Manhunt

This is an episode that held up way better in rewatch than in my first viewing mainly because of some timeline confusion. On second rewatch, though, it is pretty darn excellent. Some highlights below the cut.

– That opening was really great not just because of its real life and thematic weight, but also because it helped me put to rest something that’s been bothering me in the premiere. I’ve been wondering since last week if the choice to open the series with Versace’s murder and the operatic juxtaposition between him and Cunanan was better in theory than in practice in light of how it forced the episode to jump between two tonally different time periods that hurt the flow of the first part of the premiere imo. But putting this episode’s opening next to last week’s had a very potent effect in how I came to see Versace, he was the Icon last week, the notorious figure that Cunanan gunned down exactly for that notoriety, the brand name that Donatella has to put her grief aside for and jump right in to preserve. Last week had the grandeur of his home and the bowing servants, and the spectacle of the media as his blood was used as a grotesque art by spectators.

But this week, we open with “there are no journalists here”. Cue Versace taking off the hoodie and the glasses, the implements that stand as symbolic of his public figure status in this context, stripping off his public persona with the disguise to become the man behind the fame, just as the episode gives us the man rather than the icon. This episode was Versace’s humanization beyond the brand and beyond the dead body of the premiere. A brother, a lover, a man breaking apart under the strain of a deadly disease and leaning on his family to support him, then revitalized by a remission and bursting with passion and love for life. This Versace is so easy to love.

– I don’t remember which reviewer described the approach to Versace as
tender but it’s really felt, the last scene with Antonio in particular.

– Antonio and Donatella’s fight is many ways a continuation of the homophobia the detective showed last episode in interrogating Antonio but while he “couldn’t” understand the relationship between two men, Donatella comes with dismissal of what limitations society put on gay couples and the minimization of Gianni and Antonio’s relationship as one that did not provide Gianni with stability, safety or children. It’s a different face of homophobia than the pointed ineptitude of the authorities (Lt. Lori should feel free to punch those pretentious FBI people in the nose) which puts the frame of homophobia for the story in a sharp focus.

– What I found really interesting was how the show played with the concept of safety and stability in relation to marriage, more apparent in Antonio’s repeated mention of wanting to marry Gianni, and how that touches on what the show hints was their motivation for bringing men home and the way Antonio was shut out by Donatella and had no rights in the wake of Gianni’s death. The same theme is present with the older gentleman that Cunanan duct taped who hurriedly put on his wedding ring after Cunanan left and just breathed. I don’t think his hesitance to report it was only about the fear of outing but also fear for the safety found in his marriage, in a moment where he’d just went through a scary ordeal and that security settled him down.

– Speaking of that scene, THAT WAS DISTURBING AS FUCK AND I’M NOT OVER IT. Excellent from start to finish though.

– Max Greenfield was spectacular and I felt really bad for Ronnie and his desperation for a connection. He is an unexpected foil to both Versace and Cunanan: a survivor of AIDS but one who is lost and doesn’t know what to do with his life, who comes to Miami because he read that people who don’t have much living left live by the ocean as opposed to Versace’s revitalization and loving life (by the ocean)

attitude because he is not of the past, damn it. Ronnie is also the antithesis of Cunanan, one who would be happy with the simple life of a florist with a friend he has a meaningful connection with, while Andrew killed the two guys he describes as his best friend and the love of his life, and anonymity was his worst nightmare.

– LOVE the scene of Andrew walking to Versace’s door only to find it closed as a metaphor of Andrew being shut out of the world he coveted inhabited by the man he “could have been” (which is a phrase that makes Versace’s murder, in a way, symbolic of Andrew destroying himself in killing the man he could have been.)

– Whoever is behind the soundtrack of this episode deserves a reward tbh.

Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a while but this is the first time I send you a question. I heard the theory that Sweetrobin is Littlefinger’s son and not Jon Arryn’s. The timelines when Lysa Tully and Baelish were together in King’s Landing match but, on the other hand, it seems like Littlefinger wants to get rid of little Robert. Do you thing it’s possible? How this could affect the Vale storyline? (Sorry if there are any mistakes, English is not my mother tonge)

nobodysuspectsthebutterfly:

Hey, no worries, this is perfectly understandable. I’ve answered the question of whether Sweetrobin could be Littlefinger’s son before; but let me restate it, since it’s been a while:

Pro:

  • Petyr and Lysa were in King’s Landing at the same time, as Lysa was the Hand Jon Arryn’s wife; and after Littlefinger proved himself with a customs position around 289 AC, Jon brought him to court.
  • Petyr and Lysa probably had a secret sexual affair when he was in KL, as Lysa refers to “all these years of silence and whisperings”, which could imply she had to be quiet while having sex with him before.
  • It’s possible that Lysa’s difficulty with bringing a child to term could have been due to the strong abortifacient her father made her take, but it might have also been due to Jon’s age or other difficulties (as his previous marriages were childless). Jon may have been simply incapable of producing viable children, and Lysa was pregnant before by Petyr, why not again?
  • When Lysa arrives at Petyr’s keep and announces that they will be marrying and having sex that very night, she says “I want us to make another child, a brother for Robert or a sweet little daughter.” (However, note that “another” certainly refers to their aborted child, and a half-brother of Robert would still be his brother.)
  • Robert is a small child, and dark-haired, much like young Petyr was, whereas Lysa has auburn hair and Jon was blond in his youth.

Con:

But still, even GRRM says there’s really no way to tell:

Q: Was Jon Arryn the father of Robert Arryn?

GRRM: So far as anyone knows. Without blood tests or DNA, establishing paternity was a lot more hit and miss.

As for how it could affect the Vale storyline… it probably won’t. Littlefinger has absolutely no compunctions against poisoning Robert, so even if he thought he was his father, being an “accursed kinslayer” is obviously not something he cares about at all. I mean, Petyr already murdered his wife, for goodness sake, with no regrets or “fear of the gods” whatsoever. Furthermore, everyone believes Robert is Jon Arryn’s son, and if it were somehow proven he wasn’t, the rule of the Vale would go to Harry Hardyng who could revoke Robert’s decrees… but that would also happen if Robert died, so it really doesn’t matter. And as for “somehow proven”, that’s entirely hypothetical, as they literally can’t prove anything in a world without DNA tests. Or even without proof, nobody’s suspicious, nobody’s bringing up the subject, not the Lords Declarant or anyone – it gives nobody any political advantage if Robert is not Jon Arryn’s son.

So ultimately it’s an irrelevant question. No offense to the fans theorizing about it mind you, but it’s not going to mean anything, and GRRM will almost certainly never provide a straight answer anyway. Hope that helps! 🙂