Say, remember back in the 1960s, when women weren't taken seriously behind the camera, and female directors were almost non-existent and studios would take a chance on a hundred unqualified men before handing a movie to one up-and-coming woman? That was rough. Thank goodness the industry has evolved over the past five decades.
...You can insert your own bitter laughter here. Here are the eight standout moments from Feud: Bette and Joan's fourth episode.
1) Bette and Joan's agency indignities
The advance buzz for Baby Jane is not good, and as a result Bette and Joan both find themselves being punted down the food chain at their respective talent agencies. Bette gets palmed off on a 22-year-old named Buzz who wants to get her doing dinner theater (it's becoming very chic again!) while Joan's team at William Morris aren't even bothering to drum up any work for her. Their responses are characteristically different: Joan explodes at her agent, while Bette drily takes matters into her own hands and places a "work wanted" ad in the LA Times. Though Bette and Joan are facing very similar challenges, Bette as portrayed here is much more practical and cynical about the industry's BS; she's less fragile and more hardened than Joan, who's really struggling.
2) Aldrich's wife demonstrates how deeply he does not deserve her.
Really. When Aldrich's not at work, he's boning his leading ladies and/or an assortment of other women, and Harriet kind of knows it, and yet is still able to offer super-chill support now that it looks like the picture is about to flop. "We knew it was a gamble from the start—if we have to sell the house, we'll sell the house."
3) Pauline's directorial ambition
I. Love. Pauline. As I said last week, I want her and Mamacita to get their own spinoff show in which they kick ass and take names and call Hollywood on its bullsh*t—sure, it might be wildly unrealistic, but who says fantasy always has to involve dragons? Anyway, despite the outrageous demands of her job, Pauline has found the time to write a script called "The Black Slipper," because she is a boss. And she wants to direct it, and she wants Joan to star in it, and she knows Mamacita is her best way in.
The really lovely surprise in this scene is that Mamacita is so on board. Having emigrated to America, it matters to her that this is a country where "there is opportunity to become anything you want." But as Pauline herself acknowledges later in the episode, she has an uphill battle because Hollywood "will hire men based on potential, but women, we need experience." Ha, boy, again, it's wild how much has changed in this regard!
Read our interview with Alison Wright, who plays Pauline, here.
4) The host at Perino's
And specifically the way he peaced out on Joan. He's pretty obsequious at first when she shows up for dinner pre-Baby Jane screening, but once she starts over-sharing about her unprofessional co-star, he's like:
Joan gets the last laugh though, because Baby Jane is an unexpected crowd-pleaser and gets a standing ovation at its first screening. The next time Joan returns to that restaurant, she gets a round of applause. Feud tends to feel less generously disposed to Joan than to Bette, and though there are some legitimate reasons for that, it's nice to see her in these brief moments of victory. Emphasis on brief, because…
5) Bette's live rendition of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?
I mentioned Susan Sarandon's impeccable reaction faces in last week's episode, and her expression throughout this whole sequence is what really makes it work. Bette's embracing every second of Baby Jane's success, even going on The Andy Williams Show to sing a tune inspired by the movie‚but throughout the whole campy vaudeville act, her face is a deadpan mask, and the juxtaposition is glorious. And yes, that performance really did happen:
View full post on XLater in the episode she's getting more into character, relishing her Baby Jane persona on a national tour in which Joan refuses to participate ("Where's your sister Blanche?" "On the beach! Dead!").
6) Joan brutally turns down Pauline's script.
Ugh. It's moments like this that make it really hard to root for Joan. It's not that I don't understand her perspective—she's insecure and afraid and looking out for her own interests, and Pauline is a completely unknown quantity who might be a terrible director. But Joan saying, "I can't say that we're any worse off" for men ruling the industry, in the same episode where Jack Warner orders her to "shake hands and suck cocks" during awards season, is nuts. And frankly, what does she have to lose at this point by taking a chance on Pauline?
All I kept thinking after this scene was that Pauline really should have taken that script to Bette—she might actually have done it. Bette's own attempts to propel her career fall flat in this episode too, because Aldrich is too busy on his disastrous Frank Sinatra western to even consider the script she's pitching. Naturally, the success of Baby Jane has led to enormous opportunities for its director, and virtually none for its co-leads.
7) Mamacita's heartbreaking pep talk
Heartbreaking not because of its content, but because of the deliberate dramatic irony of watching it in 2017. Having been brutally slapped down both by Joan and, more painfully, by Aldrich, Pauline is depressed. And so Mamacita takes her to a diner and feeds her sugar, explaining solemnly, "Miss Joan forbids sweets. She says sugar is a dangerous food. I take my thrills where I can."
Pauline is giving herself a reality check at this point, but Mamacita insists that the world is changing, and that soon enough women like Pauline will have just the same opportunities in Hollywood as men. She's even got census documents to back up her pep talk, pointing out that by 1970, women will be 52% of the population. "Studios will have obligation to make 50% stories about women, by women, for women! It only makes economic sense," Mamacita says. Ha. Ha. Hahahahahaha. I'll be over here staring sadly into middle distance.
(Ryan Murphy is putting his money where his mouth is re: this 50/50 idea, incidentally, so that's one thing to feel good about.)
8) Oscar Nominations morning arrives.
This was such an eerily surreal sequence, with Joan blearily waking up after having overslept to find every phone in the house off the hook. Throughout the episode, Joan has slipped into a depression fueled by the revelation that Bette's performance is being lauded far above her own, and her drinking has become more pronounced as a coping strategy.
As she wanders around in vain, trying to make sense of her environment, it emerges that this is the long-awaited moment of the Oscar nominations, and Mamacita has taken every phone off the hook—for a reason. Joan did not get a nomination, but Bette did. Joan's worst nightmare, augmented by the indignity of Bette getting all the critical attention, has come true.
