Recapping 'Versace': Episode 2 'Manhunt'

Welcome to Recapping "Versace," the second installment of EDGE's dedicated series of recapping the second installment of FX's anthology "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story."

The second episode of "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" opens with some major speculation. Set in 1994, three years before his death, "Manhunt" takes a look at the late designer's health. The episode, directed by Nelson Cragg and written by Tom Rob Smith, suggests Gianni was diagnosed with HIV. Edgar Ramirez gives a truly moving performance here (it also helps that he uncannily looks like Gianni) when talking to a doctor about the death of his younger sister.

(It should be noted that reporter Maureen Orth, who wrote the book "Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U. S. History," which the show is based on, was told on the record by a Miami Beach detective that test results after his death showed Gianni's blood tested positive for HIV. The Versace family, however, has called "Versace" a "work of fiction" that is "full of gossip and speculation.")

The episode also goes on to examine Gianni's relationship with his sister Donatella (played by the mighty Penelope Cruz), who took issue with his lifestyle. Gianni and his partner Antonio D'Amico, played by Ricky Martin, often had men over to their home for sex, and in a tense scene, Cruz and Martin go head to head as to who is to "blame" for the designer's health.

The episode fast-forwards to May 1997 - two months before Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) killed Gianni. Andrew is on the run after a series of killings and lands in Miami looking for the designer - we see Andrew taking photos of Gianni's mansion and obsessively laying out the pictures, ostensibly planning his murder. The rest of "Manhunt" is the Darren Criss show, where we see him talk his way into a room at a hotel and make friends with a drug addict named Ronnie ("New Girl" star Max Greenfield). After the two go to the beach, Andrew, looking for some money, hooks up with an older man and they go back to his hotel. It's a nerve-wracking moment when Andrew duct tapes the man's face in a bizarre and chilling sex scene.

It's a bit hard to keep things in order on "Manhunt," as the episode cuts back and forth from the present and the past. But it does a good job at highlighting the different gay experiences Gianni and Andrew lived through: Gianni's world was full of opulence and free sex. Andrew, however, struggled, resorting to sex, and drugs, for money and a way to survive both financially and emotionally.

The episode also points to police incompetence: Though Andrew is on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted list, and they know he's in Miami, the agency only has a handful of flyers to pass out in the city, and they don't seem to be interested in looking for him at popular gay clubs.

"Manhunt" ends in a dazzling gay club scene where Andrew meets a guy on the dance floor - but it's an ominous moment that will reverberate throughout the rest of "Versace."

"What do you do?" the man asks Andrew.

"I'm a serial killer," Andrew replies.

"What?!" the man asks.

"I'm a banker. I'm a stockbroker. I'm a shareholder. I'm a paperback writer. I'm a cop. I'm a naval officer. Sometimes I'm a spy. I build movie sets in Mexico and skyscrapers in Chicago. I sell propane in Minneapolis. I import pineapples from the Philippines. You know, I'm the person least likely to be forgotten. I'm Andrew Cunanan," he says.