Renegade Review: Feud: Bette vs. Joan

Welcome Renegade Nation it’s me Naughty Nicole and it’s time for another Renegade Review. And this time around, we’re looking at Ryan Murphy’s new, deliciously campy and oh-so-riveting series Feud. Now much like the anthology that is American Horror Story, each season focuses on one story and the series strings together on a familiar theme – bitter real-lift rifts and historic feuds. And the first season is off to a raving start focusing on the most notorious cat fight in Hollywood history. This inaugural season takes us down the rabbit hole that was the war between the original Screen Queens, Bette David and Joan Crawford. I admit I was so excited when this show was originally announced, it gave me more goosebumps then when I found out they were remaking Godzilla vs. King Kong.

“Feuds are never about hate — feuds are about pain. They’re about pain.” With those foreboding words, softly cooed to camera by Olivia de Havilland portrayed by Catherine Zeta Jones — a contemporary of both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, in the midst of an interview about the two stars — and we’re off on the sordid tale about one of the most epic feuds in Hollywood…

As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of old Hollywood, and Bette Davis is one of my favorite actresses of all time, so you can imagine I was front and center for this ingenious new show. For those of you that don’t know the feud that was Davis vs. Crawford, you’ll need to know this: their feud was incredibly delicious and so very publicly played out so much so that the subject was ripe for this brilliant dramedy; add in brilliant portrayals by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange – Bette and Joan respectively – well it set the bar pretty high before they were even out of the gates. In truth, either this would have been an incredible failure or something so delightfully decadent that it would soothe the souls of us purists. Lucky for us… it’s the latter, and I don’t make that statement lightly. So let’s jump right into it.