torsdag 21 augusti 2025

The Gilded Age season three: prediction follow-up

Rejoice, costume-drama lovers – we made The Gilded Age happen! At the start, there wasn't as much buzz about the series as one would have thought, seeing that it's created by Julian "Downton" Fellowes. But now it seems to have gathered momentum and a sizeable fanbase, and I'm guessing it's in no small part thanks to a pacy and strong third season.

By now, it's become clearer what the series is, and what it isn't. It won't deliver exactly the same kind of drama as Downton did (I'll go more into that in a bit), but for what it is – a fun romp with the occasional scene that goes a little deeper, set in a glamorous time and with largely likeable characters – it's very good, and I suspect the best costume drama we will get in quite some time.

On to the follow-up to my predictions for this season. I'll try not to be too insanely spoilery, but I do want to gloat as I got more things right than I usually do in my prediction posts.

Gladys will marry the Duke – but not divorce yet YES All right, this one wasn't a hard one to call (though I also guessed what the trailer's divorce talk was really about, and that I am smug about). It was pretty clear from the trailer and on-set footage that there was going to be a wedding, and Gladys was the obvious pick for the bride part. Less predictably, her union with the fortune-hunting Duke hasn't turned out too terribly this far. The Duke of Buckingham aka Hector seems quite a nice chap, if a little prone to be pushed around by the women in his life. Then again, he's not the only man in The Gilded Age to be hen-pecked.

I really liked this turn of events. Not only because it was unexpected, but because it shows that Fellowes and his co-writer Sonja Warfield (who seems to be a strong addition to the team, judging by the episodes she's credited as co-writing) haven't set out to copy out well-known real-life dramas from the Gilded Age and simply foist them on their fictional characters. The Russells may be inspired by the Vanderbilts, but that doesn't mean Gladys is destined to be unhappy with her Duke, as little as it means that her parents are destined to divorce. It's nice to know that there isn't a historical cheat sheet which will give away what'll happen in the series – it makes it far more interesting.       

Agnes and Bertha will both try to stop Larrian (maybe even together) NO, BUT... Agnes and Bertha were shown to be in agreement once this season, but only about a fairly minor plot point. As far as Larrian is concerned, there's as little communication between the two matriarchs as ever. We did get to see, though, that Agnes was not thrilled about the prospect of welcoming Larry as her nephew-in-law, and was eager to encourage any doubts on Marian's side.

Was there ever as wet a blanket as Marian, I wonder? Her paramour isn't exactly the most exciting character either, though he does at least prove to be a capable business man. It is a shame that the central romance  of the series doesn't generate more heat, but there it is. Many great stories have had somewhat underwhelming hero-heroine romances. At least the concept of romance isn't spurned, and for this one should be grateful. Only, shockingly, I find myself missing bitchy Lady Mary. 

Peggy's new love interest's parents (probably the dad) will make trouble YES, BUT... I was right, except it was the prospective mother-in-law who had objections to Peggy, not Dr Kirkland's dad, who was all in favour of the match, though not very forcefully. The Kirkland men continue the Gilded Age trend of being rather too easily manipulated by their womenfolk.  

As for Peggy, she is a little too perfect, but she does have more bounce and more chemistry with her chosen man than Marian does. And the whole idea of including a "black elite" plot line in the series is genius. It's interesting in itself to learn more about the affluent black upper-middle class in late 19th-century New York, and it saves the series from going down the "colour-blind casting" route, of which I'm not a fan (I will save you the rant for now, but I'm not just thinking of the phenomenon from my pale-face perspective, honest). Peggy could do with a relatable flaw or two, but her part of the story is still engaging.    

The butler alliance will be sealed by events (I hope) NOT REALLY, NO I mean, Church and Bannister are friendly enough to each other now. But they're not united in any cause, and though the Van Rhijns/Brookes and Russells are starting to interact a little more, their servants hardly mix at all this season.

Here's where one of the big differences to Downton comes in. It has become clear by now that The Gilded Age isn't really an "upstairs-downstairs" drama. In the original Upstairs, Downstairs, the plot lines were fairly evenly distributed between the Bellamys and the servants, though with a slight advantage for the servants – even events upstairs were largely viewed from their point of view. In Downton Abbey, there was still an even distribution of plot lines, and a slightly mellower approach to servant-master relationships which angered many an armchair socialist (though it's not as if the Bellamys were bad employers, or the Crawleys unfailingly good ones). 

In The Gilded Age, on the other hand, the focus is squarely on the upstairs families. The servants are nice and all, and get more screen time than in, say, The Forsyte Saga, but they don't get many juicy plot lines or for that matter much character development. They're pretty much stuck the way they were in season one. I think Fellowes may have had more plans for the servant side of things at the start, but gave up when all the different characters and plots became too much to juggle.        

Oscar will try to make money YES It's not all plain sailing for doe-eyed Oscar, but at least he's a surprisingly dab hand at business. The plan he has lined up for next season could prove to be interesting.

In the any other business category, one can note that this was yet another strong season for Aunt Ada (though I could have done without the temperance plot), but not the strongest for my favourite George Russell. He did eventually stand up to Bertha, but only after it could have done any good for Gladys or anyone else. His continuing coldness towards Bertha just seems mulish at this point. Plus his sacking of Clay was completely uncalled-for, even if Clay turned out to be a worm later on. J. P. Morgan was quite fun, though.      

tisdag 5 augusti 2025

The Fantastic Four: First Steps: a good superhero movie, but not much MCU (for good or bad)

I may be a late joiner sometimes – that's certainly true of my interest in the MCU, which until about four years ago was non-existent. But once I'm into something, I tend to stick with it and hope desperately for it not to fail. You could say I'm very Swedish in that regard. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be considered a success, and a drop-off in box-office sales for its second weekend won't be too bad a sign (I mean, it still topped the box-office list domestically, so there's that).

What did I think of it myself? To use a quote from a reaction compilation video on YouTube: I liked it, but didn't love it. Make no mistake, though, it's well worth watching on the big screen, and the two-hour run time is relatively humane. (Is the length of films an equality issue? I have a vague impression that guys can hold it better, especially the young ones, and are thus more positive towards three-hour extravaganzas.)

The strengths of Fantastic Four are very strong indeed. It has likeable characters and is set in a world you are happy to explore. The acting is great and there's a lot of chemistry between the protagonists; they are convincing as "Marvel's First Family". I have a special soft spot for Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm, and loved the scene where he managed to get through to the Silver Surfer and stir her conscience – after their semi-flirtation, which I also enjoyed, things suddenly got very serious.

The film also does many of the things that those in the know have urged Marvel to do for years. It introduces new characters, and does not rely on nostalgia (not for old MCU films, at any rate). No homework is required: people can watch Fantastic Four without having seen a single MCU film or TV show and follow it fine. Because the film's literally set in another universe, the world building feels fresh and inventive. The sassy "Marvel humour" everyone claims to be sick of is largely absent. The four protagonists' banter is more a way of bonding with one another than anything else, and draws an indulgent chuckle rather than right-out laughs. The effects are good and not rushed: main villain Galactus is an impressive sight.

My personal problem with this is that I like the classic MCU ingredients. I'm by no means tired of "Marvel humour" – it's one of the things that drew me into the MCU in the first place. Another canny thing the MCU films tended to do was to mix other genres with the superhero stuff, in order to attract mainstreamers like me. I was, after all, firmly anti-cape at one time, and to this day the action pieces where protagonists show off their "powers" are still what interests me least about a superhero flick (maybe in competition with all the agonising about "secret identities", which is mercifully absent from this as from most MCU movies).

It has been said approvingly of Fantastic Four, as of its box-office DC rival Superman, that they are very "comic-booky" films designed to win back comic-book readers who've found the Marvel and DC film universes a bit dreary. I can see that. Less dreariness is certainly welcome. But I'm not a comic-book reader – at least not the kind who's read superhero comics. It could be that exactly the ingredients that work best for "real" fans, who actually know and love the comic-book originals of these characters, slightly push away ignorant "normies" like myself.

But if you're into superhero movies, you should definitely watch this one. The story is a bit hokey, and some choices the characters make unfathomable (at one time, I sat whining quietly in my cinema seat: "no, don't tell them"), but it's well made and engaging. For my personal part, though, I think I prefer Thunderbolts*: a slice of the good old MCU, "Marvel humour" and all.