Truman Capote Gets One Last Chance to Win Back the Swans on ‘Feud’

Although we watched Truman (Tom Hollander) die in the penultimate episode of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, we’re going to watch it all over again in the finale. Yes, we have to watch this agonizing sequence play out twice—but now, we get to see the events leading up to Truman’s death, and what Answered Prayers could have been.

It’s 1984, six years after Babe’s (Naomi Watts) death, and Truman misses her dearly. He visits her grave, throwing the ugly carnations a friend has left to the side to make room for him to snuggle up to her headstone. “You’re positively frigid, Babe,” says Truman. “Everything’s frigid without you. Is it better in there?” Truman is already flirting with the idea of death. Babe has always set the latest fad, hasn’t she?

Truman visits Jack (Joe Mantello), who wants nothing to do with his floozy ex-partner, especially since he’s seeing a younger man now. But Jack’s new piece of ass is excited to see Truman—let’s not forget, Truman is incredibly famous at this time—and invites him in to have dinner. Truman promises he’s sober. He’s fully consumed by his work on Answered Prayers now, which he says will be an apology and an explanation to all the people he hurt, but fictionalized. When Jack walks his guest out, he warns Truman that the swans will never forgive him. But Truman pushes back; people want to forgive. Look at Jack—he allowed Truman to come in for dinner after so many missteps. The heart is built to forgive.

Babe Paley’s Swan Song Makes For a Tragic—But Masterful—Episode of ‘Feud’

In his fantastical version of New York, Truman writes about La Côte Basque closing—something invented for the show, as it really closed in 2004—and all the ghosts who return for one final meal. He gives new names to his swans: C. Z. (Chloë Sevigny) is Kiki, Slim (Diane Lane) is Lady Ina, Babe is Cleo, and Truman is P.B. Jones. (Calista Flockhart’s Lee keeps her real name.) All of the girls are at lunch, but this time, they’re all eating separately. P.B. grabs lunch with Kiki, using the time to apologize for writing those nasty things about her in the Esquire piece. Kiki apologizes instantly, but P.B. still wants to make it up to her.

P.B. drives Kiki out to the countryside, taking her for whiskey and late freedom. They share a dance and a laugh like old times, which satisfies Truman’s need to redeem himself in the eyes of C. Z., the most forgiving of the bunch. As he plunks letters out on his typewriter, Truman is visited by the ghost of his mother Lillie (Jessica Lange). Lillie pours her son a drink, upset that he’s become sober without her ghastly presence. She pushes him to try harder on his next chapter in the book.

This one is trickier. It follows Slim, who is now Lady Ina. P.B. stalks Ina around Manhattan, shouting vague apologies at her while she lobs hisses of anger over her shoulder back at her arch-nemesis. P.B. finally gets her full attention when he tells her that the venom of the snake must all be drained out eventually; it’s exhausting to stay angry forever. Ina isn’t fully on board with P.B. yet, but she invites him into her home to help her pack up while she plans a move to a faraway cottage. P.B. encourages her to express her anger and really get mad—throw plates and break things and get everything out of her system. It works. After P.B. throws another Black and White Ball with Ina as the guest of honor, she has fully forgiven him

Truman earns more heckling from his mother on this one; she wants him to write something a little less “fruity.” This comment thrusts Truman into the catacombs of his childhood. His mother always hated him, especially when he bothered her in the middle of dates. She used to call him a “sideshow attraction” because he was obsessed with her, clinging to her like a baby even in his older childhood years. Back to the present, Lillie gives Truman more alcohol and pours a smattering of pills into his hand to keep him writing.

‘Feud’ Provides a Vital Reminder: Naomi Watts Is a Master of Her Craft

Next up on the Answered Prayers roster is Lee, who P.B. meets for lunch at La Côte while she dines with her movie-director husband—loosely based on Herbert Ross—who can’t stop eying men at the bar. P.B. needs to really impress Lee to earn her forgiveness, so he gives her something to give her more notoriety than her fairy tale sister Jackie Kennedy: a fully finished memoir. Lee will be able to make it big in the literary world. Oh, and they’ll also plot to kill her gay husband, too. The pair giggle the night away while poisoning his cigarettes.

Still, Lillie is not happy with the book. Truman, she says, is not in touch with his hatred for women, so there’s no real reason for the book to be published. Why does he have to beg to be let back into the circle? She would rather he write his feelings about her suicide, forcing Truman to remember the day his mother died.

There’s one last swan Truman has to make peace with—and it’s not Babe. Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) meets Truman in the memory of his mother’s death, recalling that he always said she reminded him of his mother. “Maybe that’s why you were so cruel to me,” Ann says, infuriated. Truman doesn’t even try to win Ann’s forgiveness. What’s done is done. He’s accepted his fate. Ann will always loathe Truman for accusing her of murdering her husband.

There’s only one thing left to do, Ann tells Truman. The pair meet at Babe’s gravesite, where Truman lays a boxed copy of Answered Prayers on his dear friend’s headstone. But Truman isn’t leaving Babe a copy. He douses the papers in gasoline while Ann encourages him to get rid of the evidence—if he wants to earn any forgiveness, he needs to never write about the swans ever again. Truman sets fire to his manuscript.

Now, we’ve arrived at the same place that the last episode of Feud left off: Truman is at Joanne Carson’s (Molly Ringwald) California home, still struggling with alcoholism, and still attempting to finish Answered Prayers. These visions of the swans cause Truman to nearly drown himself; a few days later, he passes due to liver disease. Joanne calls Jack to let him know about the news. Jack is curious about Answered Prayers—is anything salvageable? No, says Joanne. It’s all gibberish. Only one thing was written over and over: “A dream, a dream, a dream, a dream that’s as real as stubbing your toe.”

It’s criminal that Babe only appears a handful of times in this episode, but at least her final scene is exquisite. Years later, in 2016, Truman’s ashes are for sale in an auction. Kate Harrington (Ella Beatty) attempts to purchase them, but doesn’t have the funds. Ultimately, Trumans’ ashes are purchased for $45,000 by a private bidder in New York. The swans, who have all passed at this point, watch on as ghosts. They hate what Manhattan culture has become. As they all pile out, Babe looks over her shoulder, catching one last glimpse of her friend before she’s pulled out into the white sunlight beaming in from the city.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.