The Gilded Age Season Finale
I’m not sure that only nine episodes can constitute a whole season? Well, I guess it does, and so this last episode is the last of the season. Sigh. I was really enjoying this show and I’m disappointed that its over, and although there is a season two planned, it probably won’t be available to watch for another year and half.
While I found this episode enjoyable, it felt somewhat flat in some segments. One of those was the storyline of Marian and Mr. Raikes. Their planned elopement should have crackled with energy and romance, but it felt flat. Even the somewhat dramatic scene where Aunt Ada dispatches Aurora Fane to the scandalous Mrs. Chamberlain’s house to warn Marian that Mr. Raikes was canoodling with an heiress at the opera. The other scene, which should have high energy drama, was Marian’s confrontation of Mr. Raikes at his office, but Marian was as limp as a wet noodle. Mr. Raikes was hardly convincing with his lie that he was busy writing to tell her that the elopement was off and then telling her that he loves her and then she is saying she doesn’t want to part as enemies? What? She has been betrayed! It was totally a flat scene.
This episode did hit on some heartstrings moments, as when Peggy learned her child is still alive (which I foretold in a previous recap) and Peggy’s father had engineered it without his wife knowing. I genuinely felt for Peggy, who must have intuitively felt that her child had not died. It was gratifying to see Peggy receive the support of her mother when they confronted the father as they were headed out to see the child.
The main focus of this episode was the Russell’s coming out ball for Gladys. Bertha is now confident she can host a ball that will attract the right kind of New York society. Bertha plays a high stakes game of chicken with Caroline Astor to induce not only Caroline, but also Agnes to attend the ball. George was also strong-arming RSVPs from the influential by threatening to withhold loans.
The ball was spectacular. I loved the costumes, the music, and the dancing. I thought the dance/quadrille bit that Gladys performed with Carrie Astor was a little strange. I haven’t researched it, but I wonder if it was common for a young woman at her debut to perform a little number?
Now Gladys is “out” and she gleefully tells Oscar Van Rhjin that she now will do what she wants. This seems laughable when you consider who her mother is…and Oscar seemed particularly pathetic in this scene - promising to leave Gladys alone if she grants him one dance. The scene shows what a mismatch they are - Oscar is a prematurely middle aged nihilist, and Gladys is young even for her age and a bit air-headed. The other uncomfortable scene was Mr. Raikes showing up at the ball prompting lady like tears from Marian, and another dull scene between them.
I did enjoy the short scene between Bertha and Caroline Astor. Mrs. Astor, bristling under Bertha’s victory, asks nonchalantly if Bertha knows she could socially ruin her later. Mr. McAllister turned sheet white. Bertha keeps her cool and offers dedicated friendship. This seems to placate both Mrs. Astor and Mr. McAllister.
Some odds and ends:
Larry and Marian seem headed for romance (as I foretold in a previous recap!) Marian is such a bland character to me now, I’m not really sure I’m that invested in the relationship.
Julian Fellows did this on Downton Abbey - Give a popular servant a colorful, yet ultimately harmless life secret that someone from their past threatens to reveal to bring shame down on the household. For Downton Abbey, it was Carson’s past as a vaudevillian dancer. For The Gilded Age, the French Chef is the faux French Chef - just some yokel from Kansas!
In a short scene at the ball the valet Watson (alias Collier) stares moodily at a guest, Mrs. MacNeil. The same woman he spends his afternoons off moodily staring at from across the street. Julian Fellows likes to thread more than one illegitimate child/hidden identity story in his work (see Gosford Park and Downton Abbey) So is she his illegitimate daughter?
I hope I’m wrong and that we might see a Gilded Age season two before a year goes by. I’ve really enjoyed it.
