The Pitch: The year is 1883, a time that remembers the Civil War like we think about 9/11, and the world has never seemed more shiny and modern to the haves and have-nots of New York City. While the richest women of old society continue to resent the invasion of new money wealth like Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), the younger generation proves more concerned with love — or lust, depending on how honest and/or disreputable they might be, or maybe even ambitions beyond . It’s a time when it feels like possibilities are dawning every day, even for women or people of color, and because they don’t have the ability to see the future, the Gilded Age sure looks golden.
Upstairs, Downstairs in Any Era: While The Gilded Age takes place decades before the show to which it owes its existence, even Season 2 still feels beholden to Downton Abbey, creator Julian Fellowes‘ previous six-season-and-two-movie drama about class and changing times in 20th century England.
Downton Abbey was such a cultural force in its day, and while it’s easy to attribute that to its cast or the luxurious production, so much of its power came from Fellowes’ singular writing. I describe it as singular because no one else has his knack for blending a high-brow attitude with low-brow soap opera instincts; sex, revenge, and betrayal are all quick-burning fuel for his narrative fires, especially when presented alongside plotlines that amplify the seemingly trivial into life-or-death stakes.
The Gilded Age stands out for how blatantly predictable it can be at times — did two characters just make meaningful eye contact? Even money says they’ll be making out in one episode or less. Did something good happen to a character who’s pure of heart? Don’t count on that happiness lasting all too long. Did something life-ruining happen to someone in the opening credits? A convenient bit of writing will repair the status quo before too long.
The pen of Fellowes is wielded with blunt force on multiple occasions; his touch with character and theme has never been a particularly subtle one, something that’s all the more apparent when he’s trying to juggle what feels like dozens of them. Really, the show’s primary flaw is its overstuffed ensemble, not because of any cast deficiencies but because the sheer volume of stories being tracked this season is massive, and as a result many of those plotlines are given only the most superficial amounts of development.
And Yet… Like Downton Abbey before it, The Gilded Age continues to be so damn compelling, with characters who immediately elicit our sympathies. It helps that the cast list is a staggeringly deep bench of talent, especially if you’re a huge Broadway fan who knows how freaking wild it is to see Christine Baranski, Donna Murphy, Michael Ceveris, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara and more on the bill together. Yes, sometimes these characters have to scrape together a few scenes across multiple episodes to tell their story, but they’re so compelling when they do it.
The Gilded Age (HBO)
