The Gilded Age
Let the tournament begin
Season 1 Episode 9
Editor’s Rating 4 Stars ****
Photo Credit: Alison Cohen Pink/HBO
When I was 6 years old, I asked a boy from my first grade named Timmy to be my boyfriend. He said sure. In about an hour he wrote a love letter (it was a drawing of a heart) to a girl named Savannah, I’m not kidding. That’s how our relationship ended. The relationship between Tom and Marian in this series has almost the same depth, and their faint breakdown in this episode made me say “… What??” Because the way Timmy chose Savannah despite my very attractive bowl haircut, this plot doesn’t make any sense.
When this season started, I didn’t think I’d ever be in a solid place from “enjoying this show,” but the last few episodes have turned me the right way. We’ve shed most of the boring storylines and are moving from last week’s courtroom drama to the social spectacle in the finale. Marian elopes with Tom, Bertha threatens Mrs. Astor, George just kind of hangs around the house and Peggy – Peggy’s having a hard time.
After Peggy announced last week that she was married, had a baby and that it had died, it immediately sounded like possibilities the baby was still alive. And that’s how it happened! Dorothy, aka Mrs. Scott, aka Peggy’s mother, finds a note in her husband Arthur’s pants (classic) implying that Peggy’s son is still alive and in Pennsylvania. Arthur appears to have staged the whole thing, which tops the list of the worst things you can do to your child. That explains so much! Before, it very much seemed like Peggy disliked her father’s lack of support for her writing career (also valid!), but that’s like pantomime villain behavior.
Arthur comes home and when Dorothy confronts him, he says they will never find the baby and that Arthur is not sorry. Arthur!! You are not on the high ground here! You think you are, but eventually you will realize that you are at the bottom of a very deep well instead. Peggy and Dorothy leave the season to search for Peggy’s son, who we hope to see in the next season, along with a real change of attitude for Arthur. I’m talking about immense regret, Arthur.
The entire rest of the finale consists of Marian’s escape attempt and Gladys’ coming out ball. Also, they spend a lot of time arguing that Monsieur Baudin is actually from Kansas? How much too much time. I don’t need this action – snip snip. Also: does each minion have a mysterious secret? Bridget, the maid, the cook, JohnJack (they switch names for him, so that’s what I call him), Miss Armstrong, Mr Watson (that’s the man watching this lady from behind a tree). I’m really interested in why Mr. Watson follows this married woman and why she recognizes his name and then shows up with her husband at the Russells’ very fancy party! Why couldn’t we spend the finale instead of “You thought I was from France, but I’m not.” One star off!
OK, let’s do it. Let’s talk about Marian. MARIAN. Anew! look at your life Check out your selection! This story is absolutely insane. It feels like it’s just to give Marian something to do and prepare her to start dating Larry next season after the disappointment of a failed engagement. But it doesn’t make any sense either. Tom and Marian meet at the park and he says he’s never loved her more than that moment (as opposed to the other five minutes you guys spent together??). You will burn out the next day. This is important. The next day. I’m actually not sure because the timeline is never clear on this series, but at least it’s the same week. When Peggy asks Marian where she and Tom are staying, Marian says I don’t give a fuck that she suspects they will be staying at Tom’s apartment. She doesn’t even know. Maria!! What if he doesn’t have an apartment! He’s been in New York for about three weeks. He’s probably staying in some hotel. Good LORD.
Ada fathoms Marian’s plans, and when Marian says they both wanted to wait, Ada points this out, and yet Tom didn’t wait. An excellent point, Ada. This is all a learning experience for Marian, but it’s like… it’s an experience I would expect from a sixteen year old at this point? If all of this happened to Gladys Russell, I’d say oh yes, absolutely. But Marian has positioned herself as this very demanding twenty-something, and it’s just bananas that she’s making those decisions. Agnes points out that Marian is reading Henry James, and is that a reference to Washington Square? Hopefully. It appeared in 1880, just a year earlier. Learn from your books, Marian! Or absolutely anything other than your bad intuition. If it sounds like I’m being too hard on Marian, know that this will continue until she starts thinking about absolutely everything. Old shoes in the Carpetbag Marian.
Tom doesn’t show up for the elopement. Of course he doesn’t, but it’s also really, really weird that he doesn’t. He chose the heiress Miss Bingham, who was set up terribly, but she was too. Why was he so insistent on eloping with Marian? Should we really bother to think he was trying to get married before his greedy side kicked in and he dumped Marian? This is extremely silly and I will not allow it.
However, it is very nice that Aurora sees him with Miss Bingham at the music academy while a woman sings Bellini’s “Vaga luna che inargenti” and rushes off to tell Marian about it. That’s right, and I support Aurora. She is the Mercury of this whole series. Marian is supported by many excellent women in this episode, including Aurora, Mrs. Chamberlain, Peggy and Ada, whether she deserves it or not.
As a side note, Marian giving Mrs. Chamberlain a painting she made of a bird while Mrs. Chamberlain has masterpieces literally all over her house is a bold move and I had a good laugh at Marian’s bird painting gift.
Getting to the ball and the WWE Smackdown from The Gilded Age, this is Bertha Russell and Lina Astor. It all boils down to this: Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Russell are in the same room fighting for social dominance. It’s all based on real events! Or at least a possibly apocryphal story. To no one’s surprise, Bertha’s role was played by Alva Vanderbilt, and in fact she didn’t invite Carrie Astor to the ball until Mrs. Astor went to see the Vanderbilts. In the real version it was a costume ball instead of Gladys’ coming out ball and I’m so sad they didn’t go that route on the show. Someone came from the ashes as a phoenix, someone came as a wasp, and someone seems to have murdered many peacocks so that their dress would be covered with peacock feathers. But the spectacle.
But first we have this meeting between Lina Astor and Bertha. TWO TITANS. Mrs. Astor refuses to sit, saying that now that she’s paid Bertha a visit, Carrie can go to the prom. Bertha parries and says she was on the phone when probably no one was there. I’m distracted by how pretty Carrie Coon looks in this scene. The drama alone is so good, but also: pretty. Bertha has all the power here and is well aware of what is a sight to behold. She makes her demands: Mrs. Astor has to come to the ball, and she has to let the van Rhijns come too (“WOW. WOW” is in my notes). Berta! Social Industry Captain! “Mrs. Astor is leaving,” she says to her butler. That’s exactly what I wanted from this show.
Mrs. Astor decides to give in to Bertha’s strings, and Carrie is invited to the ball. I hate Bertha’s dress at the ball, but it’s okay! Carrie Coon was about 8 million weeks pregnant at the time, and the costume designers did a very good job of masking that. Maybe this dress is also high fashion for 1881; I don’t know these things. The van Rhijns are here! Mrs. Astor walks in with Carrie and everyone stops talking because it’s A Moment. A success for Bertha Moment!
We have to get through the much-discussed quadrille, in which the dancers wore 18th-century costumes and carried tiny parasols. The men wear horse heads and prance around. It’s not a wasp or peacock costume, but it’s okay. Mrs. Astor tells Bertha during the dance that she could destroy her and I feel so attracted to Donna Murphy at that moment and at all times.
Oscar tries to get Gladys to dance with him and she says she’s had enough of being told what to do – a prelude to next season! Everyone dances and it’s so pretty and again exactly what I wanted from this show. opulence. Tom arrives with Miss Bingham, which is shameless, and he tells Marian he didn’t think she would be there. In order. He says he meant business when he said he loves her and she says love isn’t always enough and walks away crying. There is no emotional payoff at this moment. What a messed up plot. When Larry shows up and asks her about Tom, she says he’s just someone she used to know (“Somebodyyyyy”).
People leave when it’s light outside like this is the first night of The Bachelor. Larry escorts Marian across the street to van Rhijn’s house, and she says she shouldn’t have told him. Does it feel like they’re cutting out a huge section? Like we all passed out at the party, and oh, there’s Marian Brook telling Larry Russell she shouldn’t have told him about Tom? When did that happen? Probably when we were talking to Miss Rockefeller about her clever peacock costume and then drank too much punch. At home Marian tells Ada that one day she will tell about the canceled flight.
The butlers nod to each other across the street. The attendants roll up the red carpet and stack the party chairs. Season one is over! Here’s to more drama and a costume ball in season two!
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