Julian Fellowes’ ‘The Gilded Age’ Conjures a Bygone World: TV Review
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s a scene on HBO’s new series “The Gilded Age” in which Carrie Coon, playing the aspirant socialite Bertha Russell, lectures one of her rivals.
Bertha has the money to break into the whirl of New York City life in 1882, but lacks the intangible social class that would allow her to truly fit in.
No matter: One of the women who has spurned Bertha has come to ask her for a favor, and Bertha decides to deliver a lesson instead. “I hesitate to teach the basics, but life is like a bank account,” she declares. “You cannot write a check without first making a deposit.”This scene illustrates what makes this panoramic social drama about a bygone world work, and the obstacles it must overcome in getting there.
When considered for a moment, this line, like much of the dialogue series creator Julian Fellowes, writing with Sonja Warfield, has penned for his characters, is aphoristic to a fault.
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