Feud: Capote vs. The Swans – Season 2 Episode 2 “Ice Water In Their Veins” Recap & Review

https://youtu.be/Jl_Q64WAPnk

Ice Water In Their Veins

Episode 2 of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans titled ‘Ice Water In Their Veins’ reveals that Babe has cancer and is getting chemo. They all show up at Ann’s funeral. Her son blames Truman in his eulogy which C.Z. finds unseemly.

At lunch, she seems to defend Truman and thinks it is petty to take revenge. Lee Radziwill keeps gossiping about him. Slim goes on about locking him out, rejecting his gifts and calls, and calling all his acquaintances so he has no one to hang out with. As for Babe, she is hurt as his exposé makes it seem that he is disgusted by them. 

Meanwhile, Truman is crashing at Joanne Carson’s in California where he is doing a movie. However, he cannot stop seeing the Swans and he gets dizzy. He keeps trying to call Babe but she ignores him. Back home, he flushes down all the alcohol and prays.

Slim hangs out with Babe who feels nostalgic as she takes out all her jewelry and tries to gift some to Slim. Slim reprimands her for being fatalistic and they talk about their friendship. Babe misses the good times with Truman but Slim calls him a predator and tells her to be strong.

However, C.Z. meets up with Truman, albeit to call him out and scold him for betraying his friends. He calls it art but she asks if the high price is worth it. He clearly misses Babe and she gives in and promises to act as a mediator. He even invites himself to her Thanksgiving.

At that moment, Lee spots them and of course, everyone finds out. Slim warns C.Z. not to invite Truman to Thanksgiving as he hurt Babe. To drive her point home, she claims that Babe is so sick she sent Slim to give C.Z. her prized Verdura necklace. C.Z. melts and lies to Truman saying she is sick. John refuses to hang out with him as he spending Thanksgiving with his kids. Truman mockingly asks if his family will take him back which earns him a slap.

Jack arrives and is upset, running to Babe to forgive Truman. He believes that only she can save him. She simply asks why Jack keeps going back to him. Meanwhile, John gives Truman the silent treatment but drives him to Joanne Carson’s. Her crowd is full of lively hippie people while C.Z.’s Thanksgiving has a sophisticated vibe.

While Slim’s grace is full of hits at Truman, he hallucinates his mother at Joanne’s. She wanted to be a Swan, but the New York elite did not accept her, calling her Southern trash. She thinks that he took revenge for her and now he should join her, hinting at suicide. He refuses as he has a masterpiece to finish.

At C.Z.’s, Babe is happier, Bill has replaced Truman and has become her best friend. But she still misses Truman and the Swans talk about how he loved their Thanksgiving dinners as it made him feel wanted.

At that moment, he picks a fight with John who beats him up. Joanne is aghast as she looks after him and kicks out John. Jack once again calls Babe, asking her to forgive Truman but she refuses. Bill too suggests being sympathetic since Truman is hospitalised but she doesn’t care at the end of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Episode 2.

The Episode Review

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Episode 2 feels a little too rushed. There are too many time jumps which makes it unbelievable that someone like Truman would suddenly hallucinate the Swans and get remorseful. We don’t understand his sudden change in heart, and that is partly because we don’t know him at all. So far, he comes off as a flippant character who doesn’t care about anyone and most likely picked a fight with John so Babe can sympathise.

As for the female characters, not enough time has been given to any of them except Babe. Feels like we are watching Babe and the Swans as they navigate high society. Slim is the mother swan out to get revenge. Babe is the sweetheart that everyone loves and pities. C.Z. is the diplomat, the people pleaser.

We don’t know anything about Lee, as if her scenes were forgotten in the premiere, just that she loves to gossip. The story is intriguing but it hasn’t been executed well so far, the characters are one-note and we do not get them.