Feud: Bette and Joan Episode 4 Recap: “The Feud-ture Is Female”

FEUD: Bette and Joan — “More, Or Less” — Installment 1, Episode 4 (Airs Sunday, March 26, 10:00 p.m. e/p) –Pictured: Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis. CR: Suzanne Tenner/FX

Back in docu-land, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Blondell talk to the camera about how women’s movies had been out of vogue, but after Baby Jane came along, women thought lady pictures would start to flood the market. Joan B. tells us that studio heads thought anytime a women’s picture was a hit, it was a fluke. BOOOOOOO. They go on to discuss Joan Crawford’s self-proclaimed alcoholism, and talk about why alcohol is so common amongst women in the industry. They posit it’s because women need to mask their pain, and to quiet the constant pressure.

In the “present” day, Jack pays a visit to Joan, who has decided she won’t promote the picture. She claims she’s refusing to do press because Jack has been campaigning for Bette for Best Actress. Jack tells her that he’s been doing the same for Joan. Joan tries to seduce him in a drunken, sloppy, insane way, and he shuts her down. Joan shouts that he was never on her side, and accuses him of thinking Bette is a better actress. He immediately confirms that that’s because she is. Joan kicks him out, but before he leaves, he tells her that it’s her responsibility to promote the movie to make it (and herself) more money.

Back to Olivia, who says that it seems Joan had a harder time with successes than with failures, but tells us how Bette has fully embraced the fame because she knew it might never come again. Bette goes on television to promote the picture, and tells the story of how Jack tried to turn down the film, saying he wouldn’t make a movie about “two old broads.” Later, Joan calls her to tell her to stop referring to her as an old broad because it’s “slander” and will “impede [her] ability to secure future work.” Joan continues to drunkenly chastise Bette for enjoying the success so much and so publicly, and Bette reminds Joan that half that success belongs to her, too.

Bob is still reading through new scripts for his next picture, and Pauline, again, slips hers right on over to his desk because she is a damn queen. Bob says he didn’t know that she was a writer, and she tells him she’s also a director. She says she knows how to manage most of the aspects of filmmaking because of what she’s seen so far in her job as his assistant. Bob agrees to read it, and Pauline is shocked that he would even consider her work. Bob reminds her that it’s a new world, and assures her he doesn’t mind a woman in charge.

As Bette begins work in television, Bob comes to set for a visit, and she demands he take her to dinner. There, Bob gifts her the millionth ticket sold to Baby Jane, and Bette takes the opportunity to tell him that she’s still not getting any offers, probably because “this town has always been a boys’ club, and the boys are not polite.” Bette tells him she found a script about two sisters, and he immediately refuses. Which was a very bad idea because she had wanted to play twins WITH HERSELF. She chastises him, saying that he’s getting all the credit for the women’s work and successes, and says that while she’s still waiting for offers to come in, he gets to go off and make a big Western with the boys. (One of the boys, btw, is Frank Sinatra.) He promises Bette that if she still doesn’t get work after the Oscars, he’ll write her another hit. She tells him she was promised that after All About Eve, and she’s still waiting.

Before the start of his new BOY picture, Bob follows Frank Sinatra around while he golfs, trying desperately to work out some details. Sinatra basically tells him not to worry about any of the little things like, ohhhhh, idk, MAKING THE MOVIE, because he always gets what he wants and it’ll be fine. Which is honestly kind of a great life philosophy tbh???

Later, as Bob tries to direct the Western, Sinatra is super difficult and won’t cooperate with any of the direction. Sinatra is fighting with the other actor (VICTOR BUONO <3) in his scene and shouting at the script supervisor (who happens to be Bob’s daughter, remember?!) for giving him the line that he seemed to have forgotten. He throws a huge fit and knocks over parts of the set while screaming at Bob that he’s gonna kill him. See- men are SO MUCH EASIER THAN WOMEN!!!!

Jack asks to see Bob to clear up the way things had been left at their last meeting. Jack tells Bob that he overstepped his bounds in trying to tell Bob what to do, and he says he hopes they can stay friends. He tells Bob that he hears the new movie is going terribly, creatively and in literally every other way. Bob is clearly having a hard time dealing with Sinatra and Jack can tell, so he gives him a list of “broad” pictures to choose from that he can make with Bette. If he does, Jack agrees to release his Western. He also casually reminds Bob that he probably won’t get an Oscar nomination because “you’re just not the type that your peer group acknowledges.” And then he tells Bob that he doesn’t have the potential for greatness. So, an overall super chill and productive meeting.

Back on set, Bob’s daughter informs him that Sinatra took a jet to New York and said to “work around him.” Pauline finds that Bob has been using her script as scrap paper, and confronts him. He shouts at her, telling her that she’s living in fantasy land if she thinks anyone would let a woman direct a picture. He essentially dismisses her out of hand, telling her that he doesn’t have time to coddle both her AND Sinatra.

In a diner in a less sexist and terrible part of town, Mamacita meets with Pauline for a meal. Pauline reminisces, in a very melancholy manner, that her mother had wasted her life on domestic work, and concedes that Joan had been right to tell her to be careful and to just stick with the job she has instead of throwing her career away on a pipe dream. Mamacita tells her that the world is changing, and whips out ACTUAL STATISTICS that she may have pulled out of library books which say that men are in the minority. Mamacita tells her it only makes economic sense that in the future, studios will have to make half of movies about and for women. And I cried and cried, because now it IS the future, and, ummmmm….

Meanwhile at home, Joan wakes up from what appears to have been a total drunken blackout to find no one there and the phone off the hook, beeping loudly. Mamacita enters the room, where Joan scolds her for not waking her up earlier to hear the Oscar nominations. Mamacita asks her to sit down for the news, and all we hear is Joan screaming bloody murder.

So that’s where we stand with our ladies as of now. Joan and Bette’s feud has gone from concrete to internalized, at least for Joan. The men are still garbage. Pauline is a goddess. And Mamacita, as it turns out, is the true star of the whole damn show. But did we ever doubt that?

Next: The Peculiar Feminism of Feud

The next Feud episode airs Sunday, April 2nd, but keep up with our coverage of the show all week long!