Feud (2017) s02e02 Episode Script
Ice Water in Their Veins
1
♪
[GRUNTS] That is that is so cold.
[NURSE] I know, Mrs. Paley,
but in a few minutes, you won't mind.
The body gets used to it.
How long until I start losing my hair?
Not everyone does.
I have to tell you, this is
much better than radiation.
That's so much harsher.
[BABE] You're hovering, Bill.
Can I get you another blanket?
No.
Uh, could you wait in that
little waiting area outside?
- Sure.
- Thank you.
Oh, Bill. Call Maria.
We have Amanda's kids
for dinner tonight.
They'll want her favorite,
chicken cacciatore.
And have Maria call Paul,
because they actually have
those San Marzano plum tomatoes.
And-and tell her to
set the breakfast nook
exactly like a pizza parlor
with the red and white
check tablecloths.
They'll like that.
You don't want me to cancel
the grandkids coming over?
No, of course not.
All right.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
[BILL] Plum tomatoes and, uh
[CRYING] She'll know what to do.
♪
[FLASHBULBS POPPING]
♪
♪
[JIMMY] My mother
my mother was so strong,
despite the, um
the unfairness of all of it.
And she taught me how
to hold onto strength,
even as a-a merciless
snake whispered lies
and fanciful distortions
that so many of you
whispered back to one another.
A whispering that became,
in fact, an actual murder,
not a made-up one by a vile
writer of fiction named Capote.
The only way she knew to find peace
Did nobody vet this?
was to murder herself.
[ORGAN PLAYING]
[RETCHING]
- [GRUNTS]
- [TOILET FLUSHES]
♪
[SLIM] I know that Bernini,
Faun Teased by Children.
It's worth whatever it
costs to have it at the Met.
Are you all right, darling?
You look slightly malarial.
Yes, it seems all the jungles
have finally caught up with me.
I'm just a little tired.
Let's enjoy our lunch, shall we?
You're "tired," Babe, because
you don't know what to do
in this atrocious situation.
[BABE] Please, can we not
actually discuss Truman now?
I was hoping for a pleasant
lunch with my friends.
Did he reach out to either of you?
Of course he has. I got a card today.
He's in Hollywood, acting.
"Acting" in some grotesque
little farce, Neil Simon,
but he'll try and slither back.
- He's insidious.
- [C.Z.] Lee, Slim,
Jesus, come on.
You heard Babe. Let's give it a rest.
Let's have a nice lunch,
get a really good bottle
of Pouilly-Fumé, and
go home and sleep it off.
It's important that we are unified,
because he's going to try to get in
through whomever is most vulnerable,
and that is Babe, because
he's closest to her.
So, if you don't want to deal with it,
- I'm sorry, but
- Was.
Was the closest.
[C.Z.] Oh, there's
always a silver lining.
We're still at the
best table in the place,
and we have each other.
Oh, C.Z., do you hear yourself?
It's like you're an apologist for him.
"We have each other"? Of course we do.
The reason we have the best table
is because we keep this place open.
C.Z., you of all people.
What? Do you think they come here
for the fucking salade niçoise?
They come because we do.
[LEE] Babe, look, friendships,
some of them, they run their courses.
Believe me. Even between
sisters, as you know.
And it hurts terribly when
a great friendship is lost,
especially between women, it hurts.
Sometimes far worse than failed romance.
For women, we have these friendships,
and they're our, um, armies, really.
- Mm.
- So you have to keep going,
because there is always
something different or better.
A better, different
friend in the future.
It's the misogyny.
Hatred of women, yes.
And maybe it's something
that gay men are prone to.
Maybe it's something that all
gay men actually think about us.
I never expected it from him.
It's the revulsion he writes from.
Truman loves women.
Don't get it twisted.
No. No, you did not
bear the brunt of it.
The revulsion he has for us, for me,
my foolishness at being duped.
And-and all of Bill's
lies being paraded out
for public consumption.
[EXHALES] Was I the only one
who read all the disgust in his story?
He finds us disgusting.
Babe, you are not the only one.
He did me dirty, too. But yes,
goddamn it, I saw that, too.
For instance, this image he provides
of menstruation as though
it were a medieval horror.
As if women's vaginas were hell gates.
[SLIM] Well, there's only one thing
to be done now.
I need your word.
We stand united and we destroy him.
- [LEE] Hmm.
- I need you all to promise
- not to waver.
- Oh, I'm in, honey.
If you go out,
you go out very, very ostensibly
with other homosexuals.
The men who would have been
second choice after Truman.
The evenings that Truman lives for.
No.
It's Bill. Bill Blass.
Charming, civil, witty,
knows everything you need.
Truman won't have anyone
to go to an opening with.
He'll be stuck at home
in that sad little apartment at the U.N.
Don't accept any more notes.
None of his words. No flowers.
Make sure he knows they are rejected.
Thank you.
And the phone calls,
they must be refused.
[LEE] Because he will
drink and he will call
and he will weep and he
will plead and he will beg
and he will simper.
C.Z., what?
I think it's cruel
and deliberately small.
C.Z., don't break ranks with us here.
Do you know, I sometimes feel
so tired of all of us,
of this
[LAUGHS SOFTLY] I could die.
Excuse me.
♪
♪
♪
♪
Yes, it's Truman Capote for Mrs. Paley.
Uh, yes, it's Truman
Capote again for Mrs. Paley.
Yes, yes, not available.
Well, please tell her I called.
Would you, really? It's important.
And please tell her
that I'm in California,
if she wants to know,
for the time difference,
at Joanne Carson's.
It's three hours later here.
Earlier. Earlier.
[PHONE CLATTERS]
♪
"You tricked your readers for years,
tortured us with surprise endings
that made no sense.
You've made it impossible
to guess who did it.
But now
the tables are turned.
And when the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
[P.A.] Mr. Capote?
They're ready for you.
Mm. Mm.
"And when the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
- [BELL RINGS]
- "When the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
"When the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
I am indeed Lionel Twain.
You have all been so clever for so long,
you've forgotten how to be humble.
You've tricked and fooled
your readers for years.
You tortured us all
with surprise endings
that made no sense.
You've introduced
♪
characters in the last five pages
that were never even in the book before.
You have
You
You have
withheld clues
and information, you
You have
withheld clues and information.
You have
You have
You have
You have hurt me.
All of you.
I did what I do.
What did you th
[HEART BEATING]
- Line?
- [PETER] Jesus.
Would you fucking cut, please, Robert?
- [ROBERT] Cut.
- [BELL RINGS]
- I'm sorry.
- You can write your lines on a board, mate.
I'm okay, thanks.
Mm.
Thank you. Thank
You need a doctor, Truman.
I'm okay, I'm okay.
Thank you. Are we going again?
[BELL RINGS]
[LINE RINGING]
[MARTHA] [OVER PHONE] Paley residence.
Martha, please, can you
just put me through to her?
- It's important.
- One moment.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
Martha.
- Can you help me put this on?
- Oh, yes.
Thank you.
Mr. Capote's on the phone.
Tell him I'm indisposed.
Mr. C.? I-I'm so sorry.
She's indisposed at the moment.
Please, can you just
tell her it's important?
I will tell her that.
Thank you. Goodbye.
[LINE CLICKS]
That piece looks so
beautiful on you, Mrs. Paley.
They love you so much
when the clock is ticking.
♪
[GRUNTS]
[GRUNTS]
♪
Dear Lord,
please turn this weakness into strength.
Allow me to trust in your goodness
and find hope in faithfulness,
even in the midst of this struggle.
[MUTTERS]
[EXHALES SHARPLY]
- Hello.
- How is she doing today?
- As could be expected.
- [LAUGHS SOFTLY]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Oh.
Thank you, darling.
[GASPS]
Jesus. Babe.
What the hell is all this?
It's sleight of hand
is what it is, Slim.
- [CHUCKLES]
- Do you know, all these pieces,
almost to a one, are gifts from
Bill after he cheated on me?
Well, the affairs don't
last, but the jewelry remains.
- [BOTH LAUGH]
- Come, sit, I want to show you.
Now, don't start trying
to give me this stuff.
- [SIGHS]
- You're going to need it all.
- No.
- I won't have it, Babe.
I can assure you,
trips to Sloan Kettering
don't require a six-figure ring.
- Look at it.
- Ugh.
- [SLIM] Oh, yeah.
- And it was made
exactly to Bill's
specifications, or so he claims.
I'm just
I'm just trying to be pragmatic.
It's called planning for the future.
Hmm?
Now, come on, look at
these. Don't you love them?
Please, just take some of them.
- Go on.
- No. Jesus, Babe.
I'm not playing this
goddamn scene with you.
Next summer, I'll be
beating the pants off you
at tennis on Long Island.
Now, stop it this minute
- or I'm leaving.
- [COUGHING]
Come on. Now, don't
pretend you don't want it.
- [SIGHS]
- That one. Go on. [LAUGHS]
[SLIM] Oh, the Verdura.
- [BABE] Mm-hmm.
- Jesus.
Just so I know, this one was
a mea culpa for which affair?
- Happy.
- Ah.
The ineptly named
first lady of New York.
Mrs. Happy Rockefeller.
Well. Hmm.
The only reason I'm taking it
is to flaunt it in front of her.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- [LAUGHS]
Aw.
This is the real jewel. Hmm?
- Us.
- Mm.
What our friendship is.
Men are so pathetic.
They can't even do this.
Hmm?
All they can do is buy their way
in and out of trouble.
- [GASPS]
- [MUSIC BOX PLAYING]
Truman gave me that.
It was a gift from Audrey Hepburn
when they made Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Don't start telling me about him.
We're not doing that today.
I miss him. It's hard.
I don't know how much
longer there is, and
you know the way we are, women, we
don't remember pain so much as we do
- the actual
- The good times?
- Yes.
- Ha.
I don't know where the fun is anymore,
and I don't know
I don't know what to do without it.
We just move on, Babe.
That's the fact of it.
Just keep moving, nothing to see here.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
You know, if one can do
what Truman did to us
and get away with it,
then nothing means anything.
And I won't live like that. No, sir.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
Hey, Slim. How you doing?
Have you taken your pills, darling?
[SIGHS] I don't need you reminding me,
for God's sake, Bill
Look, if you want to
make yourself useful,
why don't you sit down in the kitchen
with some of my recipes
and learn how to make
a simple meal like Welsh
rabbit so you can feed
your grandkids now and
then after I'm gone?
Before you find your next wife?
[EXHALES]
[COUGHING]
- Okay, listen.
- [GROANS]
Enough.
You've got to be strong, hmm?
- For him?
- No. Bill
Bill's your business. Truman.
He's back, and he's making
all sorts of chess moves
trying to get back in.
[SCOFFS]
I wonder what kind
of predator does this.
Because everything in
life is also in nature.
But I can't find a
correlation for Truman Capote.
Nothing in nature
pretends to love you and
then tries to eat you.
[LAUGHS] Nothing.
[SIGHS]
[TRUMAN] The fact of
it is, it's gonna be
a huge success, at least for
me and maybe Peter Sellers, too.
Mmm, Joanne Carson
saw some of the rushes
and she loves the movie.
She thinks it's gonna be a big hit.
C.Z., you have an odd expression
simply plastered on your face.
Is something wrong with the fish?
You seem angry at it.
It's you who's bugging me, frankly.
Ah, so, you, too, you're mad at me, too?
My God, it's just a book.
Just a book?
Those are your friends you splayed out
on those magazine pages.
I'm here with you, at least, Truman.
Yes, let's talk about it.
What you did was wrong in every respect.
I've tried to understand
what you could be thinking.
Can you possibly explain it?
Because it's fiction.
[LAUGHS] It's fiction?
You were too jaded to even
change some of the names
to protect the guilty.
It's asshole behavior. And you know it.
Why is it so fucking hard
for everyone to accept the
idea that society is filled
with secrets and lies and
allegiances and innuendos
and that was worth exposing?
What do they all think
I do, C.Z.? I write.
I am always listening.
It doesn't just drift
off into outer space.
I am recording,
because this is the way of our world.
And what about civility?
Respect for the people one loves?
Discretion? For God's sake, reciprocity?
- What about reciprocity?
- Well, dear,
I don't know if, as an artist,
I can live within the
same codes of good manners.
- Oh, Truman, don't give me that.
- I don't understand
why nobody is able to
look past the surface
and appreciate the writing itself,
which is accurate; it
is an accurate account.
Does it mean that I don't love them?
- The people that I
- No, Truman, there's no love in those pages.
All it is is a collection
of cruel scalpel cuts
without the benefit of anesthesia.
It may be that it is art and someday
it will be accepted as that.
But it seems too high
a price to pay for me.
And I can't understand how
it seems worth it to you.
I mean, is this what you wanted?
To be vilified? Banished?
No, of course not.
I miss Babe.
I am trying very hard
to reconstitute myself.
I am trying.
I'm drinking very little, I am
pulling myself back together,
and I keep trying to apologize,
but she won't take my calls.
Is there anything you can do?
Can you talk to her?
God, I worry about you, Truman.
I see you being so careless
with all these gifts,
let alone your life.
Not only your friendships, but talent.
Truman
Babe I don't know.
But I'll try.
I'll try.
♪
I don't know what to
do about Thanksgiving.
Can I come to you in Palm Beach, please?
God, you are such a child
sometimes, aren't you?
Oh, Truman, what a mess.
Of course you can fly down with
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
Oh, dear child.
Désolé.
You're gonna be in trouble now.
[BUTLER] Lady Keith is here.
I know.
I'm sorry to barge in
unannounced. [CHUCKLES]
Julie Canter asked me to look at
the Newbury property
down the road with her.
How is Mercury?
We're about to take him for a walk.
He's had a little hoof issue.
- Come with us?
- Yes, please.
Isn't Mercury a good horse?
Strong, loyal, never any surprises.
So unlike humans, aren't they?
Must be why we make them our friends.
All right, all right, all
right. Enough code, Slim.
- What did I do now?
- Lunch with the traitor.
Christ, the man is suffering.
Come on, Slim. Can we
please try and fix this?
You are such a good friend to people.
You really are.
You keep above the fray, don't you?
I admire that, I really do.
But I live in the fray.
And this is about Babe.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
- Okay?
Yes? You have something pithy to say?
I'm not sure how pithy it is, but
[SIGHS]
Man-to-man
There was a certain goddamn
truth to it all, wasn't there?
That's why everyone is so furious.
- Careful.
- Don't tell me to be careful
in my own allée, darling.
Truman was right about Bill Paley.
Sure, it wasn't his place
to splay it out in public,
- but he was right.
- Maybe.
Maybe there are strands of truth.
Of course I'm not going
to defend Bill Paley.
Nevertheless
Truman hurt Babe.
Our Babe, and that
is a line in whatever sand there is.
In any case, I really
came to deliver this.
It's from Babe. She
wants you to have it.
[C.Z.] Oh, God. The Verdura?
- Why?
- Because that's where we are now.
Do you get it?
She'd give it to you herself,
but she's too weak
to make the trip down.
Chemo is breaking her.
Oh, what are we going to do?
There's not a lot we can do.
But let me tell you one thing.
You can't have Truman for Thanksgiving.
I don't want to be angry at you.
It would take too
much out of both of us.
So don't have him. It can't be.
Let him eat Swanson's frozen
turkey dinner alone in Sagaponack.
["LET'S STICK TOGETHER"
BY BRYAN FERRY PLAYING]
[HUMMING ALONG]
[PHONE RINGING]
And now the marriage
vow is very sacred ♪
Capote residence, Petunia speaking.
[COUGHS, CLEARS THROAT]
Hello, Petunia, dear.
[TRUMAN] Ooh, you don't sound great,
but I'm making my famous
sugared almonds to bring down.
And they will,
along with a stiff toddy, cure anything.
Ow.
If I don't kill myself first. [CHUCKLES]
I've been dreaming about your turkey
and especially your crudités.
What is that sauce you do for them?
[C.Z.] Horseradish cream dip.
Crème fraîche and
horseradish. [CLEARS THROAT]
Well, it makes me feel like
a true WASP from Connecticut.
Mm.
Are we eating on the green majolica?
I'm afraid I have not-very-good news.
I can't shake this flu that
everyone seems to have.
[C.Z. CLEARS THROAT]
You canceling?
Well, there's nothing to be done.
- Okay, dear. - Okay,
sweetie, I've got to go.
The doctor just walked in.
- You get better, dear.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
[EXHALES]
[CHRIS] Dad, will you
please think about it?
It would be nice.
Maybe Mom would come. The
Plaza has a nice buffet.
Well, you don't have to have turkey.
Which is what I like
about that, you know?
There's prime rib.
Not everyone loves turkey, you know.
It doesn't have to be turkey.
I know. Be good, okay?
- Yeah.
- Bye.
Bye.
[FLASK TOP SPINNING OPEN]
Okay, you can go.
I want more time for us. For me.
- [DOOR OPENING]
- To kind of back up
and start over and get it right.
I can get it right, Nancy, if
you just give me some more time.
Oh, hi.
[DOOR CLOSES]
The writing on this show is so good.
I mean, Tennessee would be jealous.
The secret is, they all love each other,
no matter how badly they behave.
[JOHN] Thought you'd
be packing for Florida.
Florida's canceled, dear.
C.Z. has a dreadful cold,
which is Palm Beach for cold feet.
We're disinvited.
Joanne Carson's saving the day.
Pan Am to L.A. tomorrow night.
Truman, I'm spending
Thanksgiving with my kids.
[SMACKS LIPS] And who puts
carrots in Peking duck?
I'm not spending Thanksgiving with you.
The tragic irony is, if you
try to avoid the carrots,
pretty soon the dish is only carrots.
Truman, are you hearing me?
Why would your nuclear little family
want to have Thanksgiving with you?
They've moved on, baby.
There are no bittersweet
Thanksgiving buffet
dinners with pineapple cake
and crab dip in the Oak Room in
this episode of Family.
Want to know why?
Because nobody would believe
that the cocksucker banker
who walked out on his wife and kids
would be warmly welcomed back home
for them to pretend that
it was just a little crisis.
They know too much, baby.
They know that dear old Daddy is
just a third-rate suburban
faggot banker who sticks
his uncircumcised mick penis
into the glorious asshole
of America's greatest living author,
whom he's supposed to be managing,
- but he's really just
- [GRUNTS]
Who the fuck do you think
you're talking to, huh?
You look at me.
Don't you ever play a scene
like that again with me.
And you do not talk about my kids
like their name's on a
fucking page you're writing.
[QUIETLY] You like that, huh?
[DOOR OPENS, SLAMS CLOSED]
[DOORMAN] Mrs. Paley.
- Thank you.
- Of course.
Babe?
[BABE] Jack.
I know what you're here to ask.
He's in very bad shape without you.
Can you just ?
Please, let me come
inside so we can talk.
He's not good.
I found him beaten up.
I went over there. The,
uh, bank guy, he's just
Jack.
[JACK] It's like a death dance, Babe.
He needs absolution.
[SIGHS SOFTLY]
Well, I'm no minister, I'm not like you.
My contract with him
isn't the same as yours.
Yours is longer and deeper.
Which he did not care about when
When what, what, when he,
when he wrote about you?
It wasn't about you. It
was entirely about him.
There is something in him
that sees the way that
humans behave, like
astronomers see constellations.
It's this-this is his reflex.
[SCOFFS] The argument
that genius is an excuse.
Of course not. No. No.
But if some part of you still wants to,
you would be saving him.
Actually saving what
is left of his life.
- He has to save himself.
- No.
You are his only chance.
Nothing I say makes any difference.
I'm just watching him
being eaten up by
A cancer? [SCOFFS SOFTLY]
Why do you keep coming back, Jack?
Do you think you're strong
enough to survive him?
How much has he taken from you?
♪
[STUBS OUT CIGARETTE]
Take care of yourself, Jack.
[BRAKES SQUEALING]
[TRUMAN SIGHS]
John, this is tiresome.
Can we please call a truce?
Thanksgiving is the one
holiday I love unconditionally.
You don't love anything
unconditionally, Truman.
[GRUNTS]
I need a minute.
Thank you.
[JOANNE] Hi, honey.
Oh, hi. I come bearing gifts.
Ooh, gracias.
Thank you, thank you.
- Happy Thanksgiving.
- Mwah, mwah.
Why is your friend sitting in the car?
John wants me to buy
him a house in Malibu.
Little Prince Pauper is pouting.
Once he realizes there's a
Manhattan waiting for him,
- he'll come in.
- [CHUCKLING]
- When's dinner?
- In an hour.
But there's lots of
snacky, drinky things.
- Mm.
- I hope you like nachos and tamales.
- Ooh, I love them.
- Do you know what that is?
[CHUCKLING]
[FESTIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
I'll drop these bags off in the kitchen.
♪
Oh.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Oh, hi.
[LAUGHING] Ah.
Mm-hmm.
[JOANNE] Truman, come in, come in.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪
♪
♪
[GONG CLANGING]
♪
Mm.
I am so grateful
that all of us have each other.
To have friendship.
To have people with
one whom can share life.
A life.
This year I think it's Slim's turn
to say the Thanksgiving prayer.
Should we hold hands?
[JOANNE] Blessed be the hands
that helped prepare this meal.
May those hands and
ours and bodies, too,
be well and quick to heal.
Thank you, Lord God, for
this food we are about to eat.
[JOANNE] Blessed be
our friends and family,
and all of our loved ones.
Blessed be our Mother Earth
and Father Sky and sun.
[SLIM] Thank you for the
hands that prepared it
and for those seated around the table
who are here to share it.
And for the ability to be
here together under one roof
and enjoy these blessings at your hand.
[JOANNE] This food was born of
the bounty of this
Earth in warm sunlight,
rich earth, and cool rain.
May it nourish us in body and mind,
and provide us with all
things good and living.
We also thank you for what
we don't have this year.
For we trust that you have withheld
out of your goodness
and in your divine protection of us.
- Amen.
- [GUESTS] Amen.
- [BILL] Amen.
- [JOANNE] Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
Well, I prefer a more, uh,
Long Island kind of traditional prayer,
- but okay.
- [JOANNE] Who's gonna carve the turkey?
[JOHN] I can carve it.
[GROANS] Excuse me.
[GRUNTING] Oh, come on, come on.
[TRUMAN] Don't mind John. He
He's pretending it's
me. [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- [JOHN] All right.
- [TRUMAN] I'm gonna get another
actual drink-drink. [CHUCKLES]
[JOANNE] Oh, easy, easy.
Oh, how I love the
emptiest room at a party.
I'd like a screwdriver,
please, dear boy.
- Mr. Capote. Sure thing.
- [CHUCKLES]
Happy Thanksgiving. Carlos, is it?
Close enough.
I think I think you
had the last of the vodka.
- Mm.
- I'll be right back.
There's another bottle somewhere.
Promise, because I am rather desperate.
[CHUCKLES] If there isn't,
could you run down the hill
and where's wherever's
open, bring back the good stuff?
And there's for your troubles, Diego.
Oh, it's not Carlos.
My God. It's Diego.
I'll make it work out.
[SIGHS]
[BOTTLE CLATTERING]
[HUMMING]
[FEMALE VOICE] Zip me up, Tru.
So, son
you got fat, didn't you?
God, and you were so,
you were so, so beautiful.
Too beautiful.
A normal boy would
have outgrown the beauty
and hardened.
But you
You got soft.
- And the booze
- [BOTTLE CLINKS]
Christ.
It's all in the blood, Mother.
It's in the blood.
And it ran in the Faulks, didn't it?
You really can let go, dear.
You've done the work.
You did it,
and you did it all for me.
So you can let go.
What did I do for you, exactly?
- You avenged me, of course.
- Did I?
I wasn't aware.
All those people I wanted to be part of,
all those people that
had no time for me.
Those
women of New York society
who would have no part of me.
Just like your swans.
You knew how I felt.
Southern
Odd.
A little trashy.
A spectacle.
- Mm.
- Just like you did. [SCOFFS]
So you took them out, didn't you, hmm?
And you did it so brilliantly,
with such [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
surgical precision.
With so much [KISSES] deep hatred.
So
What now, Mother?
I think it's time for
you to join me, isn't it?
Come on.
Let me be your mother again.
Truman,
where I am and where you are going
A mother can be a very important guide.
[CHUCKLING SOFTLY]
Come on, darling.
You're almost there already.
Poor little heart is encased in fat,
and your liver is riddled with
cirrhosis.
In this pocket, you have Halcion.
[CHUCKLES]
In a little Tiffany pill
box that Babe gave you
with all the phenobarbitals
and the pretty pastel little Valium.
- Just jiggling around in there
- [PILLS RATTLE]
And the vodka, oh, my God!
[BOTH LAUGHING]
Oh, my God.
You could go right now.
Go to that little guest room
here that you love so much.
Just lie down under that piñata.
That Day of the Dead piñata.
Have your own little Day
of the Dead celebration.
Hmm?
No.
You may be real, you may be ghost.
You may be risen from the grave,
Mother, but I am not ready.
I am not on your schedule.
I still have a masterpiece to finish.
And they're waiting
for it. They're waiting.
So I'm not going anywhere.
With you.
[SIGHS]
Hmm.
♪
- [DIEGO] Mr. Capote?
- Hmm?
Your screwdriver, Mr. Capote.
[SCOFFS]
Thank you, Diego.
Oh, Babe, how come I
can't get the lighting
as soft as in your
dining room on the island?
[BABE] You need to find
these soft pink bulbs.
I use them in every lamp everywhere now.
And they come in three
variations: 50, 100, 150
C.Z., they make such a difference.
[CHUCKLES] How are
you doing, my darling?
Oh, you know, actually, I'm good,
if you can be good in this state.
Bill has actually become
a best friend to me.
He barely goes into the office
for more than a few hours a day.
He wants to be with me.
And he's insisted on being
at the treatments with me.
All of them.
[MUFFLED CHATTER]
So this is a little bit what
peace looks like, I suppose.
But
I really miss him.
Truman.
I wonder where he is today.
He loved being with us on Thanksgiving.
He said it made him feel wanted.
Well, he must have wanted this.
To be cast out.
He must have wanted to not be loved.
Oh, I don't think that's true.
I think he just misjudged the
Extent to which we loved him.
You mean he thought we loved him so much
- that we'd forgive him?
- No.
He misjudged exactly
how much we loved him
and how much he could hurt us.
Only real love can
wound you the way he did.
[JOHN] Yeah, I'm moody,
Truman, 'cause I'm stuck
in this house,
at this rat fuck of
a Thanksgiving dinner,
and goddamn Mexican shit
all over the fucking walls.
Oh, please, you were dying there.
Enough of the sob story
about what you left
in that little ticky-tacky
house on Long Island.
That little box.
The only thing saving you were
your frequent trips to the baths
where you swung that enormous
horse cock of yours at anyone.
Oh, you should see it. Why
don't you show everyone?
It's more interesting
than anything that comes
out of your mouth.
Anyone, anyone he thought
might save him from
another trip back home
- on the Long Island
- [BANGS TABLE]
No, don't talk about my family!
My mother loved Thanksgiving.
Don't talk to me about
your Thanksgiving.
It was our day.
And I wrote the perfect
expression of it.
I wrote "A Thanksgiving Visitor,"
for God's sake.
How dare you mope on my day?
My favorite day!
It's, "Where's my daughter?"
- Don't, motherfucker!
- "Buy me a house."
- [GRUNTING]
- [GUESTS SCREAM]
[JOANNE] No!
- Stop!
- [RODDY] Enough!
Enough, enough.
[CLAMORING]
Get the fuck off me!
- Get the fuck off me.
- [GUESTS GASPING]
- [JOANNE] Are you okay?
- [RODDY] Truman, are you all right?
Here. Here's some ice.
John, how could you?
On this day, of all days!
Oh, Truman, honey, put some ice on it.
Ow.
Well, baby doll,
vodka stings more than your fists, baby.
Yeah? [SPITS]
Oh. Get out!
Just get out!
What's wrong with him?
[WINCES]
Joanne, I'm gonna have
to get away from this man
or he's gonna kill me.
Oh, call a doctor.
[SOBS]
[LINE RINGING]
- [BABE] Hello?
- [JACK] Babe, don't hang up on me, please.
I wasn't gonna call you again.
And don't imagine that I enjoy pleading.
It's just it's not
really, uh, my nature.
There was some violence
again on Thanksgiving in L.A.
And then when they got back,
he put Truman in the hospital.
[BABE] How bad is it?
[JACK] I just got him home with a nurse.
How long is it gonna take
for him to get better?
He's pretty banged up.
He could have died this time, Babe.
[NURSE] But he's not
in any pain right now.
He can't feel a thing.
[JACK] Christ, do you want him to die?
Is that what you think
he actually deserves?
[BABE] And you want me to lie
- and say, "I forgive you"?
- Well
it needn't be a lie, Babe, really.
That's up to you.
But you see, Jack, I don't.
I don't forgive him.
[LINE CLICKS]
[BILL] Maybe you should go to him.
And have him be my second husband again?
No. No, Bill.
I want what we have, you and
I, not what I had with him.
You think I don't miss it?
Well, it's gone.
And this is what is now.
♪
♪
[GRUNTS] That is that is so cold.
[NURSE] I know, Mrs. Paley,
but in a few minutes, you won't mind.
The body gets used to it.
How long until I start losing my hair?
Not everyone does.
I have to tell you, this is
much better than radiation.
That's so much harsher.
[BABE] You're hovering, Bill.
Can I get you another blanket?
No.
Uh, could you wait in that
little waiting area outside?
- Sure.
- Thank you.
Oh, Bill. Call Maria.
We have Amanda's kids
for dinner tonight.
They'll want her favorite,
chicken cacciatore.
And have Maria call Paul,
because they actually have
those San Marzano plum tomatoes.
And-and tell her to
set the breakfast nook
exactly like a pizza parlor
with the red and white
check tablecloths.
They'll like that.
You don't want me to cancel
the grandkids coming over?
No, of course not.
All right.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
[BILL] Plum tomatoes and, uh
[CRYING] She'll know what to do.
♪
[FLASHBULBS POPPING]
♪
♪
[JIMMY] My mother
my mother was so strong,
despite the, um
the unfairness of all of it.
And she taught me how
to hold onto strength,
even as a-a merciless
snake whispered lies
and fanciful distortions
that so many of you
whispered back to one another.
A whispering that became,
in fact, an actual murder,
not a made-up one by a vile
writer of fiction named Capote.
The only way she knew to find peace
Did nobody vet this?
was to murder herself.
[ORGAN PLAYING]
[RETCHING]
- [GRUNTS]
- [TOILET FLUSHES]
♪
[SLIM] I know that Bernini,
Faun Teased by Children.
It's worth whatever it
costs to have it at the Met.
Are you all right, darling?
You look slightly malarial.
Yes, it seems all the jungles
have finally caught up with me.
I'm just a little tired.
Let's enjoy our lunch, shall we?
You're "tired," Babe, because
you don't know what to do
in this atrocious situation.
[BABE] Please, can we not
actually discuss Truman now?
I was hoping for a pleasant
lunch with my friends.
Did he reach out to either of you?
Of course he has. I got a card today.
He's in Hollywood, acting.
"Acting" in some grotesque
little farce, Neil Simon,
but he'll try and slither back.
- He's insidious.
- [C.Z.] Lee, Slim,
Jesus, come on.
You heard Babe. Let's give it a rest.
Let's have a nice lunch,
get a really good bottle
of Pouilly-Fumé, and
go home and sleep it off.
It's important that we are unified,
because he's going to try to get in
through whomever is most vulnerable,
and that is Babe, because
he's closest to her.
So, if you don't want to deal with it,
- I'm sorry, but
- Was.
Was the closest.
[C.Z.] Oh, there's
always a silver lining.
We're still at the
best table in the place,
and we have each other.
Oh, C.Z., do you hear yourself?
It's like you're an apologist for him.
"We have each other"? Of course we do.
The reason we have the best table
is because we keep this place open.
C.Z., you of all people.
What? Do you think they come here
for the fucking salade niçoise?
They come because we do.
[LEE] Babe, look, friendships,
some of them, they run their courses.
Believe me. Even between
sisters, as you know.
And it hurts terribly when
a great friendship is lost,
especially between women, it hurts.
Sometimes far worse than failed romance.
For women, we have these friendships,
and they're our, um, armies, really.
- Mm.
- So you have to keep going,
because there is always
something different or better.
A better, different
friend in the future.
It's the misogyny.
Hatred of women, yes.
And maybe it's something
that gay men are prone to.
Maybe it's something that all
gay men actually think about us.
I never expected it from him.
It's the revulsion he writes from.
Truman loves women.
Don't get it twisted.
No. No, you did not
bear the brunt of it.
The revulsion he has for us, for me,
my foolishness at being duped.
And-and all of Bill's
lies being paraded out
for public consumption.
[EXHALES] Was I the only one
who read all the disgust in his story?
He finds us disgusting.
Babe, you are not the only one.
He did me dirty, too. But yes,
goddamn it, I saw that, too.
For instance, this image he provides
of menstruation as though
it were a medieval horror.
As if women's vaginas were hell gates.
[SLIM] Well, there's only one thing
to be done now.
I need your word.
We stand united and we destroy him.
- [LEE] Hmm.
- I need you all to promise
- not to waver.
- Oh, I'm in, honey.
If you go out,
you go out very, very ostensibly
with other homosexuals.
The men who would have been
second choice after Truman.
The evenings that Truman lives for.
No.
It's Bill. Bill Blass.
Charming, civil, witty,
knows everything you need.
Truman won't have anyone
to go to an opening with.
He'll be stuck at home
in that sad little apartment at the U.N.
Don't accept any more notes.
None of his words. No flowers.
Make sure he knows they are rejected.
Thank you.
And the phone calls,
they must be refused.
[LEE] Because he will
drink and he will call
and he will weep and he
will plead and he will beg
and he will simper.
C.Z., what?
I think it's cruel
and deliberately small.
C.Z., don't break ranks with us here.
Do you know, I sometimes feel
so tired of all of us,
of this
[LAUGHS SOFTLY] I could die.
Excuse me.
♪
♪
♪
♪
Yes, it's Truman Capote for Mrs. Paley.
Uh, yes, it's Truman
Capote again for Mrs. Paley.
Yes, yes, not available.
Well, please tell her I called.
Would you, really? It's important.
And please tell her
that I'm in California,
if she wants to know,
for the time difference,
at Joanne Carson's.
It's three hours later here.
Earlier. Earlier.
[PHONE CLATTERS]
♪
"You tricked your readers for years,
tortured us with surprise endings
that made no sense.
You've made it impossible
to guess who did it.
But now
the tables are turned.
And when the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
[P.A.] Mr. Capote?
They're ready for you.
Mm. Mm.
"And when the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
- [BELL RINGS]
- "When the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
"When the world learns
I've outsmarted you "
I am indeed Lionel Twain.
You have all been so clever for so long,
you've forgotten how to be humble.
You've tricked and fooled
your readers for years.
You tortured us all
with surprise endings
that made no sense.
You've introduced
♪
characters in the last five pages
that were never even in the book before.
You have
You
You have
withheld clues
and information, you
You have
withheld clues and information.
You have
You have
You have
You have hurt me.
All of you.
I did what I do.
What did you th
[HEART BEATING]
- Line?
- [PETER] Jesus.
Would you fucking cut, please, Robert?
- [ROBERT] Cut.
- [BELL RINGS]
- I'm sorry.
- You can write your lines on a board, mate.
I'm okay, thanks.
Mm.
Thank you. Thank
You need a doctor, Truman.
I'm okay, I'm okay.
Thank you. Are we going again?
[BELL RINGS]
[LINE RINGING]
[MARTHA] [OVER PHONE] Paley residence.
Martha, please, can you
just put me through to her?
- It's important.
- One moment.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
Martha.
- Can you help me put this on?
- Oh, yes.
Thank you.
Mr. Capote's on the phone.
Tell him I'm indisposed.
Mr. C.? I-I'm so sorry.
She's indisposed at the moment.
Please, can you just
tell her it's important?
I will tell her that.
Thank you. Goodbye.
[LINE CLICKS]
That piece looks so
beautiful on you, Mrs. Paley.
They love you so much
when the clock is ticking.
♪
[GRUNTS]
[GRUNTS]
♪
Dear Lord,
please turn this weakness into strength.
Allow me to trust in your goodness
and find hope in faithfulness,
even in the midst of this struggle.
[MUTTERS]
[EXHALES SHARPLY]
- Hello.
- How is she doing today?
- As could be expected.
- [LAUGHS SOFTLY]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Oh.
Thank you, darling.
[GASPS]
Jesus. Babe.
What the hell is all this?
It's sleight of hand
is what it is, Slim.
- [CHUCKLES]
- Do you know, all these pieces,
almost to a one, are gifts from
Bill after he cheated on me?
Well, the affairs don't
last, but the jewelry remains.
- [BOTH LAUGH]
- Come, sit, I want to show you.
Now, don't start trying
to give me this stuff.
- [SIGHS]
- You're going to need it all.
- No.
- I won't have it, Babe.
I can assure you,
trips to Sloan Kettering
don't require a six-figure ring.
- Look at it.
- Ugh.
- [SLIM] Oh, yeah.
- And it was made
exactly to Bill's
specifications, or so he claims.
I'm just
I'm just trying to be pragmatic.
It's called planning for the future.
Hmm?
Now, come on, look at
these. Don't you love them?
Please, just take some of them.
- Go on.
- No. Jesus, Babe.
I'm not playing this
goddamn scene with you.
Next summer, I'll be
beating the pants off you
at tennis on Long Island.
Now, stop it this minute
- or I'm leaving.
- [COUGHING]
Come on. Now, don't
pretend you don't want it.
- [SIGHS]
- That one. Go on. [LAUGHS]
[SLIM] Oh, the Verdura.
- [BABE] Mm-hmm.
- Jesus.
Just so I know, this one was
a mea culpa for which affair?
- Happy.
- Ah.
The ineptly named
first lady of New York.
Mrs. Happy Rockefeller.
Well. Hmm.
The only reason I'm taking it
is to flaunt it in front of her.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- [LAUGHS]
Aw.
This is the real jewel. Hmm?
- Us.
- Mm.
What our friendship is.
Men are so pathetic.
They can't even do this.
Hmm?
All they can do is buy their way
in and out of trouble.
- [GASPS]
- [MUSIC BOX PLAYING]
Truman gave me that.
It was a gift from Audrey Hepburn
when they made Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Don't start telling me about him.
We're not doing that today.
I miss him. It's hard.
I don't know how much
longer there is, and
you know the way we are, women, we
don't remember pain so much as we do
- the actual
- The good times?
- Yes.
- Ha.
I don't know where the fun is anymore,
and I don't know
I don't know what to do without it.
We just move on, Babe.
That's the fact of it.
Just keep moving, nothing to see here.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
You know, if one can do
what Truman did to us
and get away with it,
then nothing means anything.
And I won't live like that. No, sir.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
Hey, Slim. How you doing?
Have you taken your pills, darling?
[SIGHS] I don't need you reminding me,
for God's sake, Bill
Look, if you want to
make yourself useful,
why don't you sit down in the kitchen
with some of my recipes
and learn how to make
a simple meal like Welsh
rabbit so you can feed
your grandkids now and
then after I'm gone?
Before you find your next wife?
[EXHALES]
[COUGHING]
- Okay, listen.
- [GROANS]
Enough.
You've got to be strong, hmm?
- For him?
- No. Bill
Bill's your business. Truman.
He's back, and he's making
all sorts of chess moves
trying to get back in.
[SCOFFS]
I wonder what kind
of predator does this.
Because everything in
life is also in nature.
But I can't find a
correlation for Truman Capote.
Nothing in nature
pretends to love you and
then tries to eat you.
[LAUGHS] Nothing.
[SIGHS]
[TRUMAN] The fact of
it is, it's gonna be
a huge success, at least for
me and maybe Peter Sellers, too.
Mmm, Joanne Carson
saw some of the rushes
and she loves the movie.
She thinks it's gonna be a big hit.
C.Z., you have an odd expression
simply plastered on your face.
Is something wrong with the fish?
You seem angry at it.
It's you who's bugging me, frankly.
Ah, so, you, too, you're mad at me, too?
My God, it's just a book.
Just a book?
Those are your friends you splayed out
on those magazine pages.
I'm here with you, at least, Truman.
Yes, let's talk about it.
What you did was wrong in every respect.
I've tried to understand
what you could be thinking.
Can you possibly explain it?
Because it's fiction.
[LAUGHS] It's fiction?
You were too jaded to even
change some of the names
to protect the guilty.
It's asshole behavior. And you know it.
Why is it so fucking hard
for everyone to accept the
idea that society is filled
with secrets and lies and
allegiances and innuendos
and that was worth exposing?
What do they all think
I do, C.Z.? I write.
I am always listening.
It doesn't just drift
off into outer space.
I am recording,
because this is the way of our world.
And what about civility?
Respect for the people one loves?
Discretion? For God's sake, reciprocity?
- What about reciprocity?
- Well, dear,
I don't know if, as an artist,
I can live within the
same codes of good manners.
- Oh, Truman, don't give me that.
- I don't understand
why nobody is able to
look past the surface
and appreciate the writing itself,
which is accurate; it
is an accurate account.
Does it mean that I don't love them?
- The people that I
- No, Truman, there's no love in those pages.
All it is is a collection
of cruel scalpel cuts
without the benefit of anesthesia.
It may be that it is art and someday
it will be accepted as that.
But it seems too high
a price to pay for me.
And I can't understand how
it seems worth it to you.
I mean, is this what you wanted?
To be vilified? Banished?
No, of course not.
I miss Babe.
I am trying very hard
to reconstitute myself.
I am trying.
I'm drinking very little, I am
pulling myself back together,
and I keep trying to apologize,
but she won't take my calls.
Is there anything you can do?
Can you talk to her?
God, I worry about you, Truman.
I see you being so careless
with all these gifts,
let alone your life.
Not only your friendships, but talent.
Truman
Babe I don't know.
But I'll try.
I'll try.
♪
I don't know what to
do about Thanksgiving.
Can I come to you in Palm Beach, please?
God, you are such a child
sometimes, aren't you?
Oh, Truman, what a mess.
Of course you can fly down with
[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
Oh, dear child.
Désolé.
You're gonna be in trouble now.
[BUTLER] Lady Keith is here.
I know.
I'm sorry to barge in
unannounced. [CHUCKLES]
Julie Canter asked me to look at
the Newbury property
down the road with her.
How is Mercury?
We're about to take him for a walk.
He's had a little hoof issue.
- Come with us?
- Yes, please.
Isn't Mercury a good horse?
Strong, loyal, never any surprises.
So unlike humans, aren't they?
Must be why we make them our friends.
All right, all right, all
right. Enough code, Slim.
- What did I do now?
- Lunch with the traitor.
Christ, the man is suffering.
Come on, Slim. Can we
please try and fix this?
You are such a good friend to people.
You really are.
You keep above the fray, don't you?
I admire that, I really do.
But I live in the fray.
And this is about Babe.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
- Okay?
Yes? You have something pithy to say?
I'm not sure how pithy it is, but
[SIGHS]
Man-to-man
There was a certain goddamn
truth to it all, wasn't there?
That's why everyone is so furious.
- Careful.
- Don't tell me to be careful
in my own allée, darling.
Truman was right about Bill Paley.
Sure, it wasn't his place
to splay it out in public,
- but he was right.
- Maybe.
Maybe there are strands of truth.
Of course I'm not going
to defend Bill Paley.
Nevertheless
Truman hurt Babe.
Our Babe, and that
is a line in whatever sand there is.
In any case, I really
came to deliver this.
It's from Babe. She
wants you to have it.
[C.Z.] Oh, God. The Verdura?
- Why?
- Because that's where we are now.
Do you get it?
She'd give it to you herself,
but she's too weak
to make the trip down.
Chemo is breaking her.
Oh, what are we going to do?
There's not a lot we can do.
But let me tell you one thing.
You can't have Truman for Thanksgiving.
I don't want to be angry at you.
It would take too
much out of both of us.
So don't have him. It can't be.
Let him eat Swanson's frozen
turkey dinner alone in Sagaponack.
["LET'S STICK TOGETHER"
BY BRYAN FERRY PLAYING]
[HUMMING ALONG]
[PHONE RINGING]
And now the marriage
vow is very sacred ♪
Capote residence, Petunia speaking.
[COUGHS, CLEARS THROAT]
Hello, Petunia, dear.
[TRUMAN] Ooh, you don't sound great,
but I'm making my famous
sugared almonds to bring down.
And they will,
along with a stiff toddy, cure anything.
Ow.
If I don't kill myself first. [CHUCKLES]
I've been dreaming about your turkey
and especially your crudités.
What is that sauce you do for them?
[C.Z.] Horseradish cream dip.
Crème fraîche and
horseradish. [CLEARS THROAT]
Well, it makes me feel like
a true WASP from Connecticut.
Mm.
Are we eating on the green majolica?
I'm afraid I have not-very-good news.
I can't shake this flu that
everyone seems to have.
[C.Z. CLEARS THROAT]
You canceling?
Well, there's nothing to be done.
- Okay, dear. - Okay,
sweetie, I've got to go.
The doctor just walked in.
- You get better, dear.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
[EXHALES]
[CHRIS] Dad, will you
please think about it?
It would be nice.
Maybe Mom would come. The
Plaza has a nice buffet.
Well, you don't have to have turkey.
Which is what I like
about that, you know?
There's prime rib.
Not everyone loves turkey, you know.
It doesn't have to be turkey.
I know. Be good, okay?
- Yeah.
- Bye.
Bye.
[FLASK TOP SPINNING OPEN]
Okay, you can go.
I want more time for us. For me.
- [DOOR OPENING]
- To kind of back up
and start over and get it right.
I can get it right, Nancy, if
you just give me some more time.
Oh, hi.
[DOOR CLOSES]
The writing on this show is so good.
I mean, Tennessee would be jealous.
The secret is, they all love each other,
no matter how badly they behave.
[JOHN] Thought you'd
be packing for Florida.
Florida's canceled, dear.
C.Z. has a dreadful cold,
which is Palm Beach for cold feet.
We're disinvited.
Joanne Carson's saving the day.
Pan Am to L.A. tomorrow night.
Truman, I'm spending
Thanksgiving with my kids.
[SMACKS LIPS] And who puts
carrots in Peking duck?
I'm not spending Thanksgiving with you.
The tragic irony is, if you
try to avoid the carrots,
pretty soon the dish is only carrots.
Truman, are you hearing me?
Why would your nuclear little family
want to have Thanksgiving with you?
They've moved on, baby.
There are no bittersweet
Thanksgiving buffet
dinners with pineapple cake
and crab dip in the Oak Room in
this episode of Family.
Want to know why?
Because nobody would believe
that the cocksucker banker
who walked out on his wife and kids
would be warmly welcomed back home
for them to pretend that
it was just a little crisis.
They know too much, baby.
They know that dear old Daddy is
just a third-rate suburban
faggot banker who sticks
his uncircumcised mick penis
into the glorious asshole
of America's greatest living author,
whom he's supposed to be managing,
- but he's really just
- [GRUNTS]
Who the fuck do you think
you're talking to, huh?
You look at me.
Don't you ever play a scene
like that again with me.
And you do not talk about my kids
like their name's on a
fucking page you're writing.
[QUIETLY] You like that, huh?
[DOOR OPENS, SLAMS CLOSED]
[DOORMAN] Mrs. Paley.
- Thank you.
- Of course.
Babe?
[BABE] Jack.
I know what you're here to ask.
He's in very bad shape without you.
Can you just ?
Please, let me come
inside so we can talk.
He's not good.
I found him beaten up.
I went over there. The,
uh, bank guy, he's just
Jack.
[JACK] It's like a death dance, Babe.
He needs absolution.
[SIGHS SOFTLY]
Well, I'm no minister, I'm not like you.
My contract with him
isn't the same as yours.
Yours is longer and deeper.
Which he did not care about when
When what, what, when he,
when he wrote about you?
It wasn't about you. It
was entirely about him.
There is something in him
that sees the way that
humans behave, like
astronomers see constellations.
It's this-this is his reflex.
[SCOFFS] The argument
that genius is an excuse.
Of course not. No. No.
But if some part of you still wants to,
you would be saving him.
Actually saving what
is left of his life.
- He has to save himself.
- No.
You are his only chance.
Nothing I say makes any difference.
I'm just watching him
being eaten up by
A cancer? [SCOFFS SOFTLY]
Why do you keep coming back, Jack?
Do you think you're strong
enough to survive him?
How much has he taken from you?
♪
[STUBS OUT CIGARETTE]
Take care of yourself, Jack.
[BRAKES SQUEALING]
[TRUMAN SIGHS]
John, this is tiresome.
Can we please call a truce?
Thanksgiving is the one
holiday I love unconditionally.
You don't love anything
unconditionally, Truman.
[GRUNTS]
I need a minute.
Thank you.
[JOANNE] Hi, honey.
Oh, hi. I come bearing gifts.
Ooh, gracias.
Thank you, thank you.
- Happy Thanksgiving.
- Mwah, mwah.
Why is your friend sitting in the car?
John wants me to buy
him a house in Malibu.
Little Prince Pauper is pouting.
Once he realizes there's a
Manhattan waiting for him,
- he'll come in.
- [CHUCKLING]
- When's dinner?
- In an hour.
But there's lots of
snacky, drinky things.
- Mm.
- I hope you like nachos and tamales.
- Ooh, I love them.
- Do you know what that is?
[CHUCKLING]
[FESTIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
I'll drop these bags off in the kitchen.
♪
Oh.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Oh, hi.
[LAUGHING] Ah.
Mm-hmm.
[JOANNE] Truman, come in, come in.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪
♪
♪
[GONG CLANGING]
♪
Mm.
I am so grateful
that all of us have each other.
To have friendship.
To have people with
one whom can share life.
A life.
This year I think it's Slim's turn
to say the Thanksgiving prayer.
Should we hold hands?
[JOANNE] Blessed be the hands
that helped prepare this meal.
May those hands and
ours and bodies, too,
be well and quick to heal.
Thank you, Lord God, for
this food we are about to eat.
[JOANNE] Blessed be
our friends and family,
and all of our loved ones.
Blessed be our Mother Earth
and Father Sky and sun.
[SLIM] Thank you for the
hands that prepared it
and for those seated around the table
who are here to share it.
And for the ability to be
here together under one roof
and enjoy these blessings at your hand.
[JOANNE] This food was born of
the bounty of this
Earth in warm sunlight,
rich earth, and cool rain.
May it nourish us in body and mind,
and provide us with all
things good and living.
We also thank you for what
we don't have this year.
For we trust that you have withheld
out of your goodness
and in your divine protection of us.
- Amen.
- [GUESTS] Amen.
- [BILL] Amen.
- [JOANNE] Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
Well, I prefer a more, uh,
Long Island kind of traditional prayer,
- but okay.
- [JOANNE] Who's gonna carve the turkey?
[JOHN] I can carve it.
[GROANS] Excuse me.
[GRUNTING] Oh, come on, come on.
[TRUMAN] Don't mind John. He
He's pretending it's
me. [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- [JOHN] All right.
- [TRUMAN] I'm gonna get another
actual drink-drink. [CHUCKLES]
[JOANNE] Oh, easy, easy.
Oh, how I love the
emptiest room at a party.
I'd like a screwdriver,
please, dear boy.
- Mr. Capote. Sure thing.
- [CHUCKLES]
Happy Thanksgiving. Carlos, is it?
Close enough.
I think I think you
had the last of the vodka.
- Mm.
- I'll be right back.
There's another bottle somewhere.
Promise, because I am rather desperate.
[CHUCKLES] If there isn't,
could you run down the hill
and where's wherever's
open, bring back the good stuff?
And there's for your troubles, Diego.
Oh, it's not Carlos.
My God. It's Diego.
I'll make it work out.
[SIGHS]
[BOTTLE CLATTERING]
[HUMMING]
[FEMALE VOICE] Zip me up, Tru.
So, son
you got fat, didn't you?
God, and you were so,
you were so, so beautiful.
Too beautiful.
A normal boy would
have outgrown the beauty
and hardened.
But you
You got soft.
- And the booze
- [BOTTLE CLINKS]
Christ.
It's all in the blood, Mother.
It's in the blood.
And it ran in the Faulks, didn't it?
You really can let go, dear.
You've done the work.
You did it,
and you did it all for me.
So you can let go.
What did I do for you, exactly?
- You avenged me, of course.
- Did I?
I wasn't aware.
All those people I wanted to be part of,
all those people that
had no time for me.
Those
women of New York society
who would have no part of me.
Just like your swans.
You knew how I felt.
Southern
Odd.
A little trashy.
A spectacle.
- Mm.
- Just like you did. [SCOFFS]
So you took them out, didn't you, hmm?
And you did it so brilliantly,
with such [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
surgical precision.
With so much [KISSES] deep hatred.
So
What now, Mother?
I think it's time for
you to join me, isn't it?
Come on.
Let me be your mother again.
Truman,
where I am and where you are going
A mother can be a very important guide.
[CHUCKLING SOFTLY]
Come on, darling.
You're almost there already.
Poor little heart is encased in fat,
and your liver is riddled with
cirrhosis.
In this pocket, you have Halcion.
[CHUCKLES]
In a little Tiffany pill
box that Babe gave you
with all the phenobarbitals
and the pretty pastel little Valium.
- Just jiggling around in there
- [PILLS RATTLE]
And the vodka, oh, my God!
[BOTH LAUGHING]
Oh, my God.
You could go right now.
Go to that little guest room
here that you love so much.
Just lie down under that piñata.
That Day of the Dead piñata.
Have your own little Day
of the Dead celebration.
Hmm?
No.
You may be real, you may be ghost.
You may be risen from the grave,
Mother, but I am not ready.
I am not on your schedule.
I still have a masterpiece to finish.
And they're waiting
for it. They're waiting.
So I'm not going anywhere.
With you.
[SIGHS]
Hmm.
♪
- [DIEGO] Mr. Capote?
- Hmm?
Your screwdriver, Mr. Capote.
[SCOFFS]
Thank you, Diego.
Oh, Babe, how come I
can't get the lighting
as soft as in your
dining room on the island?
[BABE] You need to find
these soft pink bulbs.
I use them in every lamp everywhere now.
And they come in three
variations: 50, 100, 150
C.Z., they make such a difference.
[CHUCKLES] How are
you doing, my darling?
Oh, you know, actually, I'm good,
if you can be good in this state.
Bill has actually become
a best friend to me.
He barely goes into the office
for more than a few hours a day.
He wants to be with me.
And he's insisted on being
at the treatments with me.
All of them.
[MUFFLED CHATTER]
So this is a little bit what
peace looks like, I suppose.
But
I really miss him.
Truman.
I wonder where he is today.
He loved being with us on Thanksgiving.
He said it made him feel wanted.
Well, he must have wanted this.
To be cast out.
He must have wanted to not be loved.
Oh, I don't think that's true.
I think he just misjudged the
Extent to which we loved him.
You mean he thought we loved him so much
- that we'd forgive him?
- No.
He misjudged exactly
how much we loved him
and how much he could hurt us.
Only real love can
wound you the way he did.
[JOHN] Yeah, I'm moody,
Truman, 'cause I'm stuck
in this house,
at this rat fuck of
a Thanksgiving dinner,
and goddamn Mexican shit
all over the fucking walls.
Oh, please, you were dying there.
Enough of the sob story
about what you left
in that little ticky-tacky
house on Long Island.
That little box.
The only thing saving you were
your frequent trips to the baths
where you swung that enormous
horse cock of yours at anyone.
Oh, you should see it. Why
don't you show everyone?
It's more interesting
than anything that comes
out of your mouth.
Anyone, anyone he thought
might save him from
another trip back home
- on the Long Island
- [BANGS TABLE]
No, don't talk about my family!
My mother loved Thanksgiving.
Don't talk to me about
your Thanksgiving.
It was our day.
And I wrote the perfect
expression of it.
I wrote "A Thanksgiving Visitor,"
for God's sake.
How dare you mope on my day?
My favorite day!
It's, "Where's my daughter?"
- Don't, motherfucker!
- "Buy me a house."
- [GRUNTING]
- [GUESTS SCREAM]
[JOANNE] No!
- Stop!
- [RODDY] Enough!
Enough, enough.
[CLAMORING]
Get the fuck off me!
- Get the fuck off me.
- [GUESTS GASPING]
- [JOANNE] Are you okay?
- [RODDY] Truman, are you all right?
Here. Here's some ice.
John, how could you?
On this day, of all days!
Oh, Truman, honey, put some ice on it.
Ow.
Well, baby doll,
vodka stings more than your fists, baby.
Yeah? [SPITS]
Oh. Get out!
Just get out!
What's wrong with him?
[WINCES]
Joanne, I'm gonna have
to get away from this man
or he's gonna kill me.
Oh, call a doctor.
[SOBS]
[LINE RINGING]
- [BABE] Hello?
- [JACK] Babe, don't hang up on me, please.
I wasn't gonna call you again.
And don't imagine that I enjoy pleading.
It's just it's not
really, uh, my nature.
There was some violence
again on Thanksgiving in L.A.
And then when they got back,
he put Truman in the hospital.
[BABE] How bad is it?
[JACK] I just got him home with a nurse.
How long is it gonna take
for him to get better?
He's pretty banged up.
He could have died this time, Babe.
[NURSE] But he's not
in any pain right now.
He can't feel a thing.
[JACK] Christ, do you want him to die?
Is that what you think
he actually deserves?
[BABE] And you want me to lie
- and say, "I forgive you"?
- Well
it needn't be a lie, Babe, really.
That's up to you.
But you see, Jack, I don't.
I don't forgive him.
[LINE CLICKS]
[BILL] Maybe you should go to him.
And have him be my second husband again?
No. No, Bill.
I want what we have, you and
I, not what I had with him.
You think I don't miss it?
Well, it's gone.
And this is what is now.
♪