You have to take HBO’s The Gilded Age, now in its second season, for what it is: a masterclass in camp. Where else are you going to find a drama about soup, opera houses, and Christine Baranski serving withering stares? Yet when has “camp masterclass” ever meant “slipping standards in storytelling”? “Warning Signs” doubles down on some of The Gilded Age’s old habit of introducing new stories when too many plots are already afoot.
Old money, old storylines
Marian’s (Louisa Jacobson) wavering feelings for Dashiell (David Furr) are on the line. Dashiell is respectable, wealthy, and charming — all qualities suitable for the niece of Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), reigning ice queen of the Upper East Side. For Marian, it’s not love, but in 1880s New York, who can afford to marry for love, even when you can afford everything else?
Elsewhere in Manhattan, Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) takes a backseat to her husband George (Morgan Spector). George confronts the reality of being anti-union when his employees threaten to strike. There’s nothing realistic about how this storyline sorts itself out, but “camp masterclass” doesn’t exactly mean “in touch with reality.”
These storylines throughout “Warning Signs” are the most well-developed of the series, and showrunner Julian Fellowes wants you to care about them so badly. In his defense, they’re compelling! But when you’re three-quarters of the way through your sophomore season, it’s not the time to start padding out your other storylines.
In case this show didn’t have enough storylines
Turns out Jack (Ben Ahlers) is a budding inventor! Never mind that he also had a romance plot that seems to have vanished. This feels like the first real development for a servant’s storyline, beyond Mrs. Winterton (Kelley Curran), but why’d it take so long to get here? Jack is a charming character who seems straight out of the cast of Newsies. It’s nice to see him get some actual character development.
The other new plot line in “Warning Signs” adds a wrinkle to previous developments. Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and Reverend Forte (Robert Sean Leonard) return from their honeymoon. This should be a cause for celebration, but the happiness is short-lived. As with Fellowes’ own Downton Abbey, his “everything falls apart after the wedding” trope is alive and well here. Ada, a character who only just got substantial screentime this season, deserves better writing. Sidelining a character for a season only to take her on a rollercoaster of emotions the next season is underdeveloped storytelling. Nixon is delightful as docile Ada, but the material doesn’t serve Ada as well as before.
The outfits and sparring about operas makes The Gilded Age TV’s most enjoyably expensive soap, but parading your characters through uneven plots makes for rushed viewing. At this point, it feels like names are drawn out of a hat on who gets screen time. There were two budding servant romances earlier this season, which have gone unaddressed for several episodes! An injury goes from an offhand comment to a serious diagnosis in the span of ten minutes! Meanwhile, previous plots, like the feud between Watson (Michael Cerveris) and his son-in-law (Christopher Denham), are completely abandoned. This isn’t the high art like the opera, but at least let your characters breathe a little bit. Loosen some corsets and stop serving so many courses already!
Image courtesy of Barbara Nitke/HBO
REVIEW RATING
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'The Gilded Age': "Warning Signs" - 6/10
6/10
Claire was once asked in elementary school why her go-to question was always, “Watch anything good lately?” It’s still her go-to question, because she loves hearing what other people are passionate about. She often sacrifices sleep in the hopes that she will one day clear her to-watch and to-read lists (a futile effort so far).
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