“The Gilded Age” Episode 2 Re-Cap

The second episode of The Gilded Age laid the groundwork for the central conflicts of the upstairs/downstairs characters. Unfortunately, Bertha Russell is still only defined by her desperate desire to become part of New York society. It makes her an uninteresting character, but she does have the most spectacular wardrobe of all of the characters, and that is saying something.

Here are the the character plot lines as I see them:

Marian: Torn between two love interests, one the Pennsylvania country lawyer who helped settle her father’s estate is moving to New York and these two clearly are interested in each other. The other is Freddy Russell, who, unlike his mother, is shy and unassuming. The conflict: Aunt Agnes will strongly disapprove of these two suitors.

Gladys: The Russell daughter is definitely someone that Bertha believes she can use to forward her agenda of climbing to the top of New York society. I think she is delaying Gladys’ debut until she can hone in on what the best “arranged” marriage scenario that she can leverage the Russell fortune for prestige. Oscar Van Rhijn has set his cap for Gladys and I think poor Gladys would be miserable with Oscar, who has no genuine interest in her, just in her money.

The downstairs crew, like team servants on Downton Abbey, are mired in legal woes and mystery.

Peggy: The show has not revealed what the often mentioned rift is between Peggy and her father. Peggy has Marian arrange a meeting with the Pennsylvania country lawyer for legal advice, but we don’t know what type of legal help she needs. While Peggy is getting her legal advice, Marian and Gladys have a short scene featuring…

“Towns” - Bertha’s ladies maid. She has been flirting with George Russell, all the while throwing cold water on Bertha’s chances of making it in upper crust New York society. The Russell marriage seems pretty solid and passionate, but George may have a moment of weakness with the maid in the future? Who knows.

Mrs. Bauer - The gambling cook of the Van Rhijn household is in deep trouble. He debts have earned her a visit from a very unpleasant debt collector. Peggy, Marian and Aunt Ada intervene to help her pay her $50 debt (which is about $2,600 in today’s money) Curious to see if Mrs. Bauer gets on the straight and narrow or if her gambling habit continues, bringing unsavory characters to the Van Rhijn household.

George Russell is flexing big time with his money and making big moves to win favor among the elites. It will be interesting to see if he continues to amass wealth and power or if it backfires on him. I did like his power move of buying out all of the stalls at the charity bazaar as a clap back to the insult to his wife.

Looking forward to how these stories all play out.