The Gilded Age Season 3 viewing thread

Will Alarm clock Jack be in tonight’s episode?

How much $$$$ did Ada inherit from her husband? What family was her husband related too?

Who were his people?

Luke Forte was from a wealthy Boston family who had made their money in textiles. Their plant is still running there. Ada seems quite wealthy.

She seems quite cunty

I enjoy the series, but it needs more sex appeal. I need to see young Larry in a bondage scene.

Of course, Cynth, er, Aunt Ada is boring everyone with her "causes".

Aurora!

WTF was Kelli O'Hara wearing to the opera? No wonder her husband wants a divorce.

R3-Thank you for that information. I had no idea who he was, but I knew there was a fortune somewhere.

Horrible first episode, absolutely true to the last 2 seasons despite all this talk about the new improved Season 3.

There's just so little motivation for anything that happens here. Incredibly insipid.

i was laid waste

Again, way too many characters. Watching Carrie Coon as Bertha after White Lotus makes me appreciate her as an actress even more. She's amazing.

I don't understand how Ada could be so strongly pro-temperance and still allow everyone else in the family to drink alcohol. It's not like it's 2025, and people took a live-and-let-live attitude with their family. If you were pro-temperance and had the authority in the house, you'd make a huge stink over it.

I would like to be spit-roasted by the father and son Russell team.

r14, Oh, but yes...

It's unlikely Mrs. Fane would seriously entertain the prospect of divorcing her husband--it would be much more likely she would make him set up housekeeping elsewhere in the city and she would continue to enjoy his name and his house, given that (as they outlined in this episode) the woman would have to be the one to press charges of adultery to get a divorce, and she has no incentive for doing so.

Alva Vanderbilt did get a divorce around this time from her husband but most biographers agree it was only because she had fallen in love with his wealthy business partner Oliver Belmont, whom she knew would marry her if she were divorced (which is indeed what happened). Although the real William Backhouse Astor was constantly cheating on his wife, Mrs. Astor refused to divorce him given her position in society, and he basically lived on his yacht while she lived in their Fifth Avenue mansion and queened it over society.

I love seeing Nixon, Baranski and Simon Jones working together decades after I saw them in The Real Thing where Nixon played their teen daughter.

Amy indication that Bertha will be taken down a peg or two?

I really hope I see my long overdue The Good Fight reunion with Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald doing some scenes together.

Weird fact: Simon Jones (Bannister, the Van Rhijn butler) was the first to play Arthur Dent in the radio adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (which preceded the novel), and Douglas Adams, who was a great friend of Jones's, said he wrote the character with Jones in mind.

Jones also played Lord Sebastian's staid brother "Bridey" Marchmain in the famous early 80s TV adaptation of "Brideshead Revisited."

Improved season?!?!?

This first episode was mostly a turd.

Does anyone really give a fuck about the "railroad" plotlines? They're not interesting. We only want to see Railroad Daddy Russell get his hole eaten by one of the many homosexuals on this show.

The Fane Divorce plot is...idiotic. He just decides to announce out of the blue, "Oh, I have another woman and I want to marry her so we have to get a divorce..." Which you didn't do back then....I mean, is HE prepared to be ostracized from society? It doesn't make any gawdamned sense.

I also didn't like the stupid maid girl being mean to Alarm Clock Jack...what a cunt!

As usual, the best parts were Mamie Fish and the Ada vs Agnes stuff.

Yeah, that maid girl can fun fuck off for being mean to Alarm Clock Jack!

And now the chef has a secret problem? One that will impact his burgeoning relationship with the housekeeper no doubt. Zzzzzzzz

Agree about Hot Beard Daddy’s business issues…boring.

But the preview for the rest of the season does look good.

And bow down to Miss Phylicia Rashad who'll be playing....somebody.

James Earl Jones can consider himself lucky he died last year so he didn't have to appear in this shit.

Could they make it any clearer that Alarm Clock Jack's new alarm clock patent is going get derailed by the Russell son's ineptitude?

Alarm Clock Jack should have at least two nude scenes in every episode- even if it lessons Audra's time by a bit.

After all the hype, it was a bit of a snorefest.

Agnes and Marian snarking through the temperance meeting was amusing. Fellowes has the attention span of a fly. I expect temperance will give way to suffrage pretty quickly.

very likely

All of that Christine sniping and Cynthia simpering was unbearable. And don't get me started on Louisa.

Cousin Oscar needs to head out west to San Francisco and become rough trade for horny gold miners.

I love American history, so the "railroad stuff" was interesting to me. And I think it was good to show him dealing with the mine owners, etc. and facing pressures of his own, while his wife is at home consumed by the machinations of high society in NYC and conniving to get the Duke of Buckingham for her daughter. The Russell boy just doesn't seem as attractive to me as he did last year. I think it's his hair. And the smarmy way he is coming on to Louisa.

Poor Poor Clueless Mrs. Fane. And I don't think for a minute her husband is straight. I think he is deep in the closet. DEEP. But apparently according to the trailer Fane is determined to marry and to bring his new wife into society. That's gonna get messy. I want to see "Knowing looks " between him and Oscar. I think Clock Boy is gonna "educate" the Russell boy. Wait for it. And the mean girl servant was an authentic reflection of how a lot of servant class immigrants would feel. "Getting above yourself" was real. Still is today for a lot of people. I'm enjoying the storyline for the Black family. But honestly having Rashad and Audra on t he same set had to be like walking on egg shells. Neither one of them would be easy to handle. Bertha is going to get her comeuppance don't worry. The Astor girl will snare the Duke. The younger set is going to dominate a lot of the plotlines this season.

In the opening scenes I thought the Russell son had grown a mustache (which would be hot), but apparently his valet is just lousy at shaving him

r28, sweetie, he would be LOOKING for rough trade

[quote] I don't understand how Ada could be so strongly pro-temperance and still allow everyone else in the family to drink alcohol.

She’s concerned with working class men drinking. She’s okay with drinking by her own class.

I've really come to despise Cynthia Nixon quite deeply.

R33v oh, I like the dynamic between her and Christine Baranski . And venturing into the whole temperance movement makes sense for her character since she was attracted to and married a clergyman. Hopefully she will calm down before she gets too tedious.

So when the MAGA esque Dr. Lewis refuses to treat the desperately I'll Miss Scott, because she is 'colored" why didn't Agnes threaten him with ruination while he was still there rather than promising to ruin him to Ada and Miriam after left? Seems she could have forced his hand in the moment and gotten Peggy the help she needed.

R35, she seemed unusually flustered, didn't she. But this was a sign of the times.

The irony of it is that Phoenix doesn’t even have a train stop now.

To R20 and R29-I'm interested in what happens when Vanderbilt takes over all the mines& get the land for the railroad he wants to build to LA. I'm wondering what Gilded Age family takes over the mines. Is it WASP family, Gould or whoever or maybe The Guggenheims, who fortune started with copper& silver mines out west. I do love Americana history of the old west& the fortunes that were made. Not my family, we were still in Northern Ireland, drinking, stealing, whoring around, sailors, fucking around with everyone( British, Irish, Scottish, and some female married a Black man). They got thrown out of Northern Ireland in 1898.

r35, if there had been an out and out confrontation between Agnes and the doctor it would have meant Julian Fellowes would have had to write a scene with some genuine conflict and drama. And you should know by now that just isn't going to happen on The Gilded Age.

That whole Fane divorce story line is so lame. Two characters we barely know or care about with NO explanation or back story on why the husband is discontented with his marriage (besides the obvious, the actor seems gay lol).

Did Bobby Steggart really need to come out of retirement to play that limply drawn John Singer Sargent? He barely got his face on camera.

[quote] [R35], if there had been an out and out confrontation between Agnes and the doctor it would have meant Julian Fellowes would have had to write a scene with some genuine conflict and drama. And you should know by now that just isn't going to happen on The Gilded Age.

lol, I see what you did here r35 :) Good observation about the show in general and To your point, I was watching season 2 again to be up to speed on season 3 (my partner LOVES the show so I like to be able to discuss it with him) Anyway, in season 2 when Dr. Lewis tells Ada and Agnes there is nothing more that can be medically done for Robert Sean Leonard's character, Agnes snaps at him "sounds like a clever way of shirking your responsibilities" or something.. which is a funny line and Dr. Lewis gave her a look like " how dare you, you crazy bitch" and you THINK a conflict is about to happen.. and... he's gone..

R40, he is cute though

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, but agree with some above that Fane suddenly wanting a divorce was a jarring note. Were there earlier hints that he had a mistress that I missed? There was no dramatic groundwork laid for this thst I remember. His girlfriend isn’t the Jeanne Tripplehorn character from last season, is she? I confess to finding the WASP prince who plays Mr. Fane to be wildly handsome and very much my type.

And Ada being a bluestocking seems completely consistent with her character.

I agree. I also like the railroad scenes

Seems like a society doctor in the Gilded Age, like Dr. Lewis, would know a ton of secrets about the high born class . abortions, STD's etc. They would rely on his discretion so maybe that's why she didn't confront him

The railroad scenes are important. Russell acquiring and maintaining and growing his wealth gives depth to the story. As for the Fanes, here was a perfect, "reliable" young couple who seemed to be living just as a wealthy young couple with good bloodlines ought to. Sweet young wife, etc. and then he throws t he proverbial grenade into everything. And she had no clue. In fact, she is having a problem facing it, processing it even as we speak. I wonder who will be shrewd enough to school her on how to fight back. She is so used to being "taken care of," and doing the "right thing." I'm glad that lovely man is finally getting some attention from Julian.

R45 This show is way too tepid to pursue such an intriguing plot turn.

So Alarm Clock Jack has invented something to get men out of bed - I would think with that face he would have better luck with the opposite.

FYI: If you have any elders in your family who don't have HBO but still have a DVD player, you can order Seasons 1 & 2 from Amazon for about $16.99 per season. I sent one to my elderly aunt, a Downton Abbey superfan, and she loved it.

So the outfits did not disappoint.

Poor Cousin Aurora. Her husband is the only hottie.

Is Peggy going to die?

Should we be worried about the young dude that made the clock? I don’t think Larry would do him dirty.

A good start.

"Depth to the story"

Oh. My. Sides.

As for shaming the doctor for not treating a black woman..uh, no. The majority of society would be like "Well, of course a white doctor isn't going to treat some dusky woman. Why would he?"

The real Gilded Age history of a railroad to Los Angeles. Including why pre-Civil War politics dictated the first intercontinental railroad would be built much further north, and ending in Oakland.

Sadly, there's rarely an authentic moment in the whole sorry mess. But then, Downton Abbey after the first season, turned into trash on the level of a daytime soap opera. And as much as I love Carrie Coon in most anything, I think she's terrible in this. Or maybe it's that Bertha is unplayable.

Besides horrible writing, Carrie is saddled with ridiculously over-the-top dresses and a silly Wilma Flintstone wig. She's too short for all that gesture.

[quote] I'm wondering what Gilded Age family takes over the mines. Is it WASP family, Gould or whoever or maybe The Guggenheims, who fortune started with copper& silver mines out west.

The Guggenheims made a fortune in mining 9although they originally made their money in embroidery).

Other wealthy mining zillionaires:

George and Phoebe Hearst (gold, but also silver and copper)

John William Mackay (silver)

James C. Flood (silver)

james G. Fair (silver)

Horace Tabor (silver)

William A. Clark (copper)

Phoebe’s $$ was responsible for kickstarting the rise of the University of California. Berkeley’s “historical core” campus was her doing (with her son chipping in). She has been in a long-term pissing contest with Jane Stanford over who could do more for whom in the Bay Area.

Hearst v Stanford was West Coast Gilded Age warfare. Phoebe died in the Spanish flu epidemic. Jane was murdered (poisoned) and the Stanford leadership covered it up.

This show is so empty and meaningless. I watch it for escapism, to see the houses and clothes, but the plots and acting are just awful. I agree with the poster above that not even Carrie Coon is doing a good job. Everyone seems very fake and mannered. Aurora Fane is fine, but I can't think of anyone else who doesn't seem false.

Did Streep Jr.'s nose get bigger? It was distinctive before, but it seems very large indeed this season. Did she have a baby between seasons? I've heard women's noses can grow during pregnancy.

Why is everyone so worried about what's-her-name being sick? She's awake, she's talking and coherent, even doing a little work in bed. They're acting as if her life is in danger. I know illness was more dangerous back then, but people have always gotten colds.

R50, No Peggy is not going to die, anyway not from her pneumonia (or whatever she has). If you fast forward through this first episode of the third season, you’ll get to a long trailer previewing scenes and storylines for the rest of the series. Peggy lives long enough to be caught in a love triangle between the married newspaper guy and someone new. Neither her mother (Tony loser Audra McDonald) nor the doyenne of black Brooklyn society or whoever she is (Phylicia Rashad) seem at all pleased.

I'm not pleased at all

I wasn't looking for Shakespeare, and truthfully, I am loving this insipid crap. Great production values. There is so much stress out here about our political mess, our economy, and now this Iran bullshit, that I'd rather watch Gilded Age. Jay Gould was involved in a f inancial scandal. Wasn't it teapot Dome? Or was that earlier?

There’s a lovely pine park in Antibes named for Gould—it hosts a great music festival every year.

Earlier? Who taught you American History?

[quote] (Tony loser Audra McDonald)

Broadway Queen Audra has more Tonys than anyone, BITCH!

I actually like this show. I agree with most of you that the plotting is pedestrian at best.

But for some reason, I just like spending an hour with these characters.

Why is everyone so worried about what's-her-name being sick? She's awake, she's talking and coherent, even doing a little work in bed. They're acting as if her life is in danger. I know illness was more dangerous back then, but people have always gotten colds.

She was working at first, but they called the doctor when it got much worse. The length and severity of her being ill might mean that she has pneumonia, and that was incredibly hard to treat back then before the invention of antibiotics.

R63 Harvey Fierstein would like a word with you...

The show is frustrating because if it had a competent writer/show runner it really could be brilliant. I'd rather be watching the show because it was good rather than for hate watching it for its many weaknesses.

Julian Fellowes is such a fucking hack.

I really liked the new episode. Just wish the gay character had more to do.

Why didn't they just call another doctor to treat Peggy? I doubt all doctors were racist, even back then.

I guess history really isn't taught in school anymore...

I love this show. Do I think it’s a great work of art? My God, no. It’s beyond silly most of the time, and I laugh a lot of the time at things that aren’t supposed to be funny, but I love all the sets and costumes and the real historical aspects. I’ve gone down several rabbit holes reading about the events and people I learn about from watching this show. One of my favorites to learn about was the woman from last season who was instrumental in the construction of the Brooklyn bridge.

Same here. It’s a silly soap, but I adore it

I agree with those who call the show frustrating. So much money and talent lavished on it yet the scripts aren't even as intelligent as Dynasty or Falcon Crest.

Pretty boring season opener, hoping for improvement.

Not a single one of those male servants in the snowball fight scene seemed straight, it's like they were instructed to fling those snowballs in the faggiest manner possible. You know it's bad when Ben Ahlers comes across as the straightest one of the bunch.

Speaking of, they apparently dragged Bobby Steggert out of retirement to play DL fave John Singer Sargent. He was great! Could've done without the cheesy Madame X reference, though.

[quote] Why didn't they just call another doctor to treat Peggy? I doubt all doctors were racist, even back then.

AGNES: "Alexa, find me a non-racist doctor on the Upper East Side!"

Will Countess Ladyparts kneel down and suck off roughtrade Clive Owen?

Agnes didn’t live on the UES. Did she?

[quote ]Why didn't they just call another doctor to treat Peggy? I doubt all doctors were racist, even back then.

There were a few moments that kind of address that. I think Oscar or someone said to Agnes something like "will Doctor Lewis treat her?" (because of her race) and Agnes said something like "He'd better do as I say" or something ..so the concept that a white doctor would likely refuse to treat a non white patient was touched on.

Also when the kitchen staff are gossiping about Dr. Lewis refusing to treat Peggy, Armstrong (the bitchy ladies maid) says defensively "You can't ask a person to change a lifetime of beliefs in one minute" or something like that referring to Dr. Lewis.

Also from Doctor Lewis perspective if the other society people he treats found out he treated a black patient, they might not longer use him. So, yes Dr Lewis is a racist cunt but he might lose his practice if he treated her.

[quote] AGNES: "Alexa, find me a non-racist doctor on the Upper East Side!"

LOL.. Maybe Dr. Lewis has been curing Agnes and Ada of "pelvic congestion" and they don't want that spread around ...as it were...

All the DL speculation about Dr. Lewis is far more interesting and smarter than anything that transpired on the TV screen.

Notice Agnes' hypocrisy – being outraged by the doctor's racism, but then telling Aurora Fane she won't be able to come around to parties anymore if she gets divorced.

[quote]All the DL speculation about Dr. Lewis is far more interesting and smarter than anything that transpired on the TV screen

Dr. Lewis has a rather substantial 70's porn star mustache and ALL the ladies (and perhaps Oscar) know it's charms..

r81, indeed, but society is based on such hypocrisy - even today

Morgan in particular needs better scenes, I can't with those business dealings in the desert.

^^^George Russell needs a night out drinking with the miners in a dance hall with slutty dance girls( and gloryholes in the bathroom)^^

I just can't anymore with Cynthia Nixon. She's a spiteful vitriolic cunt off-camera, so I really don't appreciate having her ruin projects onscreen.

A good cast is worth repeating

He’s so fucking hot - i can put up with the silly writing

I think we’re about to see the nice sister and the bitchy sister trade their respective roles. Cynthia is going to become the uptight cunt and Christine the progressive civil rights-minded.

I don't expect Shakespeare and I don't expect strict historical accuracy, but get the big stuff right or just don't bother. Don't have some guy springing some divorce on his wife cause he's in luuurrrvvveee, like he's some 1950s movie star. Fuck off with that nonsense. All wrong for the time and these people. And don't be shocked that white society doctors just do not treat colored people. The fuck is wrong with Ada and Agnes that they haven't known that racism was ubiquitous and permeates everything since they were little girls. At least that one maid had a normal reaction for the times, telling Alarm Clock Jack that he had no business as a mere footman asking a fellow servant to get him something, like he's some real guest in the house.

Morgan is in a gay-themed movie "I Don't Understand You" with Andrew Rannells and Nick Kroll, though he plays a straight Italian guy who meets a tragic end in the hands of a gay couple. I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago and it was rather bizarre but highly entertaining.

R90 my impression was that they weren't shocked he was racist, but rather that he was so racist as to not do their bidding. It was more a class entitlement belief that this guy would bow down to their wishes. They disagree with him about his racist mindset, but they are shocked that his racism is more important to him then their status.

Name of this thread reminds me of open casket viewings every time I see it. Please name it a "watch" thread next time, OP.

The problem is, they're a show set in 1884 but we're in 2025 and you can't acurately represent race relations from that era, today. It was a racist society (frankly, we mostly still are a racist society...) They let black people die because the closest hospital wouldn't admit them for treatment and thought nothing of it.

If they had wanted to do a show set in this time and examining the wealthy NY elite with both whites and blacks, Fellowes should have created a show centered on ONE upper class black family and ONE upper class white family and a realistic character that might have tied those two stories together. Realistically, it would have been a "passing" black character who would be able to actually move around in White People World. Or, better yet, have that character and one of the white characters be enamored of someone in the Black People World. That would be an interesting show. As it is now, the Black plotlines just feel tacked on...well, MANY of the plotlines feel tacked on. Fellowes has WAAAAAAY too many main characters and way too many plotlines to juggle and he's very bad at juggling.

It makes sense to contact the family asap because they will know a lot better than old white women on where to take the secretary to get good healthcare.

I wonder if Dr. Lewis sent a bill for the visit. He did show up after alll

Um—there were entire communities of black doctors, lawyers, bankers, insurance brokers, etc. etc. Black America were creatingtheir own world, in cities, even in 1884.

Agnes and Ada should ask Black Twitter for help!

R13: Full-on temperance was for the poor immigrant masses. The wealthy always assumed that "temperance" wouldn't be draconian and wouldn't affect their lives.

It was a religious, social and political movement. It had the added effect of encouraging women to better organize in the political sphere, boosting sufferage efforts.

Don’t they teach history anymore?

It was "betterment" and bigotry rolled into one.

If you want to see bad historical drama, watch The Buccaneers. It's like dumb modern 20 somethings were transplanted to the 1800s. It reminds me of that CW show about Mary, Queen of Scots aka the prom court goes to France.

There was an active temperance movement with Black women…and men.

R102 did they give Mary a Scottish accent? That’s always a tell.

Technically, temperance really means moderation, as in cut back on the drinking but no need to get crazy about it. But of course, let puritanism in the door, and the next thing you know some assholes are demanding Complete and Utter Abstinence, and the second a sip of beer crosses your lips you may as well book your one way ticket to Hell!!!

I do wonder if Ada is going to become a complete raging bitch about the whole thing.

If Ada does become a raging bitch over it, it'll only last for an episode or two. Uncle Julian doesn't go for longterm plots...he's easily distracted.

You're probably right r106, although I have to admit, it could actually provide a little comedy if Agnes and Oscar, maybe with the cunting butler, despite their mortification, have to occasionally slip across the street to the Russell House just to get a little libation while Sister Grim inspects their home for any hint of the Demon Rum.

Oscar will show up drunk and randy at the next meeting and he will be sent to the street to beg for cock

The fun backstory I created for Ada and Agnes and Oscar is that Daddy VanRijn was a monster who raped poor Ada after discovering Agnes couldn't have children. She got pregnant, had Oscar and they passed off Oscar as being Agnes' kid. Later, when VanRijn was being monstrous, the two sisters killed him. It's a secret that binds them!!!

I saw this theory floated around, somewhere: Evil Mr. Van Rhijn raped Ada, who kept it a secret from Agnes, and Marian is actually Ada's daughter (raised by the Brook brother & his wife).

The show desperately needs Cole Escola. In ANY role.

maybe oscar was raped

The whole alarm clock stuff is ludicrous. It could have been great if it came out that he was planning all this with Russell, he would lose his job so nobody actually knew waht was happeneing. You just didn't mingle with your betters in this society.

Interestingly, an article by the New Yorker has some interesting (mild) spoilers for this season. In spite of calling the show "a poor man's period drama" and enumerating its weaknesses, it does say that this is the strongest season so far.

No. It doesn't need Miss Escuela...

[quote]In the HBO drama “The Gilded Age,” the characters are keenly aware that they live in interesting times.

Has Inkoo Kang watched Downton Abbey? Because that happens in almost every single episode of that show. Just six seasons (and then the movies) of "Change is afoot, oh yes it is!", from the first episode to the last. That's just Fellowes for you, but it's also really hard to resist the allure of presentism when you're doing period stuff. Most of us feel a little tingle of glee when we hear Anne Boleyn say Jane Seymour will never amount to anything in Wolf Hall, people love that cheeky foresight shit.

[quote]But though “The Gilded Age,” which returned for its third season on Sunday, alludes to all of these historical developments, it’s primarily occupied by the social-climbing efforts of George’s wife, Bertha (Carrie Coon), who’s hellbent on dominating Manhattan high society.

That's what's appealing to people, from what I've seen here and on Reddit, namely the low-stakes drama of it all. I don't think the current cultural moment is right to just have rich people yukking it up all the time on screen, small interpersonal drama is the way to go.

Did you not read the article. The writer expressly calls out the Downtown rehash served up.

I've been re watching the first two seasons, and it was very clear the Fane marriage was in trouble early on. I loved how the Vanderbilts, the Rockerfellers, etc. were considered "the new people."

the Rockefellers also were "provincials" having come from Ohio.

If you weren’t Dutch, you weren’t IT.

The last thing I need right now is some heavy stuff and stressful scenes. I prefer fantasy-laden ones however ridiculous or unrealistic they might be. So far, I'm liking this season (and AJLT).

I need fruity fruits and silly people

There are more Gays in this series per square foot than anywhere else on TV.

So where do we think Gladys went?

Thank goodness

R124, probably the strip club in Gramercy park

Betcha Gladys went to Marian, because she was always so sympathetic. Either that or the Fanes. I doubt she will go too far. I'd love it if she went to Mrs. Chamberlain.....

Here's an idea. Gladys is going to run to her friend Carrie Astor. And Mrs. Astor is going to secure the Duke for her daughter. and it will all be thanks to Gladys.

That would be great

Belle Watling's house.

All I know is whoever gives Gladys a safe haven won't be worth the turds in their toilet. Papa Russell will move heaven and earth to get his kid back and Bertha will want it done without anyone finding out. So whoever gets Gladys better call George Russell ASAP and discreetly return her.

I haven’t seen a cast so full of gays since the glory days of All My Children.

I wish that cutie clayborne elder was back

I want to see John Adams, Oscar and the Russell boy in a threesome. They can invite Mr. Fane in if they like.

Why is there no love for Nathan Lane? I do think he overdoes it with his southern accent, but I thoroughly enjoy his Ward McAllister.

[quote]Did Streep Jr.'s nose get bigger? It was distinctive before, but it seems very large indeed this season.

Ha! I was thinking this too - is it my HDTV that's enlarging her nose? Whatever the case, she's got quite the beak. Though honestly, if she was even somewhat interesting, the nose might give her character. Instead she's just dull, dull, dull

I really wanted to like this show for escapism if nothing else, but the "all over the place" stories, the AA character storyline which feels kind of shoed in and the character's attitudes which were wildly inconsistent with the times is just annoying. Fellowes should take a page from Edith Wharton: people always wanted to cheat, leave their spouses, go do crazy things, but for a certain person, life outside the social structure of the day was unthinkable. So her stories dealt with how people reconciled (or didn't) themselves to those constraints. I think that's missing from this show

I was hoping to find some camp or other unintentional humor, as in past seasons but instead it just seems dull.

Harry Richardson has also got quite the beak on him but it seems to work there.

I know the plot will never go there, but I still raised my eyebrow and bit my lip a little when we heard the bell from Oscar's room and Jack had to take him more alcohol lol. It would be hot as a mf, but poor Jack would be forced to leave the house at the very least.

The worst scenes are in the Russell's kitchen. All the hustle and cozy feelings of Downtown are gone and the accents are as flat as can be. They're trying to shove this chef's plotlines into our face, but who cares? Why doesn't he harp on cooking stuff like Mrs. Patmore or literally any chef character ever? Just seems like they're wasting him on slow boring scenes. Plus Mr. Church couldn't be more boring himself, no urgency. Worst of all, the elven Russell housekeeper has the most grating, over-enunciated theater voice I've ever heard from a human being.

^Downton

On DL, it’s always Downtown. It’s in the coding.

R139, trust me, he brings me more than alcohol

The alarm clock plot is so stagnant. This show is all over the place with the constant switching from one storyline to the next. They need to devote episodes to one main story instead of doling out little bites. For example, this fucking alarm clock has been in development for a year and they still haven't made any significant moves with it. Time's a-wasting!

HBO made a major mistake not requiring Fellowes to have a writing staff. Downtown Abbey ultimately sucked because he can't work a plot through and regurgitates lame stories over and over again (like maid-on-maid bitchery/class projection, Edith is a loser and stupid Mr. Bates has been framed for a crime again!).

My least favorite subplot is the budding romance between Borden, the Russells' chef, and Miss Bruce, the Russells' housekeeper. Miss Bruce is the most insipid character on the entire show--I feel sorry for Celia Keenan-Bolger, and for once it's not just because she has such an embarrassing brother in real life.

Who cares about the servants. They're all strangely uppity. There, I said it.

Is it because her brother is very well hung?

They're foreshadowing that Larry's too dumb and will screw up the clock roll-out.

The third season premiere of The Gilded Age delivered the show’s best opening to date. The June 22 debut of the HBO drama gathered 2.7m cross-platform viewers in the U.S. over three days. That’s a 27 percent improvement on the season two premiere (2.1m viewers over three days) in October 2023. The series debut in 2022 drew in 2m viewers over the same amount of time. As is usually the case with HBO series, most of The Gilded Age’s viewers watched after the initial airing, which drew 430,000 viewers on the HBO cable channel, according to Nielsen. The remaining 2.27m streamed the episode on Max (which likely accounted for the majority of viewing), watched a DVR recording or caught an on-air replay.

Maybe Ada could get her teeth fixed finally!

R107 I forgot about the cunting butler! I want more cunting butler action.

R150 I just knew the "How is that alarm clock progressing?" cliffhanger was going to be the next "Who shot JR?"!

Agree R121. I started re-watching Emily in Paris and discovered I'd somehow missed 2 entire seasons, so this is a nice escapist, over-the-top show to indulge in right now and so is The Gilded Age. Like many others, I get my hate-watch fix with AJLT.

[quote] I forgot about the cunting butler! I want more cunting butler action.

"Oooh, we seem to have been transported to VERSAILLES!" -- the cunting butler (Bannister)

Except the cunting butlers now seem like they enjoy each other's company very much. Another plot line that went nowhere.

Deborah Monks character is the ultimate downer. Miss grouch pouch.

And Deb doesn't have the skill or talent to make her into the O'Brien of Siobhan Finneran on DA.

Maybe we'll get a steamy, mature butlerfuck in the season finale.

Is that one of them fetish things?

Do you think they have written off the theft?

If someone wanted to write fanfic that features stories about and between The Cunting Butlers, I'd absolutely read it. I guess it's too much to hope for a TV series.

R156, maybe they are now hooking up

[quote]Deborah Monks character is the ultimate downer. Miss grouch pouch.

Monk's character is also racist. I think her character should find love with Dr. Lewis. Two Gilded Age MAGA cunts.

R81 - while I agree it's hypocritical on Agnes's part, a doctor refusing to treat a black patient is much worse than refusing to invite a divorcee to a party. At least the latter isn't life-threatening.

In their crowd —are you sure?

If the ' alarm clock ' storyline progresses any slower, Jack should start looking into inventing digital clocks.

He could look into sucking some peen

Lady Rebush showed signs of barely composed mirth at the rather wry humour

Lady Redbush*

[quote]AGNES: "Alexa, find me a non-racist doctor on the Upper East Side!"

Can't stop laughing at this post. I can hear it being said in Baranski's voice, while she's dressed like Agnes.

Those scenes in the Wild West would be greatly enhanced by a visit to Miss Kitty's saloon.

[quote]Can't stop laughing at this post. I can hear it being said in Baranski's voice, while she's dressed like Agnes.

While I am sure it's extremely unlikely anyone connected with the gilded age series reads these posts, I'd like to humbly suggest the following plot point for season 4. This should be played in the spirit of the best of Charles Bush.

"Agnes having grown weary of Ada's control, poisons her slowly and when Ada passes out,...Agnes has Armstrong quickly slather Ada's face in black shoe polish...she then dramatically screams "Bannister! Call Dr. Lewis, Ada has taken ill., I think she's DYING !!! .... Bannister promptly calls Dr. Lewis who arrives and sternly refuses to treat Ada saying "You told me she was your sister. not some colored with dyed blonde hair, good day" and leaves.

And JUST LIKE THAT Ada dies in the arms of Agnes.. who cheerfully inherits Ada's fortune." and season 4 begins!

R173 I approve. Aside from growing wearing of her control, Agnes is put over the edge by yet another midnight encounter in the hallway with Ada and her exposed udders.

IMO the mark of a successful series is whether or not it holds up if I binge watch it in a second viewing. Gilded Age does not. The social machinations of the wealthy aren't that interesting. If Fellowes had really got into the truth of it instead of this sanitized version it could have been. It's fascinating to me that Downton Abbey which really was about nothing much, holds up and is more interesting than Gilded Age which really could have told some tales. By the middle of Season 2 I was exhausted and bored by Bertha's constant scheming and pushiness and honestly the only depth or emotion she showed was when she discovered Hunter had attempted to seduce her husband and she was crying and angry. And the role of Gladys was terribly under written. What a wimp.

R175 here. In Downton Abbey the characters seemed fully rounded. They had dimensions. Not saying there were no stereotypes, etc. but in Gilded Age it seems like all of them are stock characters, stereotypes, and cliches' And I can honestly say I am not [particularly invested in any of them. At least with Downton we wondered what would happen. Hell Lady Mary rescuing pigs was more fun than Gilded Age.

Gilded Age had a moment it might have done something with but walked away. The humiliating moment when Ward McCallister's poor judgement almost exposed Bertha to Mrs. Astor in Newport. Here he is, pompous ass, finagling his way into her empty house and suddenly Mrs. Astor arrives early and they're forced to rush Bertha out the back way and she has to walk through the servants beating carpets and plucking chickens and walk through the mess and mud to evade Mrs. Astor's eyes. Now that was a great moment. Betha was absolutely furious and humiliated to be in that position.

Consuelo Vanderbilt was probably the highest profile and wealthiest of the Dollar Princesses who married into the British aristocracy. She did quite nicely. She married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.

Her dowry was $1.6 million (equivalent to around $60 million today) and an annual income of $2 million in stocks for Consuelo's marriage. They lived separately for most of their 25 year marriage and after an official separation in 1906, the couple was divorced in 1921, followed by an annulment in 1926.

The current 11th Duke of Marlborough, her great great grandson, is related to both Winston Churchill and Princess Diana through the Spencers.

Jenny Jerome did pretty well too.

Her son Winston Churchill saved the 20th century from the Nazis.

Jenny from the Bronx ;)

R177 I don't know about "nicely".

She was miserable in the marriage.

^^^How can you be miserable when you're THE Duchess of Marlborough^^^

Bitch, go have some fun-rape a hot footman!!

Well they did say the two spent a lot of time apart, so it would seem like Consuelo could have sought relief from her unhappy marriage in the arms of another, or others? N'est pas?

R176: Fellowes was no better with Downton: The Bates saga, the dumb Marigold plot, Daisy the socialist (for one episode), etc. He clearly had no idea what to do with multiple characters after their initial plot twists (May, Edith, the chauffeur). He never really provided McGovern with any kind of character development.

McGovern didn't need any character development when she could say the names "Raaaw-bert" and "Lyady Myary" so memorably.

She was an American 1/2 Jewish "Countess" living in Downton Abbey. That was her development& dealing with her Dowager Cuntess mother-in-law.

Fellowes is a shitty writer.

It's now rather obvious that he provided nothing more than a simple outline for Altman for Gosford Park. NOTHING Fellowes has done since then is anywhere in the same ballpark as Gosford, which was superb.

He got the Oscar🤷🏻‍♂️

R182, she did just that.

Basically the Duke of Marlborough (called "Sunny," because his courtesy title as a boy and young man was the Earl of Sunderland) and Consuelo, the Duchess, learned very quickly they could not tolerate each other's company, so as soon as she cranked out her requisite heir and a spare, she was gone.

They were officially separated for almost twenty years, and when she wanted to get officially divorced (not the easiest thing to do in 1920s England--her mother had to testify at the trial that she had totally dominated Consuelo in order to force her to get married).

Oddly enough, though, Winston Churchill had very happy memories of his "Aunt Conseulo," and always spoke of her exceptionally fondly. Since his beloved mother was also a Dollar Princess, he probably sympathized with her. And, according to all accounts, she was nice almost to a fault.

R187 Which is certainly proof of his talent...winning a writing Oscar for a Robert Altman film, a director well known for creating his films in collaboration with his actors.

And the fact everything he's written since has been utter shite.

Fellowes sucks cocks in hell

Consuelo Vanderbilt was forced, literally, by her mother to marry the asshole Duke. She was reportedly crying up the aisle.

She ought to have been happy to get away from the woman who named her Consuelo.

Money is money though

Money doesn't do you much good if you're miserable over things that money can't fix.

^^^The lack of MONEY is the root of all Evil^^^

I told that to the priest at Holy Family church in the confessional when I was 18 years old in Philly.

I felt so much better after banging the priest, love the cassocks. He asked me what he could do to "bring be back into the church."

Suck his cock, clearly

You can visit some of the real mansions used on the show:

Super sweet

Episode 2, tonight, one wonders ...

... What the Papers Say ?

Is this the one where poor John Adams pops his clogs?

I hope in some future episode one angry guest throws a Thistle Gold St. Louis goblet across the room.

looking forward to Agnes saying many withering things to Ada that go over her head and getting revenge on Dr. Lewis. Also, gay stuff.

[quote] looking forward to Agnes saying many withering things to Ada that go over her head

Why, that has about as much of chance of happening as Marian looking delighted over someone else's success!

Or of Mrs. Fish looking secretly thrilled when she hears something scandalous!

Or of Kristine Nielsen's cook making off-hand remarks in an unintelligible accent as she shapes doughy biscuits.

Fellowes is a terrible writer but he's the "most bad" when it comes to writing for the servants. NONE of them are interesting.

He did have the cunty ladies maid who tried to fuck Railroad Daddy but she got the boot only to ridiculously come back as a "lady".

And there's Alarm Clock Jack.

As for the rest...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Actually I kind of like the household staff at both residences. I am not invested in them the way I was with Mrs. Patmore and Carson, and the rest, but they're fine. I sure hope Alarm Clock Jack doesn't get screwed over by the Russell kid. He seems decent enough but you just never know.

[quote] Fellowes is a terrible writer but he's the "most bad" when it comes to writing for the servants. NONE of them are interesting.

Obviously the Cunting Butler is an exception here, although I missed the cunty comments last season.

The Butlers are both boring. It's very tepid cunting.

The Russell butler is a shitty actor.

The houses aren't main characters on this show, which sucks a bit. We see the some of the details, but they're never really showcased like the magnificent Highclere rooms were.

Actually once you got past the public rooms Highclere was rather drab, IMO. In the bedrooms, I could smell the mold and dust from here. In Gilded Age every room, including the bedrooms is magnificent.

R210, I think that the mansion situation is complicated. None of the houses in NYC are real; they are a patchwork of rooms from real houses combined with sets.

The van Rhijn scenes should all be shot in daylight. We get that Agnes is stingy with a candle, but the night interiors are too dark.

[quote] I felt so much better after banging the priest, love the cassocks. He asked me what he could do to "bring be back into the church."

Well, honestly, he seems to have gone above and beyond. Seriously, what more did you need, bitch?

Well, true r209, but mostly it's the writing. Of course, you should never send a dingbat twenty-something nonbinary to do the work of a bitter old queen.

Sorry, but we know what we're doing when it comes to cunting, and they just don't.

“We ALL believe in John’s cock…uhhh…clock.”

Fun fact-the Russell butler is played by Jack Gilpin whose daughter Betty was recently one of Cole Escola’s replacements as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! on Broadway.

Damn but that episode flew by. George grooming Alarm Clock Jack was hot. Poor Gladys. Baranski was great in her scene with Peggy's parents. Excellent episode.

Ada is really annoying, making the servants take the pledge.

The actress playing Gladys is terrible.

Glad to see John Adams is back. Too bad he's so needy.

[quote] None of the houses in NYC are real; they are a patchwork of rooms from real houses combined with sets.

They're using multiple real-life mansions in the US for many of the locations for the series.

All the scenes in the Fane house tonight were filmed at Lyndhurst, Jay Gould's house in Tarrytown, NY.

The Russells' ballroom, their billiard room, and George's bedroom are all filmed at The Breakers, one of the Vanderbilt family's estates in Newport.

Bertha's bedroom is filmed at Marble House, the other major Vanderbilt house in Newport.

The interiors and exteriors of two other Newport mansions, Chateau-sur-Mer and Belmont, were used as Mrs. Astor's mansion in that city.

Many other Gilded Age mansions noted at the link have been used for other locations for the series.

I missed the last 15 minutes of the show, so I have to rewatch it. I know 1 thing, if I was Aurora Fane, I will kill Charles Fane.

Also, I need to get violated by Dr. Kirkland, a fine looking high yellow half breed man. I need to suck& swallow him; he must violate me several times and call me his "white bitch faggot"cock-slap me many times. Fill me with his creamy white goodness.

R220 - Mitch McConnell

Charles Fane was downright flaming in tonight’s episode.

The dreary actress playing Gladys is really diabolically bad. And what was that Peter Pan type monstrosity on her head in the first half hour?

It would be nice if Ada came out as carpet muncher with one of those mannish looking socialites who often seem to have minor roles. Nixon could impose her personal life her, too, and it would be more interesting than bugging people about temperance.

I thought tonight had the best work all three seasons both from Christine Baranski (in her discussion with the Scotts about Oscar's typhoid years ago, where he almost died) and Carrie Coons (where for once she allowed herself to get emotional in her scene in her bedroom with George). I also thought Denee Benton was charming in her scene where she saw Dr. Kirkland in her bedroom in her pigtails.

I liked too that they're finally allowing Ada to look genuinely foolish and wrong-headed about trying to pressure everyone in her household into signing the Temperance Pledge.

For once I thought this episode was mostly well written: I liked how they wrote Mrs. Carlton, Billy's mother. She's genuinely a kind mother, but Bertha pushed her so far she allowed her snobbery to show through by finally my pulling rank on her with regard to her ancestors vs. Bertha's. I also like that Billy is such a pussy and was terrified of bertha's evil threat to destroy him and disinherit Gladys.

Well, I for one thought the episode was just as badly written as ever.

For example, are we just supposed to forget how Agnes was so horribly against, downright scandalized by having a young Black woman working in her household in S1? Suddenly, tonight she's talking about her family's long-held beliefs in equal rights for all races.

And John Adams - I guess there was no need to explain where he's been wile Oscar lost his all his money?

Ada's temperance campaign - I honestly can't tell if they mean for it be some kind (lame) comic relief.

How long are they going to drag out Alarm Clock Jack's patent presentation??

[quote] For example, are we just supposed to forget how Agnes was so horribly against, downright scandalized by having a young Black woman working in her household in S1?

She wasn't. You're misremembering.

Love that Mrs. Fish had a prior iconic role as Dawn Muffler in Another Gay Movie. Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, and the rest of the Broadway trained cast must be plotzing over this.

I wish Oscar and John Adams could live together forever as "confirmed bachelors" like these two

I can't imagine anyone's loins being inflamed by Oscar.

Agnes was the one who actively hired Peggy to be her secretary in Season 1. She did so after being genuinely thankful Peggy had helped get marian to NY from Pennsylvania, and she let Peggy stay the night before hiring her. Since the very first episode they've shown she's quite advanced for her time among white people with regards to color prejudice.

It was her maid Armstrong who was scandalized by Agnes's hiring her.

Yes. The "Agnes is an uptight prig who always conforms to what society expects EXCEPT when it comes to her VERY liberal stance on race relations" was just one of many bad writing examples found early on in TGA.

R210, some may remember Lyndhurst as Collinwood in the first movie version of Dark Shadows. They still do Dark Shadows events there!

Ada is going to bore everyone with her temperance shit. I hope Agnes via Oscar gets her money back and puts Ada in her place.

That Fane guy is flaming.

I sort of feel like they're going to make something of the mercury typhoid medicine Oscar was given as a kid. It felt kind of crammed into the conversation. Perhaps Mr. Scott, as a pharmacist, thinks about it, then comes back and asks about it or something, and that leads to some kind of Peggy/Agnes rift when hijinks ensue. Although, nothing seems to be neurologically wrong with Oscar (just his luck and a bit of affluenza), so maybe it's nothing. It's probably nothing. I don't know. I'm not sure I like where they [italic]could[/italic] take it. Maybe it was just shock value at the treatments of the time.

R233 I pointed out the flaming Fane person early on. And he is coming across as an incredibly selfish POS. I loved it when Aunt Agnes froze him, saying, " I am not your Aunt Agnes!" Here's the thing. No one ever sees Mr Astor. And historically we know that the Astors split up. But Mrs. Astor lost no standing and no one discussed it. Now if Fane were discreet and aware or the social dynamics, he and his girlfriend could go enjoy their lives discreetly and Aurora could maintain the fiction of a happy marriage. I'm wondering what the point is in this storyline? Do we watch as Society shuns Aurora and takes up with the new Mrs. Fane? Agnes may have something to say about that. I want the satis faction of watching Fane get frozen out. Then he will turn to Oscar and John Adams for sympathy.....

[quote] Baranski was great in her scene with Peggy's parents.

FINALLY! The long overdue The Good Fight reunion with Baranski and McDonald.

SPOILERS

*

*

r235, I think the point of the Fanes' story is to show what the stakes will be in high society if the Russells divorce, which has promised to be threatened this season in every review of the season I've read. I think that's also why Charlotte Astor Drayton was introduced as a character tonight, and why mention was made of her troubled marriage and of her longstanding affair with another man: that affair was a huge scandal in Gilded Age society, and Charlotte's husband notoriously challenged her lover to a duel (which never materialized).

I saw Ashlie Atkinson aka Mrs Fish in an off Broadway play titled FAT PIG more than 20 years ago .Her co stars were Jeremy Piven, Andrew McCarthy and Keri Russell and she stole the show. Very memorable performance.

I'm happy to see Victoria Clark, another superb Broadway actress, as Billy's mother Mrs. Carlton.

Bertha slipped George the tongue in one shot. It was hilarious.

Marble House at Newport

I'm hoping the Fane Divorce will lead to the Fane Murder.

We could use one of those in this show.

And, once again, stupid writing. Men were also ostracized from society for divorce. He and the new wife would NOT be welcome.

All in all, this week's episode was better than last weeks.

Things that were good:

The Ada and Agnes bickering.

Ada being a pest about "the Pledge".

They gave poor, too old for her role Gladys some nice scenes.

Loved Mrs. Astor's ears perking up when she could smell gossip in the room.

I liked Peggy being all coy with the new hot doctor and basically sending signals for Marion to get the fuck out of her room so she could get a breast exam from him.

Oh, and they gave Bauer, the cook, some fun bits of business. She's finally becoming a more interesting character.

Stuff that needs to happen:

Fane needs punished for being a stupid asshole. Kill him.

Bertha needs a beat down.

We really need to see Alarm Clock Jack do well.

[quote]I hope Agnes via Oscar gets her money back and puts Ada in her place.

That will be the cliffhanger in the last S3 episode and hook S4

Maude Beaton will finally overplay her hand with her next mark.

I’m sticking with it for the scenery and costumes though it’s pretty dull stuff. We need to see Larry and Jack go off together for these business meetings and realize their true feelings for each other while peddling their cocks, er, I mean, clocks. More man on man hot clock action!

Why do they keep dressing Marion in these garish dayglo dresses? Is it supposed to have some meaning? Maybe Streep Jr insists they’re her colors but she looks like a damn freeze pop every time she enters a scene.

Lots of comments about all the gays in this show. Which of the actors is officially gay/out? Please let it be Larry and or Jack. They seem to have a very cute rapport on set based on their Instagram accounts.

Jack is straight, Larry is gay.

Gladys' attire at the start when she was at Billy Carlton's place was horrific, as was Bertha's hat.

Speaking of, Billy is so bland, I hope we don't see him anymore. Did you know the actor has a doctorate in genetics from Columbia? Smart homo!

Dr. Kirkland is so tall and HOT. Reminds me of David Alvarez a bit. His period-appropriate speech clashes with Peggy's more contemporary delivery, I've noticed.

I thought Aurora Fane's pleading with her husband at the foot of the staircase was some of the best dramatic acting we've seen on this show so far.

Someone was talking about "empowering" people--it struck me as very post-1960s. This doesn't have to be a documentary but they could get enough of the starchy details right to make it seem authentic.

Cynthia Nixon's nudity was wasted on AJLT. It would have been impactful in The Gilded Age if she was naked in some funny/bizarre scenario. It would take some imagination, but even back then people sometimes were naked in their own homes. Not to mention all the brilliant asides from Christine Baranski after.

I hope Ada has some sort of emotionally draining event and says "oh, fuck it", grabs a bottle of booze and is later found passed out naked with a bottle in her cooch.

The writing is occasionally really good. Last week, Agnes was upset a doctor wouldn't see Peggy, then told Aurora she wouldn't be able to attend as many parties if she got divorced. This week, Ada finally becomes the head of the household after being powerless for two seasons, then immediately abuses her power by trying to make her staff sign the temperance pledge.

Some of the closeup photography and lighting seems very unrelentingly harsh on the older ladies this season, Nixon, Baranski, Donna Murphy and Kelli O'Hara being the particular victims. And the Black actors always seem to suffer form too low lighting and dark backgrounds.

Also, the ladies' wigs have become so overly elaborate and phony-looking. Their hats are immense and too color coordinated to their ugly dresses (neither true to the 1880s).

And those neon colors are on Streep, Jr.!

Aurora Fane looks way older than her gay husband. Is that deliberate?

Bertha looked 10 years younger with her hair down in that bedroom scene with Mr Russell. It softened her face dramatically. The only thing that would have made that scene better was Morgan Spector exposing what must be a hairy beer can cock.

Ward Horton, aka Charles, played Ed in that awful Torch Song revival with Michael Urie. Claybourne Elder, aka John Adams, was his standby.

George was pretty annoyed Bertha had not told him she had already begun legal arrangements with the Duke when he said "Tell me everything"... she had been so angry with him the first season when he had not told her everything about Turner coming into his bedroom, insisting that in their marriage they have to share everything, so she's a huge hypocrite,.

R260 I loved how frantic and desperate she was in her determination to get the Duke for Gladys. IMO it showed that it really had nothing to do with Gladys as she professed, but everything to do with her competitive standing in high society. George saw through it. And the argument she uses as her weapon, I don't tell you how to run your business and you don't tell me how to run mine. But her business is to manage their social standing and run the household. Those children belong to both of them, and he promised Gladys. Even though Bertha dismissed has promise. I think shits gonna hit the fan for Bertha...

[quote] I think shits gonna hit the fan for Bertha...

I sure hope so. I’m so sick of seeing that bitch win all the time.

Charles Fane is a POS! Bringing his ho to his wife’s function was so fucked up. I really hope Aurora gets the best of him this season.

Gladys is a dud; if she wasn't a rich bitch, no one would give her a sideways glance.

Bertha is brilliant to want to get above market price for Glad-ass.

R263, I like Gladys. She's just an ordinary young lady and she doesn't care about being some wonder woman. Her mother's visions of greatness for her are a projection of what Bertha wanted for herself.

As I have rewatched the first two seasons, I have seen Bertha's coldness and her disregard for the pressures her husband is under. They are in love and they have this partnership where her social climbing helps him and his business connections help her, but as they achieve greater and greater success she is turning her energy on her daughter and on him, and Bertha is totally out of control. I think in this moment, with Gladys and the Duke George is realizing something about her and it's pretty ugly.

I'm hoping the mother of Gladys's beau will get revenge on Bertha with Mrs. Astor's help.

That new doctor is sure pretty.

Bertha has no standing without George's money and she probably wouldn't have any idea how to run his business. He is clearly going to undermine her in any way possible. Her beau being such a wimp guarantees that he's not going to get much further with her. She will remain miserable. She and the needle-nosed Streeplet seem to be the stand-ins for "poor Edith" from Downton.

R259 Ward Horton will be perfectly cast as John Thune in the coming HBO SERIES “Decline and Fall of the American Republic: Enemies Within.”

The guy playing Fane managed to keep the flaming under control for the first two seasons but this season the flaming has been unleashed because Fane is behaving like such a cunt.

But somehow looks younger than ever, I'm gonna need his whole skincare routine.

Taissa Farmiga (Gladys) was not very good during her confrontation with Billy outside the house, but she was very good in the final scene when she discovered to her horror the Duke had brought his lawyers and she's already been sold.

The ridiculous plot line of Fane's shit treatment of his wife rings very false to the times and the Knickerbocker NY society. No husband would demand a divorce, then parade his mistress at his own wife's soiree in that era. It would reflect badly on him. Most people back then stayed married and perhaps lived in different abodes and had lovers but divorce? Rarely and usually not just because hubs found new pussy. He'd keep that shit discreetly on the side.

And now for your listening pleasure, a short rendition of "Stardust", performed by DL fave Patti LuPone at a secret gay club where most of the men casted in the Gilded Age undoubtedly frequent.

R272, “no fault” divorce did not exist then. You had to have grounds; you couldn’t just dump your spouse. Even prolonged separation did not justify a divorce.

Ward Horton is a beautiful man. If he was on Fox News, Trump would have him in the cabinet.

So Fane's strategy is to force Aurora to agree to divorce by humiliating her in her own home in front of their friends? What kind of woman would agree to attend an event at her lover's fiormer home hosted by his wife and involving all of NYC High Society? That's not a good look for the girlfriend either.

I loved that scene where mama Carlton said, "My grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence!" and Bertha was just like, "And I shit money, bitch."

Great parallels to present day. Money trumps everything.

R276, unless I’m misremembering, Fane said that he and the mistress were going to follow Aurora around everywhere from now on. Imagine how pleased everyone would be if Fane turned up floating in the East River. No one will believe that Aurora had anything to do with it.

Looks like they're foreshadowing for Fane to die? That seems to be the easiest way out for the Mrs. Maybe her alibi of him being always sick may just come true. I think he'll either meet a tragic accident or be terminally ill. I don't think he will get murdered. They won't go there.

A juicy murder would finally energize this shit.

What a dastardly gathering!

Best line of the episode.

I agree with you all. The Fanes have been set up quite well for a crime plot, both attractive, but minor enough characters that all meaningful plotlines could keep going if they become this series' Mr. & Mrs. Bates.

I get the impression that it’s good sex that keeps the George/Bertha marriage going. It’s doubtful that Bertha has relaxed her need to control enough to really enjoy sex, but she ‘s smart enpugh to know she can lead George around by his cock. Up to a point.

I’ve been perplexed that the Fane marriage, which seemed placid and contented, is so aggressively on the rocks. Did the actor want out? His behavior makes little sense, even for a man going through a midlife crisis, 1885 style. Perhaps murder IS on the menu.

Just a teensy bit of arsenic in his tea today...then a teensy bit of arsenic in his soup tomorrow, ... then a teensy bit of arsenic

Charles pointed out that the side piece didn't want to come. And, even though we don't get a close up she clearly looks uncomfortable from a distance. Have fun in Newport, Aurora!

Mr. Horton probably bitch slapped Julian Fellowes after he got handsy and his story arc will be one floating in a pond, river, or fountain. Aurora better have an airtight alibi.

Bill Camp was excellent in his one scene in this episode. In fact, many of the actors with the smaller roles in this episode and the opening episode seem to make an impression, despite limited screen time. Fellows is lucky he has this kind of talent

Maybe Mrs. Van Rhijn will KILL OFF Aurora's cheating pig husband. I felt she probably killed off her 1st husband. It was easy to do back in the day.

Will Ada's gay nephew become a mogul somehow? Ward Horton would have been better in that role, all the nudity in Season 1 would have been worth it.

I liked this episode overall. Liked every scene with Peggy, Peggy's parents, Peggy's doctor, really every scene with black people seemed to strike the right note and seemed to provide the right mix of drama and realism.

Also, loving the Bertha-Gladys feud and the whole thing of maneuvering her to the altar with the Duke, against her will, but maybe we'll see if it's entirely against her will. Either way, it seem right in every way.

Also liked seeing John Adams and Oliver. Also Ada and Agnes and the goddamn Pledge. Hate the whole idea, but it does work in its setting.

The only big honking terrible no good failure remains the divorce. Sorry, nobody is going to be okay with Mr. Fane parading his whore around town like that. Nobody, wherever she comes from. The one thing these old rich bitches, wives and widows alike, are going to absolutely agree on is that nobody needs some damn home-wrecking, man-stealing Jezebel wandering around their society. They are ones who would be chased from the house, not Aurora. Yes, it's his house too, but in this case, nobody would give a damn. The one power these ladies had was social power, and they would use it to its fullest extent to say no to this bullshit.

I believe what will harm Mr Fane in the long run is his complete lack of discretion. At some point his side piece has to call him out on it.

I love how Audra McDonald subtly portrays her character - her relationship with her husband, her reluctance to go through the front door, her love for her daughter, her proud demeanor, and her understanding of how a black family is perceived in this Gilded Age. It makes every scene she's in work.

Would that she could have used some of that subtlety and three-dimensional range in her one-dimensional performance as Mama Rose in GYPSY.

imho

Patti Lupone must be rage texting under a pseudonym.

They need to fire the cinematographer. They don't know how to light black actors.

Which is shockingly common in film/tv.

Bertha as a striving new person was someone we could root for doing battle with Mrs. Astor and the rest. But now that Bertha has won so much success she is IMO not longer someone to root for. She is out of control. That she is willing to sacrifice the life and happiness of her only daughter to one up the old guard is disgusting.

I agree r295. And in fact, it would raise the stakes and raise the dramatic tension if she was actually losing some social battles, and really needed this win with the Duke to triumph. As it is, she seems to win every time anyway, so there's no particular reason for her to launch her daughter in this way. I still think this whole feud between mother and daughter is working overall, but it is a mistake to give Bertha so many wins leading up to it.

First word: mister fane is a prick

OK. I was rewatching Season 2. The episode when t he Met vs the Academy comes to a head. Suddenly the Duke behaves badly and agrees to support the Academy and Mrs. Astor. Bertha is furious. She argues with her husband because she says Astor can buy the Duke and he forbids her to outbid for his attention. He says she has spent enough money, the Met is a sold out triumph and George refers to the Duke as an old shoe getting passed around. He tells Bertha in no uncertain terms she is NOT to spend a dime trying to entice the Duke away from the Astors.

So then..... Bertha goes to the Duke's hotel. What can she offer him that's better than money and won't cost a dime? When she gets home to dress Gladys asks if Billy can visit their box? Mama says no. She reminds Bertha that Bertha likes Mrs. Carlton Billy's mother. But Bertha is implacable. No Billy Carlton. So IMO it was obvious t hat when she visited his hotel room she either gave him the best blow job he's ever had, or she offered him Gladys hand in marriage. So the fix was in from the night of the Met Gala.

Taissa farminga or what ever her name is, is acting circles around herself from previous seasons and the rest of the cast

“Existential battle” feels the MOST anachronistic phrase to date

That coachman looked appropriately pissed at the quarter or what ever it was tossed him

I like the touch that young mister Russell smokes a cigar casually while his business partner is being fitted, seems very appropriate

R221, indeed, she goes in heat every once in a while still. . .

Mister Merrick is a queen, No?

R304, he certainly pinged for me

Why is he there? Will he become bertha’s sassy gay friend?

Heyyyy r306!

Ward, you’re on your way out, at least according to spoilers

R252 - I thought the same at first. But then, Bertha meant it in a more literal way than modern "empowerment", which generally refers to self-esteem. Bertha was talking about giving Gladys tangible power, so maybe it's something a woman would feasibly have said in that era? (I don't know, TBH.)

Bertha is vile (well, by modern standards, at least). As a previous poster noted, her insistence that she wants what's best for Gladys rings hollow - it's all about her own social standing. Her win at the end of the last season has jacked up her (already high) levels of competitiveness and narcissism. It'll be satisfying to see her fall on her face, although there's still a tiny part of me that's rooting for her.

R310, The final scene in Episode 2 this past Sunday, Gladys looking so terrified and hoping her father would rescue her, i felt really sad for her. And boy did she light into her mother. She really has Bertha's number. I sincerely hope this doesn't become a retelling of the Consuelo Vanderbilt story. How sad! All the critics agree that the Russells are prototypes for the Vanderbilts. I think Bertha has turned into a monster. And to give her husband the excuse that all the high society people expect an engagement announcement is just incredible. Her daughter is a pawn to her. I'm not rooting for Bertha anymore. She's gone too far. Now., she could redeem herself. But I don't think redemption is part of her character's arc.

R308, What makes you say Mr. Fanes days are numbered according to spoilers? What spoilers? I haven't read any.

[quote] Bertha is vile (well, by modern standards, at least).

Yes, but that modern standards makes a huge difference. It's actually why the whole Bertha-Gladys thing is working better than some other storylines. By Bertha's standards, she is doing a perfectly normal, and in fact admirable thing. And it's not just about her own social standing, it is also very much about her daughter's social standing and her prospects in life. Her daughter really only has one actual asset: her possible marriage. Making the best match possible from a social and economic point of view is absolutely a reasonable thing for her mother to consider. And yes, in that set, it really is up to the mother to decide the best course of action here, as both fathers and daughters themselves really cannot be trusted in the matter. It's actually part of the whole tragedy in House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton who knew a thing or two about this world, that Lily Bart did not have a mother to guide her and was left floundering in that dangerous world.

From Bertha's point of view, she is absolutely doing the right thing here, saving her daughter from stupid mistakes. Not that Gladys would agree, but that's what makes it interesting.

R309, that’s a blatant anachronism. The essence of these women’s lives is that they did not have any overt, legally recognizable power. They could do some fey do-gooder things, but that was about it. All of their ambition had to go into marriage and social competition.

I've never liked Bertha, she comes across as a two dimensional villian most of the time, and Coon's performance doesn't help.

Well, if it's true that the Russells are The Vanderbilts, then Bertha and George will divorce and a year later she will marry an old friend of his, Oliver Belmont, another millionaire. But of course, no one is as successful or as wealthy as Mr. Vanderbilt/George Russell. If Gladys is Consuelo, she's gonna be miserable. In fact, I bet she only agrees to marry the Duke if he bans her mother from their lives.

Ward McAllister, the role played by Nathan Lane, and one of the real people in the series. He was ostracized from Society after writing a tell all memoir. He was heartbroken when Mrs. Astor cut him. The preview trailer included a scene indicating that this was happening this season even though in real life it didn't happen until 1890.

Ha, what an idiot r316.

Oh, wait.

R295 R296 Don't you think the Russells are going to have a financial setback? Then there'll be high drama with her trying to claw back up into society.

those robber barons never had a financial worry

Princess Consuela Banana Hammock

[quote]Taissa farminga or what ever her name is, is acting circles around herself from previous seasons and the rest of the cast

That is one, large paper bag.

someone will die

Well, yeah, more like everybody r322.

eventually

I think Mr. Fane will be brought in line by the bank he works for. He’s expected to be a gentleman, and they’ll call him out for behaving so poorly.

I worry that Larry isn’t going to make Jack into a success. It all seems so perfect.

Big reach…at the beginning of season 1, Marian’s late father only has ‘worthless’ railroad stock. Maybe his middle of nowhere lines are just what George Russell needs and Marian comes into money selling them.

[quote]Mister Merrick is a queen, No?

The actor yes, not sure about the character. He made Bertha laugh from ear to ear, which was uncharacteristic and immediately made me think they'll have a tryst. When's the last time George made her laugh?

Or he could be a love interest for Oscar.

R326, Bertha is turned on by power. It's her aphrodisiac. Merrick doesn't fit into that equation.

Right, he’s merely a distraction, maybe he’ll gossip about the duke to the right people in Newport

Does Ward hang out on Fire Island? Any sightings. I would swoon and faint.

AS IF he would ever cavort with that riffraff! P-Town only.

Oscar is not that attractive but I would welcome almost everyone else on the the gay train. They all seem quite homosexual as it is

R295: Some of us have never rooted for Bertha. She's just a self-serving striver with nothing much to offer anyone else.

Yeah, Bertha is a one note bitch.

About once a season, she gets to cry and be vulnerable. Then, back to One Note Cunt Town.

My wish for a series called "The Gilded Age" and set in New York would have been to have done it like The Wire. There's a core cast every year but the focus changes every season. One season would focus more on Politics (Tammany Hall!) and one on Black Culture in New York and one on Jewish Culture....one season on Crime, etc.

But, that's not very Uncle Julian.

R334, I really like that idea. New York was the elites of many different groups—artists, criminals, WASPs, Jews, Black Americans, gay people. What we are seeing so far doesn’t convey that.

Uncle Julian just does lazy soap operas.

And, it really is a shame since this is a rare, big budget 19th century set show depicting American history we seldom get to see produced in this country.

As I think about it this series really is about the women. You have Aurora Fane who tried so hard not to offend, to follow the rules and do almost everything right. You have Marian, who wants "a life less ordinary", then there's brave Peggy who is compelled to write and be an activist, you have Gladys who has no wish to be a society leader, and Bertha who channels all her intelligence, her drive and her cunning into the only outlet available to her, pushing her way into high society. Now it's true that being one of the movers and shakers as George is, it is helpful to have a wife who can hold her own among the hoi polloi. But Bertha has over played her hand, not just with George about Gladys, but among that nest of vipers who call themselves the social leaders of NYC. Bertha has no friends, only people who hate and fear her.

Hoi polloi. No the!

R333, I like One Note Cunt Town.

Like Maggie Smith in Downton.

One Note Cunt Town.

Aurora fane needs to scream and slap someone

The typhoid mercury turned my son into a homosexual!

Indeed it did

Aurora’s pretty boy husband leaving her storyline is kind of silly, but it’s nice to see Kelli O’Hara getting a little more to do.

Bertha needs a chorus of gay boys to keep her laughing. The original fag hag would be a good B storyline.

I really don't get all this DL salivating over Mr. Fane. I've always found his looks bland and insipid, even more so this season as he's come more into focus.

For that type I found Marian's suitor of last season, can't remember the character's name but the actor was David Furr, far hotter.

Morgan Spector is the hottest

I want to see Agnes die of a heart attach when it is explained to he that Oscar enjoys having men go up in him.

Agnes, "He bites the pillow?"

Argggghhh...

No we need Agnes and Ada. So seriously how do we think Julian will wrap up his Gilded Age. I think they fully intend to have a 4th season.

The Gilded Age ended in financial panic and with power to the Progressive movement.

Julian would never let that happen to the cast, well maybe one or two.

To R325, I agree with you, I was hoping the same thing in season #1 that Marian would turn out to be the "wealthiest" of all 3 of them. Maybe the "old worthless RR stock" that Marian has would turn out to be worth MILLIONS to her because Russell Sr. needs it to finish the RR to the West Coast. Maybe someone should tell Miss Fellowes about this dropped plot line. I want Marian to marry Larry Russell. Seriously, her 1st fiancée dropped her for a Flagler Heiress (I would have too) Too much $$$$ to pass up.

Marian hides her Streep bonafides like a true nepo. She has talent, nevertheless.

George Russell gives me a STIFFY!!!!

Both of them

I think Alarm Clock Jack is the sexiest guy on the show.

He is super sweet

He still looks like an animated film character brought to life but he really is adorable. And whoever taught him that accent deserves big props.

I cannot believe that this week is going by so fast. Tomorrow is Thursday. Fireworks night, then Friday is the 4th. Wow. I guess I'm anxious to see the next episode. And I will honestly maim Larry Russell if he even considers stabbing Alarm Clock Jack in the back. Marian would dump him so fast!

Pocketwatch twink has cheeks to pinch, front and back.

Alarm Clock Jack has those sleepy bedroom eyes, and those lips - oh, what I could do with those lips...

He loves musical theater, but sadly, Ben Ahlers is straight.

Isn't Harry Richardson, who plays the young Russell also straight? His Insta is mostly of him skateboarding and hiking back home in Australia. With little or no grooming. He seems like someone who has no ambition regarding his career. Not that that make him straight.

Former boy toy to Selma Blair, I don't think he's gay.

I fear Larry Russell is going to take advantage of the young pocket watch twink.

Congratulations to the person who coined the name Alarm Clock Jack! I think it's gonna stick!

I thought for sure the actor playing Larry Russell was gay in real life. Was shocked to find out he's straight.

He sure is purty

r365 That is indeed shocking. The way he crossed the street in the latest episode was the faggiest sight in this show so far. Then again, Timothy Olyphant has that same walk and is also straight. So I guess it has to do more with spindly legs than with sexual orientation.

90% of actors are kinda gay.

I mean...they've all "tried it" once or twice or thrice.

By the time Alarm Clock Jack gets his invention on the market in this slow storyline, the Russell staff members will be wearing smartwatches.

I’ll say that rather than get fucked over, Alarm Clock Jack is going to start making real money, which will set him apart from his peers and set up a dilemma — can he learn to code switch to a higher class? Who will his friends be? Who will receive him?

To R367-YUMMY...TIMOTHY OLYPHANT-TAKE ME HARD RAYLAN!!!

My prediction: Alarm Clock Jack will be financially successful, but unhappy in his life because he doesn't quite fit in either world.

Which is a tad ridiculous because America was all about the self made man. And, Jack would be very welcome in certain quarters.

Alarm Clock Jack should just fucking move to Paris where he’d have a VERY enjoyable life.

Alarm Clock Jack will have sex for the first time and contract something.

JP Morgan was like, "Something BAD is coming, some terrible economic crash that will change all our lives forever. Everything points to it, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air... But yes, let me invest in your highly speculative venture that might ruin me completely."

Fellowes once again with the hindsight writing. I'm surprised he didn't have Ada say, "One day, about 130 years from now, this temperance movement will lead to the first female presidential candidate."

Didn’t the Fanes introduce Oscar to Maude? Maybe Charles Fane was in on her scam as a way to finance his extramarital activities. And maybe John Adams can help Oscar figure that out.

Also wouldn’t Fane and the mistress/second wife plan to just go to the French Riviera after the divorce?

Article with JSS picture of Consuelo with family including Blenheim spaniel.

That would be a very interesting story line if Alarm ⏰ Jack made it big. It would be good to see someone rise in that era.

R378 I predict that by the last episode, Alarm Clock Jack will hit the big time with his invention, and that will set up season 4. He will be rich, and move up in society (but tied to his old friends in the kitchen).

So which sister will die first? Ada or Agnes?

Ada will die from alcohol poisoning.

Agnes will then die of cuntdom

I just want AC Jack to go to a meeting with Hot Larry& the AC investor and excusing himself to take a piss. AC Jack takes a piss& gets cruised by a wealthy man who gives him his 1st and best blowjob. AC Jack realizes that there is a whole world of "cheap, sleazy, meaningless sex" that awaits when he's married, the wife stops putting out.

Jack will never be Vanderbilt rich, but he won't fit in downstairs at all.

but will he fit into his bitches?

R385-Great one!

So, Ben Ahlers has a BFA in musical theater from Univ of Michigan!

When is Alarm Clock Jack getting a musical number?!?!?

Maybe he’ll dance down easy street!

Oh My Gosh! The flowers are amazing

A drunk mister Russell would be a fine catch for a late night dalliance

Aunt Ada is full as can be

I think either Russell would get a BJ from a guy

Good. The duke seemed like a MAGA douche to me

I'm hoping Jenifer Lewis will pop up on Gilded Age, too.

I’ve indeed always found that women of Il-repute does supply a good amount of wine

[quote]I'm hoping Jenifer Lewis will pop up on Gilded Age, too.

If she does, I hope she gets the sniffles and someone call Dr. Lewis.

She'd take care of his white ass

The dead wife is a bore

I wonder whether the real misses fish was such a big fat fag hag

R384, I’m hoping Jennifer Lawrence shows up to the gilded age

Armstrong really is a mega cunt.

She needs to nip hack to five corners or wherever her hag mother is

Jennifer Lewis MUST be hired for THE GILDED AGE

Now.

Mister weston is a hot daddy

Charming. My grandmother had one of those clocks. Seriously. She had everything

Phylicia Rashad gets to play a snippy cunt. How exciting!

I gotta say that was an excellent episode. The only thing that would have made it better is if Gladys was bare assed and spread eagled in her portrait. AND THE WEDDING IS NEXT WEEK!!!!

How exciting!!

A real seance!

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE!

R406: Sargent reserved that for his male models.

The broken pearl necklace.

Foreshadowing!!!

Poor Gladys, destined to be a Duchess in a bad marriage!!

What horrible life!!

Some of the ugliest dresses ever were seen in tonight's episode. A few looked like they were composed of 3 different dresses we'd seen previously.

If Gladys is expected to go back to England with her effeminate Duke, how will she ever become the toast of New York/American society?

Where were the Fanes tonight?

Where was John Adams??

What is going on in the scenes between the fat chef and the mousey housekeeper? Is it romantic? Are they just friends? I truly can't understand what they're taking about. Nor do I care.

All these servants don't need to be main characters with plots. Uncle Julian should have just had the van Rijn servants have any kind of plot...we really don't need to see the Russell servants except as window dressing.

But then we'd be deprived of all that Broadway talent standing around.

Does Bertha know JS Sargeant is gay as a goose?

R419, it was often gossiped about, so, yes, she would have known.

He looks like a pissy bottom

Gladys is Consuelo Vanderbilt who married the Duke of Marlborough against her will and had a horrible, overbearing beast of a mother in Alva Vanderbilt, and Bertha Russell does her great honor. Alva was homely. Now. Consuelo was unhappy and the Duke was unhappy and they had two sons so they must have had sex at least twice. Anyway, she became a very progressive, liberal, feminist suffragette and was a great humanitarian. A life filled with accomplishments. Alva and her Mr. Vanderbilt got divorced and she married another millionaire, Belmont. She also became a suffragette type. So this could get interesting. I like that they showed the snooty high class POS Black people. I sure wanted to slap the crap out of Phylicia Rashad. I hope Larry and Marian have a smoother ride than poor Gladys did.

You didn't really gossip about gay people in that time. For one thing, "gay"really wasn't a thing. It was sodomy.

And, women certainly wouldn't have been tittering about it.

The black actors are very poorly lit. WTF.

Merrit Wever should be fun next week as Bertha’s sister. I love her.

r424, they always are. but they had the bitchiest scenes this time

Okay, now THAT was interesting…wealthy black families looking down on former slaves, even if they have become successful.

The black seaside scenes like a freewheeling B'way production of "Sunday on the Rocky Beach with Black Actors"

It had a weird CGI/AI quality to it.

Yes, I've said this before...like many shows/films, they don't bother to light black actors properly. Denée Benton is gorgeous and she's always lit badly. It's disgraceful and lazy cinematography.

That was a decent episode albeit with your usual bits of nonsense here and there from Uncle Julian.

Agnes was on fire this week...being a delicious uber bitch. She got a nice zinger on Armstrong. And, Oscar had some fun lines.

Problem scenes: Ada's ridiculous scene with Mrs. Bauer...I wanted Bauer to just tell her, "bitch...you're depressed. Have a bottle of wine and go to bed."

And, Gladys suddenly kinda/sorta ready to maybe start liking the Duke after spending 5 minutes with him felt a bit rushed. And, the pearl necklace bit was ridiculous and telegraphed from a the beginning. I think Uncle Julian stole that from a Marple episode.

Is Mr. Not just banking, but also shipping going to be a Belmont stand in or does Bertha want his daughter for Larry?

Every single pearl on that choker, SYMBOLISM, would have been knotted to preclude what Juliann wrote.

Julian is losing it.

I wonder if some of the mishmosh dresses really were three previously seen dresses re-worked R413?

Shouldn’t the non-enslaved Northern black folks be darker than the plantation rape descended characters like Peggy’s father? Newport isn’t Louisiana.

Why would a nice beer drinking Lutheran servant like Bauer in touch with a medium? That was a false note. Now if Ada had gone to Boston to meet Luke’s Unitarian cousin that might have made sense.

R432: Color prejudice was always a thing and the North had plenty of slavery,. They just got rid of it long before the South did and there were slave states like Maryland that had many free Blacks. On the eve of the Civil War, 80-90% of Blacks in Baltimore were free.

Fun fact - Consuelo’s best friend in real life, who married Duke of Marlborough after Consuelo divorced him was named Gladys.

Is the canine actor playing Pumpkin this season the same one who plays Junior in the Freshpet commercial?

Yes, back in the day, and even now, REAL pearl necklaces (made of real pearls) were/are strung with an unseen knot between each pearl just so they don't come apart like poor Gladys' choker.

That was a cheap trick.

Weren't the pearls a gift from the Dewk? So he gave her cheap shit that wasn't strung properly. This was a SIGN!

I'm starting to love Agnes.

"I can go live in a house of ill-repute. At, least they'll have plenty of wine."

"Haven't you noticed I don't drink, ma'am?" "I've noticed you're no fun."

I'm really enjoying this season! the first season was uneven. But season 2 was fun. And this has been fun and excellent this season! They've seemed to figure out which characters to focus on and cut out a lot of the boring stuff. I like it more than Dowtown now.

Oscar remains my favorite. And he shines this season.

I like how they're managing the Black characters' storyline this season. The reveal that the dad was a slave and the prejudice against it was truly interesting. Also the tension around light skin vs darker. The first season seemed like they were just making the Black characters versions of the white ones. Like that they're exploring Black society as distinct from White society.

Is it just me or does everyone look 5 years older this season?

Was the real John Singer Sargent a pocket gay, just like the actor portraying him?

Did anyone catch the Easter Egg mention of "Baltimore" to the Phylicia Rashad character? I think the dad character asked her is she'd been to Baltimore and she gave him a weighted stare in response. I took it as a sly reference to one of her most famous lines in the Cosby Show: "Here we think you're lying on the floor of some burning building dying of asphyxia and you're down in Baltimore, having BIG FUN! Weren't you, Vanessa?"

[quote] Is it just me or does everyone look 5 years older this season?

Why does Gladys look like she’s 30?

These Newport "upper class" blacks were doing an earlier version of the "brown paper bag trick"

How the light-skinned blacks discriminated against the dark-skinned black in their black fraternities& sororities in the 20th century. By holding up a brown paper bag against their skin, darker than the paper bag-ain't getting in!!

Ada just can't catch a break, which is fine because she's so boring. Agnes does sanctimony much better, but it is nice to see her being shut out of society.

I'm ambivalent about dragging out both the Jack and the Duke/Gladys storylines.. Putting Jack on his way to social limbo should be a no brainer as it creates a somewhat different arc than the other characters have. Gladys does look kind of old for 18, but she's not very interesting and shipping her off to England would get rid of one peripheral character. Conversely, Oscar is having too much success, too soon. Julian really seems to suck at pacing.

AC Jack is the Gwen Dawson of TGA.

[quote]Why does Gladys look like she’s 30?

I think they've intentionally aged her up this season with the help of makeup because the actor playing the Duke looks so much older than her. They wanted to remove the possible ick factor from this arranged marriage arc, which was a smart call.

I was watching a video about BTS stuff in Season 3, and there was footage of the various actors going through their paces. But apparently they are introducing a lot of new characters. The Duke has a sister who upon meeting them decides she HATES the Russells. Leslie Uggams appears as part of the upper class Blacks of Newport. And the biggest news I saw was t he return of...Maude Beaton!! Yes. The Swindler returns! So this season is gonna be a humdinger.

Didn’t Glady’s hair used to be a lot lighter too?

When the Duke was charming and "authentic" with Gladys, what were we to take from that? Everything to that point showed him to be a douche, narcissistic con man, no redeeming good quality, and then suddenly he is kind and sympathetic?

R451, I viewed him as sort of a "sad old shoe" as George called him. He is on a mission. His family is in deep trouble and he is off to America to find a "Dollar Princess." He seems to be a well brought up, mild mannered young man who may even be slightly embarrassed and decides to handle everything like a transaction, which, back then, marriages usually were. Among the nobility I don't think anyone married for love. All marriages were arranged. But that doesn't make him evil. I kind of loved Bertha's admonition "If you want access to her money be nice to her..."

[quote]I was watching a video about BTS stuff in Season 3,

please tell us where you saw this video

VERY excited about Merrit Weaver showing up as Bertha’s sister.

I think the poster who guessed that Marian’s “useless” railroads being suddenly valuable might be on to something. Her line about “well, at least no one will ever want to marry me for money” or whatever ….hmmm.

R451, he really wanted the money, so he turned in a very polished performance.

R449, did you get a clear view of the Fane mistress? Is it Maude?

I am probably in the minority, but I’d like to see a patent theft and resulting litigation storyline with Jack.

Gladys really resembles the real life Consuelo Vanderbilt.

Phylicia Rashad is well cast. I can easily picture that woman being Claire Huxtable's great (or great great) grandmother.

I know this show is silly, but I look forward to it every week and I hate when each episode is over.

I thought this latest episode was very well written. I appreciate how carefully it parsed various storylines and relationships re the rigid upper and missle class social strictrures of the time. And the way they dealt woth racial snobbery in the black community was also very welcome. This is exactly what I’ve always wanted to see in this series, and they’re finally digging into it.

Not the first series to take this long to hit its stride, they’re finally sailing with all potentially juicy plotlines they’ve spun out.

Have to agree with R442 — John Singer Sargent was over six feet tall with a formidible presence of his own. Why would they cast an actor who is no more than 5’6”? Also, though the portrait looked kind of Sargent-ish from afar, the one closer shot revealed that it didn’t have the creamy polish of a real Sargent. So I guess we’ll only see it in longshot.

I LOVED the pearl necklace breaking, heavy-handed and unlikely as it was. I love that kind of portent in melodrama. It’s like the red wine spilling on the wedding dress in “The Deer Hunter” — I’m here for all that drama.

John Singer Sargent’s mustache looked like it was trying to flee his face during the portrait unveiling.

I thought Gladys' father gave away her dowry to finance his choo choo trains.

R463 I am assuming that will be a plot point in upcoming episodes. Will the wedding be called off? Will Bertha finally be humiliated?

R463, yes, here was a mention of funds being freed up since her engagement had, apparently, fallen though. But this show is rather vague about money. Fortunes magically appear whenever they're needed. When Bertha met with Mr. Delancy (the other possible purchaser of the Duke) she snidely said something about him having a close call with penury only to have him hand wave it away: oh, those millions? I have other millions, there was nothing to worry about.

R465, it's called diversification, and I don't think Russell is very diversified. I think he is pouring a fortune into railroads and it is a fortune he doesn't have. J.P. Morgan said as much.

We got a rare glimpse of women's footwear as Bertha leapt up from her table to greet the banker. Or maybe I've just never seen her shoes in particular.

Aunt Agnes gets major points from me for that Thirty Years' War jibe.

Oscar laughing with Marian and Ada at AC Jack's comment at answering Agnes question about Money.

Great comment BTW

I'd love to see Aunt Agnes in a fit of civil rights uppity-ness smuggle Mrs. Scott into the opera. The guest opera singer will be played by none other than....Patti Lupone! Who then discovers someone has brought a colored lady into the sacred whites-only space and has a cunt fest. And confronts Mrs. Scott who then marches up on stage and pulls Patti's wig off.

There's a reason why Gladys looks 30...

The actress who plays her, IS 30.

Russell's finances are a bit of jumble. Wasn't he in danger of going broke a couple episodes ago? Then he bailed out a bank? Now he's giving money to this low grade royal, along with an allowance for his plain looking daughter?

With all the bank panics and recessions of the 19th Century, I wouldn’t be surprised if they try a plotline where Russell’s finances become stretched and he finds himself over a barrel re this railroad project. Jay P. Morgan as much as warned him about that.

Maybe he’ll have to crawl to Morgan to get bailed out until there is a financial correction. If so what will Morgan want in return? The excellent character actor Bill Camp plays Morgan so I’m sure he must have more of a role going forward.

Everyone looks 5 years older because the lighting and cinematography is extremely unflattering. And not only to the Black actors. Even more so than in past seasons.

There's a reason Agnes has those heavy period-inappropriate Louise Brooks bangs.

r467, I also caught that glimpse of Bertha's boot and thought....they must not have intended to have it in the shot as it was black boots with a white (or very pale) dress. For a woman who has a custom made hat to go with every single dress, I'd hoped that Bertha might have some beige kid boots.

At least she wasn't wearing flip flops.

The duke is not a royal duke.

R477, Royal Dukedoms are bestowed upon marriage to Royal Princes.

This Duke is a member of the Aristocracy. And not to nit pick, also considered a commoner.

So, why is Bertha so intent on Gladys marrying him? Does she really think it will affect her place in NY society? Obviously, he ain't bringing no money to the relationship.

Uh, people ADORE titles. Especially American society. Money isn't that hard to get but a title gives you prestige.

Which is stupid but some people are impressed by that shit.

When Ada was speaking to Bauer about how she misses her dead husband, it would have been nice if Bauer had suggested that they take the opportunity to drink to his memory.

R439, the East Coast elites were obsessed with imitating European aristocracy. Basically, everyone in The Gilded Age is pretending that they are starring in Downton Abbey.

The real-life version of Bertha, Alva Vanderbilt, was not sympathetic at all. She didn’t simply want “prestige,” she wanted to completely control her daughter. She sometimes beat Consuelo and threatened to kill the man Consuelo really loved. What we’re seeing in the show is incredibly tame compared to real life.

R481 It was a great opportunity for Bauer to comfort Ada with her womanly bosoms and yeasty musky lady hole.

Consuelo Vanderbilt wrote wrote "The Glitter and the Gold." Good title. She tells the whole story of the mother/daughter strife.

One of the producers is a Professor of African American history at Emory University in Atlanta, and I was watching an interview with her and Denee Benton on the official Gilded Age podcast on You Tube they put out after each episode.

I am enjoying this season, primarily for the costumes, romantic plots and settings. The same person posts on these threads repeatedly how much they don't like it. Never change.

I am hoping Jack gets his business because we need a person to evolve out of the butler business.

We need Marian and Larry to marry because it's destined (and Marian looks so pretty in all those clothes).

Peggy needs that doctor to marry her so she can get some BBC.

And most of all, we need Bertha to fall on her face about this whole creepy prince story. She's like Pimp Mama Kris in her zeal for fame and power through her daughter.

Was there really a rich black community in Newport at that time? It just seems like the whitest city in America. And also, how on the nose that they would pick the exact place where all the other characters vacationed.

R487, there was a significant Black community in Newport. Local historical societies in Newport and NYC are having a lot of fun with this series.

[quote] This Duke is a member of the Aristocracy. And not to nit pick, also considered a commoner.

Well, to nit pick, the fact that he's an aristocrat makes him NOT a commoner. This idea that there is only royalty and commoners is a very modern, and largely American, invention. There is royalty, nobility, gentry, and commoners. He's clearly in the nobility group, and soon Gladys will be as well.

And yes absolutely, being able to say "my son-in-law, the Duke," will absolutely put me a cut above these other rich bitches in this society. You bet your ass! Sorry, I mean, it is only right and fitting.

Spiritualism was a really big thing in that world, but I agree with whoever said that it really was an upperclass thing, and upper middle thing. It wouldn't really be a servant telling Ada about it, I think. It would probably be some friend or relative, maybe even Aurora Fane, who would have heard about some "highly sensitive medium" who's all the rage at Newport this year.

But still, I'm kind of looking forward to Agnes rolling her eyes at whatever nonsense Ada is about to get caught up in.

Yeah, and I can't wait to see Andrea Martin as that highly sensitive medium....

[quote] This idea that there is only royalty and commoners is a very modern, and largely American, invention.

What do you consider modern? The Queen Mother, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon? Not particularly American.

[quote]And also, how on the nose that they would pick the exact place where all the other characters vacationed.

It's nothing new that a group of similar (marginalised) people would vacation in a similar place. See also: the gays of Fire Island and P-Town in the past and still today. You go on vacation where you don't have to deal with the nonsense you otherwise experience on a daily basis.

R181 I can see most of the dollar princesses being bored to tears after marrying those wealthy families.

Imagine, you went from a society with the latest fashions and modern architecture, and modern conveniences, to old dilapidated country estates. Given your rank, you would have to go a mile to meet with anyone of your social class to have normal conversation. Better hope and pray you like your neighbors.

Beyond that, your man comes to fuck you then spend your money keeping his old musty home from foreclosure or caving in on itself. Regardless, he’s milking you dry.

Back in America, society was in the major cities. The countryside was the temporary home. In the UK it was the opposite, London was the exception for married titles women, the country was were they largely remained.

I’d rather be in NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc where a boatload of hot young cheap men come every month, with other rich people of my class are a walk or carriage ride away. Where theater and arts are centered and all than life is celebrated over the dreary UK for a life of loneliness and snobbery.

So yeah, I see no upside to this marriage. Even if the homes and titles were grand, these women already had status and grand (new) homes in America. I’d take America.

I mean bored after marrying those British aristocrats.

R482 is right. Alva Vanderbilt was a raging southern bitch. No other way to put it. She was horrible to her kids, horrible to her timid husband, and terrible racists.

That cow was a mess. She was the personification of mental illness mixed with limitless power.

She did make it easier for other divorced women to move in society, but only brides she divorced her man and was not about to give up her place in society.

Her friend, The Mrs Astor had a crazy end. Roaming around her last Fifth Avenue Mansion, muttering to herself and falling down her grand staircase. All alone with nothing but her bored army of servants around. Long gone are the parties, the guests, forgotten with time.

Tell me about it, r496!

[quote][R439], the East Coast elites were obsessed with imitating European aristocracy. Basically, everyone in The Gilded Age is pretending that they are starring in Downton Abbey.

I wonder if they're taking a page from The Buccaneers in which Gladys marries the Duke (who she finds out is gay as a goose), she has an affair & leaves him, causing a big scandal. Its certainly far more entertaining option

Well, R498, except for the Gay part, which I know nothing, that's exactly what happens. Both Consuelo and the Dewk have affairs, divorce, and she becomes areal force. She took her shit stained life and turned it around.

No hot water in those drafty country estates.

Most of the titled estate owners also had homes in London and spent part of the year there; the American heiress trophy wives weren't stuck in the country year round. And, went on long visits to the spas and resorts on the continent.

Would Peggy really have ejaculated “wow!” in that era?

I wondered that, too. I suspect “wow” wasn’t in common usage for that time period.

On Meryl Jr’s Instagram today she posted a video of Ben Ahlers and referred to him as “Clock Twink,” tee hee.

Though we enjoy referring to him as Alarm Clock Jack on Data Lounge, Vulture and Louisa Jacobson’s Insta refer to him as Clock Twink.

Which is more Data Lounge than Data Lounge.

Louisa Jacobson is family so maybe she posts here.

Hey, girl!

I can't believe they used to need oil for clocks to work. Thank you for enlightening humanity, Clock Twink!

By the way, the guy who played Weston's clockmaker is cute. He has one prosthetic leg, apparently.

I wouldn't call him "cute".

I'd call him....

Fuckin' HAWT!!!

The other guy was hotter

R478, I didn't realize this character was part of the Royal Family. I stand corrected.

The actress who plays Gladys is really a revelation this season. She is playing the sense of powerlessness very well, and also the incredulity that her parents are treating her as such a pawn.

Of course, it helps that she has had a great deal of screen time over the last few episodes. It really is a shame that there are so many characters. It feels as if so many of them are an almost total irrelevance. Honestly, who would notice if there was never another scene of the servants sitting round a table again?

I’m bored by Alarm Clock Jack’s story now. The dramatic appeal of an alarm clock is rather limited, I think.

Fellowes is a very strange writer: so many of his dramatic stories take ages to come to fruition and the conclusion is often an anticlimax, and he expects viewers to become invested in characters who appear for a minute or two per episode. However, as in Downton and The Gilded Age, he is wonderful at world-building, which is a wonderful set for costumers, designers and historians to work their magic. Both Downton and The Gilded Age are visual feasts for the eyes.

What episode will George Russell wind up poor?

[quote]The other guy was hotter

An acquired taste, I think. And he's straight, unlike his hot scene partner.

I think the show should end with all the characters singing the score for "Ragtime." It feels like I am watching an adaptation of the novel.

R513 We're about 20 years away from "Ragtime" which was mostly set around 1905/06.

“KEEP THEM CHLIDRUN OUTTA DA SUN!”

[QUOTE] I think the show should end with all the characters singing the score for "Ragtime." It feels like I am watching an adaptation of the novel.

A novel you’ve clearly never read.

R513, that would be awesome, especially considering all the Broadway stars in the cast, including Broadway Queen Audra McDonald who along with Brian Stokes Mitchell was in the original Broadway production of the musical version of Ragtime.

they could sing "tomorrow" from Annie too

John Ellison Conlee is married IRL to Celia Keenan-Bolger who plays the mousey housekeeper for the Russell household and has a thing for the fat chef. So, yeah, I guess you could say he is straight.

Yes, I know he's married to Celia, that's exactly why I wrote that he's straight.

It's been bugging me, maybe more than it should really, I admit it. But it was a really obnoxious thing when Larry shut the door with him and Marian in the room alone. At that time, in that place, that was a really dangerous thing to do, for her reputation. And it's not just bad luck that a maid barged in, servants are always barging in at bad moments, it's half the job. It's just something an actual well-bred young man who knows the rules wouldn't do.

I am very disappointed in that young man, right now.

R521, the person I have questions about is Bertha’s maid. She’s French, isn’t she? She should know to knock before opening a door.

And why is Larry such a flop during this alarm clock business? It’s so obvious that he had no idea what he was talking about. I’m glad that Jack piped in to explain how HIS clock works. Larry is a talentless nepo baby and I actually think Marian can do better.

I also think that Marian’s railroad leases or whatever will turn out to be valuable and she will get rich.

It was nice to see Armstrong have a different side of herself shown in her conversation with Alarm Clock Jack. I think she injected him with some unexpected confidence.

Maybe they will get married

To be fair, Larry is not at all useless in that arrangement. He is the money guy with the money connections. However, he should just admit up front that Jack is the inventor, he himself does not know what the fuck makes this stupid little gizmo work, but it's obvious everybody can make a fortune if they'll get off their tired old asses and fund the damn thing.

The real money in railroads was in land--the rights of way and property bought for infrastructure---train yards, hotels, etc. A railroad that turned out to be redundant with another line could become valuable because of the real estate. There were lines that became valuable because someone wanted to include them as part of a larger project---what's now the Pennsylvania Turnpike started out with an old Vanderbilt right of way that was partially built and then abandoned. Part of that right of way was anorther planned, but never built rail line.

R526: Making excused for a dead pervie aristocrat of little value? The only tragedy of his demise was the collateral damage to his family members and the local boatboy.

Is Nathan Lane returning as a gay socialite? Will he take Oscar under his wing?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I hope not. I generally like Lane, but can be over the top and insufferable as she is in Gilded Age.

I get that if Ward and Oscar met in some out of the way place, that they would have gone out of their way to never let that happen again.

Nathan Lane’s Foghorn Leghorn impression is a joy to behold. Always gets me laughing out loud.

Me too

#metoo

Will Nathan lane be sexually taken advantage of?

It will not be uninvited after he drops his lace hankie.

Is this week's trailer out yet?

Why are they so slow to put out the weekly trailers?

HBO used to drop them at the end of the just aired episode to whet your appetite for the following week.

AC Jack is 6"2", on the show he looks 5"8 inches.

He has elf face. It makes you seem smaller.

Jack’s accent is too forced. It’s not believable.

There are tiktoks of him and the Larry character doing dances. You can see that he’s tall

I can imagine AC Jack's height prohibiting him from getting theater work as his face doesn't match his height at all. And on the stage that can be problematic. Hard to cast. Nevertheless, he may be the one true breakout star of the series once this wraps up.

I actually love his accent and feel it's one of few authentic accents in the show. Everyone else is talking like they're Arlene Francis and Martin Gabel on What's My Line?

Does anyone know how many episodes this season has?

Jack is adorable. I love a tall bottom!

AC Jack has a skinny, tall, Dobbie like body.

me too

AC Jack does seem shorter, I agree with the poster that said his face doesn't match his body. I need to find the video of him dancing with Larry.

the actor who plays jack is taller than any of the other cast members

Ben Ahler’s face definitely doesn’t match his body but I always think the same is true of Carrie Coontz, too. She’s quite short but her face never looks like that of someone short. She should be at keast 5’7” and I think she’s actually not quite 5’4”.

I desperately want to have all night sex with Morgan Spector. 😍🔥

To me the guy who plays Jack has a face out of Dickens. It’s a period movie character face. He’ll be playing chimney sweeps all his life.

R549, I’ll take sloppy seconds

I think Carrie Coon's shortness (unfortunately) comes through very clearly on TV. She really doesn't have the proportions for those bustle dresses which, even in these ugly post-modern iterations, can be very challenging. She's a great actress for contemporary stuff but not well-suited to period drama.

George Russell should do a scene just like Cynthia Nixon did on Just Like That. He could be so stressed that he sleepwalks naked wandering around the mansion until the Duke finds him and inappropriately touches him to wake him up.

Sounds right up my alley

We did have more sex and shirtless scenes in season 1. Bring those back.

We need to see Clock Twink out of his little footman’s outfit, forthwith. You can tell he’s got a nice tight body underneath all that.

Check out his Insta account, r556. As I remember he's shaped like a very tall and skinny 11 year old boy, no definition. He's actually rather scuzzy IRL. Not "cute" like his character.

Boy, Morgan Spector comes across as very fey in R547's TikTok clip. Has he played gay in any film/show?

Morgan Spector had a full frontal in a movie called SPLIT. he's cut and the scene is hot.

Morgan Spector

what is the Hebrew tatoo saying?

It says, “ i am your girthy penis lord, bow down”

Ben SPEAKS

[quote] It says, “ i am your girthy penis lord, bow down”

Absolutely, sir. Now about that investment ...

I mean, not a strict requirement, but I'd appreciate it.

Morgan Spector was born 35 years too late. He would have made a great Nathan in Sophie’s Choice and not Kevin Kline. Kline had zero charm or sense of danger. And his Nathan would undoubtedly throw a mean fuck and make you understand Sophie’s enormous cravi g for him.

I've only seen him on Gilded Age but other than being hotter than fuck, Morgan Spector certainly hasn't demonstrated any great acting talent in this show.

He’s really not that hot without the beard y’all.

Have you seen his body? He’s jacked!

Spector was good in "Plot Against America". He isn't given much to do in "Gilded Age" but neither is anyone else. In the first season, it was even worse. he seemed like he should have been twirling is mustache like Snidely Whiplash.

Too bad AC Jack didn't invent the dildo. The alarm clock talk is rather boring. I'd love to see Larry explain how a dildo worked.

Oh, like those bitches need a dildo explained to them. They know exactly how it works, and I don't just mean the ladies.

It will be cool when Jack names his clock after his grandfather, Timex Trotter.

Like Grandpa taught me, we always keep on ticking!

R570, I think that vibrating “massaging devices” were, in fact, first manufactured in the 1880s.

And not a moment too soon r574

Timex ? It looks like he's talking to the guy at Westclox (remember them?).