You Can Dress 'The Gilded Age' Season 2 Up, But You Can't Take It Out

By Chris Revelle | TV | December 21, 2023 |

By Chris Revelle | TV | December 21, 2023 |

As another season of The Gilded Age draws to a close (season 2 finale dropped on Max last weekend), I’m minded to look back at the events of the past eight episodes of this ridiculous, silly show. As bad as it is, it’s nonetheless so entertaining and distracting that I not only watched it religiously but wrote about it a lot on this very site. So in a style inspired by Vulture maven Kathryn VanArendonk’s meditations on what makes Gilded Age so great, I’m listing my thoughts about season 2 as well as the status of season 3.

Beware, opera lovers: on the other side of this gif are a collection of notes, superlatives, and spoilers for season 2 of The Gilded Age.

State of the Season: If I had to describe this season with one sentence, it would be: you can dress this show up but you can’t take it anywhere. The Gilded Age leaned hard into its soap opera potential and served gonzo lewks while stumbling as it tried to tell serious (and real!) stories about marginalized groups fighting for their rights.

I suggested, perhaps naively, that the show could be shining a welcome spotlight on stories of Black liberation and the birth of the labor movement. Unfortunately, the labor plotline was dropped without much coherent resolution with the union leader accepting the terms of George’s deal despite knowing it would breed resentment among the workers. Peggy’s plotline witnessing the founding of the Tuskegee Institute ended up being mostly window-dressing for her will-they-won’t-they with T. Thomas Fortune. Her plotline helping educator and suffragist Sarah Garnet to keep schools open was great to watch, but it was sealed off from the rest of the show, without having any implications for the other plots. I think ultimately The Gilded Age is most at home serving us lower-stakes high-society drama like with the Opera Wars. On that front the show excelled, solidifying Bertha Russell into her full villain form as she went to extreme lengths to make the Metropolitan a success, including selling off one of her children. The show lacks the depth to tell stories of marginalization well, but it’s perfectly shallow enough to tell tales of rich people fighting over who has the fanciest music hall.

Best Villain: I was ready to be annoyed when I saw Turner come back to the show latched onto rich old Mr. Winterton like a sexy remora. Instead, the show positioned her as Bertha’s least adept nemesis whose plans are elaborately dumb. Sending indiscreet agents into the Russell kitchen to sabotage a dinner with the Duke was so fun to watch even if it was easily thwarted. Sure, every plan of hers failed utterly, but hearing Turner screech “She can’t have my duke, HE’S MINE!” as she stomped furiously up the grand staircase of her manse was soap opera perfection.

Worst Villain: Armstrong is such a flat one-dimensional antagonist because The Gilded Age decided she can be the only named character who’s racist, so instead of traits or an arc, she’s just racist. As Agnes might tell you, you couldn’t pay Armstrong to not be racist.


Kookiest Hat: Listen, this season didn’t start with a hat montage for no reason! There have been many ridiculous hats worn on this show, but this spectacle that was inflicted on Gladys Russell takes the whole cake. Why the pipe cleaners? Why the heap of ribbons? Why any of it? Anyway, j’adore.

Most Surprising Storytelling Devices: Usually things just happen with only the most cursory setup and a minimum of emotional weight. The plot doesn’t build on itself as much as it just kinda occurs. This season, the plot actually had somewhat of a shape. Of note were two competently (!!!) executed devices. We had Bertha echoing Turner with her own, “THE DUKE IS MIIIIIINE” rant, an indicator of how much like Turner Bertha has become. We also had George state early in the season that he wishes for a love-match for Gladys, which is revisited in the finale as he appears to realize that Gladys has been promised to the duke. These developments fit together and seem to be building to a schism in the Russell marriage. These moves are nothing flashy, but for this show they’re something!

Most Egregious Reset Button: Oscar got swindled out of almost all the Van Rhijn fortune by a scammer named Maude and that meant Agnes had to sell the house. Oh that didn’t matter though! You see, Ada found a letter from her husband who suddenly died of cancer after 4ish months of marriage (did Robert Sean Leonard have a bus to catch?). Despite being a priest, he had a claim to a textile fortune that’s now Ada’s. So instead of committing to a game-change that could develop the characters further or add new stakes, the show hits the reset button by having Ada save the whole family and move back in with Agnes.
Honorable Mention: Marian’s entire plot was a cul de sac that began and ended in the same place. It could be lifted right out of the show.

Best Gowns: Virtually all of the gowns (and hats!) this season were a spectacle, but here’s a handful of my favorites:

A third season of the show has been confirmed, so I have some wishes to throw into the ether:

• Just make Peggy the lead. Denée Benton is too good not to.
• They cast half of Broadway. They cast Audra McDonald. Give us a musical episode. Morgan Spector is in!
• My kingdom for a makeover montage when Jack makes bank off his patent.
• If the Russells are headed for a divorce, can we diverge from history and… just not? I love those monsters together.
• Laura Benanti should come back with some new hottie on her arm. Which Broadway hunk would be good stunt-casting for that? Aaron Tveit?