Feud: Capote vs. The Swans: The Ending Is a Beautiful Tragedy
In Wednesday night’s finale of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Truman Capote dies while thinking of Babe Paley, his beloved Swan and former best friend. Itâs been nine years since he spoke with Paleyâshe cut him off after Capoteâs story, âLa CĂŽte Basque,1965,â published in Esquire. Even in his final moments, sheâs the only thing on his mind.
Episode 8, aptly titled âPhantasm Forgiveness,â is a trippy, time-traveling hour of television that jumps between the past, present, and future to clear Capoteâs conscience. Itâs tragicâand comforting, somehowâthat their last thoughts are of each other. Capote doesnât know it, but Paley thinks of him, too, when she dies in episode 7. Though the words are never spoken aloud, Feud makes it clear that neither Capote nor Paley want to fight at all. When the finale comes around, itâs too late to apologizeâbut that doesnât stop Capote from trying.
The finale begins with Capote visiting Paleyâs grave. To his surprise, someone left her a gift. âOh, for fuck’s sake, carnations!â he exclaims. âWho would dare?â Capote pushes them aside and leaves Paleyâs favorite flowers in their place. âEverythingâs frigid without you,â he says, while touching her headstone. âIs it better in there?â
While at Paleyâs grave, Capote celebrates his sobriety, but the visit prompts him to drink. Again. Later that evening, he arrives at his ex, Jack Dunphy’s apartment, drunkenly knocking on the door. Dunphyâs new boyfriend lets him in, andâduring a very awkward dining-room conversation!âCapote announces his next move. Heâs going to finish his book, Answered Prayers, as an apology to The Swans. The only issue, as Dunphy points out, is that they might not care. âWhat if Lee and Slim say, âToo little, too late, fuck off?ââ Capote disagrees. âApologies, when heartfelt, matter,â he says. âThat is how the heart functions; it wants to forgive.â With that, Capote gets to work.
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What happens next? We’re back to a James Baldwin episode-level dreamscape, in which Capote imagines his character, P.B. Jones, apologizing to his friends. First up is Keke, a woman meant to resemble the real-life C.Z Guest (ChloĂ« Sevigny). They meet for lunch… and Keke rips him a new one. âYou understood how imprisoned I felt in my life,â she cries. âAnd what you wrote didnât acknowledge any of that. Itâs a two-dimensional cave scratching.â Jones (AKA Capote) listens intently, then takes her on a road trip to reclaim her freedom. Along the way, they bring a nude portrait of Keke to a dingy bar Jones used to frequent and sell it to the bartender for two whiskeys. Keke is delighted.
Later, while Capote is drafting Answered Prayers, he imagines what his mom would think of his words. The woman, played by Jessica Lange, is unimpressed. She thinks itâs too soft! Too apologetic. She encourages Capote to have a drink and try again. After he takes a swig, he mutters, âNow your criticisms, which sting like a wasp, I can barely feel them anymore.â Feud never truly unpacks Capoteâs alcoholismâbut this brief scene, as bizarre as it is, unveils the root of the problem.
Courtesy of FXLetâs give it up for ChloĂ« Sevignyâs turn as C.Z. Guest this season.
Now, with (obviously) clouded judgment, he begins drafting a new chapter. This time, Lady Ina (AKA Slim Keith) gets some reprieve. Capote imagines the scene starting with Jones running into Lady Ina on the street. She brushes him off, at first, but eventually invites him into her apartment and asks why he wrote such awful things about her. Then, Jones helps Lady Ina release her aggression by… throwing a plate at the wall? OK! At first, sheâs appalled, but she joins in, screaming while breaking each and every dish. Again… OK!
Finally, Capote imagines his apology to the fictional version of Lee Radzwill (Calista Flockhart). Their reconciliation is the easiest one of the bunchâJones ghostwrites her memoir, so she can finally feel special. Radzwill, whom the character is based on, is Jackie Kennedyâs sister and fears sheâll always live in her shadow.
Courtesy of FXJust a friendly chat between socialities.
Capote is nearly finished with Answered Prayers when his mother greets him again, wondering why he hasnât written about her. âTell the story of the Black Swan,â she says. Then Capote remembers a suppressed memoryâhis motherâs suicide, which happened years earlier after her wealthy husband left her. Without him, her social standing was destroyed. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
While recalling the incident, Capote is greeted by Ann Woodward (Demi Moore), a woman who killed herself after Capote accused her of murdering her husband in âLa CĂŽte Basque, 1965.â She has some choice words for the writer, too. âYou told me of all your Swansâof which I was only an honorary memberâthat I was the one who reminded you most of your mother,â she says. âMaybe thatâs why you were so cruel to me.â
Their imagined conversation is Capoteâs final attempt to understand why he betrayed his friends. âYou helped kill the golden age of society,â Woodward says. âA final gift to your mother and to yourself for never feeling like you truly belonged.â She convinces him to destroy the transcript for Answered Prayers, insisting its publication would only do more harm than good. Capote obliges, then returns to consciousness at Joanne Carsonâs home in Los Angeles.
Courtesy of FXJoanne Carson holds Truman Capote.
Then, we return to realityârevisiting a scene from episode 7, where Capote is pulled from Carsonâs pool. Heâs drunk and his organs are failing. Later that night, Capote dies in his room. Years later, when Carson dies, Capoteâs ashes are sold at an auction. His pseudo-stepdaughter, Kate Harrington, tries to buy them, but is outbid by an anonymous bidder. She canât tell, but behind her, the Swans are there, too.
As for Answered Prayers, well, thatâs the final twist. Capote never finished it. None of his daydreams made it to publicationâbut in the context of Feud, it doesnât matter. Capote may have told Dunphy that he was writing Answered Prayers to apologize to the Swans, but really, he was trying to forgive himself.
Tom Hollander, who plays Capote in Feud, told Esquire that he thought âLa CĂŽte Basque, 1965â was âjust mean.â He certainly has a point. Publishing your friends’ dirty laundry in Esquire? As an Esquire staff writer, I can firmly say that, yeahâI wouldn’t recommend it! Though, after watching Feud, you can understand what compelled Capote to write the infamous short story.
He was an outsider. Capote managed to wiggle his way into New Yorkâs high society on virtually his talent and wit aloneâbut ultimately, that wasnât good enough. He wasnât one of them. Capote was born poor, had to work for a living, and he was a proud gay man in a deeply conservative environment. âLa CĂŽte Basque, 1965â was a misguided cry for help.
After ruining his relationship with the Swans, all Capote wanted was exoneration. He wanted them to see himâjust as the women, in his dream sequence, begged to be understood. When Capote dies, his final prayer is answered as Babe guides him to the afterlife. They may not have reconciled, but in death, all is forgiven.