Like many episodes of HBO’s hit period drama “The Gilded Age,” season four opens up with a wedding. This time, it is an unconventional one, with the bride and groom agreeing to marry to protect their reputations and status in high society. A sprawling affair, the wedding seems filled with joy, even though the two aren’t marrying for love. But because this is a show written by Julian Fellowes, this backdrop slowly gives way to a season that feels less like a night of celebration and grows heavier with each episode.
As these two characters secure their futures, everyone else’s lives seem to be on the brink of destruction. Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) watches as her daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) has an elongated and frightening labor; Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and her sister Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) still wrestle for control of their home; Peggy Scott’s (Denée Benton) emergence as an important voice in the writing world stifles her relationship with her fiancée; and at the center of it all, Marianne Brook (Louisa Jacobson) is left bereft after she and Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) continue to be drawn to one another.
While many storylines still have the typical fluff that makes “The Gilded Age” so entertaining, this season gives the Russell family much-needed stakes. At the end of season three, the family patriarch, George Russell (Morgan Spector), was upset that Bertha was meddling in their children’s personal lives and told her to stay in Newport while he and their son, Larry, traveled back to New York. With Bertha beginning the season caring for Gladys, George has become a shell of the man he was before he was shot last season in an attempted assassination. Usually poised, George slowly unravels under the weight of a mysterious affliction, his dedication to his railway business, and the money it brings in.
Although this may not sound dissimilar to how previous seasons have unfolded, the way the camera frames George, and the dark shadows that often seem to surround him, make every scene he’s in feel unlike anything the series has achieved up to this point. Spector harnesses George’s anger with ease, letting the man we once knew, someone who used his business to ensure his family’s success, slowly shift into a man driven only by wealth and notoriety. Yes, this series has always dealt with serious issues like race and sexism, but George’s unraveling adds a weight to the show unlike any plotline introduced in previous seasons.
Along with him, Marianne’s dilemma over her relationship with Larry grows into one of the series’ most pressing storylines. Her position as an unmarried woman desperate for a life she can call her own finally transforms her from one of the show’s dullest characters into a fascinating woman crumbling under the weight of secrets she is forced to keep from her loved ones. Between her and George, “The Gilded Age” finally steps away from the unchanging structure that has made it so successful, and so predictable. As a result, the stakes in season four feel higher than ever, forcing these characters and the society they live in to shape around the new circumstances they find themselves in, or, at times, are forced into.
It’s a much-needed change for the show, which, although it’s always been fun to watch, hasn’t always felt like must-watch television. Silly plot lines remain, with footman-turned-inventor John Trotter (Ben Ahlers) moving on from making clocks to crafting what seems to be the KitchenAid. But for every small moment that feels wholly indulgent, the series ups the ante with its main cast by throwing them into rocky waters that threaten to swallow them whole. Like always, as these threads unfold, the cast bares their soul for the audience, and this season gives younger actors like Jacobson and Richardson their best material yet.
“The Gilded Age” often makes me wonder how long a series like this can withstand the fickle mind of the modern television viewer, and how long the characters they watch can stay engaging while largely remaining unchanged. Thankfully, this season delivers the show’s most expensive storylines yet, as Fellows and the writers’ room he employs continue to push the audience to think critically about how modern issues like bodily autonomy and substance abuse affected people across societies in the late 1800s. With its fourth season, the series has slowly changed not only its structure but also the themes it deems pressing, allowing this often fluffy show to become a grittier, more authentic version of itself.
All episodes were screened for review. Premieres November 1st on HBO.
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