The Gilded Age recap: “Warning Shots” are fired
Things are getting dark—literally—on East 61st Street this week
TV Reviews The Gilded Age
The start of Sunday’s episode of The Gilded Age looks different than usual. Firstly, there’s the ripe testosterone—a pack of roaring men is a far cry from the impeccably dressed dandies that have populated our TV screens. But it’s also the drabbest that the HBO period drama has looked all season, so grayscale that it seems more like the MCU than the Baranski Cinematic Universe. There’s not a bustle or corset or vaguely vaginal hat to be found in this crowd of angry gents, the unionized workers striking against George Russell’s big hot beard and his big hot mill.
Those fellas end up bookending our episode, but we graciously segue quickly to our regularly scheduled programming: fantastically festooned women bitching about rich-people problems. We’re at Chateau Russell, where Bertha (Carrie Coon), Mr. Gilbert (Jeremy Shamos), and Mrs. Winterton née Turner (Kelley Curran) are discussing—what else?—the opera wars. The Wintertons have agreed to join the Metropolitan opera house and bring their deep-pocketed pals with them but there’s a catch: They want the central box in the first tier, a.k.a. Bertha’s box.
Bertha is seething at the very idea, but she needn’t seethe long: In between besmirching workers’ rights, her hot-bearded husband (Morgan Spector) strong-arms Mr. Gilbert into securing that coveted opera box for Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Russell alone. If he doesn’t, Gilbert will have to pay back that hefty check George signed over a few episodes back to resume construction on the opera house—and in full. Take that, Turner.
And though we’re disappointingly short on Bertha content this week, it’s at least mostly good news for our nouveau-riche queen. The Duke of Buckingham writes to say that not only will he be visiting New York City for the grand unveiling of the Met but he will also be joining Bertha in her box on opening night. When word gets to Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), Mr. McCallister (Nathan Lane), and Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), however, it’s clear we’ve got a fresh battle in the war between the new money and the old guard.
While one feud is heating up upstairs, another is lowering to a simmer down below. After catching a very drunk Church (Jack Gilpin) stumbling into the Russell residence one morning, Bannister (Simon Jones) aims to exact revenge on his rival butler by sending a letter to Mr. Russell alerting him of the matter. However, when the rest of the Van Rhijn staffers inform him that Church was merely mourning the thirtieth anniversary of his wife’s death, Bannister’s conscience kicks in and he scrambles to retrieve the letter before it can get to George. After some strategic fibbing to Church, he’s able to rescue the damning post, and the two officially put their butler beef behind them.
Speaking of snail mail, the newly minted Mrs. Forte (Cynthia Nixon) is sending her sister missives from her honeymoon with her dashing reverend (Robert Sean Leonard). However, Agnes isn’t too keen to hear Ada “bleeding on about her untold happiness.” She is happier, however, to receive news that Dashiell (David Furr) is throwing a party in support of the Botanical Gardens and has invited her and, more excitingly, Marion (Louisa Jacobson).
Alas, Marion holds fast that her teaching schedule conflicts with the party date, a commitment to the cause that pleases her newfound Uncle Luke and Aunt Ada, who have returned to New York to find a cordial but curt Agnes. However, when it’s revealed that the reverend is suffering from a bad back, made worse by carrying his new bride across the threshold (“By night I hope. It’s not really an image for public consumption,” Agnes snarks), Agnes offers up her doctor to aid her new brother-in-law. Small steps!
The whole Van Rhijn lot attends Dashiell’s garden party—including Marion, whose boss basically tells her to slack off work to go get that D—where the bubbles are flowing, the flowers are blooming, and Oscar is getting his smooch on with Maud Beaton under a pergola. (But more on that in a minute.) “This is quite a to-do for the unveiling of a plaque,” Agnes jests, but, of course, this shindig ain’t about a sign. It’s about proposing to Marion, which Dashiell does in front of everyone, much to her unease and her aunt’s glee. (Seriously, Agnes is applauding before the poor guy can even get to the “me” portion of “will you marry me?”) It doesn’t look like Marion is going to accept until she catches sight of young Francis’s sad dead-mom face and so she offers up the decidedly unromantic response of, “If you really want me to.” Girl. That’s what I say to my OBGYN when she asks if I want to schedule a pap smear.
Things are decidedly more amorous over at the rectory, with the newlyweds sweetly waltzing to “The Blue Danube” in the middle of the day and uttering toothache-inducing lines like “You make me feel as if I were 16 again!” into each other’s faces. That is, until Reverend Forte receives word from the doc that it’s more than a bad back—it’s cancer. I swear to Andrew Scott, if the TV gods kill off Ada’s hot priest the second she’s finally experiencing real happiness, I will riot. Though she’s strong to her husband’s face, the minute Ada sees that her older sister has come to care for her in her time of grief, she breaks down right in her arms.
And George has his own griefs over in Pittsburg: the strikers. The railroad magnate visits Mr. Henderson (Darren Goldstein) at his home, hoping to talk the unions down from violence, but because he won’t budge on pay, the labor leader won’t budge on the workers’ demands. The union moves forward with the strike, which culminates in a tense standoff between the workers and the mill’s gun-toting security. When shots threaten to be fired, however, Hot Beard calls it all off…because he just now remembered that the workers have families? Sure, Jan. Take us back to bitchy opera business, stat!
Stray observations
- Six episodes in, it finally happened: The endless alarm-clock tinkering has a point! Yes, that whole tedious plotline was allegedly meant to signal that young Jack Trotter (Ben Ahlers) is an inventor wunderkind who, after devising a new escape wheel to fix the broken timepiece, is urged by the downstairs crew to patent his finding. Alas, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office refuses to certify his invention because he officially doesn’t belong to a horological institute or society. Trotter is suffering from some Barry-Keoghan-in-Banshees-style crushed dreams, but it is heartwarming to see the whole Van Rhijn staff, and even Agnes herself, pool their dollars together to help him pay the application fees. (“Thanks to all-a-youse!” he cried.)
- Speaking of, there were several seasons-best line readings in this episode that made me spit water out all over my laptop. Nathan Lane’s “Hhh-what? Hhhh-ow?” in that exaggerated Colonel Sanders twang. Mrs. Bauer’s German-accented “What is hor-or-or-ilogical?” And I’ll be chuckling at the way Christine Baranski bit straight through the word “hobbledehoys” until next Sunday.
- Peggy (Denée Benton) and her hunky married editor are working on a new piece together for the paper—on the unjust closing of Black schools in the city—but the fact that she’s in love with him is definitely complicating matters. “I don’t want you to be hurt,” Marion tells her upon her return to Manhattan, but Peggy is resigned to the heartbreak: “The only thing we both know for certain is that I’m going to get hurt.” Oof.
- Oh right, that business between Oscar and Maud Beaton (Nicole Brydon Bloom). Yes, things are moving quickly with the couple, with Oscar forking over a good chunk of change as an investment in Maud’s railroad pursuits. “She’s innocent…she does not deserve to be used,” her business manager worries about Oscar’s intentions. But what if it’s Oscar that’s being used? Is the supposedly wealthy Maud just out for his money? This is starting to stink of a scam!
Stream The Gilded Age now on Hulu.
36 Comments
Even by the ridiculously low standards of Julian Fellowes, this was a poorly written episode full of inconsistencies and ludicrous soap opera histrionics.
See, I loved this ep, because it finally had some meaty stuff in it. What did you not like about it?
If you don’t like ludicrous soap opera histrionics, why do you bother watch his shows?
I was confident George would fold against the union; there’s no way Fellowes of all people is going to treat George like he’s more or less a good guy for a season and a half and then have him brutally shoot a bunch of his own employees. Which is all part of Fellowes’s “oh, the rich assholes in charge might be wrong-headed sometimes, but their hearts are in the right place” bullshit that stretches back to Downton and beyond. So I’m sure George is going to make some kind of (probably ahistorical) tough but fair deal with the union.Meanwhile, Luke is suffering from plot complications.
I was just coming here to say this. It’s so very typical of him, when what would have happened in real life is that a person like George Russell would have absolutely given the order to fire. I enjoy watching The Gilded Age as an escape, but the better, more nuanced version of this show would take a much harder look at what was really happening (e.g., the Pinkertons, etc.).
This. Seeing the soldiers lock and load those bolt-action rifles against the workers’ barricade makes me think how they’re just 11 years after the Paris Commune was crushed with thousands dead.
And the thing is, some of the workers had the better rifles (Winchester repeaters). One of them, depending on the caliber, could take down 9 or 10 of them before they reloaded. I love my levers and can shoot my Winchester 1892 .357/.38 faster than a semi-auto, and hit multiple targets (Cowboy Action Shooting training).
Russell was based on Jay Gould who absolutely would’ve not only ordered them to open fire, but would’ve had his own gun and shot them himself. Gould, the 1880s equivalent of a billionaire, once went to Canada and kidnapped a man that had swindled him, was jailed by the Mounties and released when a large mob threatened to invade from America.
No, historically some trigger happy guy on one side or the other mistakenly fires and the shooting begins. George will no doubt be blamed in the newspapers, making his wife very unhappy and perhaps an untouchable for a brief period.
some kind of (probably ahistorical) tough but fair dealMy dad was begrudgingly watching this episode with me (okay, I commandeered the television for an hour) and when Russell gave the order to stand down, he actually started laughing. I mean, I love this nonsense, but even I was giving it the eyebrow and thinking, yeahhhhh, this is probably not what actually happened. All of those men and boys were definitely perforated.
George Russell’s big hot beard…Between the one affixed to Morgan Spector’s face and the one Oscar Van Rhijn is attempting to attach himself to, I consider Nicole Brydon Bloom to be the far hotter beard.
Agree to disagree. Morgan Spector is the bearded hottie here. Lusting after his wife around every corner and wondering whether Henderson’s kids have a school to go to, while also making sure his wife gets her center box, on the sly and kidnapping the MET opera director to do it? versus an as-yet uninteresting catfisher who’s about to make Oscar a pauper? She’s gross…but her pink dress is pretty.
Rather than “bleeding on” about her happiness, I’d go with “bleating”–makes more sense for Agnes to compare Ada’s writing about how happy she is to the noises goats and sheep make.
While watching it, I heard ‘bleating’ as well.
Indeed, she said ‘bleating’…I suspect some language is lost the younger generations, as this type of error is more and more common.
Save the bleeding for the doctors and their leeches that will magically cure hot priest.
Agnes said “bleating,” not bleeding.
Can we have a 21st-century Gilded Age spin-off?
So if Oscar loses money, is that all the van Rijn money? Will Agnes be…poor? If Ada inherits anything from Luke, will she move back into the mansion and fund the family?And did no one notice Larry’s face when Marion accepted Dashiel’s proposal? He was hurt.
She would almost definitely have her own money. Either funds that were set aside for her in her late husband’s will, inheritance from her own parents (the real Mrs. Astor was less reliant on her husband for this exact reason), or potentially something in her original dowry. But it’s unlikely that an old money family like the van Rijn’s wouldn’t have things in place to provide for widows and prevent a rogue heir from burning through everyone’s money unless it was their own inheritance (which is what the Vanderbilt heirs ended up doing by all one-upping each other with extravagant homes).
About the proposal, Marian was failing horribly to keep the unease off her own face.
I liked Dashell up until he told Marion she wasn’t a ‘’real’’ teacher. Ouch. She’s going to get stuck in a loveless marriage, isn’t she?
I really hope she finds a way out of the engagement.
Yeah. They are pushing the Larry-Marian line for sure. I don’t know if it would work with the ethos of the creator (I never watched Abbey), but maybe Marian will marry cousin D but end up falling in love with Larry and having a scandalous affair, leaving Marian divorced but able to fall into Larry’s arms in the end.
I like it! I never watched Abbey either, so I have no idea.
Mary Crawley married an attorney, who (gasp) worked on weekends. Sybil married an Irish chauffeur. Sad sack Edith hooked up with a newspaper editor.Fellowes allows his characters to cross class lines. He even portrayed Lord Grantham to be portrayed as a bumbling idiot when it came to finances.
I think what happens to Marian will depend on what they want to do with the Russell children. Either Larry will end up with Marian and give his family the old money recognition that Bertha wants, or Gladys ends up with the Duke, which would probably be the more appealing outcome for Bertha. But all things considered for a woman in her position Marian could do worse than Dashiell.
Dear Duke! I just hope sweet Gladys doesn’t end up in a bad marriage like Consuelo Vanderbilt. True, given the era Marian could do worse. He (cousin D) seems like a decent enough guy, but I could see him also slowly crushing her spirit.
That’s the frustrating part of enjoying shows like this. The part of me raised in this day and age wants to argue with you re: “she could do worse” because no one should settle for that. But the realistic part of me acknowledges that, considering the time period, Dashiell is an amazing catch.All of that aside, I HATE public proposals. It almost forces the person to say yes to prevent humiliating the proposer.
Agreed on all points. Especially the public proposal. She almost had no choice, which I’m sure will come up in the remaining episodes.
I imagine that will eventually be her way of getting out of it.
100 percent about public proposals. With a fictional character it’s almost always a giant red flag.
She’s going to ditch Dashiell eventually and she and Larry Russell will hook up. I knew the Reverend had cancer as soon as he said he has a bad back. George Russell needs to time travel to 2023 and see that unions now have a 70+% approval rating with the American public. FFS dude you have more money than God, pay your workers a fair wage. Unions saved this country’s workforce. The theme of tonight’s show is brought to you by “Rich people just don’t get that in the blink of an eye they can lose it all and be just like the rest of us”. See: 1929, 1987, 2008…..
I was put off by his public proposal. I always find them to be manipulative.
Did anyone sing this week? No?Greade: F
Wouldn’t the line have been “bleating on” about her happy honeymoon (not “bleeding”)?