16 thoughts on “The Gilded Age (2022) – Recap Episode 9

  1. This show was a bit of a disappointment, not a failure though. What I liked was the effort made to recreate a whole world, in a more ambitious way than Downton (where highclere castle did all the job).
    But the storytelling and the characters were clearly lagging behind DA. The subplots were too numerous, following too many characters with unprecise agendas, leading to shallow intrigues for everyone except perhaps for Peggy. These undercooked intrigues corrode many lead characters, who seemed to repeat on and on the same things through all the episodes. Marian especially, who looked interesting at the beginning but ends up looking like a dumb ingenue…
    Still I will watch season 2, hoping that Fellowes will beef up his scriptwriting team!

  2. Correct me if I’m wrong, here, but didn’t Carrie Astor wear a gown to a REAL society ball that had electric lights wired into it? I am surprised the costumers didn’t take that and run with it.

  3. I actually haven’t seen the show, only your coverage of it. I wanted to say how much I am enjoying your recaps of the costumes and the extant gowns that might have inspired them. What the actors are wearing may not be exactly appropriate for the stated date of the story, but an awful lot of work seems to have been done to research and make the costumes. To see these dresses on actual people moving through an environment (not static in a portrait or studio picture) has been an education of how this world actually worked.

  4. All I could think of when Gladys and her attendants came out looking like Marie Antoniette and her Versailles Wannabees is how delightful would it have been it they stole a page from Westworld (or even Bridgerton) and had them dance to Madonna’s Vogue(1) only played on period instruments.

    1) Gen Xer that I am, whenever I hear that song, I think of the VMAs and not the actual video.

      1. Another show that did lots of the “modern pop songs played on period instruments” trope was REIGN. I am personally glad THE GILDED AGE did not imitate REIGN in that way.

  5. I really hope they recreate the costume ball at some point. The costumes for that were gorgeous and fascinating. Do the Vanderbilts exist in this timeline or do the Russell’s replace them. Either way that costume ball is the highlight for me of the gilded age.

    1. I thought I heard a reference to them in the first episode, but I could be mistaken. If so, it’s weird that they haven’t been mentioned since.

  6. This wasn’t a perfect show, and the writing left something to be desired, but the visuals and production design– especially on the finale– were spectacular. (So opulent! So lavish! And I loved the good fit on all the bodices!) I enjoyed it very much, and I’m excited for season 2. Thanks for all your hard work on the recaps!

  7. I’ve been disappointed with the show overall. I feel like it is missing the heart downton Abbey had. However it is season one and if memory serves I feel like downton took a few seasons to find its footing. That being said I don’t think I’ve really found any characters to root for? So I’m not sure what I’m tuning back in for? I mean yes, LUSCIOUS clothing and interiors, and I love miss Scott. But otherwise?

  8. I like pale yellow but the last thing Marion needs is to look more washed out, and the clump of red over the heart makes her look like a murder victim.
    Why lavender for Gladys? It’s a pretty color but it had baggage in the 19th century being a half mourning color favored by elderly widows.
    I don’t think Fellows understands what a huge deal an elopement, much less a baby was in the 19th c. Peggy’s lucky her parents will even speak to her after messing up that bad. After her own experience she should be telling Marion ‘Don”t!’ and Marion would have to be an idiot or desperate to even consider an elopement. Is she desperate? Does she see Raikes as her One Chance of getting a husband?
    Mrs. Astor did not go out. She guarded her exclusivity so carefully that she even avoided looking out her own windows lest the hoi-poloi in the streets get a glimpse. She sent Ava Vanderbilt a card and that was concession enough.
    Everybody wanted to go to the Vanderbilt Ball because everybody was dying to see the inside of Ava’s fab new house and because it was going to be a,major costume blowout. Everybody wants to go to Bertha’s party why? Because Mrs. Astor will be there?
    I’ve taken a real dislike to Marion just based on these posts. She seems bland and silly. WHY is Peggy playing second fiddle to these foolish white women?

  9. Those horrid 18th century wigs looked like something off a Walgreen’s Halloween kiosk.

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