by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
FX continues to prove they are the king of anthology series. Between American Horror Story, American Crime Story, The Premise, and the forthcoming American Sports Story, the channel has been a force when it comes to telling unique stories with amazing characters and strong themes. Because of the diversity in all of these shows, audiences will have their pick, where they can experiment and latch on to the series they like the most. Admittedly, Ryan Murphy, the executive producer for a lot of these series, has made a name for himself with these anthology series. So we come to Feud, the latest iteration of this batch of shows, where Murphy can talk about some of history’s greatest feuds. Season One dealt with the infamous feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis ,so expectations were high that this series could deliver on another strong season.
Unfortunately, Capote vs. The Swans doesn’tcome close to how good Bette & Joan was.
Truman Capote’s (Tom Hollander) legendary beef with his Swans, or a group of New York socialites during the 1960s and 70s, sets the stage for Season Two of Feud. Capote writes about his friends, some fictionalized and some directly named, in an article in Esquire Magazine from his unfinished book, Answered Prayers. The article is devastating to the group, and they vow to destroy Capote.
This season does have a lot going for it. If there’s something that it excels at, the performances are all outstanding. Starting with Hollander — his performance is one for the ages. He nails Capote’s mannerisms and speech patterns, while also giving us a level of compelling nuance. I’m calling it now: Hollander will be a lock for an Emmy nomination this year. Although this is a story about a feud, a part of me wishes this was a season focusing on Capote himself. This could have given us a chance to dive more into his methodology for writing, what his creative process is like, and why he makes the decisions he does. Murphy should get on that ASAP.
Because of the emphasis on Capote, the Swans don’t get as much time to spread their wings as characters. Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloё Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart) are the main group of Swans, with Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald) and Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) providing a handful of moments. In reality, Babe is the de facto main Swan even if Slim is calling the shots more. Because there are so many Swans, there is nowhere near enough time to develop them, or enough backstory to show who they are. Instead, we have to stomach a lot of tell, not show, when it comes to characterization in hopes that we know enough about the feud to fill in any gaps.
This doesn’t mean though that the performances among the Swans aren’t good. In fact, the performances are actually all outstanding and will have some Emmys consideration as well. Starting with Watts and Lane, they both show different reactions to Truman’s article. Babe is so incredibly hurt by it, even if what he speaks of is the truth. This friendship is also the strongest between the Swans and Truman, which makes the betrayal sting all the more. On the other hand, Slim is angry by the breach of trust, and she is the one who spearheads the plan to ruin Capote’s life. Slim is the one who decides to pick fights with him in the newspaper, and she convinces most of the other Swans to shut him out of their lives.
Flockhart is the one who still manages to make the most of the time she is given, but she still gets the short end of the stick. Sevigny’s character spends the most time with Capote during the feud, opting to let it go and forgive him quicker than the others do. Similar to Slim, Flockhart’s character is angry about the situation, but strives to be indifferent about it, rather than outwardly hostile. There’s a moment of pure gold in one episode where Flockhart talks about the issues that women in society face during this time. If Flockhart was given more of a chance to perform, she would have done amazing things.
The other things that are great about Feud: Capote vs. the Swans are the costumes and set design. The creative team did an amazing job of making sure that everything feel like it is from the ‘60s and ‘70s. In addition, everything feels like it is for the wealthy, leading to the sense of being immersed in the high society the series is based.
From a story structure, this season is disjointed. This is partially due to the fluctuation between focusing on the feud and focusing on Capote. Creatively, I’m not exactly sure what the writers were thinking when it came to the story structure. Between the time jumps and focus changes, it is hard to keep track of. I do sometimes find this to be an issue with Murphy shows where the structure is non-linear. It is just tricky to keep firm footing with everything feeling out of sorts.
This season is also a little too much like a reality TV show. The poster even advertises it as being about the original housewives. Since I’m not a fan of reality TV, it added to the issues I had with the series. Although this is preferential, it also presents a problem with how the wealthy women are portrayed. They are so surpassingly rich that it’s close to a Saturday Night Live sketch. Even Truman, who was already known for his over-the-top behavior, feels extra at times. This season descends a little too much into high school levels of drama and cattiness. Whether this was intentional is still up for debate.
Feud has an interesting problem, because the question it’s trying to answer usually ends the same way: Was the feud even worth it? Bette & Joan talks about two powerhouse actresses not being able to coexist, which reminded me a little of Hamilton, where Aaron Burr says, “The world was big enough for Hamilton and me.” Capote & The Swans is more muddy with its resolution, and it doesn’t help that the lack of focus on characters beyond Truman leaves the season unfulfilling.
Rating: High Side of It Was Just Okay
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is currently streaming on Hulu
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Serializd