(HBO / Barbara Nitke)
“ENID, CALM YOURSELF!” Walrus-like Mr. Winterton howls from the sitting room. It’s just the two of them now, nobody else there to witness these unbecoming outbursts.
His wife, a social climber with a shameful secret past, having been outmanoeuvred, storms up the stairs and screeches: “I don’t want other dukes! I want this duke! We found him and he’s mine! But that witch has stolen him from me!”
The most recent episode of The Gilded Age cuts to credits. Her crazed expression and dramatic exit has made me laugh.
I might never get tired of watching rich people devour other rich people (metaphorically… maybe) on screen. It’s like they’re from another planet. Billions did this, but I could never figure out if its writers were being satirical or if they truly worshipped its larger-than-life, ego-driven, and morally and ethically questionable leads. Succession did this, and while I was ultimately rooting for the entire family to fail and end up miserable (listen, they’re not good people), there were still underdogs to root for because I felt a teeny, tiny bit sorry for them.
Add in old timey societal classicism—so the discrimination is extra, extra petty and ridiculous—and lavish costumes, and you’ve got the extravagant bones of The Gilded Age.
I enjoy it a lot. It’s not a show that’s being talked about very much. It also isn’t being gushed about by critics for likely good reason. It’s not without it’s flaws. The show’s creator Julian Fellowes is also responsible for the period drama Downton Abbey that focused on the upstairs/downstairs dynamic of an aristocratic family and their doting servants. After seven years of this, it’s old hat now.
Fellowes employs this same relationship and split narrative all throughout The Gilded Age, but across two households (who live across the street from one another) that represent “old money” versus “new money” New Yorkers in the 1880s. The Russells (a power couple portrayed by Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector), having made a fortune in the cutthroat railroad business, are new money. Their vast amount of wealth can buy everything except the approval from the old money families (some who are even in financial trouble) and acceptance into their social circles. But Bertha Russell employs any and all underhanded tactic to get what she wants.
It’s a show I am tuning into each week and savouring. Good period dramas are known to be expensive productions due to their highly detailed costumes and sets, which makes it an easy target for television execs looking to make cuts. I am still bitter about HBO cancelling the rebooted Perry Mason starring Matthew Rhys (known for his work in FX’s The Americans) after two seasons. After the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia, a number of shows have found themselves on the chopping block.
New episodes of The Gilded Age premiere on Sunday nights on HBO and Crave.