tell, amongst his victims, could have been expected to "fight...back"?

Even Madson had little chance, knowing Andrew had a loaded gun on his person at all times. Climb through that bathroom window? Yeah---in movies and song. Run? Well, he tried that at the end, did he not? Grab the wheel of the car? Ditto. Yell for help in a restaurant? See: Gun, Cunanan's Possession Of. See also: PTSD.

I fault no victim here. They were human beings suddenly confronted by Death, and when they had time to hope, they did---for who would not?

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, CofCinci said:

I feel with each episode he becomes more of a monster.  

Which is weirdly ironic given we're seeing things in reverse chronological order.

[CofCinci]

Just now, dubbel zout said:

Which is weirdly ironic given we're seeing things in reverse chronological order.

AC is the villain of the series but perhaps the monster is homophobia. 

[dubbel zout]

5 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

AC is the villain of the series but perhaps the monster is homophobia. 

That's certainly part of it, but I think fame is also the monster. AC wanted all the perks and acclaim of being famous handed to him on a silver platter. He didn't want to put any effort into it. 

[Florinaldo]

54 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Which is weirdly ironic given we're seeing things in reverse chronological order.

Perhaps because as we start to see more pieces of his earlier life, it becomes even more monstrous to think that he took the path he did. As he himself said last episode, he was well read, well spoken and well educated, and also managed to attract nice friends for a time, until he turned on them as we saw yesterday.

48 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

That's certainly part of it, but I think fame is also the monster. AC wanted all the perks and acclaim of being famous handed to him on a silver platter. He didn't want to put any effort into it. 

That does seem to be a crucial aspect of his character. The most he was willing to work was as an escort, getting showered with gifts, clothes, etc., and getting an opportunity to satisfy some of his kinkier pursuits.

[Ellaria]

1 hour ago, CofCinci said:

AC is the villain of the series but perhaps the monster is homophobia. 

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

That's certainly part of it, but I think fame is also the monster. AC wanted all the perks and acclaim of being famous handed to him on a silver platter. He didn't want to put any effort into it. 

I agree with both of these statements. AC was lured by fame (and all that came with it).  Rather than channel his smarts and resourcefulness into something positive/useful, he achieved fame by becoming the monster that we are now watching. Homophobia certainly played a role in the continuation of his murderous rampage. AC was not a careful killer. However, I believe that he understood - to a degree - the role that homophobia played in law enforcement (for example, placing the sex toys and gay magazines on Madsen's bed.)

I had a hard time watching this episode. It was incredibly sad and hopeless. I almost turned it off.

[jaync]

Quote

I thought he looked like Andrew McCarthy and Dax Shepherd. He's a better actor than Andrew McCarthy.

I kept getting a Ronan Farrow vibe from him. (I agree about the acting, lol.)

Quote

It is almost as if all of his victims are all paralyzed by fear

There were times I felt paralyzed just watching. Criss is bringing the psychopath, fo sho.

Great episode.

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

 

Trail was taken utterly by surprise in the doorway, knocked out probably instantaneously by a hammer. Reese was unarmed, up against a gun. Miglin thought he was simply participating in a sex "game" and was incapacitated and blinded virtually immediately. Versace, also unarmed, was ambushed at his front gate.

WHO, pray tell, amongst his victims, could have been expected to "fight...back"?

Even Madson had little chance, knowing Andrew had a loaded gun on his person at all times. Climb through that bathroom window? Yeah---in movies and song. Run? Well, he tried that at the end, did he not? Grab the wheel of the car? Ditto. Yell for help in a restaurant? See: Gun, Cunanan's Possession Of. See also: PTSD.

I fault no victim here. They were human beings suddenly confronted by Death, and when they had time to hope, they did---for who would not?

It's certainly not the fault of any of the victims.

But the purpose of the scene in the bathroom with the broken window was to show us that David had a good shot at escape, and chose not to take it. Not because he was terrified of Cunanan, but because he decided he'd rather take his chances with Andrew than be on his own.

[J-Man]

While I realize that most of the episode consisted of speculation on the part of the scriptwriter, it seems like the timeline/geography don't jibe with the facts. David's body was found less than 60 miles from Minneapolis, and not in the direction of Chicago. So why, in the episode, were they seemingly driving around for at least a couple of days, and supposedly en route to visit Lee Miglin?

Cody Fern as David reminded me of Connor Jessup in season 2 of the similarly-named "American Crime."

[VLASquared]

1 hour ago, J-Man said:

While I realize that most of the episode consisted of speculation on the part of the scriptwriter, it seems like the timeline/geography don't jibe with the facts. David's body was found less than 60 miles from Minneapolis, and not in the direction of Chicago. So why, in the episode, were they seemingly driving around for at least a couple of days, and supposedly en route to visit Lee Miglin?

Cody Fern as David reminded me of Connor Jessup in season 2 of the similarly-named "American Crime."

The facts are even more confusing than what we saw dramatized. The official story is that Andrew and David were together for 6 days and that David’s body was found the day after he died. There is some speculation that Andrew headed toward Chicago and then turned back. But the book this series is based on suggests that David died several days earlier. It’s just another mystery in this sad story.

Edited February 8, 2018 by VLASquared

[mcjen]

1 hour ago, Ellaria Sand said:

I had a hard time watching this episode. It was incredibly sad and hopeless. I almost turned it off.

Same.  This almost feels like murder porn, and I don't feel very good about myself for watching it.  The fact that the bulk of this episode is drawn from imagination, since no one knows what went on between Jeff's and David's murders, isn't helping.  

And I totally give David a pass on not escaping, since we can't possibly know what actual constraints he was under or what opportunities were presented.  If I'm left scratching my head as to why David didn't escape through the bar's restroom window, I put that down to vague writing.  OTOH, I think the memories/fantasies of earlier times with his father combined with that final "vision" as he ran toward the trailer was inspired.

[heatherchandler]

17 hours ago, PreviouslyTV said:

American Crime Story heads to Minneapolis for the ends of Jeff Trail's and David Madson's journeys in Sarah D. Bunting's old-school recap of S02.E04.

View the full article

 

Quote

Andrew Cunanan looms into the frame, and this probably isn't the first time he's done this, but he has his t-shirt tucked into his jeans and no belt, like, why is this a thing on TV?

 

This is not a thing on tv - it was a real thing in 1997!  I was in college, and during break I worked at Nordstrom and I specifically remember the day when the manager of the Brass Rail (the young women section) told everyone to take off our belts.  We were told that the new look is NO BELTS with jeans, tops tucked in.  I was like, "what???"  I thought it looked so stupid.

And it actually did become a thing.  I kind of love that this show gets that right.

[CeeBeeGee]

6 hours ago, TobinAlbers said:

I know the coming out scene between David and his father is conjecture, but as it was the whole thing was heartbreaking and real and bittersweet at the same time.

David's father obviously suspected but to hear him verbalize it was another thing. God bless him, he asked for a moment to process the reality so 'he wouldn't say something stupid.'  Then he swerves back to the whole 'You know what I believe and I have issues' with David just waiting for the unleashing of hell or whatever, eyes filling with tears, with the kicker being his father saying bottom line 'I love you more than I love my own life' with David just bawling in relief in even that acceptance. Then his dad tells him there's no need for tears which David almost laughs as he wipes his eyes.

And then his father asking why he waited (again he obviously suspected/knew) until he got his degree and David waves the degree and says 'Good news....' indicating he felt his coming out would be the bad news.

The whole thing just really affected me. That poor kid. So accomplished and so scared and afraid of disappointing his father and his dad having his issues but reconfirming that he loves him. And then that shame possibly keeping David from saving his own life and just calling the cops because Andrew (at least in this depiction of events) hit David where it hurt - how it would've affected his father.  David didn't really get what his father said when he told him he loved him more than his own life. He'd have NEVER wanted his son to die to protect his pride. He'd have gotten over the 'humiliation' to have his son alive.

And the actor playing his father was really great. He defended his son tooth and nail and even when the cops tried to implied he didn't know his son, we see that he did.

That scene was so beautifully acted and written. What a wonderful nuanced reaction for the father.

Did David actually call 911 and hang up? I thought if you did that, then 911 would still send someone out to investigate.

[AttackTurtle]

I’m enjoying the story being told in reverse.  While I vividly recall following AC prior to him killing Versace...most people knew nothing about him and his prior murders until after he killed Versace.  

 

While I am very happy that they’re giving attention to each of the victims; it’s hard to really judge their actions when so much of story is pure speculation.  I’m really looking forward to hearing more about Jeff & David in San Diego as I think those episodes will be fairly fact based.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

14 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

This is not a thing on tv - it was a real thing in 1997!  I was in college, and during break I worked at Nordstrom and I specifically remember the day when the manager of the Brass Rail (the young women section) told everyone to take off our belts.  We were told that the new look is NO BELTS with jeans, tops tucked in.  I was like, "what???"  I thought it looked so stupid.

And it actually did become a thing.  I kind of love that this show gets that right.

Fun fact: one of the gay bars in San Diego (where Andrew Cunanan is from) was called the Brass Rail). We always used to laugh about that whenever we were at Nordstrom. Realistically we knew that a huge department store chain was not going to rename one of their departments just because there was one bar in one city with the same name, but we still shook our heads over that. Like maybe just take down the huge neon BRASS RAIL signs in the San Diego stores? Or maybe they wanted everyone to imagine a Narnia type door hidden behind the clothing racks that led to a thumping club!

Edited February 9, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo