HBO’s The Gilded Age, the best show where absolutely nothing and everything happens, is finally back. Vogue Runway’s José Criales-Unzueta and Laia Garcia-Furtado are tuning in every Sunday and savoring the most delicious drama of the late 1800s. Read through for a recap of “You Don’t Even Like Opera,” the first episode of season two.
LGF: The costumes have gotten so good this season!
JCU: These hats, omg the GLAMOUR…we must find out who is making the hats. The dresses are also significantly more fabulous.
LGF: My absolute favorite was Carrie Astor’s church dress. That bright turquoise with all those florals was giving Lacroix. I think last season the silhouettes were grand, but everything else left so much to be desired, but this season? Oof!
JCU: Truly incredible. The color? She’s the OG NYC It girl. The original nepo baby—the others simply could never. I also loved that Mrs. Russell pulled out a gown in Newport to see the new house.
LGF: I didn’t love that blue-and-white dress.
JCU: It’s so ugly but it’s a statement! She is telling us that she is modern. I think all of her gowns make the point that she isn’t traditional—they don’t always hit, but the point is made.
LGF: Okay true, I admit that I was intrigued by the absolutely unhinged half-ruffle thing.
JCU: And then the blue moment on Marian with the little lapels. That plus the basting on the sleeves and skirt…it was very Margiela.
LGF: I thought the lace-up details were so avant-garde! I would wear that today. Maybe. Okay, now that we’ve gotten the important stuff out of the way, let’s talk about what actually happened in the show.
JCU: I had forgotten about half of these plot points. The thing I love about this show is that nothing happens, but everything happens, if that makes sense.
LGF: Honestly same, but a quick recap for the plot points that mattered for tonight’s episode.. I had totally forgotten that Fauxdrien Brody (Oscar Van Rhijn) is Christine Baranski’s son. He’s gay and his (on-and-off lover is John Adams, grandson or great-grandson of the President John Adams, which I just realized by looking up the name just now); anyway Oscar is trying to woo Gladys Russell. The Russells are, of course, the new money turning society upside down. Peggy Scott, the African-American woman that helped Marian Brook on her journey to New York City and was later hired as Agnes Van Rhijn’s secretary, had a baby that she thought had died but it turns out her dad just took the baby and gave it up for adoption
JCU: The dad saying, “you can’t blame me.” Actually, I most certainly can. I had also forgotten about the gay plot point, which is sad because I love a gay plot point.
LGF: I hope Marian’s dad burns in hell for this one! This sub-plot just went so crazy so quickly. They searched for the baby and it turns out that the baby was alive but now the baby—and his adoptive mother—died of scarlet fever and they’ve been invited to the funeral. And then, wait, the baby daddy is hot; is he flirting with her? This is giving telenovela.
JCU: The baby daddy is hot, and he is not the only hot father figure we saw in this episode…more on that later. I have to say…the conversation between Oscar and John was so heavy. I feel like it doesn’t matter the century or decade, every gay man has had this discussion with another gay man. It’s always unpacking the nuances between complacency, happiness, visibility, comfort, et al.
LGF: “I will never hate you” did make me a little verklempt because Oscar is actually very hateable. But then him pursuing Gladys Russell for marriage is so weird because she looks like she’s 12.
JCU: It’s so wild. I guess it’s intentional that she always looks quite young, but it makes me uncomfortable, lol.
LGF: She’s supposed to be 17.
JCU: Would you marry him? If anything, based on how this show goes, she should marry up. He’s not it. But his proposal is cute, I guess.
LGF: Yeah he’s not it. But also, you can’t marry the first man you talk to or that says hi to you. Like fine to not have sex whatever, but at least talk to more men? She’s only ever talked to her brother basically, and now Oscar with his lil moustache.
JCU: Exactly, you have to see who else is out there. She certainly marries up IRL, so we’ll see what happens on the show. Wait, what’s Marian’s secret? I forgot.
LGF: I thought it was something related to the wedding? But it can’t be because the new priest just told them that he’s marrying Marian’s ex-fiancé to someone else? I mean I know they didn’t have anything else to do back then but it’s absolutely crazy he’s getting married already. Also he was so obviously a scammer.
JCU: I thought the secret was that she was pregnant! But she’s teaching watercolor.
LGF: “On Thursdays!”
JCU: “The day is inconsequential” Incredible writing. Christine is a legend. But while we’re here, the father of the child she’s teaching is the other hot father figure of the episode. Welcome to the stage, David Furr (aka Dashiell Montgomery).
LGF: And the way everyone kept making a point about Dashiell and Marian not being blood cousins….like… okay I know what’s coming. But back to The Secret; honestly, I am glad I didn’t know what the secret was because that whole scene had me gasping with joy. When Marian talked back to Christine Baranski—I’m sorry I can’t refer to her as anything else other than Christine Baranski—I was yelling!
JCU: And then Ada Brook, saying “Every now and then…I wonder if it isn’t good….to shout a little… and let out steam.” Cynthia Nixon is an Actress.
LGF: Meanwhile, the money that Mrs. Russell has spent on this dinner all because of a box at the opera is insane.
JCU: So, based on the trailer, this is the overarching plot point of the season. The Metropolitan Opera is opening in the city, and it’s challenging the status quo that Mrs. Astor and the Academy (the other opera in town) have set. “New money” folks like Mrs. Russell have not been able to get boxes at the current opera, so they’re supporting the opening of the Met. This is a real-life plot point that our colleague Elise broke down here. We’ll see how it plays out. I just love that Mrs. Russell went all out here. It wasn’t enough that she convinced Mrs. Astor to come to her house for dinner, but she also put her in this position, had her stay to avoid “scandal,” and then proceeded to make her point like so! Aspirational.
LGF: The way she transformed the entryway to the house into a set? Incredible. And the woman asking, “when did you have time to change this?” and Mrs. Russell just says “during dinner,” like when else would I have done it?! Was so delicious. But every time I see her kitchen with the big glass wall and then the table in front? Forget the Nancy Meyers kitchen, I want the Bertha Russell kitchen.
Best Quotes of the Night
“I’m glad to be her friend, George, but not her lackey.”
LGF: Mrs. Russell talking to her husband when he brought up Mrs. Astor in the whole opera debacle. I love their relationship because I think they love each other and I feel like they have a healthy sex life? Can I say that? Just like here’s a man who loves his intense wife!
“I don’t care if it’s where George Washington learned to read!”
LGF: When Marian is trying to explain to Mrs. Van Rhijn that she’s teaching at a good school—I mean iconic. Christine Baranski will NOT have her good family name dragged through the mud!
JCU: Lines like this are why I think Christine and Cynthia’s characters are perfectly written.
“If I stay, it will be under duress.”
JCU: Truly iconic quote from an iconic woman. Mrs. Astor says this to Mrs. Russell after the latter somewhat deceives her into attending the dinner with the folks from the Metropolitan Opera. Mrs. Russell says that if Mrs. Astor leaves it would be a scandal, to which Mrs. Astor replies that she’ll stay but under duress. I have never felt more seen.
“That man is my father.”
LGF: This is sort of a random plot that I had, once again, completely forgotten about. But it seems that Watson, who works as George Russell’s valet, has fathered a woman who is now a part of society and she fully started short-circuiting when she saw him at the dinner? And then her husband came up and was like “what was that?” and then she dropped that incredible sentence. It seems like her husband is going to try to kill Watson, I’m not going to lie!
Check back in each week as we recap Season 2 of The Gilded Age.
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