This is going to sound really strange, given how much I’ve loved a lot of this season of American Crime Story, but, with the season finale behind us, I think the last nine episodes have told a story that ended more a failure than a success.
And just like that, with one week to go, they’ve got it back.
The world owes Andrew Cunanan. And he’s here to collect.
Damn, but this show is on a roll.
After a slight wobble last week, American Crime Story continues it’s ingenious peeling back of Andrew Cunanan’s layers as the story focuses in on the first victim of the previous episode, Jeff Trails, as played by Finn Wittrock.
Well, after a week like last week, there’s always going to be a drop-off.
And that’s not to say that this week’s ACS: Versace outing, House by the Lake, is a bad one, by any means. But after last week’s total blinder of an episode, whatever comes next is going to feel less fully-formed by comparison.
Ah, man. I stand by everything I said last week about whether it’s defensible to use violent crimes like this for entertainment, and whether ACS: Versace was specifically passable in that sense or not, but fuck me if that wasn’t just a fantastic fifty minutes of TV.
When you start with a bang, there always has to be a drop-off. And I think the second episode of this season of American Crime Story, Manhunt, is the perfect example of that.
The OJ season benefited greatly from the fact that, straight after the murders, you had OJ attempting to flee arrest in one of the more action-driven sequences of that whole seasons run. But this season, which starts from the murder and then leaps back to fill in the gaps, was always going to suffer after the big, bold, broad and often brilliant first episode.
So, you know that I’m clinically incapable of saying no to a Ryan Murphy show. I watched Glee. I watched The Glee Project. I watched Nip/Tuck. I watched Scream Queens. I watched so much American Horror Story – God, so much American Horror Story. And I have been disappointing and delighted by each and every one, in various percentages. But every time a new one comes along, no matter how bad that last one might have been, I have to dive into it, whether I like it or not: I have a perfect run so far, and I’m not going to ruin that now. Even if it means sitting through another season of AHS, God help my immortal soul.
The Cutprice Guignol 