'Feud: Bette and Joan' Episode 1, Season 1 Review: "Pilot"

Image from Goldderby

By Darian Scalamoni

            FX has clearly found its recipe for success: give free reign to the talented individuals they employ (Louis CK, Noah Hawley, Ryan Murphy) and let them do their thing. With the premiere of Feud: Bette and Joan, one of my most anticipated shows of 2017 was finally seen with my own eyes and yes, it was just as great as I was expecting.

            The first season of Ryan Murphy’s newest anthology series is set in early 60s Hollywood where former “it” girls Joan Crawford and Bette Davis are being thrown aside for the Marilyn Monroe’s and Natalie Wood’s of the world. The queens of the screen then devise a plan to help both of them return to the top of Hollywood’s list of coveted actresses, starring in the horror film, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in 1962. The show will follow an 8-episode arc that showcases the filming process involving both women and their quarrels throughout.

            The premiere does a great job of showcasing just how different the two actresses are from one another and why they bicker so much. It’s clear to see that for Davis, it’s all about the work. In her time “out of work”, she’s honing her craft with a short role on Broadway just to fill that acting gene. For Crawford, it’s more about being in the public’s eye again and being a movie star rather than a respected actress. The clear distinction is brought at the forefront when Crawford spends so much time worrying about her appearance in the film while Davis portrays Baby Jane Hudson in a grotesque manner looking as revolting as possible for her Oscar-nominated performance in the film. Crawford is too concerned with her look that she doesn’t have a showing as well as Davis as her worries limit her work.

            It’s fascinating to be thrown into this tense setting as Ryan Murphy does a great job putting these ladies on a pedestal and even more so for cinephiles (like myself) it’s exciting to see all the behind the scenes work it took to put the pieces in place. The monumental production was Crawford’s first film role in over 3 years and it was surprisingly her who decided that Davis was “perfect” for the lead role in the movie that was incredibly meta. Blanche (Crawford’s character) and Jane are both former movie stars haunted by their earlier success and are now stuck together in a decaying mansion. The surreal plot of Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon playing established actresses portraying fictitious actresses in a show within a movie can get a bit complicated when writing about it here but trust me, it’s much easier to follow on screen.

            The performances make the show though obviously as most of Murphy’s shows do. One of his muses, Jessica Lange is terrific as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon truly becomes Bette Davis on screen, even looking very much like the 2-time Oscar winner. The supporting players are great too with Alfred Molina playing the director of the picture, Robert Aldrich and Stanley Tucci as the head of Warner Bros., Jack Warner who has possibly one of the best and funniest scenes in the premiere. With the first episode of Feud, we also get the normal asides that Murphy used within American Horror Story: Roanoke as we see Catherine Zeta-Jones as Olivia de Havilland and Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell telling their own “stories” of the leading ladies that the show revolves around.

            Feud: Bette and Joan does an amazing job of setting up its own stylized show that stands on its own like other Murphy shows exposing new layers to people we’ve known for years and continue to learn more about. The only issue is that it sets such an absurdly high bar for future episodes as there isn’t much to complain about. The pilot episode acts as an introduction to these women that suffer from massive hardships and scuffles to further elongate their careers while studios try to get in the way of that. I can’t wait to tune in week after week to see what happens with these ladies going forward.

9.5/10