Every week, we look forward to tuning into Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. Season two has kept us entertained, and we’re not surprised because we loved season one when it focused on Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. One of the things we love about Feud is that It’s giving us a chance to learn a bit about people we had heard of but didn’t know too much about. Granted, this is a TV series that we’re sure is taking liberties in some regard, but it’s still interesting to watch. Season two of Feud has been fast-paced in the drama, but this week, with Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans episode 2×04: “It’s Impossible,” we slowed things down slightly.
In Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×04: “It’s Impossible,” Truman, who is doing his best to get sober, decides to host another party. And not just any party. He wants a re-do of his Black and White party. So basically, it’s a Black and White ball 2.0. He believes that this can bring him and his swans back together. C.Z., with whom he shares his plan, is on the fence. She makes it clear that no matter what he does, things will never be as they once were. Truman’s relationships with all of his swans are broken, so C.Z. doesn’t think Truman can come back from what he did.
When C.Z. meets up with Slim for lunch, she shares Truman’s plans with her, which is the worst idea. C.Z. knows how Slim feels about Truman and what he did so why she would tell her this is beyond me. As expected, Slim is pretty much like, well, Truman can go to hell because it ain’t gonna happen. She even tries to pull rank and says not only is she not going to Truman’s Black and White ball 2.0, but neither are the rest of the ladies or anyone else for that matter. She decides to go on a mission to keep the party from happening by any means necessary. That includes calling up friends she knows in the news industry whom she contacts to have them write articles bad-mouthing Truman and his party plans.
It’s interesting because Slim has made herself the leader of the pack to ensure all the ladies maintain their distance from Truman. It’s unclear why Slim has her issues with him other than what he did to Babe. We’re not sure what he even said about her that made her join the mission to destroy him. All of the conversations she has with the ladies lead back to Babe. Our only guess as to why she is working so hard to bring Truman down on behalf of Babe is guilt. And that guilt stems from her affair with Babe’s husband, Bill. Lee was right when she said, “Don’t pretend that there is such a thing as a best friend because even your sister will steal your man.”
Speaking of Lee, she shocked the hell out of us. Lee meets up with Slim and tells her to leave Truman alone. We just knew after the Black and White ball debacle and her not being chosen as the guest of honor she was done and over him. Lee makes it clear that she and the rest of the ladies do not need her to avenge them for what Truman did. When Slim lets Lee know she’s not letting it go, Lee calls her out for her affair with Bill. Naturally, Slim is surprised because she assumed she was being so discrete. Not if Lee found out. Lee pulls a Slim and tells her there will be no more lawsuit, no more picking on Truman, and no more affair. Slim says her affair is over and done with, but she doesn’t agree that her takedown of Truman is over. She’s still not letting that go.
Babe is a little tired of Slim and her mission to shut Truman down because she makes it clear that she is done being told what to do. Babe, who is battling cancer, finds out that she’s dying. That makes her reevaluate every part of her life, and she doesn’t want to spend her last days being angry. She wants to go to Truman’s party. She wants to make up. She misses him with every fiber of her being. We get it because best-friend relationships are everything, and when you don’t have your best friend, things suck.
Still on her seek-and-destroy mission, Slim informs the ladies that she intends to sue Truman for defamation. Truman, who she runs into, is put on notice by her, and he’s still wholly unapologetic. He doubles down and says that what he did immortalized them forever, and he thinks that it made them more relevant. Truman honestly doesn’t care if he and Slim ever mend fences because Babe matters most. He tells Slim that he misses her, but he misses Babe more. Slim doesn’t believe Truman genuinely wants to fix what’s broken between him and Babe. She thinks he’s only looking to get back into her good graces before she dies for his selfish reasons.
This stings a bit for Truman because we think he does love Babe. We think she is the main reason, other than his former partner Jack, that he decides to go to rehab for a while. Truman’s life is lonely, and he is seeking solace in the unhealthiest ways. He’s in a highly abusive relationship with John, and Jack wants him to wake up and see that it’s not good for him. Jack does love Truman, and he wants the best for him. When the Neurologist contacts him regarding Truman’s brain and tells him that it’s shrinking because of years of continued alcohol abuse, Truman seems to take this to heart.
Though he did go to rehab, once he gets out, Truman reverts to his old ways and gets back into his relationship with John. Jack, who has had enough and has done everything he can to help Truman, reaches his breaking point and leaves him. While Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×04: “It’s Impossible” was good, the last part fell flat. That happened when John’s daughter Kerry showed up on Truman’s doorstep. It wasn’t very clear to me where he and John stood in their relationship. Were they still together or not? It was obvious that John and Kerry were on the outs because of the conversation she had with Truman, and we understood what they were doing because her coming to him for help ultimately gave him purpose again, but it felt a bit forced.
We did appreciate the end of the episode when Truman and Babe ran into each other because the reunion was so lovely and needed. The way they approached each other, there was no animosity. It was just like two old friends finding each other again. Both Truman and Babe needed that at that moment. That scene did an excellent job of showing that no matter what happens between friends, it is possible to find your way back. The relationship may not necessarily be like it once was, but if needed, that support can be there.
Other Thoughts
- “Nobody runs cancer.”
- John was a very patient man to put up with all of Truman’s antics.
- “I am not jealous. I am f**cking angry.”
- We get what Slim was saying to Lee about the possibility that Truman could continue his writings and she could be next, but she needed to chill a little bit. She was the only one out of all the ladies who was still trying to take down Truman but everyone else seemed to have moved on.
- Babe suggesting that Bill get with Slim once she’s no longer living was interesting… how did she find out about the affair? Inquiring minds want to know.
- “How will I face seeing her?”
- “How will I face NOT seeing her?”
- Truman canceling his black and white party 2.0 was for the best. Really and truly.
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans airs Wednesdays on FX and is available next day to stream on Hulu.
SEASON REVIEWS
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×01 “Pilot” & 2×02 “Ice Water In Their Veins” Review
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×03 “Masquerade 1966” Review
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×04 “It’s Impossible” Review
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×05 “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans” Review
- Feud: Capote vs. The Swans 2×06 Review: “Hats, Gloves, And Effete Homosexuals”
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×07 “Beautiful Babe” Review
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×08 “Phantasm Forgiveness” Review
