“The Gilded Age.”

“The Gilded Age” (HBO Max) 2 Seasons going 3, historical drama, set in the United States during the titular era, the boom years of the 1880s in New York City. Created and written by the “Downton Abbey” master Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the screenplay to 2001’s “Gosford Park,” this expectedly costume regalia series is a marvel to watch. Stunning gowns and interior production sets are enough to get the viewer hooked. 

       “The Gilded Age” follows a young woman entering 1882 New York City's rigid social scene who is drawn into the daily conflicts surrounding the super wealthy “new money” Russell family and the “old money” van Rhijn-Brook family. The two are neighbors across 61st Street near Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York. The series also shows conflicts faced by the upper and upper middle classes, the African-American upper class, and the domestic workers who tend to all of their needs. 

       The Russel family, or George and wife Bertha, is based on the real-life Vanderbilts, William and Alva. Alva came from a wealthy Mobile, Alabama family that lost its money after the Civil War. Determined to regain her social status, she married a scion of the immensely wealthy Vanderbilt family in 1875. 

       As Bertha, Carrie Coon is wicked grace and scheming sophistication. Her main rival is already prominent socialite Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, de facto leader of the elite group of New York society known as "The Four Hundred.” Donna Murphy essays the high-brow Caroline with equal malicious poise. Lina Astor’s also-rich underling Agnes van Rhijn, played by Christine Baranski, with the perpetually arched eyebrows, renders sequined intrigue to the battle of the affluents. 

       The gaudy theater’s moral centers are Marian Brook, a penniless young gentlewoman whose circumstances force her to live with her estranged aunts Agnes and Ada, and Peggy Scott, a young ambitious African-American writer who also works as Agnes' secretary. Marian and Peggy are essayed by Louisa Jacobson (one of three of Meryl Streep’s acting daughters) and Denée Benton. Ms Brook and Ms Scott balance the physical grandiosity and performance stereotypes of the warring queens with down-earth allure and definable realism. 

       Light moments are supplied by veteran thespians Simon Jones and Jack Giplin, as Mr. Alfred Bannister, the Van Rhijns' self-aggrandizing English butler, and Mr. Church, the Russell family's butler.

       This series is renewed for a third season as suddenly wealthy (from marriage) Ada takes over the Van Rhijn estate’s Chief Madame stature after Agnes’ son Oscar squandered the family fortune on a bad, bad business transaction. What to expect besides the limelight quarrel: The mystery back-stories of Mr. Watson, Sylvia Chamberlain, and the whiny Mrs Armstrong. What would happen with Jack Trotter, the young inventor who works as footman for the Van Rhijn household? Would arbiter Ward McAllister still be around?

       And of course more spectacular dresses and magnificent mansions. 📺🎥📺