Feud: Capote vs. The Swans – Season 2 Episode 6 “Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals” Recap & Review

Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals

Episode 6 of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans titled “Hats, Gloves and Effete Homosexuals” begins in 1978 (the show’s present timeline). Truman goes hat-shopping with C.Z. but their go-to shop goes out of business. He asks about Babe but is snarky when C.Z. says she is getting better.

He has gone back to drinking and is busy trying to mould Kate into a Swan but she is not too happy about the old-school look. He takes her to La Cote where Slim and Lee judge him and tell Kate to do her own thing. Even the photographer, Dick Avedon tells him to stop controlling Kate.

However, he is neutral and in fact, tells Truman not to give up on his book. He suggests that dancing is youth which has Truman taking C.Z. to a disco. They end up in a gossip column and C.Z. is humiliated. She tells him that his immortality is in his book and he must finish it after the sacrifices he has made.

Kate too tries to look after him but he lashes out at her for being a nagger. She cries and he promises to get better.

Elsewhere, the Swans are gossiping about Truman’s latest interview – he is being sued for claiming a drunk Gore Vidal groped Jackie Kennedy, Lee’s sister. C.Z. tries to get Lee to testify for him but she is homophobic. Along with C.Z., this makes Babe furious as well. As they head to a department store for gloves, the sales girl says they don’t sell it anymore as it isn’t trendy.

Kate thinks that Truman is in Palm Springs to get back to work but he is busy drinking and chatting up the handyman, Rick. He is funny and charming that Rick hooks up with him while saying he is straight. He lets Truman drag him to New York but the elites find him boring as he goes on about ACs and machines. A month later, Rick is tired of Truman who realises he has gone out of style.

The lawsuit is getting worse as Lee refuses to help Truman. Even his lawyer tells him to simply apologise to Gore Vidal and focus on his book. Rick hangs out with Kate while Jack tells Truman that he never needed the Swans. His book amputated them and now he needs to own it instead of crawling back to them. A while later, a drunk Truman rambles about Gore in an interview which has C.Z. feeling sad for him. 

Truman comes home to Rick leaving him for a girl he met at the department store. Truman accepts reality and they split amicably. But it does shake him out of his stupor. At the end of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Episode 6, Truman starts writing again. The chapter is on when he was young and the Swans flocked to be his friend.

The Episode Review

Okay, we see what is happening with all these 50s trends going out and the Swans trying to stay abreast with the new generation. They are growing older and fighting to stay relevant, including Truman.

And with Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Episode 6, we finally get why people flock to Truman even though he can be so nasty and self-serving. It is not the fact that he is snarky; he balances it out with his charm and wit that even a straight guy thinks about experimenting with him or a young girl cows down in hopes of becoming a writer.

We do wonder why C.Z. keeps on defending Truman and even pushes him to finish his book. Did he not expose her nude painting? And it’s not like she doesn’t have any secrets that he won’t expose. So, why is she so supportive? In fact, it should be Lee who is friendly as Truman dare not write against the President’s sister-in-law.