Feud

Well, it took 7 episodes to get to it, but we finally got down to the root of the "feud" in another delicious bitch-fest expertly directed by Oscar winner Helen Hunt. It was so much fun watching Crawford employ all the machinations she did at the '63 Oscars and watching them all backfire on her this time. Jessica Lange continues to make this her show, but Sarandon and Alfred Molina are not allowing themselves to blown off the screen either. Still not buying Catherine Zeta Jones as Olivia de Havilland, but she didn't have enough screentime to really deter from my enjoyment and Kathy Bates' three minutes as Joan Blondell was absolutely unnecessary...Joan Blondell's presence is in this series makes no sense to me anyway...I don't recall her ever working with Davis or Crawford so why are we supposed to accept that she was privy to everything that was behind the feud. On the other hand, I have always felt that Blondell would be an excellent subject for a biopic of her own, but here, she's just baggage. And during certain shots at certain camera angles, Sarandon's resemblance to Davis is positively eerie.

I have this and Better Call Saul to watch tonight. Bliss.

Wow! What an amazing episode!! It seems to me like Sarandon and Lange traded intensities this time. Usually Davis is the flashier, louder one with Crawford following closely behind with her complex display of sadness and disappointment. This time however, Sarandon had more scenes that had genuine hurt and pain while Lange pretty much erupted like a volcano a few times. Their chemistry is amazing and it is so much fun to watch two complete pros in their element. Zeta Jones continues to stink up the screen with a sincerity of a shop greeter. Molina is great and really anchors the episode with a solid performance. Mamacita and Pauline (Aldrich's assistant) both give very good performances and take full advantage of their brief screen times.

P.s I wonder if Olivia de Havilland will ever make any comments regarding their feud.

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“There's no place to hide, When you're lit from the inside” Roisin Murphy

You will not be disappointed. This is a really good one IMO.

The "prettiest / talented" confrontation is a f*****g incredible piece of acting.

I can't imagine anyone else deserving an Emmy this year more than Susan and Jessica.

In complete agreement. One of the strongest acting scenes I've seen. I had to rewatch it a few times.

Holy hell watching these two is exhausting. Not the sort of life I would want. Great ep, though.

Does anyone know why Joan called her employee mamacita.

I think mamacita is a fictional character.

I'm just curious if maybe her housekeeper slash PA was a love interest. Or if she was giving a European woman a slur which would have been perfectly acceptable back then.

Mamacita was Crawford's maid in real life. She was a German woman and she lived and traveled with Crawford.

"...I had just returned from Rio de Janeiro, where all I had heard was mamacita, papacita, cousincita, everythingcita, so without thinking I called out, ‘Mamacita!’ Back she cried, ‘Ya! Ich comming!’ The name has stuck ever since.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...-joan-crawford

Interesting enough, when asked why she quit working for Crawford, Mamacita's son said "she got tired of things being thrown at her".

For some reason I had it stuck that she kept replacing her maids. But that's really fascinating, I'm weirdly glad she actually existed

That vanity fair article about Joan is great, El.

I forgot to say the episode stands up to a rewatch. Even better, I would say.

So what did you all think of the finale?

The finale in a word? Heartbeaking...it just broke my heart....definitely Sarandon's strongest work in the series, but this was still Jessica Lange's show all the way...the look at the end of Crawford's life including her out of body dinner party with Hedda and Jack Warner just destroyed me. Loved the title of the final episode too..."You mean we could have been friends all this time?", which I think was the essence of what this story was about...a feud that was fueled by circumstance and outsiders that never really should have been. Will save the rest of my comments for my review thread.

I agree, Gid. I found it quite devastating. Oh god, and the scene with the combi change trailer.

Definitely devastating.

Something I've been wrestling with: was this show too exploitive of the actresses (Bette and Joan)?

It's been excellent throughout but I wonder if the fabrications in the show rob it of its message.

Was the show, ultimately, hagsploitation?

I think it's more about Hollywood exploitation, saunchy. The scenes with warner manipulating the whole thing was just so beeping beeped. At the end I just thought it was so sad these two could not get along,and totally outraged a studio caused that for bucks.

I don't think the message was clouded at all...as I mentioned, I think the message here was that a lot of this feud was fabricated and fueled by outside sources and I think that message comes shining through. As to whether or not the production exploits the legacy of these two film legends, I guess that it is for those closest to them (family and friends) to say.