American Crime Story: Versace Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Ascent
Whitney Evans
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With only a few episodes left, this series is coming down the home stretch rather slowly.
American Crime Story: Versace Season 1 Episode 7 takes us even further back in time to the days before Andrew met David and even Norman. This is Andrew completely devoid of excess and merely working a 9-5 to make ends meet.
Oh and the Versace's are back. It's been awhile since they fully shared an hour with the Andrew Cunanan story.
Overall, while this series has been strong, there's been world class installments and much weaker ones. This one, unfortunately, fell in the weaker category for me.
For starters, let's talk about the Versace's. During the premiere, I was so excited to see what they were going to show us about this family. The casting was out of this world and there's so much meat to their story.
Yet, here we are with two episodes to go and Gianni and Donatella Versace feel like completely secondary characters. Everything is so Andrew Cunanan centric, that when I see the siblings it takes me awhile to even remember what has been going on with their storylines.
Donatella- This company is you, it's not me.
Gianni- You have to make it yours. You have to take it. And you have to own it.
At this stage of the game, we're back in 1992. Gianni is sick with a rare form of ear cancer and he and Donatella are struggling with their ideas of how she fits into the company.
For many of us now, we see Donatella as the face of Versace, so it's very interesting to see the dynamics at play years before Gianni's death. The confident and secure Donatella we saw shortly after Gianni passed, is not the Donatella we see here. She's uneasy and unsure about where she stands.
It is Gianni that gives her the strength and motivation to believe in herself, her talents and her importance.
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Seeing the siblings here, I feel robbed they we haven't gotten more of them throughout the course of the series. Andrew is an obviously interesting case study in sociopathic behavior, but the heart of this story comes from the Versace's.
At this point, it feels like I could rattle off a term paper about Andrew Cunanan's entire life, yet I'm still wondering about so many things in regard to Gianni and Donatella.
For me, being told no is like being told I don't exist. It's like I disappeared or something.
Andrew [to Jeff]
But maybe I was naive to believe this would be a story that focused equally on Andrew and Gianni. This was always going to be about what lead to the assassination and that had everything to do with Mr. Cunanan.
As we continue traveling back in time, we finally stumble upon the Andrew that truly has nothing. Sure we've seen him at rock bottom, but have we seen Andrew truly have to work for anything?
One of the most intriguing things about Andrew is his sense of entitlement. He believes that he is owed everything. From ice cream, to an allowance, to a job.
And it's this inflated sense of self-importance that ends up being one of his biggest downfalls.
Prior to Norman, there was another wealthy, older man in Andrew's life and I had no idea how that story unfolded. The entire scene of Lincoln and the man he picked up in the bar sizing one another up, just felt off. Like it was apparent something was going to go wrong but I didn't know what.
I have to wonder if that was Andrew's first experience with death and if that had an effect on him. I mean, you have to assume it did. To witness a brutal murder and essentially escape death yourself has to impact you.
Norman: We fall sick, it's our fault. We're murdered, it's our fault.
Andrew: You can rob us. You can beat us. You can kill us and get away with it.
Norman and Andrew's conversation about Lincoln's murder was fascinating. For one, we know that Andrew must have kept his encounter with the murderer and what he saw to himself. This alleged kiss between Lincoln and his killer never took place and Andrew is well aware of that.
So, why not tell the police? I would never presume to know what goes through the head of a narcissistic coward, but he must have thought it was better to for him to act unaware.
At this point in time, as Andrew and Norman stare out at the vast Pacific Ocean, you have to wonder why that just couldn't be enough for Andrew. Money at his fingertips and the clout he believed he deserved.
But Andrew always wanted more. And he would have died before he walked around this Earth as a forgotten man.
Okay fanatics, what are your thoughts on "Ascent"? Were you hoping to see more of the Versace's in this series? What else do you want to see before the finale?
Leave a comment down below so we can chat. And watch American Crime Story: Versace online right now so you can join the conversation.
Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.
