When FX announced a new anthology series American Crime Story, from prolific writer/producer/director Ryan Murphy, there was skepticism aplenty. That doubled when we learned that the initial season would revolve around the trial of O.J. Simpson. But to almost everyone’s surprise, The People v. O.J. Simpson was excellent. It was enthralling, wonderfully crafted, and most importantly insightful—the series brought new layers to a well-known event, highlighting the misogyny, bias, and racism that hung over the entire trial like a heavy cloud.

Because of that success, any skepticism went out the window for the second season, The Assassination of Gianni Versace. But while the show had a heavy marketing campaign from FX and debuted a month ago, the series has failed to capture the zeitgeist the same way O.J. did. Ratings are down sharply from the previous season, as there simply didn’t seem to be much interest in a retelling of the murder of the titular fashion designer. However, those that are actually watching Versace know that the show Murphy and writer Tom Rob Smith (who penned every episode) have crafted is something wildly different from what the promos would lead you to believe.

Indeed, while the marketing for Versace revolved around the glamorous life of Gianni Versace (played by Edgar Ramirez in the series) and his sister Donatella (Penelope Cruz), the series is something of a bait-and-switch. It opens by showing us a slice of Versace’s life, and the first episode ends with his murder. From then on, the story works backwards, tracing the steps that led to this devastating event. But Versace isn’t the show’s focus—his killer, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) is. Indeed, Versace barely even appears in the show’s third and fourth episodes, as the series puts its focus squarely on Cunanan.

Versace was actually the fifth person Cunanan killed, and the show is now taking its time in providing context to those first few killings, which put Cunanan on the path towards taking Versace’s life. In the process, Murphy and Smith are offering a terrifying portrait of a killer in the vein of American Psycho. The show’s tonal touchstones have far more in common with that film or Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic Psycho than they do with any kind of wealth porn or hagiographic story of celebrity.

The series is also really zeroing in on Cunanan’s struggles with his homosexuality, and how that contrasts and compares with Versace’s experience as a gay man—albeit one of wealth and fame. Cunanan was clearly mentally ill from the get-go, constantly lying about things big and small and living in his own fantasyland. He worked as an escort for older, oftentimes wealthy men living in the closet, and the show posits that his jealousy and disgust may have been motivating factors in what led him to kill.

Indeed, the mid to late 1990s were still rife with stigma for homosexuals, especially in the wake of the AIDS crisis, and Cunanan had zero empathy or sympathy for closeted men who were ashamed of their sexuality. Was this his sole motivation for killing? Probably not, but American Crime Story makes a compelling case for it to have been a factor nevertheless.

The show’s third and fourth episodes are largely contained, playing out almost like mini horror movies—especially Episode 3, in which we stick with Cunanan in real-time through his first two murders. Given that the individuals involved in these attacks are all dead, the show is obviously dramatizing the exact conversations that went on, but again it’s making an intriguing argument about Cunanan’s motive, which has eluded many for the last few decades.

All of that said, Versace still hasn’t reached the heights of The People v. O.J. The fractured/Memento-esque narrative is compelling at times, but it can also be frustrating, and to be quite honest the Versace-centric portions—at least thus far—lack a certain “oomph” that the rest of the show seems to have. The very best reason to be watching Versace is Darren Criss, who delivers an absolutely phenomenal and terrifying performance as Cunanan. This is a multi-dimensional, complicated, and bold performance as Criss can turn Cunanan’s personality on a dime, in a manner that’ll send chills down your spine.

So if you saw the promotional materials for Versace and thought this would be a series about wealth and glamor and life in the spotlight, it is very much not that show. The series certainly touches on some of these issues, but Cunanan is undoubtedly the protagonist here, and Ramirez’s Versace is but a minor player in the overall story that Murphy and Smith are telling. And thus far, it’s a fascinating and downright disturbing one.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story airs Wednesdays on FX at 10pm ET/PT.