The Gilded Age Finally Hits Its Stride

Is it just me, or is “The Gilded Age” finally getting good?

After the second season’s finale, I bemoaned how much better Julian Fellowes’ American period drama could be if it gave characters the chance to develop and even let some of them fall in love à la Tom and Sybil or Carson and Mrs. Hughes on “Downton Abbey.” With magnificent sets, period-perfect costumes and talented Broadway actors embroiled in complex social issues, “The Gilded Age” has always had the potential to be great television instead of everyone’s favorite hate-watch.

After last night’s finale, it feels like the HBO Max drama may finally be on its way there. With four straight weeks of increasing viewership and an audience that’s growing at a rate that’s almost 50% higher than its first two seasons, I’m pretty sure it’s not just me feeling like the show has finally (finally!) hit its stride.

What’s ironic is that most period dramas utilize marriage plots (think longing glances, veiled conversations, stolen kisses and eventual weddings) to grow this kind of audience investment.

“The Gilded Age” is doing the opposite.

This season’s turning point in viewer engagement appears to be Episode 4, when Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) forces her daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), down the aisle to marry the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) in a moment that is a direct reference to Consuelo Vanderbilt’s miserable real-life marriage to the Duke of Marlborough.

“What a triumph for Mrs. Russell. Strange, really, when you think that three years none of us ever heard of her,” Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), the show’s gatekeeper of old-moneyed society, whispers to Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) while Gladys cries herself down the aisle on the arm of her dubious father, George Russell (Morgan Spector).

Watching the infamous railroad tycoon give his daughter away to become a “dollar princess,” a newly rich daughter of a wealthy American businessman who trades “cash for class” in a purely transactional marriage, made me feel even giddier than if Gladys was marrying Billy Carlton (Matt Walker). Remember, Billy is who she says she actually loves even though, of course, the show never develops that storyline.

Last season, I would have been irritated about a love story that is told instead of shown, but this season, I did not care at all. Finally, as Hector the Duke lifts the veil off Gladys’ face, the show has some stakes.

After being forced into a marriage of convenience — which Bertha says will give their daughter power — Gladys sets sail for Britain, and George resents Bertha for orchestrating the entire scheme. All of these developments seem to be on brand for this season, the theme of which may be best described as love lost. Characters are bereft and things are topsy-turvy at both mansions on 61st Street.

In the Russells’ gilded mansion, the facade is beginning to show some wear. Villainous George, who was just shot at his office, was living at “the club” because he can’t stand to be around Bertha. This is an interesting development because their relationship has traditionally been the most interesting part of the show. Now, it seems as if their marriage might be headed for dissolution, which seems likely given that Alva Vanderbilt, Bertha’s historical mirror, was the first society woman to divorce and helped destigmatize divorce more broadly.

Bertha is already embroiled in another social controversy of her own making when she defends Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara), whose husband is forcing her to file for divorce. This leads to another standoff with Mrs. Astor, who wants to ostracize Aurora, as is custom, despite her own daughter’s marital woes. Bertha, true to her character, refuses to let the hypocrisy slide, and possibly wins the Aurora battle just in time to have to fight her own society war next season if her marriage ends.

Across the street, the Van Rhijn sisters are struggling with their new world order. After Oscar (Blake Ritson) lost all of his mother’s money, Agnes (Christine Baranski) must rely on the newly inherited wealth of her sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon).

This role reversal doesn’t come easily to her, and it forms the background noise behind the house’s real heartbreaks. Ada is still mourning the loss of her husband in Season 2, and Oscar is devastated after his male lover was run over by a horse right in front of him. Even worse, he can’t mourn him properly because his same-sex relationship isn’t socially acceptable. Marian (Louisa Jacobson) is also lovelorn after breaking off her engagement to Larry Russell (Harry Richardson).

Even the house’s scribe, Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), is heartbroken. Her past is causing problems in her budding relationship with the charming Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica). Not even footman Jack is content after his clock sells, and he makes $300,000, because he can’t be a “Rockefeller in livery,” which means he must move into his own house and leave the other staff members, who are effectively his own family.

Overall, no one is happy as the plot that has bumped along so, so slowly for two seasons finally builds. The one exception may be Gladys, who is learning that, irony of ironies, her mom may have been right and actually had good intentions when forcing her to wed. Being a duchess does give her a voice that we never knew she had in the first place.

This is where the third season makes me excited for the fourth. (HBO Max has already renewed the show.) I can’t wait to see the way the women in the show, especially Bertha and her daughter, navigate the end of the 19th century when their agency was so restricted. Maybe the show is finally going to delve into some of the eerily relevant similarities between the Gilded Age and today.

Or, maybe not. Either way I’m not sure it matters because at least things are finally happening, and I am fairly certain that given Sunday night’s cliff-hanger, the show’s growing audience is going to be anxiously awaiting the show’s return, just like me.

The first three seasons of “The Gilded Age” are streaming on HBO Max.