Based on Laurence Lemer’s 2021 novel Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, this new installment of “Feud” (produced by Murphy but written by Jon Robin Baitz) focuses on one of the greatest and most controversial American writers of the 20th century. Famously adored for his fiction and non-fiction work, Truman Capote was revered throughout the ’60s and much of the ’70s. His work as a writer shot him into stardom that writers of the modern age seldom reach, allowing him to befriend some of Hollywood’s most prestigious socialites. Capote’s knack for storytelling allowed him to position himself almost like a court jester type for the rich, attending dinner parties, balls and charities, many with a select few women he called his “swans.”
In the first episode of “Feud,” we’re introduced to Capote (Tom Hollander) when he goes to meet Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), the clear favorite of his swans, in her luxurious home. Babe is distraught over catching her husband with a woman whom she thought he had put behind him and tells her friend the tale over shared pills and liquor. Her tale is intercut with the actual revelation taking place, not only making it a more dynamic watch, but showcasing how Truman’s mind as a writer truly worked. He paints a picture not only for himself but for the viewer as well, imagining the tale as if it were a scene from a soap opera. Here, it’s apparent that while he may feel some semblance of pity for Babe, what Truman is really getting from this visit is content for a new book, one that drops so many of his friends’ secrets that they work together to cut him out of their lives, and the social circles in which he thrives.
It’s with this first appearance of Tom Hollander as Truman Capote that it becomes clear that “Feud” is directly concerned with the difference between performance and reality. Truman was a notoriously flamboyant figure whether it be the way he dressed or the way he acted in the presence of certain figures. This air of camp is present whenever Hollander is on-screen, and while we see Truman hit rock bottom often, this air is never stamped out. It’s used as a means to keep him safe, acting as a boundary between himself and those around him. Despite their closeness, it feels as if Babe only knows a singular version of Truman, though it is indeed one that he doesn’t let just anyone see. He’s kinder with her than he is with others, and it’s their relationship that he misses the most once the swans turn their back on him.