On last week’s episode of Feud, Capote Vs. The Swans: 2×04 “It’s Impossible” we had a nice break from the drama, and there was a sweet reunion between Truman and Babe. This week, Ryan Murphy, and Gus Van Sant said to forget all that because we are diving right back into the mess! Feud Capote Vs. The Swans 2×05 “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans” was an hour of juicy tea-filled D-RAMA!
The year is 1975, and Truman’s excerpt La Côte Basque, 1965, from his unpublished book Answered Prayers has been released in Esquire magazine. The fallout is terrible, and we see Babe and Bill Paley reeling from their private business being brought to light. Babe is trying to figure out why Truman, her closest friend, and confidante, would do this to her. The only answer she can come up with is that it must be hatred. When we jump to Truman, it is interesting to see that he is also struggling with releasing what he wrote.
Truman didn’t want any of this to happen, and he was so upset about it that he even tried to kill himself. He’s now the pariah and doesn’t seem to have a friend. That is until Author and Civil Rights Activist James Baldwin (Chris Chalk) shows up to offer him some guidance. James and Truman go out for lunch, and he picks his brain to learn more about what Truman wrote. James doesn’t judge Truman one bit. He validates everything he wrote and wants to know what he didn’t put in the book.
Truman says his intention was not to hurt any of his swans when he wrote the story. He meant to expose the men in their lives for their misdeeds. We’re not sure if we believe that because how does airing your friend’s dirty laundry for the whole world to read help them? What was most intriguing about James and Truman’s conversation was that James got Truman to look within himself more and realize that when he wrote La Côte Basque, 1965, he meant every bit of it. He meant to expose the lives of his swans. As Babe pointed out earlier in the episode, it had to be done because of hatred, and based on Truman’s words, it seems that he did have a bit of hate towards all of the women. There is no way to see it other than that.
Truman was their friend, but friends can stab you in the back. When James asks Truman for the truth, the floodgates open up. He talks about the women’s sex lives, the double standards when they cheat versus when their husbands cheat, their capabilities as mothers, and the subtle racism and classism they all have, which, by the way, was probably one of my favorite moments because it made me say, “And there it is!” Truman’s breakdown was precisely what I expected. As Truman points out, Blacks are for labor, and gays are for entertainment. That was powerful because it shows that although Truman was friends with all of the ladies, at the end of the day, he even served a role for them. Truman couldn’t even bring Jack with him to events because it was like if he did, he was showing himself to be too gay.
What Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×05 “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans” ultimately does is makes all of the women look bad. It makes us say well, none of those women are good people, and all Truman did was bring that to light. Just as we suspected, after watching Feud: Capote Vs. In the Swans 2×01 “Pilot,” none of the women liked Ann Woodward. They didn’t care that Truman was spreading her business and telling everyone she killed her husband. They didn’t want her in their social circle, which we see when she attempts to sit down with Lee and Babe at lunch. They are incredibly rude to her. We know Lee can be snappy, but seeing Babe, whom we’ve felt bad for since the season of Feud began, changed our view of her a bit.
James Baldwin’s visit came at the right time for Truman because not only did it pull him out of his own pit of despair and self-pity, it ignited a fire and inspired him to write even more. James made Truman feel seen. He gave him what he needed to escape his guilt over writing about his swans. James told him to stop apologizing for what he wrote about the swans and to admit that he wanted to hurt them. The closing scene of Truman sitting down to dinner with swan as the meal was quite the visual and some major foreshadowing.
Other Thoughts
- “They all fuck everyone and get away with it. That’s what I left out.”
- “There is a subtle racism below the surface of the water they swim in.”
- “The racism and classism is never overt. It’s subtle, but it is meant to convey one thing: I am a privileged, wealthy white woman, and I am better than you.”
- “Everything the swans do is skin deep. That’s why they’re not truly interesting people. They are dull. Their situations are interesting.” It was surprising to hear Truman say that if he thought the swans were so dull, why did he want to hang out with them?
- Loved hearing James Baldwins take on the dark side of swans (the actual bird, not the women) in comparison to Truman speaking before about their lightness and vulnerability.
- “Baby, you set the table, now have the meal.”
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans airs Wednesdays on FX and is available next day to stream on Hulu.