Steve Hauck

The only good thing I can say about this show is that it sent me back to reevaluate DOWNTON ABBEY. I wondered how the creator of that masterpiece of dramatic storytelling could have written the dull, inert and mundane GILDED AGE? Each character gets one—maybe two—facets. There are no layers, no contradictions, no tension. Agnes is a snob, period. Bertha is an ambitious control freak, period. Ada is a simp, period. George is a ruthless operator. I hoped that the Russells’ marriage would provide some intrigue along the lines of the Macbeths, sorry I mean the Underwoods in HOUSE OF CARDS; but when there’s the slightest emotional spark between them the show hurries away from it as if embarrassed. Marian isn’t anything much, not especially curious or rebellious like the Henry James/Edith Wharton heroine she’s supposed to be. DOWNTON could be soapy and sentimental, but the characters were given depth and dimension by the script. The people in GILDED AGE are well-dressed mannequins with very little on their minds and less in their hearts. It’s disappointing and infuriating.