The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1 review: Welcome back to the Upper East Side

Hey Upper East Siders, welcome back to another season of The Gilded Age, where every Broadway star your mom (and this New York-based writer) loves roams through ballrooms and carriages spilling tea and attending operas.

And, you know, lives through history while wearing puffed-sleeve perfection created by Emmy-nominated costume designer Kasia Walicka Mimone!

Silver spoons, sisters, and secret romances.

We return in The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1 to the future neighborhood of Gossip Girl to find gossip rampant in 1880s New York, because gossip never skips a generation, or five. And boy, is there hot gossip on East 61^st Street! Bertha (Carrie Coon) wants to marry her daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) off to a boring duke, but Gladys is in love with sweet rich boy/Gilbert Blythe doppelganger Billy (Matt Walker). And it’s not the only secret romance at the Russell home! Larry (Harry Richardson) and Marian (Louisa Jacobson) have finally admitted they’re in love. But Marian just broke off her second engagement in as many seasons, and won’t announce another romance to high society just yet.

Marian’s aunts have their own gossip-worthy news, too. Ada (Cynthia Nixon) inherited a fortune from her late husband just as her sister Agnes (Christine Baranski) has lost everything. The reversal of fortune between meek Ada and sharp-witted Agnes causes trouble downstairs. When Ada tries to borrow Agnes’ silver for a charity event, Agnes refuses to let the servants hand over the silver. But Ada pays the servants’ wages, so who are they supposed to listen to now?

Yes, there’s squabbling over the use of silverware. The Gilded Age has always been weirdly imbalanced with its stakes, prioritizing things like ruined soup over real class consciousness. But the The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1, “Who is in Charge Here?” attempts to address that imbalance. Footman Jack (Ben Ahlers) is in business with Larry, but their mismatched social classes create awkward situations, both funny and heartbreaking. Can a footman be served coffee by, well, a footman, when he’s a guest at someone else’s house? Can rich Larry actually handle a business meeting without poor Jack, when Jack is the brains of the operation? Will Larry’s privilege and social class get in Jack’s way, when Larry’s supposed to be helping him move up in the world?

HBO’s social commentary soap opera.

Money and social standing as sources of power drove The Gilded Age’s first two seasons. Love versus opportunity is the central conflict here. Bertha married Gladys and Larry’s father George (Morgan Spector, building railroads in Arizona for this episode) for love. But who cares about love? Bertha wants her children to marry for social superiority. Never mind that her children are rich enough that marrying for love won’t affect their bank accounts. Aurora (Kelli O’Hara) receives news that could ruin her own standing in high society, unless she puts up a fight for her marriage. Infidelity and divorce caused their own scandals in the earlier seasons, in the B-plots. But love is a central source of drama here where money and opera houses held that place last time. It drives The Gilded Age into more earnestly serious territory instead of candy-colored soapiness (both of which make this show great!).

There are lots of actors to keep track of. More Tony winners and nominees this side of Smash (remember Smash?)! More cameos and, “hey, I know that guy”s than a Marvel movie! It’s one of the best-assembled casts on TV today. Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski’s squabbling sisters remind us why they’re some of our greatest performers. Nixon’s Ada is finding strength where she was once submissive, and it’s throwing Baranski’s Agnes for a loop. It’s all so melodramatically fun to watch.

And that’s what you missed on The Gilded Age.

You’d be forgiven for thinking there’s a lot to remember from previous seasons, and the show seems keen to make you remember all that’s happened. Several lines are very “Previously on The Gilded Age,” despite the episode opening with a recap of last season. Having characters spell out their current misfortunes and social standings for the sake of catching us up is lazy writing, even if we can’t be expected to remember everything at once.

And if remembering last season isn’t enough, here’s where else we find the denizens of East 61^st Street: Peggy’s writing a novel in between increasingly worrying coughing fits! Chef Borden (Douglas Sills) has a mysterious letter! Lady’s maid Adelheid (Erin Wilhemi) has some big thoughts about Jack going into business with Larry! Oscar (Blake Ritson) is too self-important to get a job! Mrs. Fish (Ashlie Atkinson) knows way more about the Russell kids’ personal lives than Mrs. Russell herself!

It’s a wonder that The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1 clocks in at under an hour, given how much is going on here, including, quite literally, about clocks. (Did we mention Jack and Larry’s business venture involves clocks?) And if you’ll forgive another clock-related joke, it’s about time we had The Gilded Age back. It’s classic escapist television meeting HBO’s prime Sunday night programming slot. In times like these, we need The Gilded Age in all its melodramatic glory.

The Gilded Age Season 3 airs new episodes every Sunday on HBO

Claire Di Maio

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).