Julian Fellowes' 19th century soap opera is lavish and endearingly ludicrous.
Unhappy rich people is there anything more delightful?
The year is 1883, and all is well for the leisure class in New York City.
Christine Baranski in ‘The Gilded Age’.Barbara Nitke/HBO
Nevertheless, they have complaints.
teaching art at a local girls' school.
Even with these sobering doses of reality, Fellowes keeps his storytelling pleasantly low-stakes.
Carrie Coon and Nathan Lane in ‘The Gilded Age’.Barbara Nitke/HBO
Coon utters Bertha’s every syllable with an extravagant hauteur that is somehow both hilarious and intimidating.
(“Look at her scowling.
What pleasure it gives me.
Cynthia Nixon and Robert Sean Leonard in ‘The Gilded Age’.Barbara Nitke/HBO
This balance of serious and sentimental gives Fellowes' narrative its undeniable appeal.
Late in the season, Gladys poses a question to her mother.
“I don’t understand are you and Mrs. Astor friends or rivals?”
Denée Benton and Sullivan Jones in ‘The Gilded Age’.Barbara Nitke/HBO
Replies Bertha, “The two are not exclusive.”
IsThe Gilded Agea whimsical indulgence or an artful, well-acted work of historical fiction?
