8. You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?
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1969: Joan, now living in a Manhattan apartment, tries to cope with loneliness. As her health deteriorates, the result of a medically unwise decision she made in her youth in order to appear more photogenic, she accepts a leading role in a horror film. Upon arrival on set, she finds herself less than impressed with both the production and the accommodations. She's also offered a book deal her agent convinces her could lead to a marketing bonanza – though the advice she offers in the book is starkly at odds with her current reality. Unsatisfied with and dispirited by how the public now sees her, she makes a fateful decision. Meanwhile, after the failure of Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Bette becomes desperate for work and starts to take roles in terrible projects, including eight failed TV pilots. She finds herself jealous of Katharine Hepburn, who is still doing prestigious films. As the years pass, Bette drinks more and more, and has to reckon with her own role in her deteriorating relationship with her daughter and grandchildren. Faced with a new rival in Faye Dunaway, Bette reflects on her misplaced feud with Joan... especially when she learns Joan has cancer.
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7. Abandoned
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An insecure Joan begins filming Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, but is jealous of Bette's relationship with Robert. When Bette gives Joan notes on her performance, an enraged Joan learns that Bette is a producer on the project. Their feud intensifies, and Joan is also furious with Robert. That night, in an unguarded moment, Bette reveals her vulnerabilities to Robert – her insecurity that she had no sex appeal, an idea reinforced by overhearing Jack Warner say it when she was just 22... and that he wished she looked like Joan Crawford. Even later that night, Joan wakes Bette to make an angry accusation; the ensuing fight ends in more unguarded admissions about the resentments they've had towards each other for years. Not long after, Joan feigns illness in response to another perceived slight, but Bette is determined that production will not be held up, leading to an ever-escalating standoff. Meanwhile, B.D. makes an unexpected request of Bette that leads to more tensions between mother and daughter.
6. Hagsploitation
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Joan stars in another suspense-horror film (Strait-Jacket), this time for gimmicky showman William Castle, and she finds herself participating in publicity stunts that are beneath her dignity. Returning from the tour exhausted, and having had no offers for the last nine months, she's frustrated that older male friends are still having vital careers, and she lashes out at Mamacita. Jack Warner notes the success of the film, and others of its ilk – "Hagsploitation" films that degrade aging beauty queens. Hungry for another hit, Warner pressures Robert to bring the original team back together for a follow-up hag horror pic – including both Bette and Joan. Robert swallows his pride enough to take the job, but he warns Jack that the two will never work together again. And soon Robert has some unwelcome news for Jack... but it has nothing to do with the film's stars. Soon, Bette and Joan are in a tense negotiation over the film initially known as What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte? Hedda, after a health scare, muses about her career and legacy. She warns Joan that somebody from her past poses a threat... a "stag" film from Joan's past may resurface. But that warning turns into a threat when Joan won't play ball with Hedda on her final big scoop. And far deeper resentments come to the fore when Joan confronts her blackmailer. As Charlotte begins filming, both Joan and Robert find themselves in personal turmoil.
5. And the Winner is ...(The Oscars of 1963)
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Bette is on track to win a record-breaking third Best Actress Oscar, while Joan has been snubbed. Joan, hurt and upset, pays a visit to the head of the Academy... and offers to present an award at the ceremonies in order to keep herself in the limelight. Bette, bedeviled by the press' obsession with her feud with Joan, asks a favor of her friend Olivia de Havilland – who is in a feud of her own with Joan Blondell. Joan and Hedda launch a clandestine campaign to lobby Academy members to vote against Bette. And Joan contacts Best Actress nominees Geraldine Page and Anne Bancroft to lobby for them to allow her to accept the Oscar on their behalf should they win. As Joan prepares to attend the ceremony, she receives impassioned advice from an old friend... advice she declines to take. Meanwhile, Bette admits to Olivia just how badly she wants to win... and she takes it poorly when she realizes that Joan is out to upstage her.
4. More or Less
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On the eve of its release, bad word-of-mouth plagues Baby Jane, and, as their agents tell them that no offers have been coming in, Bette and Joan brace for failure. Joan fires her agents at William Morris, who haven't been out there drumming up work for her, while Bette, who has been pawned off on a young new agent, takes the unseemly route of taking out an ad in Variety. And Robert worries that if Baby Jane tanks, he'll have to sell his house. Meanwhile, Pauline tries to break gender barriers by seeking Mamacita's help in pitching a script to Joan – a script Pauline has written and wants to direct, in a Hollywood that's short on female writers and directors. However, Joan sees being pitched a project by a female director as a sign her career is truly over – and has some unwelcome advice for Pauline. Eventually, Paulline learns exactly whose support she can and can't count on. Bette skips out on Baby Jane's preview, but Joan is there to witness the film's reception. It's an unexpected hit, but the critics love Bette, not Joan. An increasingly drunken Joan doesn't want to help promote the picture – especially when she suspects Jack Warner of pushing Bette for a Best Actress Oscar and not her. Bette, however, relishes her renewed popularity, but when her only job offers are on television, she brings a new project to Robert – one similar to Baby Jane. However, for his next project, Robert wants to do a prestige picture... but this doesn't go well. As everyone contemplates their next move, Oscar nominations are announced.
3. Mommie Dearest
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B.D. is a bad influence on Joan's young twin daughters Cindy and Cathy, incurring Joan's ire – even while she neglects her eldest child, Christina... though Joan doesn't see it that way. Soon after, Joan's ire's is incurred further when Robert convinces Bette to let him cast B.D. – who is not an actress – as the neighbor girl. However, Joan reveals an intimate detail to Bette about her past, telling her about her first sexual experience at a terribly young age, as well as her time being raised by nuns at a boarding school. Bette is also forthcoming about her history, and Joan starts to develop some empathy for Bette. However, Hedda Hopper stokes Joan's jealousy, and prints a story that refuels the feud as Bette and Joan compete for Oscar consideration. Soon, Joan is blowing takes in Bette's big dramatic scenes. As the production of Baby Jane continues, the feud becomes physical, as the two deliberately injure each other during shooting. Meanwhile, despite initial reservations, Bette bonds with co-star Victor Buono. She is driven to distraction by how talentless B.D. is, and their relationship becomes strained... especially when Bette neglects her to stay up talking to Victor. And the stoic Mamacita must comfort Joan as she deals with empty nest syndrome after the twins leave for summer camp. As the climactic beach scene is filmed, Joan holds up production for her own vanity, but she still can't outshine Bette... so she turns to Hedda for help. And Joan's antics lead Jack Warner to demand reshoots.
2. The Other Woman
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With production on Baby Jane underway, Joan proposes an alliance with Bette; their first act is to get a pretty young blonde actress in a minor role replaced. In flashback, we learn how an ambitious Joan, wanting to play more challenging roles, moved from MGM to Warner Bros. She ended up as a tool used by Jack Warner to try to control Bette, the studio's "problem child" – and winning an Oscar with a role in Mildred Pierce, a role Bette passed on. Back on set, Bette and Joan seem to be getting along swimmingly. Warner plans to give the film a wide release... but asks Bob to keep his stars at each other's throats for publicity purposes. And so, despite a warning from his wife, Harriet, about the dangers of gossip, he feeds Hedda Hopper some salacious red meat for her column. And soon, as Bette and Joan begin to feud again, he finds himself in the middle... right where he intended to be, so he can continue to manipulate them. But even this isn't enough for Warner, who believes their chemistry on screen depends on their hatred for each other, and asks Bob to escalate things. But Joan knows how to be manipulative, too. Meanwhile, Bette – after meeting her love interest in the film, Victor Buono – takes her frustrations out on her daughter, B.D., and subsequently finds herself in need of a friend.
1. Pilot
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The tale begins in 1961, as Joan Crawford, intensely aware of her own aging – and with her finances getting tight – watches Marilyn Monroe win a Golden Globe. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper sees her leave drunkenly and angrily, and asks for a quote about Monroe in exchange for not writing about her drunken antics. Desperately wanting another Oscar, she pores over scripts and novels, but can't find a good role for a woman – until her maid and personal assistant, Mamacita, shows her the Baby Jane novel. Soon, she has director Robert Aldrich on board with the project, and convinces him to hire Bette Davis as her co-star – but convincing Bette to do the film with her old rival is another matter. Robert then has to deal with studio executives who want younger stars, but he finally convinces a reluctant and dismissive Jack Warner – who has a bitter history with Bette – to greenlight the film. However, Joan is soon finding reason to be resentful of Bette... though she craves her respect. Meanwhile, we learn the details of the dissolution of Bette's marriage to Gary Merrill, and her propensity to prioritize the professional over the private. As What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? begins filming, tensions between Joan and Bette flare up immediately, and put undue creative pressures on the film. As Joan worries about her image and desperately soaks up every bit of praise she can get, Bette focuses on her artistry. Soon, the duo are invited to the home of Hedda Hopper for dinner and an interview, but will they serve their hostess the red meat she's after?
