Is The Series Going Downhill??????????????????????

                           Episode Five of "Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans" was titled "The Secret Inner Lives Of Swans."  It was anything but.  In fact, the Swans got little screen time, because the whole thing was taken up with this disappointing fever dream fantasy of Capote and James Baldwin.

                            Now, let me start.  When did these two ever cross paths?  And why should they; being so different and equally egomaniacal???????????  Baldwin never did anything for me as a writer; I read "Giovanni's Room," and big whoop.  A gay man in Paris?  A Black expatriate from America?  Who cares?  How about Proust?  Or Jean Genet with "Our Lady Of The Flowers?"  As for Black writers, Toni Morrison and James McBride have Baldwin beat.  He may have been a pioneer, well good for him, but his material cannot hold a candle to many who came after.

                                 Which is why the whole fever dream thing was, like, What the hell?  Who cares?  I do not believe that Truman Capote for one second would play the victim.  His ego was mammoth, and so was his talent; he touted "Answered Prayers" as Proustian right up to his death.  He knew he was a great writer; so, to devote the whole segment to Capote and Baldwin was wasteful.  Give us more of the Swans.  Or better yet, it should have been Jessica Lange as Lillie Mae Faulk, parroting Baldwin's words.  Sure, they had a contentious relationship, but we know, girls, that she admired Capote's talent, and his ability to get into society--which she wanted--and then eviscerate it.

                                      As time has gone on, "La Cote Basque 1965" has becoming nothing more than a diverting social entertainment.  The leading players are gone, and so is the restaurant.  However, girls, in a former location of the famed venue there is Benoit, a French bistro located at 60 West 55th Street.  I mean, girls, maybe we can revive the Golden Age Of Elegance.

                                       There was certainly very little of the above in last night's episode.  Chris Chalk, though excellent in performance, was way better looking than James Baldwin.  And telling Capote to shave?  I mean, did he have to?

                                           Blanche Du Bois said she wanted magic, not realism.   This series needs more realism if it wants to stay afloat.

                                             Otherwise, it could go into decline, just as unfortunately as Truman Capote did.

                                               Oh, and capote eating a swan was the last straw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!