Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×07 “Beautiful Babe” took a more somber note this week as we watched Babe Paley and Truman Capote go through the last stages of their lives. Babe, who was diagnosed with lung cancer, finds out that she has six months left to live. This forces her to face the choices she’s made throughout her life. Looking at those choices also forces her to think about the time she lost with Truman, who, indeed, was her best friend.
When Babe sits down for lunch with Slim, Lee, and C.Z., as always, she wants to know how Truman is. As the conversation progresses, she starts to reflect on the lost time and what the grudge has done to her and all of them. Babe thinks things would have been easier if they had just laughed off what Truman wrote in La Côte Basque, 1965. Babe points out that they have done awful things to each other but were able to forgive and forget, so why is it so difficult to do with Truman?
Her reasoning makes a lot of sense. Babe knows they were all unable to forgive and forget what Truman did because if they were to be seen with him in public, they would be viewed as laughingstocks. So, the thought is that they would all be worried about what everyone around them would say. But, most importantly, “To accept his apology would be to surrender.” She also acknowledges that Slim did play some part in her decision not to forgive Truman because Slim was the one who ultimately began the mission to seek and destroy. Unfortunately, it’s too late, and Babe knows there is no going backward.
The episode transitions into a dream-like sequence between Babe and Truman as she’s on her deathbed. The scene was beautifully shot and brought me to tears. Seeing Babe and Truman reunite as she was in the last stages of life was sad because it was the only time we saw Babe and Truman reconcile and rekindle their joyful friendship. There is a quiet stillness to the moment that is also so poignant as she and Truman discuss “the top three.” When they go into the discussion of “Beginning, middle, and end,” it becomes clear to Babe that her time on earth is ending.
After Babe’s passing, C.Z., who truly has been a great friend to Truman (at least from what we have been shown in this series), stops by his place to deliver the news. Truman knew it was coming at some point but it doesn’t make it any easier to hear. He isn’t taking the news well. When he gets up to finish working on Babe’s eulogy because he believes he will be the one delivering it at her funeral, C.Z. informs him that he is not allowed to attend. Bill has made it so and even has security to keep him out. Truman just knew that he would at least get to say one final goodbye to Babe but the damage he did with his writing really had long lasting effects. I really did feel for Truman because Babe was his friend and he should have been allowed to pay his last respects.
Babe’s death doesn’t just affect Truman. It also affects the relationship of the Swans. On the day of her funeral, Slim, Lee, and C.Z. all talk about life and how they move forward now that Babe is gone because she was the one who made their friendship work. She made sure they all showed up. We see that when they all attempt to make plans for a lunch date. There are suggestions of trying a new place, then there is a conversation about “Oh, that day doesn’t work for me,” then it becomes the old tried and true “We’ll figure something out.” And that is how the distance starts.
There is talk about Truman, and Slim surprisingly says he should have come to the funeral. I was shocked about this because all I thought was, why now? You didn’t try to deal with him when Babe was alive. None of you did, with the exception of C.Z. Slim seems to regret her decision to oust Truman from the group and their lives when she says that she always wanted to ask him if what he did paid off. That shows she, too, was still thinking about him because if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have been talking about him.
The episode jumps back to Truman; he is an absolute wreck without Babe. He’s drinking and using drugs excessively. During a TV appearance on Stanley Siegel, he questions him about his alcohol abuse. After the appearance, we see Truman in a treatment facility in Minneapolis, where Jack took him because the bender he was on caused him to have a blackout. As we have mentioned time and time again, Jack has been a constant in Truman’s life and made sure he was okay. Sadly, this time is Jack’s breaking point. He can’t do it anymore because it’s understandably taken an emotional toll on him. He has found love and wants to live his life.
With no one else left in his corner, Truman is taken in by his friend Joanne Carson, with whom he spends the last parts of his life in California. Just like we saw Babe spending her last moments with Truman, we also see the same for him. Truman has some moments of fun reconnecting with Babe. He’s stuck between the pull of life and death. He’s with Babe in one moment and Joanne in the next until he eventually dies. When Joanne calls Jack to let him know that Truman is gone, she tells him what he said, which consists of “I’m cold,” Mother,” and lastly, “Beautiful Babe.”
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×07 “Beautiful Babe” was a heartbreaking hour of TV. What was interesting was that writer Jon Robin Baitz, and Director Jennifer Lynch combined Babe and Truman’s deaths in one episode. I looked up the year both passed because I wanted to know if their deaths happened that close together. It did not. Babe died in July 1978, and Truman died six years later in 1984. I assume this decision was made to showcase Babe and Truman’s connection. It worked very well for the storytelling aspect of it.
I did not expect to get as emotional as I did watching Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans 2×07 “Beautiful Babe” but I shed a few tears throughout. I think it was because we all know what it means to have a good friend. Even in death, Babe was on Truman’s mind. It was sad to know they never made up and rekindled their friendship. While I understood Babe was upset over what Truman did, I also felt like her with the question of why they couldn’t laugh it off. If they had laughed it off like she and her Swans may have laughed off the things they did to one another, life probably would have been much different.
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans airs Wednesdays on FX and is available the next day to stream on Hulu.