I knew by the
end of the second episode of Capote Vs. The Swans, the long-awaited
second installment of Ryan Murphy’s Feud series for FX, that the series
had the potential for greatness. By the third episode it had lived up to it.
And now that it is fully over, this incredible vision will no doubt be a major
contender for every single award regarding anthologies and limited series in
the months to come for the Emmys and beyond.
The third
episode where we saw a planned film by the Maysles Brothers of Capote’s
legendary Black and White Ball in 1966 assured its place in the pantheon of the
best series of 2024. A masterful bit of work from director Gus Van Sant the
cinematography and direction alone would be enough had it not also shown us the
duplicity of Truman throughout. We saw him manipulate each one of his Swans
into thinking that they would be the guest of honor at his ball, doing
everything to make it seem that the cameras weren’t rolling, making it sure
they actually were. At the end he betrayed them all when his guest turned out
to be Kay Graham. The ball itself was devastating as we saw what a fiasco it
truly was and just how monstrous Capote could be when Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) showed up and Truman went out of his way
to all but spit in her face and that of her son. We also saw how he and his
companion Jack Dunphy (Joe Mantello) had their far-too-often parasitic
relationship as Jack got drunk and unloaded on the man he could not stop
loving. The final image of the episode, showing Truman dancing with his mother
in his mind, was one of the more heartbreaking.
In the next
episode our sympathy remained with the Swans, though for the first time it
began to shift as we saw that Babe Paley (Naomi Watts) who was diagnosed with
cancer wanted to forgive Truman but Slim (Diane Lane) refused to relent,
continuing to argue it was an unforgivable betrayal. Then we saw that Slim was,
in fact, having an affair with Bill Paley (Treat Williams) something that
everyone knew about – even Babe herself.
Then in the
second half of the series, our perceptions took a radical shift. Set the day
after Truman’s original excerpt was published in Esquire, we saw Truman truly
miserable – and then he got support from an unlikely source, James Baldwin.
Chris Chalk’s portrayal might very well get him an Emmy nomination even though
it is only a single episode considering not only how masterful it is but how it
starts to shift our perception of who the hero and the villains are in this
story.
Both Baldwin and
Capote are gay and outsiders and Baldwin is the first person to compliment
Capote’s work. He leads him on a long day through New York promising he’ll
explain what it’s about only at the end. He leads Capote through how he sees
the Swans – and for the first time we get the truth about them and it’s uglier
than Truman might have written. The Swans have as many affairs as their
husbands do and are never punished for it. All of them are miserable parents
and truly inadequate at being anything other than society wives. They barely
eat their meals and there are suggestions of bulimia. There are constant
discussions of what they do to keep themselves young. And we see how truly
hateful they are, not merely in racist and homophobic terms – but also to each
other. In a devastating scene we see Slim and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart)
about to eat when Woodward shows up. In a few short lines they utterly demean
her with cruelty. Considering that Slim’s justification for her actions was the
suicide of Woodward, we know see the true hypocrisy of the Swans.
When the day
ends Baldwin screams at Truman for wasting his gift by being part of society.
We hear the acknowledgement of what the writing of In Cold Blood did to
him for the only time in the series but Baldwin gives no quarter. He says
Capote has a solemn duty to this in order to essentially ‘start the revolution’
and show the evils, the horrors of society. In a sense Baldwin is arguing that
these women represent the one percent, which is not inaccurate, and that their
ugliness must be made clear to the world. Capote tries to take inspiration from
this, and in a sense we can see why he’s trying to move forward.
In the next
episode we get a sadder angle to both Capote and the Swans – the world of
society that they were at the top of is coming to an end. The gloves and hats
that they once considered the paramount of style are no longer trendy. When
Truman dresses a model for a photo shoot in front of Richard Avedon, the
photographer tells him that he has decorated her like an archetype from the
1940s and has to completely remake her. He and CZ (Chloe Sevigny) go dancing at
Studio 54 that night and in the Post the next day they are basically considered
the walking dead. Capote tries to find himself in the arms of a younger man in
Hollywood but it’s clear very soon that he is obsolete. Oddly enough, he takes
the end of this relationship far better than almost anything else in the series
– he is acknowledging the passing of the era.
In the
penultimate episode ‘Beautiful Babe’, the inevitable tragedies for the two
major characters come. Babe’s cancer has reached the end stage and she knows
it. In a horrid scene between her and Bill, she tells him how empty her life
has been and how much she has tolerated his affairs. At a lunch with the Swans,
she tells them to forgive Truman and tells them: “We’ve all done bad things.
We’ve even done them to each other.” Then she prepares for one last party – the
memorial after her funeral.
In a sad scene
we see Babe in what is her final moments. Truman is there, younger and happier,
and he begins to prepare her for ‘the fireworks’. We are relatively certain
that this is a fantasy and its confirmed when Truman leads her to the bathroom
and there’s a swan in the tub. We cut to Babe’s deathbed where her family is
gathering and her daughter – who she has been estranged from and who refused
the entreaties by Bill to see her – come just as she leaves the world.
The memorial
itself is horrible as the three remaining swans mock the event of Babe’s
passing as an excuse to talk trash about her, mock her abilities as a parent
and cluck to see how soon Bill will have another wife. They also say they wish
Truman was here, as if there entire motivation for the grudge means nothing to
them now. The sadness comes when they try to discuss about getting together for
lunch and their schedules keep missing. They part without making plans, simply
saying they’ll get together later. We know in our hearts they won’t.
While this going
on Truman is in the end stages of his collapse. Devastated at not being able to
attend Babe’s funeral, we see him at a talk show where he is drinking and
incoherent. He wakes up in a miserable hospital where Jack is there, telling
him frankly that this is the last time. Truman, desperate to connect, says that
he is lonely and that he has no one left. He tells Jack that he’s cold. Jack
moves towards him, adjusts the blanket and leaves him for the last time.
We then cut to
Hollywood where Truman is being cared to by Joanne Carson. (I have to tell you
I’d seen her in three episodes and I didn’t recognize Molly Ringwald until
then.) Truman is in the final stages of his death and has come to accept it.
Joanna does to: we see her about to call 9-1-1 – and then she hangs up. She is
the only one left for the final moments.
In a scene that
mirrors Babe’s final moments, Truman
sees Babe in his final moments. Babe is tender to him, tells him what he knows
in his heart, and that it is time to let go. The final scene shows the two of
them on a beach. Joanne watches as he dies, and then calls Jack in New York.
The look in Jack’s eyes shows regret as he asks about Truman’s last moments.
Joanne tells him that he smiled and that his last words were “Beautiful Babe.”
The episode makes it clear that Truman and Babe were each other’s soul mates in
a sense.
The final
episode enters the realm of pure fiction. We have never known whatever happened
to Answered Prayers in any form so the series finale, fittingly, gives
us a fictional response. Truman starts by visiting Babe’s grave. He claims that
he hasn’t had a drink in three months and there are signs he might be sincere.
He visits Jack and tells him that he has a grand plan, and that it involves an
apology and forgiveness for his actions. Jack wonders if its too late and Truman
– referring to In Cold Blood, however indirectly – tells them of the
experience of those on death row wanting forgiveness. Jack tells him he has to
forgive himself.
Most of the
final episode takes place either in Truman’s apartment where is working on Answered
Prayers or in a fictional world of his novel where he seeks out each of the
Swans he has slandered and tries to make a grand gesture to earn their
forgiveness. For C.Z. who tells him that he destroyed the image of the beauty
she had, he helps her dispose of the Diego Rivera painting of her nude that she
has never been able to get rid of but can not tolerate. For Slim, who has held
her grudge by far the longest she seems willing to let go of her rage. They go
to her apartment and in an exercise of Catharism she and Truman destroy a set
of precious chinaware and he throws her another black and white ball in her
honor where she meets her final husband. For Lee – the only Swan who he doesn’t
change her name – he writes her memoir, the story of the life as Jackie Kennedy’s
sister who she’s never been able to shake and helps to poison her latest
husband – who is clearly a mirrored version of Jack.
Much of this
would be more hysterical were it not for what is going on in Truman’s
apartment. The ghost of Truman’s mother appears (Jessica Lange) and she criticizes
his initial writing. She tells him he must resume drinking to regain his voice.
He increasingly gets more drunk and begins taking more pills. As he descends
further into oblivion, we finally delve in the past we’ve never truly seen. We
see the young Truman being locked in his room while his mother sleeps with
other men, denies being his actual mother to his face, denounces his homosexuality.
We wonder whether he has decided to write his novel because he blames society
for his upbringing or whether he sees the Swans – who have all been terrible
parents – as mirrors of them.
Finally his
mother presses him to deal with ‘the Black Swan’ – his mother’s suicide. As we
watch this the other witness is Ann, the one who he has by far offended the
most. Ann tells him that of all the Swans, she reminded him the most of his
mother – and of himself. “That same trapped look in your eyes.” “What is the book about? The end of society?
Which you yourself helped destroy?” she shouts at him.
We then cut back
to the scene that opened the series: Truman standing over a pond, looking at a flock
of swans. Then he goes to his car and takes out a box. In the box is the
finished manuscript of Answered Prayers. He looks up and Ann is watching him.
He takes out paint thinner and pours it over the manuscript. As he lights a
match, he says: “I can’t do it.” Ann says: “The book or your soul?” Ultimately
he chooses his soul – though considering he was working on something in
California, we’ll never know for sure.
The final scene
takes place in 2016 after Joanna Carson has died. There is a bidding war for
the ashes of Truman Capote. As they are finally bought by a mystery buyer, we
see the ghosts of the Swans in perfect white dresses. Even in death they are
unyielding saying how far society has fallen and that there is nowhere to go. “Not
even New York is like New York anymore.”
But despite their
mourning of the end of an era, part of me really wonders what was truly lost
when they all passed from the world. Yes, the world they lived in was pretty
and they had more style and dignity than so many of the tech billionaires and
performers and influencers we have today. But where they truly any better? What
Capote Vs The Swans show is that, at the end of the day, these rich and
powerful women were, for all intents and purposes, just as snobbish, elitist
and if we’re being honest, useless as so many of today’s figures. One can’t
forget how upset they were when Kay Graham was the subject of the Black and
White Ball but Graham actually accomplished something and did something with
her money and prestige that none of them even tried to do. The comparison to
them as the ‘Original Real Housewives’ a blurb for the show, is frankly dead on:
we see the same toxic bad behavior on reality TV, only wearing slightly better
outfits. The only difference is none of these women would be caught dead in
front of a camera – their deep hatred was just done behind the scenes.
I don’t think it’s
a coincidence that Jon Robin Baitz chooses to end the series in 2016. Because I
know, without even having to be told, how all of these women would have voted. These
women might never have worked a day in their lives but none of them would have
tolerated the idea of a woman running for President, much less voting for her. I’m
not saying that they would have much liked Trump either – they’re the kind of people whose approval they
would have been proud to never give him – but after all, he was one of their
own.
It’s hard to
know the real victor of this feud was. Truman died drunk and isolated from the
society he’d so badly wanted to be a part of, having wasted all of the talent
he had once had. But it’s hard to see the Swans as victims really. The real sin
Truman committed was airing in public what they said and did in private. Some
might have loved him, but watching their behavior they might have just as
easily regarded him as the court jester or a performing flea. Truman might have
betrayed their trust but watching them in this series, the wonder is that they
deserved to be trusted by anyone.
I am beyond
grateful that Ryan Murphy chose to entrust Baitz and Gus Van Sant with his
vision for the second season of Feud. And just as with Bette vs.
Joan, it tells a story that needs to be told. Like that it tells the story
of celebrated women who have less power than they think or will admit. In this
case, they choose to focus their range on what they consider a betrayal rather
than someone who was as much an outsider as they were. The final episode of
Season 1 was about the tragedy of two powerful women who spent so much time
hating each other rather than helping each other. Here they focus their hatred
against an outsider but it is just as destructive and it can’t halt the passage
of the forces against them. In both cases, you get the sense at the end of an
immense, horrible loss.
It is certain
that this show will be among the nominees for Best Anthology series; that Tom
Hollander will be a major contender for Best Actor and that all of the women
will be among the contenders for an already crowded field for Best Actress and
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. (Watts and Sevigny are my choices for
the former; Lane and Flockhart for the latter.) It is more than likely Treat
Williams will receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his final role
and Joe Mantello deserves to be their alongside him.
It has been seven
years between the first two seasons of Feud. I hope we don’t have to
wait nearly as long for the third. I don’t know what Murphy could do for Act
Three but he has the innate ability to surpass himself with each new version of
everything. This is one of the great accomplishments of 2024 so far.
My score: 5
stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment