NOTE: spoilers ahead for Feud: Capote vs the Swans episode 1.
Ryan Murphy's Feud anthology series is back, this time focusing on the spat between famous author Truman Capote and a group of New York socialites called "the Swans."
Things open on a sunny day in 1984. Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) is driving in the country. He parks the car and walks over to a lake, where a bunch of swans are swimming. As he watches them swim the scene transitions back to 1968.
Capote walks swiftly down a New York City sidewalk to a luxury building where wealthy socialite wife Babe Paley (Naomi Watts) lives. She opens the door in tears. Truman tells her it will be ok now that he’s here. He follows Babe into her dressing room and tells her maid Marha (Veronica Wathome) to leave them alone. Truman tells Babe to tell him everything.
Babe returned home from a shopping trip in Paris to find her husband, TV luminary Bill Paley (Treat Williams), has been cheating on her again with Happy Rockefeller, the governor’s wife. Babe walked in on Bill trying to clean up large blood stains from the bed, the carpet and a chair in their bedroom, all places he and Happy had sex. Happy didn’t tell Bill that she was menstruating, wanting to leave behind bloody evidence that Babe would find.
Babe is livid and hurt, but Truman tells her not to throw away her comfortable life of luxury over another affair. Truman gives her some Valium that she washes down with scotch and the two of them snuggle together on a chaise lounge. Babe passes out as the opening credits begin.
How it started
The scene jumps back even further to 1955. Younger Bill Paley is running a meeting deciding programming for CBS. He is interrupted by a phone call from friend David Selznick (Scott Zimmerman) asking if he can invite Truman on the Jamaican vacation that David, girlfriend Jennifer Jones (Jamie Askew), Bill and Babe are going on that day.
Truman and Babe hit it off immediately. The booze and conversation flow on their private plane. At a lavish dinner party, Truman enthralls, entertains and shocks everyone with gossip about stars, socialites and other famous people.
He relishes telling the story of another wealthy socialite, Ann "Bang Bang" Woodward (Demi Moore), who murdered her husband when he wanted to divorce her, even though the death was ruled an accident.
After the dinner ends Truman and Babe bond some more. Babe asks Truman if she saw Bill with another woman. Truman admits he did. Their friendship is solidified by the end of the night.
Truman's Swans
Flash forward to 1975. Truman is in his apartment with boyfriend Jack Dunphy (Joe Mantello). At this point Truman is a raging alcoholic given to fits of anger, pettiness and self-pity. Truman, drunk, leaves and goes to a bathhouse. He hooks up with a younger man, John O'Shea (Russell Tovey), who says he is straight and has a wife and children, but he's addicted to sex. Truman and John start an affair, with John leaving his wife and kids to be Truman's manager.
The next scene is Truman and John in a cab going to meet the "Swans" for lunch at their favorite restaurant, La Cote Basque. John asks why Truman calls them swans. Truman explains like swans they are all beautiful, elegant and unruffled above the water, but below the water they're paddling furiously to avoid drowning under the weight of all their beautiful feathers.
The full herd of Swans are Babe Paley, C. Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny) and Nancy "Slim" Keith (Diane Lane). As Truman talks there are montages of each woman looking glamorous and gorgeous. When they arrive at the restaurant, all of the women are already drinking and smoking heavily.
The women and Truman gossip about their famous and infamous friends. When John goes to the bathroom the women scold Truman because he is going to make John his manager, warning him to keep John away from the business. While they talk, they see Ann Woodward at a table nearby.
Ann comes over and confronts Truman about him telling people she murdered her husband, calling it slander and libel. Truman tells her that it's only libel if it's not true, and that he plans to write about it in his new book. She asks Truman why he's doing this, and he says because he heard she used a slur to describe him behind his back. He raises his voice and starts to make a scene. Ann throws a drink in his face and is escorted out.
After the lunch, a drunk Truman and John take the subway home. John tells Truman his book should be about the Swans and all the gossip he knows about the New York City elite. Truman takes that advice.
The Esquire article
Truman publishes a small section of his new novel in Esquire magazine, setting off shockwaves. Truman tells the story of Ann Woodward killing her husband and the humiliating story of Bill Paley, Happy Rockefeller and what Babe found on her return from Paris. He claims it's fiction and has changed some names, but everyone knows who the stories are about. Babe is cut to the core by Truman's betrayal of her secrets.
Babe meets the other Swans at La Cote Basque for their usual lunch. When she walks in everyone falls silent, staring at her. She sits down, with tears in her eyes. Slim tells her Ann Woodward killed herself after seeing an advance copy of the Esquire piece. Slim tells Babe now they get revenge by cutting off the social access Truman lives for. The feud is on.
Feud: Capote vs the Swans airs new episodes weekly on FX. All episodes are available the next day on Hulu in the US.
