Written by Tom Rob Smith
Directed by Daniel Minihan
Andrew: "It's terrible. I hope they catch him."
And so endeth the miniseries here. This has been something of an interesting show that started decent, hit some intriguing dramatic highs in the middle but somewhat petered a little bit in it's final two episodes. This finale was better than the previous episode but it also suffered from being needlessly too long for it's own good as well.
Andrew finally got the attention he wanted with Versace's murder as a manhunt for him had ensued but he also realised a little too late that it wasn't worth it either. Betrayed by his own fame hungry father, hated by the LGBT community and even forced to eat dog food at one point, the only way this could end for Andrew was in his own death and creative licencing to one side, I'm not surprised that he killed himself rather than face justice for the pain he caused so many people during his murder spree.
I think it's safe to say this series will earn Darren Criss some award love in the next couple of months and he's certainly deserving of it but there were times when I wondered if we got too much of Andrew to the series detriment. Last week's episode certainly felt unnecessary and even here, Tom Rob Smith somewhat prolonged Andrew's inevitable demise for a good portion of the episode.
If anything, it was the non Andrew scenes that were the best part. For instance, seeing Ronnie schooling the detectives on their own homophobia was particularly well done along with David Madson's father maintaining that his son was a victim of Andrew's killing spree than an accomplice as well as seeing Marilyn Miglin express anger over Andrew not being caught before allowing herself to be relieved when she learned than he was dead.
We got some needed Versace focus here too with Gianni's funeral coming into play and the harsh treatment that Antonio had to endure. Literally being snubbed at the church by the priest and even given a cold shoulder by Donatella was pretty painful to watch along with his attempted suicide. It was also somewhat irresponsible for the episode not to clarify that Antonio survived his suicide attempt. Much as I have liked the series, it's no wonder the Versace family and Antonio have been so critical of the show. A lot of the criticism has been justified in that regard.
As for the one scene with both Versace and Cunanan, echoing the opening episode - nicely played. Even though Edgar Ramirez wasn't always given as much as Darren Criss in this season, he did a bang up job in his portrayal of Versace that I'm really hoping that both him and even Cody Fern (David Madson) appear in other productions from Ryan Murphy in the immediate future.
- FX aired a trailer for Murphy's next series, Pose, due to air in the summer while also seeding some hints for Feud: Buckingham Palace (still not looking forward to that) with the Diana mentions here.
- The episode got most of the stuff in relation to Andrew being on the run but exaggerated how Marilyn viewed him and the general media coverage.
- Great use of music in the episode, especially with the opening of VOX's Vienna.
- Chronology: July 15th 1997.
Alone brings about a decent but somewhat overdrawn ending to a good series. I enjoyed this season more than the OJ Simpson one that proceeded it but I still can't help looking at the events objectively, if FX somewhat should've gone with a shorter episode run for this. It's unlikely that I'll be reviewing the Katrina season, though I do intend to watch it.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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