Few showrunners draw as much talent as Ryan Murphy. Stars and characters come out to play for the iconic creator, and his shows often feature several generational talents. What he does with that talent is often less consistent. Feud: Capote vs. The Swans features another all-star cast, but that does not always mean success. For every The People vs. O.J. Simpson, he delivers an American Horror Story that makes little impression. His Feud limited series was celebrated in its first season, and this edition features another all-star cast. However, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is not only bloated. It often wastes its best performers.
Plot
From the 1960s through the mid-1980s, Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) celebrated the success of In Cold Blood with the New York social elite. He counted many of the most influential names in the social scene as his best friends – referring to the group of women as “The Swans.” Among them were Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C. Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart), Ann Woodward (Demi Moore), and Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald). However, when Capote released a preview of his upcoming novel in Esquire, his Swans turned against him. After all, his final project, Answered Prayers, was inspired by their hedonistic lives.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Critique
Much of the discussion of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans will center on Hollander’s performance. While the series has been billed as an ensemble work, it is very much a Capote-focused series. Hollander, famed for his work as a supporting actor in movies and as a theatrical star, dominates every frame. It’s inarguably the best portrayal of Capote since Hoffman’s, with the voice, mannerisms, and emotional range on full display. However, the show plays loose with the facts, allowing for more surrealist showcases from Gus Van Sant and the other directors. While this occasionally hurts the show’s ability to focus, it provides Hollander space to explore Capote as he’s never been seen.
Sadly, one performance does not make a show successful, especially one with eight episodes. Sevigny and Watts each get standout moments, but Lane and Flockhart are often left on the sidelines. Moore shines in her few scenes, but surprisingly, Jessica Lange receives more screen time as the ghost of Capote’s mother. Meanwhile, Capote vs. The Swans seems downright disinteresting in Ringwald’s contributions (even though she delivers a good performance). Only Watts gets the space to compete with Capote, and to frame the series as a balance of both sides would be wildly misleading.
Watts will get the attention from awards bodies later in the year, and its easy to understand why. Her role is not only the showiest, but Babe Paley proved to be one of Capote’s closest friends. Intimacy between a gay man and cis woman can easily become problematic. However – to Capote vs. The Swan‘s credit – the show meets that issue head-on. In perhaps the most riveting episode of the season, depicting a meeting between Capote and James Baldwin (Chris Chalk), the characters show their awareness of the tropes that could define each individual. When Watts and Hollander are on screen together, the show is at its best. Sadly, it cannot keep that chemistry or interest, when they are apart.
Perhaps the most frustrating element of Capote vs. The Swans is how rarely it allows us to feel the fight at its heart. Episodes jump forward and backward in time at random. One episode focuses entirely on the fallout, the next explores Capote’s famed “Black and White Ball” in 1966. This approach means we rarely see the characters suffering from their “breakup” for more than a couple of episodes at a time. Additionally, Ringwald and Sevigny never really break away from Capote. Their time with Truman severely undercuts the idea that a cold war broke out between the key players.
While most of the series flows through Hollander and the women, Treat Williams and Joe Mantello emerge as stealth MVPs. For Williams, it’s bittersweet. The actor’s passing in 2023 hangs over his role, and watching him crush the emotional work of Bill Paley makes us wonder what more he could have done. He also makes the charm of Paley effortless, both with the women and businessmen. It’s one of the best performances of his career, and hopefully, award bodies will take notice. Mantello’s more subtle but equally complex work helps restore some balance to Capote’s side of the story.
Van Sant works with fellow directors Jennifer Lynch and Max Winkler to provide a foundation of excellence in the show’s appearance. With enough of the surrealist moments, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans showcases some brilliant directorial choices. However, the screenplays overindulge in the ways that Murphy often does. The words are distractingly campy, even for a show focused on the performative nature of wealth and status. Eight episodes are simply too many, and a series order of six episodes would have greatly benefited the show. While the beginning and ending are exceptionally strong, the middle four episodes could lose the audience.
Episode 3 (“Masquerade 1966”) will be the most visually stunning of the season. However, a simple Google search tells you the episode’s framing is exclusively for style points. Even if you do not, lines uttered in unimportant sequences would be so scandalous for 1966 that we would still be discussing them. There may not be an episode of television in 2024 that feels as visually interesting and contains less substance for its series.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans falls in the bottom half of Murphy’s recent series. While the concept intrigues and provides unique insights into a legendary figure of American pop culture, it proves somewhat flawed. The performances merit a watch, but if audiences turn away by the end of the series, it will be hard to blame them. We encourage sticking with it, as the final two episodes provide enough spark to make the eight-hour runtime worth it all.
6/10
