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.      

Predictions for season three of The Gilded Age (with very little to go on)

Right. I said I would do The Gilded Age predictions, didn't I? With season three coming next week, it's high time. 

The season trailer didn't exactly wow me, but I must confess there are some clues in it regarding what's to come (unlike in the trailer for the upcoming Downton movie, which is just an elegant nothing – not that I'm bitter). The trick will be to avoid all-to-obvious predictions. I mean, of course Larrian (I'm guessing that's what the Larry + Marian ship is called) will get well under way, and of course there will be friction between Aunt Agnes and Aunt Ada, who has the money now. That much is given. But what else could possibly happen?

Gladys will marry the Duke – but not divorce yet The marriage is a pretty safe bet; we see glimpses of a marriage in the trailer, and there's no way Larry and Marian will get that far in just one season. So it has to be Gladys, and unless her dad finally takes a stand against his wife and objects at the last minute, this means she's stuck with the Duke of Buckingham. Gladys's situation being based on that of Consuelo Vanderbilt, who eventually divorced the Duke of Marlborough, one could assume that Gladys is the woman whose divorce is talked about in hushed tones in the trailer. Generally, though, plot lines in The Gilded Age don't move that fast. Surely, her marriage has to be milked for juicy drama before it is discarded.

Who is divorcing, then? Blessed if I know. Mrs Fane, whose main function in the series seems to be to introduce Marian to a wider society than she'd encounter if Aunt Agnes had her way, is bringing the news. Could she be the one?

Agnes and Bertha will both try to stop Larrian (maybe even together) Fellowes has reportedly realised that it would be a good idea to bring his queen bees together in one scene. From the quote I heard, though, it didn't sound as if they'd be actually interacting much, but one can always hope. As I've said before, these characters are something of a disappointment to me – Agnes doesn't really hit the Dowager Countess spot she's supposed to, and Bertha is pretty much unbearable at this point. Some reluctant plotting over a common cause would do them a world of good drama-wise.

That Agnes will be opposed to the Larry-Marian romance is self-evident. Bertha's view is harder to guess, as she's keen to be allied to "old money" (or lack of money), and the Van Rhijns are the US counterpart to nobility. However, they're also (with the exception of Ada) skint. Bertha may well want something better for Larry, and she's been known to meddle in his love life before.

Peggy's new love interest's parents (probably the dad) will make trouble Peggy's shown looking blissful with a new man, a Dr Kirkland, who seems very respectable. But it can't all be peaches and cream, surely? Is there some significance to the fact that we already know who will be playing Kirkland's father? My guess is that Kirkland Sr., and/or possibly his wife, will object to Peggy for some reason, most likely her troubled past. 

Peggy may also have to face more virulent forms of racism than she has before in New York (not from the Kirklands, though, who are also black affluent middle-class). Any other showrunner would have included a swiwel-eyed racist bogey-man in Peggy's storyline by now, and I admire Fellowes for resisting the low-hanging fruit. But c'mon, nearly encountering a Southern lynch mob can't be it. Peggy needs dragons to slay.

The butler alliance will be sealed by events (I hope) Mercifully, butlers Bannister and Church buried the hatchet in the previous season. Now, they need a storyline which will bring them together, and unlike Agnes and Bertha's potential alliance their partnership should be for a good cause. Maybe they will join forces to help Jack the footman? I thought I spotted him looking well-dressed and giddy in the trailer. Most likely, someone will try to rip him off in order to get their hands on his invention, and he will need trusty servant back-up. 

Not that I've worked out why Church would get involved, but hey. I want the butlers to get on so badly I almost ship them.

Oscar will try to make money Oscar will feel keenly that he's let his mother down, and he'll try to make up for it in some way, possibly by trying to get back some of the money he lost. I'd rather have a romance plot involving Oscar, to be honest, or another marriage-as-window-dressing scheme. Let's face it, though: he'll never meet anyone better than John Adams, the most understanding ex-boyfriend ever.

Things to look forward to (or at least check out) in 2025

In many ways, cultural-consumption-wise, 2025 promises to be the same procedure as last year. That is, there will be continuations of series and franchises I enjoy, but I've yet to see something new slated for 2025 where I think "wow, I've got to watch this". As for books, I'm as likely to make a discovery in my own bookshelves as among the latest book arrivals (though I wouldn't mind a new Sarah Waters novel, for instance). 

YouTube nerds often talk about their "latest obsession". It's been a while since I've had a new obsession, and I'm not a hundred per cent sure I want one. If I find one – whether in the world of TV, film or books – it will probably be by chance rather than through purposeful searching. The items on this list, however, I will at least check out and probably enjoy.

Downton Abbey 3:  No need to go into detail: I've already blogged about the upcoming Downton film at some length. Am I surprised that Downton is coming back a third time at the cinema? Yep. Would I rather have seen a new story as compelling as Downton, which already has a satisfying ending, unfold? Maybe. Am I complaining? No, siree, as long as they don't mess up Thomas's love life. According to IMDB, Dominic West is returning as Guy Dexter, so it looks hopeful.

The Gilded Age season three: As far as I know, The Gilded Age will return next year, though I've yet to see a trailer for it. When it's out, it will be time for me to make the usual hit-and-miss predictions. As of now, I've no idea where this series might be heading, other than that a romance between Marian and Larry is definitely on the cards. Let's hope that they both acquire a little more personality in the process. Also, I want more servant plotlines.

Andor OK. So. I know that Andor is good. I'm grateful to it for adding a little cred to the Star Wars brand at a time when fans are disgruntled with it and apt to blame Disney for absolutely everything (though Disney seldom gets any credit when something Star Wars-related that the fans do like is released). And of course I'll watch it and admire the deft dialogue and storytelling, as well as the complex characters. 

To be frank, though, I'm not exactly excited for it. I find the premise that it's all right for the rebels to behave like swine if it's for the greater good of toppling the Evil Empire hard to swallow. Meanwhile, we have Skeleton Crew, which is much more light-hearted fare but which I confess is more my cup of tea (so far) than the somewhat disturbing politics of Andor. The galaxy far, far away is not yet on its last legs – I hope.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts* (yes, the asterisk is part of the title): Talking about struggling franchises, Marvel has had some tough years, but found favour with its fanbase this year with Deadpool and Wolverine. After an epic amount of homework – the X-men films and the previous two Deadpool films – I also watched it and really liked it. What's more, I've heard novices that have not done any homework to speak of praise it, which is, as Palps would say, a surprise to be sure but a welcome one. I may yet blog about how the film got away with a multiverse story where other films have failed (the answer is, basically: nothing clever, just two very charismatic leads).

What about this year, then? The upcoming TV projects seem all right, but not wildly thrilling. I had some hopes for the animated Spider-Man series, but judging from the trailer it seems awfully down with the kids (or rather teenagers). On the film front, Thunderbolts* seems promising, as the Thunderbolts team contains some interesting and/or funny antiheroes from previous films. But Fantastic Four is the studio's biggest swing, as it will introduce us comic-book ignoramuses to a new quartet of heroes in a completely new setting.

Now, of course I know that in the comic world, the Fantastic Four have been around since the year dot. There have been other film adaptations of their adventures as well, so they're not new from that perspective. But they're new in the MCU, and aren't tied to the previous complicated web of MCU stories. We are, in a sense, entering a new Enchanted Forest (I'm not one to forgo a Once Upon A Time reference). let's just hope it is enchanted. The casting is great: I'm particularly pleased to see that Joseph Quinn will be joining the MCU team. Others know him from Stranger Things (which I haven't seen); I know him as the actor who made the viewer sympathise with Arthur Havisham and Catherine the Great's useless son.

The Night Manager seasons two and three: I was somewhat sarcastic about the original The Night Manager series and, predictably enough, I think Tom Hiddleston would be better employed playing brainy, possibly redeemable villains rather than a strong, silent bore like Jonathan Pine. All the same, I'm curious. Where can the story possibly go after the first season? We didn't actually see Richard Roper get killed: will he escape his captors and return, out for blood? Will there be justice for Corky?

The Gilded Age season two: prediction follow-up

Just to be clear, the only reason I didn't include The Gilded Age season three in things to look forward to in 2024 is that I can't imagine it'll air that early. From what I know, the third season hasn't even been shot yet. When it comes, I will watch it avidly, as I still very much enjoy this series, even though I have notes.

But first of all it's time to follow up my predictions for season two. This could potentially be a short post as the large majority of my predictions were, simply put, incorrect. However, I'll try to use the opportunity to give some further reflections on this season, apart from the ones I've already mentioned in my mid-season report.

Mrs Chamberlain's son makes an appearance: NO. Honestly, where was Mrs Chamberlain this season? I was sure that Marian's kindness towards her in season one would stand her in good stead, and that Mrs Chamberlain would keep on playing a part as a useful Marian ally. But Mrs Chamberlain didn't make an appearance at all, even less her son. The only thing I got right here was that a "not obviously Mr Wrong" character was introduced, in order to delay the pairing up of Marian and Larry. It just wasn't Mr Chamberlain Jr.

Speaking of Marian and Larry, when they finally start taking a romantic interest in each other, it feels like it's coming out of the blue. One minute, Marian is firmly friend-zoning him, the next they are kissing, and publicly too. Well. At least it will finally lead to more entanglements between the Russell and the van Rhijn households.

Mr Russell does Marian a good turn: NOPE. I don't think they even spoke. As I touched on in the previous paragraph, my ongoing complaint about this series is that there's so little interaction between its protagonist families. The Russells are caught up in their dramas, the van Rhijns/Brookes in theirs. Mr Russell rebuffing Oscar's proposal to Gladys was one of the few instances where a storyline involved both families, and it didn't have any major effect on relations between the neighbours. Agnes, for instance, wasn't miffed that her son had been shown the door as the fortune hunter he was. But then, she is unaware of his intrigues half of the time.

Maybe season three will finally be the one where Marian "infiltrates" the Russell household? Or was the initial description of the series as plain wrong as most of my predictions?

An English Lord for Gladys? YES! Finally I got something right, as Bertha seems ready to pimp her unfortunate daughter to an English duke, forebodingly titled the Duke of Buckingham. Poor Gladys really has no luck. She was just getting interested in another young man, previously introduced to her by her mother as an acceptable match. On the other hand, there's nothing obviously wrong with Buckingham, other than that he's most likely skint.

The conflict between mother and daughter will be fun to see as Mr Russell, in a moment of weakness, promised to back his daughter up if she ever found a man she truly loved. By this time, I feel I need some exposition or flashbacks which explain George Russell's attachment to family values and devotion for his wife, which sometimes borders on weakness. He ends up apologising for being hit on by Bertha's former lady's maid, although he turned her advances down. Anyway, if he wants to keep his promise to his daughter, he'd better man up now.

Bertha Russell and Agnes van Rhijn team up: FORGET IT. I really thought that the main conflict of the series, or one of them at least, would be between Bertha and Agnes. But no. Bertha has too much on her plate antagonising Mrs Astor, and Agnes doesn't deign to show much interest, even of the hostile kind, for the nouveau riche Russells. And as, in this case, there has to be a feud before there can be a team-up, I'd say we're in for a long wait before these hard-as-steel broads join forces.

We learn more about Peggy's ex: NO. I'll have to rewatch season one, haven't I? Because it's still unclear to me what exactly happened to Peggy's ex. He seems to be dead, anyhow. With their poor little son killed off, it doesn't seem likely that Peggy's past will be brought up much in future. Though the man who adopted Peggy's son, and who lost his wife in the same disease as the one that took the boy, was really nice, wasn't he? Perhaps he'll find a reason to re-enter Peggy's life?

Battle of the butlers: YES (kind of). I'm counting this one as a win, although Bannister's attempt at retaliation against Church was swiftly regretted and nipped in the bud by Bannister himself. Hostilities now seem to be permanently suspended. Is this the beginning of a beautiful butler friendship? One can only hope.

For all my grumbling, I think I'd rank season two of The Gilded Age above season one. The pace picked up in the later episodes and the dramatic and emotional moments were nicely handled. Nevertheless, all the drama tends to end up in things staying more or less the way there are. I'm hoping that season three will risk more definite changes of the status quo.    

Half-way through The Gilded Age season two: many Chekhovian guns not fired

When it comes to TV, I'm in a funny situation from a blog perspective. It's not that there aren't a lot of shows on that I'm interested in; it's just that we're in the middle of them, and I'd prefer to finish them before giving an opinion. The jury's still out on both The Crown season six and the Doctor Who specials (of which only one has aired so far) for different reasons. I'm still not sure what I think of The Crown, and am hoping the six remaining episodes will help me make up my mind. As for Doctor Who, if I review "The Star Beast" now, I risk overemphasising my complaints and forgetting about the good stuff, which includes the wonder of being able to watch the show on telly, at the same time as the UK. I'm hoping the remaining two specials will blow me away and make me more thankful.

So a mid-season report of The Gilded Age it is. Not that I'm certain of what my final verdict will be here either. I can only say so far, so good; however, it's still not a patch on Downton.

This is starting to be a problem, as it's the second season, and we should be past the awkwardness of the show setting out its stall. I think the second season of Downton was my favourite one, in spite of it being set during World War I (I'm not too fond of the World Wars as period-drama settings). So why is The Gilded Age, in spite of being entertaining and the best costume drama we've had in a while, not able to hit the same heights?

From a plot perspective, the show is suffering somewhat from late-Downtonitis. Remember how, in the later series of Downton, some storylines were spun out way too long because they constituted certain characters' "arc" for that particular series? The Green murder investigation comes to mind, as does Thomas (uncharacteristically, in my view) trying to medicate himself straight. (That last one didn't take the whole series, but it felt like it.) There's quite a lot of that sort of plotting in The Gilded Age. Mrs Russell is getting involved in the New York "opera wars". Mr Russell is facing strikes and disgruntled workers. Marian is being mildly courted by an eligible widower. And this, it seems, is what they will be doing all season.

These storylines are left simmering, with a desultory mention here and there, without ever really coming to the boil. I can better face the romances moving slowly than, say, the opera plot, which isn't very thrilling to begin with. But I'd prefer a faster pace all round, where the same character could be involved in more than one major occurrence per season. Just look at how comparatively action-packed Downton series two, episode two was. Both Edith and Thomas loved and lost during the episode, and that was far from all that was going on. Afterwards, Fellowes found new things for them to do. No need to dwell on love interests that aren't going to lead anywhere.

A reason for the drawn-out plot threads is, I suspect, that the show has too many characters to juggle. We have the Brook/Van Rhijn household, the Russell household, and Peggy and her parents. It's a lot, especially as both the Russells and Agnes Van Rhijn keep an impressive number of servants. The result is that many of the characters are still pretty sketchy, and I have a problem even remembering their names. You can see that it would be quite a challenge to furnish them with more than one seasonal story arc per head.

Another problem is that two of the characters that get the most screen time – Bertha Russell and Agnes Van Rhijn – are so hard to feel anything for. I still don't understand what's behind Bertha's social ambitions, and I would much rather get some real insight into Agnes's psyche than hear any more of her Dowager Countess-isms. Last season she was at least a good employer to Peggy, but this season she's just stuffy and awful, apparently without reason. We need some introspective scenes with these ladies fast, or we'll never know why their sister and husband respectively bother with them.

Having said that, other characters and plot lines are more of a success. George Russell is still a cynical delight. Ada Brook is lovely, and I found her autumnal love affair so engaging I basically spent one episode holding my breath fearing that Agnes would spoil it. I'm intrigued to see what happens with disgraced businessman-turned-valet Watson, and how Peggy will disentangle herself from her budding romance with a married man. I can watch Oscar fortune-hunting unsuspecting (or maybe not) heiresses all day. And while the servants of both households haven't had a lot of juicy drama coming their way so far, I do like them and hope that better things will be waiting just around the corner.

I also sort of admire Fellowes's disregard for the "Chekhov's gun" principle, which – sorry, Chekhov – I find to be an overrated piece of storytelling advice. How predictable wouldn't stories be if a gun introduced in act one were always to be fired in act three? Fellowes doesn't scruple to introduce a lot of false trails, as he did in Downton. Oscar's ex-lover simply gave up wooing Gladys Russell out of spite. Peggy's child died, so she won't be hunting for him the whole season. Her visit to the South might, after the foreshadowing of her worried mother's warnings, end up with her witnessing the lynching of one of the bright young people she has optimistically interviewed. Or it might not. Julian Fellowes keeps us on our toes and makes life difficult for people like me who enjoy making predictions.

The latest episode, where Fellowes actually lets a momentous change take place for one of the main characters mid-season, leaves me to hope that the drama will soon pick up the pace. Meanwhile, it is still an enjoyable stroll.

Things to look forward to in 2023

I had planned to blog about Andor (which is really good, by the way) and have a serious "do ends justify the means?"-discussion about the pros and cons of ruthless rebel tactics, but – sorry, I'm just too tired. So a new year's list post it is, where I will probably forget to mention some obvious items because of ignorance or brain-mushiness. I will get to Andor next year. I think. Anyway...

The 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials So I know I've tried to play it cool and manage expectations when it comes to the return of Russell T Davies as show-runner, but... oh boy, this just looks so good. David Tennant back as an interim Doctor until Ncuti Gatwa takes over the reins; Donna Noble, one of the best RTD companions, back and possibly regaining memories from her time with the Doctor (I know more sophisticated fans have praised Davies for the "hard choice" of never letting Donna get her memories back, but I for one won't be disappointed if she does – I'm not one for hard choices); Donna's family reappearing, including her probably-not-as-snooty-anymore mum Sylvia and the late Bernard Cribbins as lovely grandpa Wilf; and last but not least, Neil Patrick Harris as a promisingly flamboyant-looking villain who must surely be the much-talked-about Celestial Toymaker. I know Harris as Barney from How I Met Your Mother, but I'm sure he'll be "legend-ary" as a villainous mastermind. And if the show has a deal with Disney + now, does that mean that Swedes get to see it almost at the same time as Brits? Here's hoping!

The Gilded Age season two It's no new Downton, yet. But with any luck, it's getting there. I'm amazed we can already look forward to the second season, after we had to wait so long for the first one, but if HBO trailers can be trusted, it's coming next year. I'm excited to get a new dose of the excellent Mr Russell, plus I'll be able to get two blog posts out of it: one where I follow up my predictions for season two, and one where I make new ones for season three (which must be in the works). There hasn't been that much talk about the show, but someone, somewhere, can still make The Gilded Age happen. I'm certain of it.

Grand Admiral Thrawn in live action – and a new Mandalorian season All right, so Andor is probably, objectively, the best-written live-action Star Wars TV show so far, and I did enjoy it. But if I'm honest, The Mandalorian remains my personal favourite. I just like the characters more than the ones in Andor (though the latter are intriguingly complex), and The Mandalorian has more of a classic Star Wars feel, along with an atmospheric Space Western vibe I really like – and I'm not even that into Westerns usually. Ahsoka will also be coming this year, where we'll surely get to see Grand Admiral Thrawn. Come now, I didn't sit through Rebels for nothing. Thrawn wasn't all I hoped he would be in that series, but he was still a tasty villain, and he cannot remain abducted by space whales. That's just waste of Star Wars villain talent.

Loki season two Well, what can I say? I mean, it's Loki! As I thought the first season got better and better as it went on, my expectations for season two are pretty high. They'd better start giving us some answers about how all these timeline retcons work though, as well as explain why Sylvie's timeline was pruned in the first place (my theory is, because she showed worrying tendencies towards becoming heroic).

Sanditon series three I googled "costume dramas 2023" in order to find something to balance out all this geekery and... this is what I can come up with. Yes, a Great Expectations adaptation will also be airing, but as it seems to be from the same people who made a "dark" A Christmas Carol which sounds so awful I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it, my hopes aren't that high. But Sanditon series three will probably be fun. Maybe poor Charlotte will finally get her man in this one?

Possibly, a new Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fforde Look, I don't need earnest immigration allegories from the creator of the Goliath Corporation. Just gimme more Thursday.                            

Predictions for The Gilded Age season two

Should I, to paraphrase the movie Mean Girls, stop trying to make The Gilded Age happen? Perhaps because it's airing on HBO and isn't as immediately accessible to a British or American viewership as Downton Abbey, there doesn't appear to be an awful lot of hype about it. Instead, costume-drama viewers seem a lot more interested in Netflix's Bridgerton. But I'm just back from my first trip to London in three years (well, OK, I travelled back last Sunday – but I'm still tired!) and going for the path of least resistance. I don't have much to say about Bridgerton anyway. It's frothy, escapist, not very action-packed, the ideal viewing if you have a cold, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Regency England (something the series, to its credit, acknowledged briefly in a parallel-universe-explaining scene in season one). The higher Regency society was no melting pot, and the Queen did not literally select the "diamond of the season" as if the season were some beauty pageant. This is pure fantasy, and should be enjoyed as such.

Back, then, to The Gilded Age. To be fair, in terms of action, there's not much more going on here than in Bridgerton. Only towards the end did it pick up the pace – and then, just as all the pieces had been moved into a promising pattern, the season was over (after nine episodes, not ten as I first thought it would be). The Gilded Age suffered from the same problem as late Downton series in that some storylines were dragged out just so the characters involved could have a "season arc". For instance, no-one really believed that Marian Brook's romance with Mr Raikes would come to anything, so that plot line could easily have been shortened, even if it meant having to give Marian something else to do for the rest of the season. For all that, I really liked this series – yes, more than Bridgerton – and now the preliminary introductions to the characters are over and done with there are many interesting ways it could go. In order to follow my old Downton tradition, I think I'll try some predictions, hopefully without spoiling too much of season one for those who have not yet seen it.

Mrs Chamberlain's son makes an appearance Romance seems likely to bloom between Marian and Larry Russell, but will it really be all plain sailing from here? This pairing is so obvious it could easily become boring if there are no other romantic options for these young leads. Marian has made friends with Mrs Chamberlain, a rich and kind woman who is nevertheless shunned by polite society because of her scandalous past. She has a son ("adopted", though he is in fact her biological son) whom we have yet to meet. It would lead to some intriguing developments if he were to take an interest in Marian. What would her aunts say? Aunt Agnes would be shocked, but she has a more pragmatic side, and in terms of wealth young Mr Chamberlain would be a catch for the penniless Marian. Marian herself would be favourably disposed towards the son of a friend. By not being an obvious "Mr Wrong", he could give Larry a run for his money.

Mr Russell does Marian a good turn The admirable George Russell is the kind of man who always pays his debts. Marian unwittingly helped him unearth a scheme to besmirch his good name, and now he owes her one. There's no guarantee he will help her with good grace. Russell is a great character, my favourite by far, but the viewer is still supposed to be a little wary of his ruthless streak. I can see Agnes Van Rhijn being reluctantly grateful to him for helping her niece out of some scrape, and him acknowledging her grudging thanks in a stiff "well, we're even now" way.

An English Lord for Gladys? It's pretty clear that the socially ambitious Bertha Russell is in part modelled on Alva Vanderbilt, which would make her daughter Gladys a parallel to Consuelo Vanderbilt. Consuelo married the Duke of Marlborough, a match fiercely promoted by her mother, but was famously unhappy in her marriage (and let everybody know it). We've already seen that Bertha did not consider a perfectly respectable young banker grand enough for Gladys. Maybe a titled Englishman is what she's looking for as a son-in-law. I don't think the dates match, regrettably, but otherwise one could imagine Bertha trying to secure a young Earl of Grantham for her daughter before he's snatched up by Cora instead. Anyway, I expect some members of the English aristocracy to make an appearance.

Bertha Russell and Agnes van Rhijn team up It may be too soon to expect this in season two, but consider this my standing prediction for future seasons as well. Sooner or later, it will happen. They are both hard-headed women, and will in time find some common cause (possibly involving the happiness of Marian and Larry). Bertha told Mrs Astor that she could prove a useful friend, but I can't really see these two women becoming really chummy – Mrs Astor is more likely to see the point of Bertha's husband (whom she has already conceded to be "a force to be reckoned with"). But Agnes and Bertha do have things in common, and if the situation is dire enough they could be brought to see it. As Agnes has been a bit of a disappointment this far, I think the character would benefit from moving out of her comfort zone.

We learn more about Peggy's ex I'm ashamed to say I can't remember what happened to Peggy's husband. Did he die? Or did her father bully him into accepting a divorce, and in that case, on what possible grounds? In any case, Mr Scott's behaviour over Peggy's marriage is baffling, to say the least. It's one thing if he thought she married beneath her, but she did marry – and yet he handled the whole situation as if she was living in sin. It's rare for a character in a Fellowes drama to behave completely irrationally and in a "stock character" (Stern Father) manner. Does Mr Scott know something about Peggy's hubby that we don't?

Battle of the butlers I suppose the rivalry between Church and Bannister, where the former apparently shopped the latter to his employer when he was earning a little on the side (though should we, and more importantly Bannister, really take Miss Turner's word for this?), will play out somehow. Not that I really want it to. I like them both. Can't they just be pals? 

First impressions of The Gilded Age

In another timeline, where I never discovered Once Upon A Time and didn't lean as hard into my geeky side, I would probably be in love with George Russell by now. He's easily the most compelling character in the Julian Fellowes-scripted The Gilded Age which is now streaming on HBO Max (only one episode per week, annoyingly). From what I've heard, the first season will be ten episodes long, and there's a second season on the way. Which is good news, because this series is – promising.

"Promising" was my first reaction to the pilot episode. I loved episode two, was less taken with the strained plotting in episode three, but then got properly into it all again in episode four. My main criticism is that, maybe, the series should have moved beyond "promising" by now. True, Mr Russell is great. His main function in the story may be that he's the ruthless railway tycoon and representative of "new money", but he's more than just a hard-nosed businessman. With the exception of being implausibly hard on some hapless aldermen in episode three, when it would have served his own interests better to be more lenient sooner, he's sensible and shows good judgment. He objects to his wife treating their grown daughter Gladys as a child, and rightly suspects the high-born Oscar Van Rhijn of pursuing Gladys only because of her fortune. He isn't too touchy as far as his own social status is concerned; when a member of the old New York society confesses in an embarrassed way that his peers "can be snobbish", Russell replies stoically "perhaps they're right to be". His warfare with the old New Yorkers has more to do with them snubbing his wife Bertha than him, plus with their ill-advised attempt to get the better of him in a business deal. Last but not least, he's been an exemplary husband so far, supporting Bertha's social ambitions and rejecting the advances of her scheming lady's maid ("the flaw in your argument is that I love my wife").

But what of the other characters? The antithesis of Mr Russell, set up to be the equivalent of the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey, is the heroine Marian Brook's aunt Agnes Van Rhijn, who is unfailingly caustic about the "new money" crowd, not least the Russells. But that is mostly her function so far – to be the snobbish dragon whose cynicism nevertheless proves to be well-founded at times. "My Aunt Ada is kind but not clever, my Aunt Agnes is clever but not kind" Marian sums up in the trailer (we haven't seen her say it during the show yet), and that's about it. In fact, Aunt Ada is proving to be the more complex of the aunts this far, as she isn't quite as clueless as her niece and sister think. Bertha Russell has a little more going for her – I like that she is just as unfailingly supportive of her husband as he is of her – but mostly she too is defined by one characteristic, her social ambition. Other characters, like most of the downstairs staff in the Russell and Van Rhijn households, hardly have a personality at all so far. However, Simon "Bridey" Jones plays the Van Rhijns' butler Bannister with enjoyable gravitas, and Kristine Nielsen's Mrs Bauer skips over the first irascible stage of costume-drama cooks and goes directly for the motherliness of Mrs Patmore in later Downton series. There are things to build on here.

One would do well to remember that Downton too took its time to get going in the characterisation department. There, many of the characters had sharp edges who had to be partly filed off in later series. In series one, Mary and Edith were at each other's throats in potentially life-wrecking ways, Mrs Patmore bullied Daisy, Thomas was mean to William for no reason that even I can see (though I get why he didn't care for the needling Mr Bates) and straight up stole, not only wine bottles from the cellar but money out of Mr Carson's pocketbook (this detail I still have difficulty believing). The only one who stayed as sharp in later series as when she was first introduced was Miss O'Brien, and even she was given some softening traits with time. When I reread my thoughts on the first series, I can see that I was well entertained but not completely blown away (though rewatching series one has made me more fond of it).

The Gilded Age's problem, if it has one, is the opposite. Too many of the characters at this stage are just a little too nice. This can definitely be said about Marian, a girl of "good" family who's left penniless by her irresponsible father on his death and is forced to seek a home with her estranged aunts. Marian is unfailingly optimistic and thinks the best of everyone. In some cases, she's probably in for a disappointment, but in others she is surely the one in the right and not her Aunt Agnes. It is a little perverse of me, after having complained that Mary in Downton was too bitchy, to now claim that The Gilded Age's heroine is too much of a goody-two-shoes. Even so, there's a blandness to the character which I hope will be righted in time. What's more, Marian's friend Peggy Scott, a self-sufficient young woman with writerly aspirations who helped her out on her train journey to New York, is also a good girl, so any sharp-tongued bitchiness has to come from the older generation. The latest episode introduced some well-needed tension in the relationship between the girls. Peggy is black and faces all kinds of drawbacks because of it, something Marian seems partly unaware of. At the same time, Marian has made some condescending assumptions about Peggy's circumstances which place her in a very awkward position and ruffle Peggy's feathers. I've no doubt the girls will make up, and I want them to, but the little spat between them did this part of the story some good.

But what is the story? This is another potential problem for the series. Downton had many different storylines going on, but there was a basic throughline. At first, it could be seen as "the heir's tale" – we were to see how the middle-class Matthew Crawley would adapt to being Downton's heir, and how the castle's family would adapt to him. When Dan Stevens bailed, the focus had to shift more to the survival of the estate itself, but you could argue that this was part of the main story all along. The series is called Downton Abbey after all. Up until now, though, we haven't had a clear, main plotline in The Gilded Age. Whose story is it telling? Is it about the "old money" Van Rhijns/Brooks and the "new money" Russells and their relationship to each other? But the two families haven't interacted a lot so far, because of Agnes keeping her distance. Marian and Larry Russell, who I assume will be her proper love interest (Aunt Agnes is probably right about the unsuitability of Mr Raikes) have only met two or three times. In the series synopsis, there's talk of Marian being tasked with "infiltrating" the Russells. The sooner they can start that plot unfolding, the better.