Critics Lisa Johnson Mandell and Tandy Culpepper dish on two excellent limited series—Feud: Capote vs the Swans and Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.

Feud: Capote vs the Swans

Feud: Capote vs the Swans is a stylish, dramatic, thoroughly entertaining miniseries. It tells the story of Truman Capote at the height of his fame through the depth of his fall.

It begins with Capote (adroitly played by adroitly play by Tom Hollander) being celebrated as a literary genius, after the success of In Cold Blood, and was cementing his place as a cultural icon with his flamboyant charm, sharp wit, and his talent for making himself the center of attention.

The second season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series about famous celebrity dustups takes place in New York’s haute social world, where Capote became inseparable from a circle of women known as the Swans. These were women of wealth, style, and influence, including Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny) and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart).

They allowed Capote into their private world, confiding in him, trusting him, and treating him as both confidant and court jester. In return, he gave them laughter, companionship, and the reflected glow of his fame. For a time, it was a symbiotic relationship, but beneath the glittering surface lay fault lines of ego, envy, and the writer’s hunger for material.

It follows them as Capote’s downfall begins with his decision to draw on the secrets his friends had shared for his long-anticipated novel Answered Prayers. Excerpts that surfaced in the 1970s revealed barely disguised portraits of the Swans, their affairs, betrayals, and scandals laid bare for readers.

What Capote considered his greatest work in progress, modeled after Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, became instead a weapon against the very people who had given him entrée into their exclusive circles.

The women felt betrayed, humiliated, and exposed. Overnight, doors that had once opened to him were slammed shut. Parties no longer extended invitations, and gossip that once amused became cutting and cruel.

The series paints a portrait not just of Capote’s unraveling friendships but of his own descent into isolation. The Swans’ rejection devastated him. The lavish parties, the weekends in palatial homes, the glamorous dinners at Manhattan’s finest restaurants were gone, leaving him to grapple with loneliness and an increasing dependence on drugs and alcohol.

What makes the series compelling is the way it explores the double-edged sword of Capote’s genius. His need to turn life into art produced groundbreaking literature, but it also destroyed his closest relationships.

The Swans, elegant and fragile in their own ways, became symbols of a culture that prized appearances above all else, and Capote, once their darling, became the cautionary tale of ambition unchecked by loyalty.

Lisa and Tandy agree that this is one of the most intriguing and well made limited series of the year.

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is based on a true story of a major armed robbery at an Atlanta afterparty during Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight.

The series unfolds over eight episodes and centers on Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, played by the mercurial Kevin Hart, who is an ambitious hustler caught up in the chaos of the robbery he did not orchestrate while trying to transform Atlanta into a Black Las Vegas.

Taraji P. Henson,  compelling as always, stars as Vivian Thomas, Chicken Man’s right-hand woman and partner, while Don Cheadle plays Detective J.D. Hudson, one of Atlanta’s first Black detectives tasked with investigating the heist. Samuel L. Jackson portrays Frank “Black Godfather” Moten, a powerful crime boss and victim of the robbery.

The story weaves through the perspectives of these key characters as Chicken Man seeks to clear his name amid violent repercussions, with a terribly wigged Terrence Howard guest-starring as Richard “Cadillac Richie” Wheeler, another mob figure.

The limited series features a stellar ensemble cast including Myles Bullock, Sinqua Walls, Michael James Shaw, Jalyn Hall, and Artrece Johnson, among others.

The drama adroitly highlights themes of ambition, survival, power, and the complexity of Black economic and criminal networks in 1970s Atlanta, capturing the tension and aftermath of a historic event intertwined with larger social and political dynamics.

The verdict: Taken together, the two miniseries present contrasting but equally compelling portraits of American ambition and downfall. Capote vs. the Swans shows the costs of betrayal in a world built on appearances, while Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist highlights the volatility of a city on the cusp of change. Both remind us that behind every glamorous façade lies fragility, and beneath every celebration lurks the possibility of chaos.