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<\/p>\nGossip Girls and The Men Who Love To See Them Hate Each Other On \u2018Feud: Bette and Joan\u2019 [RECAP]<\/b><\/p>\n
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It\u2019s hard to say coming out of\u00a0episode two of Feud: Bette and Joan<\/em> what exactly we\u2019re supposed to be feeling. For a show with so much to say (and say and say and say) about how Hollywood and society pits two women<\/a> against each other, it is strange to place the entire message within a series\u00a0designed to delight in every nasty comment and bitchy moment.<\/p>\n The second installment (\u201cThe Other Woman\u201d) doesn\u2019t pack the same wallop as the premiere, and a lot of that has to do with the shifting power dynamics. Feud<\/em> is at its best when it focuses on titans Bette and Joan using their wit, grit and animosity toward one another to wage a deeply personal war that says more about artistry versus celebrity than it does women<\/a>\u2019s lib. Where it starts to lose its zing is when it plays out the societal forces working against the women<\/a> of the time. It\u2019s not that those elements didn\u2019t heavily influence this story, it\u2019s just Ryan Murphy comments about women<\/a> in Hollywood with all the nuance of a Bernie bro tweeting about International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n The persistent proselytizing makes these powerful women<\/a> pawns, which surely was true to an extent, but it seems endlessly at odds with the glee with which we\u2019re supposed to devour their devilish behavior.<\/p>\n \u201cThe writing doesn\u2019t begin to capture the way women<\/a> get under each other\u2019s skin,\u201d we heard Joan critiquing Aldrich\u2019s Baby Jane<\/em> script in last night\u2019s episode. When it comes to the ways women<\/a> wage war against one another, it seems Feud<\/em> wants to relish in the how, but can\u2019t quite nail the why.<\/p>\n Which brings us to \u201cThe Other Woman,\u201d an episode that folds in so many real and imagined threats between its women<\/a>, it\u2019s basically a phyllo dough of \u201cBad Blood.\u201d (Sorry, I\u2019ve been watching a lot of The Great British Baking Show<\/em>.)<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put on our best feathered hats and recount what went down in last night\u2019s episode.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a new actress on set, and she\u2019s that \u201csexy neighbor girl<\/a>\u201d alluded to in the premiere. In case the jealousy wasn\u2019t already palpable, she introduces herself to Joan with \u201cMiss Crawford, can I please have your autograph? It\u2019s for my grandmother \u2014 she\u2019s loved you since she was a kid!\u201d<\/p>\n Resisting the urge to slap her on the spot for that read, Joan sidles up to director Bob Aldrich and demands she gets fired. For now, Bob likes to think this isn\u2019t a Feud<\/em>ocracy, it\u2019s a Feud<\/em>tatorship, and he\u2019s not bowing to Crawford just yet. So, she enlists the aid of her co-star, Bette, baiting her with the threat that once Aldrich sleeps with the young ingenue, she\u2019ll suddenly start stealing more and more scenes. That\u2019s enough to get Bette to threaten to walk off set. Bob can\u2019t say no to their united front, and the neighbor girl<\/a> is shown the door.<\/p>\n Of course, this show isn\u2019t called RuPaul\u2019s Best Friend Race: Bette and Joan<\/em> (though we would totally watch that). So, after promising to release the film to more theaters, Jack Warner convinces Bob to stoke the rivalry between his leading ladies<\/a> so the film maintains its buzz.<\/p>\n If anyone knows about feeding the fury between Bette and Joan, it\u2019s Warner. He signed Crawford on at a deep discount\u00a0and used her to try to\u00a0control Bette back in the day. He offered Joan all of Bette\u2019s scraps, including the Oscar-winning role in Mildred Pierce<\/em>, sewing the seeds of the rivalry we\u2019re seeing playing out now.<\/p>\n Bob shares his discomfort with this whole situation to\u00a0his wife, Harriet. She\u2019s heard her own fair share of gossip about Bob\u2019s \u201cother woman<\/a>\u201d (get it? GET IT?!), and, even though he says it\u2019s all bullshit, she reminds him \u201cIt hurts just the same, and you should consider that before you spread gossip of your own.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Bob\u2019s between a rock and a hard place. Not unlike the hard place on Joan\u2019s chest, which he describes to gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in great detail, telling her Davis is annoyed with Joan\u2019s falsies. He even tells her Bette is worried about falling on them in the beach scene and chipping a tooth.<\/p>\n When Joan reads this in Hedda\u2019s column, she\u2019s obviously furious. Despite Bette\u2019s denial that she spoke ill to Hedda, Crawford still phones a rival columnist to talk smack about Bette on the record. Their temporary truce is officially over, and there might not be much of Hollywood left standing once they\u2019re through.<\/p>\n The mudslinging in the papers is only one part of the equation. Bob also needs to further their resentment by making them jealous of the other\u2019s\u00a0relationship with him. He meets Bette on a Saturday to work on the iconic \u201cI\u2019m Writing A Letter To Daddy\u201d performance. We see a softer side of Davis here, unsure if her bold take on Baby Jane is brilliantly twisted or a misguided joke. Aldrich assures her what she\u2019s doing is Oscar worthy, and the two share an intimate moment choreographing the scene.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Even without TMZ and social media, word still travels fast about their little rendezvous, and it\u2019s enough for Joan to feel mighty threatened. She phones Aldrich in the middle of the night, cooking up a story about her lover, Peter, leaving her because she\u2019s too focused on the film. He rushes over, and she attempts to sleep with him (like they did on their last film together). He\u2019s not having it. He tells her he\u2019s not sleeping with Davis, and her whole charade comes crashing down when Peter returns unexpectedly. He didn\u2019t leave her; he was heading out of town but\u00a0a road got washed out. Aldrich excuses himself from this drama, leaving a furious Crawford to send Peter packing for real.<\/p>\n She won\u2019t be lonely for long, because Hedda arrives the next day, and she\u2019s irate that Joan ran to a rival columnist with her Davis dirt. It seems Hedda played a heavy hand in getting Joan back on the map when her career was faltering. Joan masterfully redirects her rage, playing to Hedda\u2019s heart. She confesses that she\u2019s broke, and she needs Hedda\u2019s help to make sure this picture earns her an Oscar (and another few years of work).<\/p>\n As Joan secures a powerful ally, Bette is having a harder time coping. Besides being a little unsure of herself when it comes to her character, she\u2019s also feeling adrift as an aging actress. First, she meets her love interest for the film, and he\u2019s not the dashing leading man<\/a> she may have hoped for. (She\u2019s paired with heavyset homosexual, Victor Buono. He becomes much more important in future episodes.) What really sends her over the edge though is seeing her daughter B.D. flirt with all the boys<\/a> in the crew.<\/p>\n When mother and daughter get home, B.D. lays into Bette with the kind of blunt-force dialogue that could spoil a whole scene if Sarandon didn\u2019t sell the punches so well. B.D. viciously rips into her mother about not aging gracefully or accepting that her time to shine was over, not just as an actress, but as a woman<\/a>.<\/p>\n The exchange leaves Davis seriously shook. It leads to yet another late-night call<\/a> to Aldrich, and the director speeds over. He assures her she\u2019s doing excellent work, and the two share a really tender evening openly discussing their fears and insecurities. Yes, it ends in sex<\/a>, but it\u2019s not manipulative, like Joan would do. It feels sincere.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t make it any easier to swallow when Aldrich creeps into bed just before his alarm goes off to start another day. His wife stares blankly ahead with her back turned to him, likely imagining which other woman<\/a> will come calling next.<\/p>\n Best Barbs:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cForget the little daily gifts, Lucille, I\u2019m going to be much too busy working to shop for anything in return.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Bette Davis<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t fool yourself, even you\u2019re not man<\/a> enough to satisfy two women<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0\u2014 Harriet to Bob Aldrich<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your name sweetheart?\u201d \u201cSylvia.\u201d \u201cF*ck off, Sylvia.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Bette Davis expertly dispatching a\u00a0reporter waiting outside the studio.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much ham up there I\u2019m going to have to go my rabbi this afternoon and atone.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Jack Warner watching\u00a0Baby Jane<\/em> dailies.<\/p>\n \u201cMs. Davis looks old enough to be my mother. One look at her face and you\u2019d think she hasn\u2019t had a happy day or night in her life.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Joan Crawford on-the-record with the gossip rags.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t like it because you can\u2019t wear one anymore.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 B.D. theorizing why Bette can\u2019t stand the song \u201cItsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini.\u201d<\/p>\n Round 2 goes to:<\/strong> Joan Crawford, again. She played Aldrich, she played Davis, she played Hedda. Bette is no slouch, but I\u2019m not sure she realizes the extent of Joan\u2019s cunning just yet. Ms. Crawford may be winning these manipulative battles, but Davis\u2019 tenacity and talent could be enough to win the war.<\/p>\n What did you think of last night\u2019s episode of Feud<\/em>?<\/p>\n The post Gossip Girls and The Men Who Love To See Them Hate Each Other On \u2018Feud: Bette and Joan\u2019 [RECAP]<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Feud:](\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/feud_102_00132r2-copy.jpg?resize=480%2C319\")
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