History YMMV / TheAssassinationOfGianniVersace

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It's the story of one of the biggest failed manhunts in American history, many of the characters introduced will end up horribly murdered within one or two episodes of their introduction, and Cunanan, who gets most of the focus, is so relentlessly cruel and manipulative that it's very hard to sympathize with him even when he's portrayed in a more complex light. UsefulNotes/GianniVersace himself is a sympathetic and rather compelling character but is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter hugely]] OutOfFocus in most episodes after the first one, and the rest of the other victims get only an episode or two of characterization before they too are killed.

* AlasPoorVillain: Though the series never shies away from Andrew's psychopathy, violence or destruction of innocent, good people, the last few episodes view him with an ounce of sympathy, portraying him as a bright, resourceful and outgoing young man who [[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have]] earned the success he so craved had things went differently, but instead became a manipulative, self-centered, murderous psychopath; unlike the first episodes, where Cunanan is violent and devoid of emotion, the last episodes see him as expressing genuine guilt, sadness, affection and disappointment, making him more easy to pity as he spends his last days trapped, desperate and scared, calling his father in tearful panic and apparently regretting his actions before killing himself to evade capture.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It's the story of one of the biggest failed manhunts in American history, many of the characters introduced will end up horribly murdered within one or two episodes of their introduction, and Cunanan, who gets most of the focus, is so relentlessly cruel and manipulative that it's very hard to sympathize with him even when he's portrayed in a more complex light. Versace himself is a sympathetic and rather compelling character but is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter hugely]] OutOfFocus in most episodes after the first one, and the rest of the other victims get only an episode or two of characterization before they too are killed.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Part of Andrew's success in his predation is because his victims were marginalized in society, too afraid to come forward about minor concerns and yellow flags concerning Andrew in fear of the public ridicule, shame, family fallout, legitimate loss of their livelihoods that potentially outing themselves would cause. An argument can be made that one of the reasons the FBI fumbled so hard in their pursuit of Andrew is because of who he and his victims were: the "foreignness" of queerness either subconsciously making them put less effort in their work or, even worse, a conscious decision to be lax. And as far as the US has come with gay rights, there is still much to be done to address the psychological, emotional,and mental trauma that living under such conditions can leave on an entire swath of society.

** SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Part of Andrew's success in his predation is because his victims were marginalized in society, too afraid to come forward about minor concerns and yellow flags concerning Andrew in fear of the public ridicule, shame, family fallout, legitimate loss of their livelihoods that potentially outing themselves would cause. An argument can be made that one of the reasons the FBI fumbled so hard in their pursuit of Andrew is because of who he and his victims were: the "foreignness" of queerness either subconsciously making them put less effort in their work or, even worse, a conscious decision to be lax. And as far as the US has come with gay rights, there is still much to be done to address the psychological, emotional,and mental trauma that living under such conditions can leave on an entire swath of society.

* {{Narm}}: Almost every episode has references to gay marriage, despite the series being set in the late nineties, when the marriage equality movement was barely even starting.

* BrokenBase:
** The VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory nature of this series has divided fans. On one side are those who are appalled at the liberties the show has taken (including details about Cunanan's relationships with his victims, which the show created from whole cloth) while others are pissed at the fact that the book the show is based off of (''Vulgar Favors'') promotes controversial rumors, such as Versace having AIDS (which the show hints at via vague scenes which are later shown to reference to Gianni's well-documented fight with cancer) and knowing Cunanan beforehand (for which there is no evidence, besides Cunanan's own, decidedly-unreliable testimony). Other fans argue that, given the dearth of information available about why Cunanan carried out his crimes, liberties would have to be taken in order to make the show compelling.
** More controversial, is the decision to run the series in reverse. As such, a lot of the depth/callbacks fall flat (such as David being introduced in the episode where he's kidnapped/killed) on initial TV viewing and in the case of Cunanan, presenting him at his most evil upfront then expecting viewers to sympathize with his descent into murder, as opposed to showing his SanitySlippage and the events that led to his murder spree.
** In spite of being about his murder, Versace largely disappears from the story after the first episode, except for minor subplots in two or three episodes. This upset a lot of people, since the Versaces are infinitely more interesting and likable than Cunanan. There was some speculation that the show couldn't afford much of Penelope Cruz after she replaced Lady Gaga as Donatella. There are also theories that the Versace family were kept offscreen to minimize the odds of the surviving Versaces suing over their portrayal in the series.

** More controversial, is the decision to run the series in reverse. As such, a lot of the depth/callbacks fall flat (such as David being introduced in the episode where he's kidnapped/killed) on initial TV viewing and in the case of Cunanan, presenting him at his most evil upfront then expecting viewers to sympathize with his descent into murder, as opposed to showing the events that led to his murder spree.

** The VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory nature of this series has divided fans. On one side are those who are appalled at the liberties the show has taken (including details about Cunanan's relationships with his victims, which the show created from whole cloth) while others are pissed at the fact that the book the show is based off of (''Vulgar Favors'') promotes controversial rumors, such as Versace having AIDS (which the show hints at via vague scenes which are later shown to reference to Gianni's well-documented fight with cancer.) Other fans argue that, given the dearth of information available about why Cunanan carried out his crimes, liberties would have to be taken in order to make the show compelling.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It's the story of one of the biggest failed manhunts in American history, many of the characters introduced will end up horribly murdered within one or two episodes of their introduction, and Cunanan, who gets most of the focus, is so relentlessly cruel and manipulative that it's very hard to sympathize with him. Versace himself is a sympathetic and rather compelling character but is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter hugely]] OutOfFocus in most episodes after the first one.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Andrew is played by the attractive Darren Criss, leading some viewers to coo over scenes of Andrew and David together without a hint of irony.

** "House by the Lake" introduces poor David Madsen, Andrew Cunanan's long-suffering boyfriend, who desperately wants to break up with Andrew but instead ends up being killed by him.
** Antonio D'Amico, Gianni Versace's lover, loses the love of his life in the very first episode. Besides having to deal with the grief, he also has to contend with Gianni's homophobic sister, who ruthlessly cheats him out of his inheritance and ousts him from the company within days of Gianni's funeral.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: While the show is more about Andrew than Gianni Versace, the show does a very good job of humanizing almost all of Andrew's victims, giving all but William Reese one episode devoted to them. From the episodes to the title of the entire series, the show seems determined to not center Andrew which, for a psychopath fixated on his relative lack of success in comparison to either gay men, is a political statement in of itself.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: See EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory and SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.
** Also, while the show is more about Andrew than Gianni Versace, the show does a very good job of humanizing almost all of Andrew's victims, giving all but William Reese one episode devoted to them. From the episodes to the title of the entire series, the show seems determined to not center Andrew which, for a psychopath fixated on his relative lack of success in comparison to either gay men, is a political statement in of itself.

* WhatDoYouMeanItIsn'tPolitical: See EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory and SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* WhatDoYouMeanItIsntPolitical: See EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory and SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* {{Narm}}: Almost every episode has references to gay marriage, despite the series being set in the late nineties, when the marriage equalit y movement was barely even starting.

* {{Narm}}: Almost every episode has references to gay marriage, despite the series being set in the late nineties, when the marriage equality movement was barely even starting.

** The VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory nature of this series has divided fans. On one side are those who are appalled at the liberties the show has taken (including details about Cunnanan's relationships with his victims, which the show created from wholecloth) while others are pissed at the fact that the book the show is based off of (Vulgar Favors) promotes controversial rumors, such as Versace having AIDS (which the show implies via vague scenes which are later reference to Gianni's well documented fight with cancer).
** More controversial, is the decision to run the series in reverse. As such, a lot of the depth/callbacks fall flat (such as David being introduced in the episode where he's kidnapped/killed) on initial TV viewing and in the case of Cunnanan, presenting him at this most evil upfront then expecting viewers to sympathize with his descent into murder as opposed to showing the events that led to his murder spree.
** In spite of being about his murder, Versace largely disappears from the story after the first episode except for minor subplots in two or three episodes, which upset a lot of people, since the Versaces are infinitely more interesting and likeable than Cunnannan. There was some speculation that the show couldn't afford much of Penelope Cruz after she replaced Lady Gaga as Donatella.

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: A popular interpretation of the series, that is referenced in numerous reviews of episodes of the show, is that Ryan Murphy is using the murders of Andrew Cunnanan less as a true crime story drama, but as a springboard to explore the homosexual experience of the 1990s and how dangerous it was to be gay, even during an era when gay acceptance started gaining mainstream traction.

** In the midst of this series about a case where the FBI performed notoriously poorly and missed numerous opportunities to bring the perpetrator in, came the Parkland school massacre in which they also turned out to have ignored numerous reports that the shooter was dangerous.

* ValuesDissonance: The 1990s gets this in spades, per the EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory interpretation noted by reviewers. Between "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (which created witch hunts against closeted gay servicemen and only made homophobia in the military worse not better), references to coming out of the closet as something that can destroy someone professionally, paranoia from gay men who refuse to report crimes out of fear that the police would not investigate/claim they were asking for it, and the psychological impact of closeting one's sexuality and the resentment boiling over to murderous rage; the show debunks a lot of peoples rose colored view of the 1990s in relations to how things were for gay men and women at the time.

** In spite of being about his murder, Versace largely disappears from the story after the first episode except for minor subplots in two or three episodes, which upset a lot of people, since the Versaces are infinitely more interesting and likeable than Cunnannan.

* BrokenBase: The VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory nature of this series has divided fans. On one side are those who are appalled at the liberties the show has taken (including details about Cunnanan's relationships with his victims, which the show created from wholecloth) while others are pissed at the fact that the book the show is based off of (Vulgar Favors) promotes controversial rumors, such as Versace having AIDS (which the show implies via vague scenes which are later reference to Gianni's well documented fight with cancer).

*** In spite of being about his murder, Versace largely disappears from the story after the first episode except for minor subplots in two or three episodes. Which upset a lot of people, since the Versaces are infinitely more interesting and likeable than Cunnannan.

* HarsherInHindsight: In the midst of this series about a case where the FBI performed notoriously poorly and missed numerous opportunities to bring the perpetrator in, came the Parkland school massacre in which they also turned out to have ignored numerous reports that the shooter was dangerous.

* ValuesDissonance: The 1990s gets this in spades, per the EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory pontification by reviewers. Between "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (which created witch hunts against closeted gay servicemen and only made homophobia in the military worse not better), references to coming out of the closet as something that can destroy someone professionally, paranoia from gay men who refuse to report crimes out of fear that the police would not investigate/claim they were asking for it, and the psychological impact of closeting one's sexuality and the resentment boiling over to murderous rage; the show debunks a lot of peoples rose colored view of the 1990s in relations to how things were for gay men and women at the time.

** More controversial, is the decision to run the series in reverse. As such, a lot of the depth/callbacks fall flat (such as David being introduced in the episode where he's kidnapped/killed) and in the case of Cunnanan, presenting him at this most evil upfront then expecting viewers to sympathize with his descent into murder as opposed to showing the events that led to his murder spree.

* BrokenBase: The VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory nature of this series has divided fans. On one side are those who are appalled at the conceit that Cunanan knew his victims, despite there being little evidence of this. Others argue that the veracity isn't as important as presenting a good story.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It's the story of one of the biggest failed manhunts in American history, many of the characters introduced will end up horribly murdered within one or two episodes of their introduction, and Cunanan is so relentlessly cruel and manipulative that it's very hard to sympathize with him.

** "House by the Lake" introduces poor David Madsen, Andrew Cunanan's long-suffering boyfriend, who desperately wants to break up with Andrew but instead ends up being killed by him.