I’ll admit it. I don’t want to admit it but I do, indeed admit it. Ryan Murphy’s choices of source material speak directly to my soul. The first season of American Horror Story that gave us that tour de force Jessica Lange performance? Perfection. Sarah Paulson as a young Nurse Ratchet? Exquisite. The first season of Feud: Bette and Joan? I could die happy. So I was very excited that this story was going to be the new season. I’ve had a long time to ponder it. Between Covid and the writers strike it seems like it was a century in the making. But it’s finally here, the first two episodes.

The long wait allowed me to do more research than other shows. I loved the book this series was based on “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song For an Era” by Laurence Leamer. I’m glad I read it going in, as while these women’s names are known, their accomplishments are opaque. Those accomplishments by and large, are bedding and wedding men, more specifically successful men. I would never say that these type of shenanigans died out with those reaching middle age in the 1960s and 70s but the upheaval in culture of the 60s and the women’s movement of the 1970s very much upended what it meant to be a socialite. Leamer’s book goes into heavy detail of these women and honestly really only touches upon this drama over La Cote Basque in later chapters. A perfect starting off place for this show. (I do hope we get some of the women’s backstory in subsequent episodes.)

So I’ll be here at my little typewriter (well my typewriter style keyboard, as much as my closet would beg to differ this is the year 2024) to give you a run down on this Limited Series each week.

Episode 1. The Pilot. We open on 1984 (the year that Truman died) and watch him watch the swans in an undisclosed location. The meaning of why he called them his swans is divulged later in the episode. They have this beautiful exterior and plumage above the surface of the water but just underneath they need to paddle twice as fast to stay afloat. That exemplifies these women. We then quickly cut to 1968 as hurricane Truman at the height of his prowess enters the Paley household giving orders. We know he’s classy because he hates Baby’s Breathe and adores Delphiniums. (a side note why do people hate Baby’s Breath so much? I think it can be a lovely little bouquet on its own but I guess this is why I have $500 in my bank account). Babe is distraught and we soon find out why: her husband is having an affair with Happy Rockefeller, the governor’s wife. But this doesn’t surprise her as these sorts of daliances are in these old men’s DNA; however, Happy has taken revenge on Bill by leaving their pristine white bedroom filled with menstrual blood just as Babe is about to return. She really planned this entire thing out, also seemingly wearing her nightgown under her coat and leaving with out changing? Bold move for a woman named Happy.

Tangent: why do midcentury socialites have the most asinine nicknames they keep for life? We all had weird nicknames growing up but we went to college and were like “No I’m no longer going by Sockchewer my name is Samantha.” But not these women, maybe it would cost money to get rid of it. Babe? Not the pig in the city, the name of Barbara Paley. CZ? Not a fake diamond but the name of Lucy Guest. Slim? Not only something I’ll never be but also the name Nancy Keith. Their names are made even more confusing by the fact that all of them married multiple times.

Babe claims this insult is the final nail in the coffin “He’s done the worst thing you can do. He’s taken me for granted.” But her pal Truman is insistent that she keep her game face on and keep this man that has made her the queen of the best dressed list. She relents and takes a party favor of Valium from Truman on his way out. However not before she makes makes him share a chaise (there wasn’t a bed in this penthouse?!) to take a nap and promise he’ll never betray her. Spoiler alert: his fingers were crossed just out of frame.

We then go back in time to 1955 to CBS studios, run by Mr. Bill Paley, played by Treat Williams in his final role before his death. While not the most flattering character to end a run on, it’s better than ending with Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square at least. David Selznick calls and asks if he can bring his friend Truman Capote on their little millionaires playdate. Bill thinks he means Harry Truman. What a fun little confusion. Like ordering the wrong Hemsworth brother on Cameo. Your niece will never forgive you. I hope you have someone else to take care of you in your old age.

But fret not, contrary to what you’ve heard about everyone hating the gays in the 50s this little pint size Snickers bar called Truman Capote is a hit! And while Selznick’s wife was the swan Truman came with he ends the trip with Babe as his bestie. I wonder if Tiffanys makes Taylor Swift friendship bracelets? I would also personally like to mention that I have the same martini glasses and olive skewers they drink out of on the private plane. So I am just one important part away from living this life. It’s unfortunately the plane part.

He tells the sordid tale of Ann Woodward at dinner: a woman who killed her husband thinking he was a burglar. The public story is that she thought he was a burglar. Truman thinks this is wrong. That Ann is a jazzy little killer who plotted to kill her husband and she got away with it. He is going to tell this story to everyone and he’s going to write about it. He gives her the name Bang Bang, because she can’t live in upper society without a name as normal as Ann.

Next we find ourselves in 1975 in Truman’s apartment. He’s having a loud, drunk conversation with his publisher about another missed deadline for his novel Answered Prayers. This interaction is not dissimilar to when I drank a gallon of Manhattans and tried to set up a wireless router. But I digress. His long time partner has had enough of this deterioration and has decided to leave. So Truman does what any self respecting gay man in the 70s would do, he heads to a bathhouse to jerk his cares away. He picks up a trick, a man that is neither straight nor gay, just an opportunist one might say. (Wow that rhymes, I am now the queer Dr. Seuss.) The next scene shows this unexpected couple dining at the restaurant Le Cote Basque along with 3 of his Swans: Babe, CZ Guest and Slim. Here we see the ease and sophistication they imbue. CZ the “Brahmin Bostonian” a prototype prep who loves to garden, and Slim Keith the eternal California laid back woman. There is so so much more to these women, but as we know Ryan Murphy loves to go into backstories in later episodes so we leave it at that for now.

But what we do know is that Ann “Bang Bang” Woodward is there and she is looking at Capote like Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter movies when Ron mentions Hermione’s name in that coma. She confronts him and makes a scene and it’s revealed this hatred Truman has dates back to a run in in the past where Ann called him a fa**ot. It won’t be the last time one of his inner circle will stoop so low as to call him the slur.

On the way back from the meal John eggs Truman on to write about the group they just ate with. A group that so few people actually know about. Mind you this fact has no basis in reality, by this time this chapter would have already been written but John, it seems, in this semi fictionalized story is being used as an ultra antagonist.

He publishes the chapter “La Cote Basque 1965” which includes Ann’s story as well as the bloody drama of Happy Rockefeller in Esquire with thinly vailed pseudonyms that anyone with any sense could see through. Babe is shocked. Her husband tells her they can ride out this turmoil and she gives an impassioned speech about what she has given him of herself.

We then go back to La Cote Basque with just Slim and Babe at a table, we are told that Ann has taken her own life as a result of the magazine. Vengeance must come for Truman and these women are going to be the ones to do it.

A relatively heavy first episode, interesting for what it decides to tell and what it seemingly seems to omit. The Swans from the book of Pamela Churchill and Marella Agnelli seem to be not included at all as they were not as involved in this particular portion of time. Marella had already written Truman off by 1975. We were given a sense of where we are going with some fabulous fashion and dramatic dialogue. I’m excited to go on to episode 2!