It's dark and complex and tragic, and it deserves a much better reception than the one it received. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out on something special.

It may lack some of the sparkle of its forerunner, The People v OJ Simpson, but this rather glossy take on the events leading up to the fashion designer's murder in July 1997 continues to be fascinating.

[A] thrilling end.

Versace is a paean to one of the greatest artists the world ever knew, but it also tallies the destruction of prejudice that has yet to be fully rooted out.

Murphy renders the viewer complicit in the sensationalism, only to pull the rug out from under us as the series proceeds.

Penelope Cruz's new show is more stunning than she is.

The show has style and star power to spare.

Callous as it may seem, we already know what happened to Versace. At its best, this isn't about his assassination at all, but his assassin.

For those who thought (as did I) that it was a bit of a fuss in 1997 over a dead frock-jockey, the nine-part drama The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story will prove a surprisingly necessary corrective.

American Crime Story says more about our consumption of crime than it does about anything else.

Criss manages just the right blend of camp charisma and obsessive weirdo mendacity as the contrast is made between the fêted designer's eye-bleeding wealth and the sociopath's empty life and wardrobe.

Season two, by contrast, packs a gilded punch...an aura of decadent fabulousness lingers over The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

You don't need to feel too guilty about what promises to be a glorious and, given its central subject, eminently unjustifiable pleasure.

It's a terrific opening episode, and the only one directed by Murphy himself.

Versace is truly Murphy at his finest - it's scarier than American Horror Story, with dark humor à la Nip/Tuck and dotted with his signature camp featuring a heavy dose of glamour and the grotesque. And yes, I think it's better than Simpson.