sistermagpie

Or he was just mad at how things didn't work out for him--as someone said, calling the girl who rejected you on the dating app ugly. His focus was still on connecting himself with the royal family, not talking about Dodi. He didn't succeed in getting into the family via Diana's death so now he's claiming her for himself. I thought that whole conversation was a joke on her part. As she said later, she did live as a regular housewife and they were some of the happier days of her life. Can't say I'm surprised. There's never been any story there that I can see. They met at university, they're very similar people with stuff in common. They're a completely predictable couple. The only added twist is that he's the future king of England and she's perfectly ready to take on being the future queen at his side. There's no conflict here. Kate and William briefly dating other people is not a conflict.

I kept thinking about this, and it made me see that for me, one of the things that made the earlier seasons better was that with Elizabeth and George, you had a sense that they took the monarchy seriously as a responsibility. Agree with them or not, they saw it as their responsibility and would often make choices based on what they thought that meant they had to do. Once you get to somebody like Charles, it's just all about him and the monarchy etc. is a burden. When he makes sacrifices, it's not actually because he thinks it's his responsibility, but because his parents made him do it, and then he resents it. So he marries Diana, but blames them and resents it and wants Camilla and wants her to get attention and for his mother to come to her birthday party. Or he leaves Oxford for Wales, then starts feeling kindly toward Welsh independence--because he met a teacher who was nice to him and decided that in some way "Wales is me" and he could rebel a bit against his parents in his speech. I can't claim to speak to the mood of the UK at all, but when I think of the royals as parasites, I don't think about how people like the Swan Warden are getting government salaries for jobs I think are stupid. These were people who, no matter what one thinks of their jobs, were doing the thing they were getting paid for as well as they could and didn't seem to be getting that rich on it. So the idea that you save money by firing them just feels like the usual thing of corporations firing people down below who will be seriously affected by losing their job while the top CEOs go on being rich. Charles talks a lot about streamlining the monarchy but also built that whole massive house that cost however much money, because his ideas about cuts are always about other people and not him. Andrew shouldn't get a big wedding because he's not the heir, but Charles is going to build a garden to reflect his inner soul. And he considers himself modern for this. At this point it seems like Elizabeth is one of the only characters left who sees The Crown as a real thing.

Sure, but I don't think that would meant that Elizabeth wouldn't feel a specific loss of a person who knew *this* part of her that existed when she was young. She's going to feel every loss--even people she didn't know well, imo--as she gets older. In fact, many people probably really mourned her own passing because she'd always been there in their life and now she was gone. But with Porchy and Margaret and soon her mother gone, there's not many people she has left from her early years, so that part of her life is even more in the past than it was before.

And Raikes was, iirc, trying to get her to come into his hotel room. I don't think Marian's whole "we're friends" thing really meant she wouldn't be interested. She was expressing deep affection for him rather than friend-zoning him imo.

Agreed. The thing with Margaret for me is even when I've been frustrated with her in the past, she's been there for so long that I can really feel the loss of her for Elizabeth. (And those scenes where she was always in a situation where she was just too far away to get help were so anxiety producing!) On one hand, I agree with everyone that they made it seem like Elizabeth had done something really shocking that night at the Ritz, but in the end, that's kind of what makes it special. She was so straight-laced that just sneaking into a party, cutting a rug and kissing a guy totally stood out in her life. Had she really gone crazy she'd have been ashamed of it. Instead it was more about Margaret seeing her happy and goofy. Felt the loss of Porchy too. Not because I think she was ever in love with him or really wished she had been, but just like Margaret said, he was another long-time figure in her life who knew the real her and was gone. After watching the ridiculous "courtship" of William and Kate, I couldn't help but be moved by some real, earned emotion!

Why not? They're family, even if they're not related by blood. They'll still be related through family if Dashiell marries someone else.

I don't know that he was really being Weaslely. He told her the truth--the Duke was going to Mrs. Astor because she could give him the entre into NYC that he wanted more than Bertha could, so there just wasn't anything Bertha could do with all her money. George saw it the same way. Neither one thought to suggest her selling her daughter.

I do think that Luke would have told Ada about the money sooner--he'd trust that she'd want to live frugally with him. But that way there'd be no surprise so he had to do it this way. Literally for that reason. Mrs. Fish is so damned refreshing. I think because she openly shows that all of this stuff is so dumb so she can just be open about it.

Never change, Julian Fellowes. He's the king of fortunes dropping out of the sky to land in hands that just dropped there. Still, it'll be fun watching Ada be in charge and I love Bannister immediately setting that straight. I'm fine with Larian--though it's kind of unfair to say Marian's had two strikes against her when Dashiell put her in that position to begin with with the public proposal. Jack and Larry working together I like too. Gladys' dress was hilarious, but I'm rooting for her and Billy. There will be trouble in the Russell marriage next season. This is reminding me of The Americans. Loved the servant date at the Met. I wonder what's going to happen to Oscar going forward. Daniell's daughter M3gan - still a weirdo.

If so, it didn't work on me, because it made the whole thing totally creepy. Kate included. That was so annoying. Oh, poor Kate the little waitress who can't have the prince because only the rich girls get that. Kate is just stuck with being totally rich and beautiful so William actually much prefers her to the easy, not that pretty posh girl who threw herself at him. He literally started pining for her the second he got to school but has to get in line behind everyone else. So disadvantaged, that Kate! They're a boring couple IRL and on the show, imo. Not a great well to draw from here. Exactly. And don't tell me that Lola character wouldn't have loved snapping at girls like that on his behalf just to show she was in the inner circle. The way she was written she would have totally done that. And no, being a woman is not the same as being Diana or even her son at this point in his life. Especially weird coming from a woman whose mother has apparently engineered most of her life to make her a more successful version of that autograph girl. He took a gap year and he's been at school for a semester so at most 20/18 but maybe 19/17?

Harry should be something like 13 at this point. He's a kid!

Agreed--I was just referring to the idea that William always saw his parents' marriage in very simple, black and white terms that didn't make them both flawed, complicated people. I think he did see them both as flawed--but that didn't mean he couldn't have had opinions on their behavior that were legitimate. He's not confused or wrong about what he's saying to Charles here, just pushing it a little further in his grief. And frankly, he has good reason to be annoyed at Charles suddenly acting like they all (or at least him and William!) need to come together to mourn Mummy as if there's no conflict between their two very different relationships with her. "We'd worked out our differences" is a pretty laughable line.

But she's right--stiff upper lip was her thing. I found that much more realistic than Charles being just so ready to support William in all the right ways. I believe that he's more comfortable with emotions than the queen, but this just seemed like too much. I actually think he does realize it and knew it before the accident. He's been uncomfortable with Diana making him her confidante all the time while always seeming to get along with his father just fine too. But now that she's dead, he's just grasping for some way things could have been different. When Diana told him she didn't want to be in the UK for Camilla's birthday, he probably thought she was being a bit dramatic, but now that she's dead he feels bad about it and is 110% on her side.

Oh god, yes. I did not believe at all these scenes of Charles being so emotionally intelligent and eager to be a supportive father and telling William how great he was. It's great having William point out that Charles hates anyone who upstages him, but the show seems to want to make that seem like it's more just a way for William to lash out at patient Charles who understands rather than a deep, deep character issue. Exactly - it was literally right there in the name in the beginning. Charles would never have married her if she was what she would become from the start! TBF, Charles was probably looking at himself as played by Dominic West, who bears no resemblance to a Charles who was ever friendless.

Not any more than any other thing the security guard would say naturally. There's no need to pay the guy to tell Oscar he's been scammed, should he come looking. If he just shrugged Oscar would be in the exact same boat, only maybe with a tiny bit of unrealistic hope they moved offices.

I didn't understand what she was claiming didn't make sense. Sutton said her doctor told her it was fine if she didn't quit drinking entirely. Suttong also said she had a narrow esophogus but still ate food. What was supposed to not make sense about it?

Every time I think of him I think, "Buried at sea. Huh."

Paid off for what, though? Him telling Oscar that the office was always empty would go against their interests if they still had any.

Right, I get that and usually I'd agree that if the show isn't saying it's a question, it's not. But I think iMonrey was asking about the specific situation of why Oscar thought he was now a railroad tycoon so could brag about it to Russell just because he'd given money. And I get that you're saying--as I understand it--is that that wasn't the point for Oscar, that for Oscar it was enough that his company was bidding against Russell at all, and now that he was an investor he could brag about that. He just thought this company was super important and about to be successful without having done it yet.

This was what I originally didn't understand. I thought TBF, that doesn't seem to answer iMonrey's question, which was why he would assume this company was going to win in acquiring the railroad. He decided it was a done deal after he gave them money, despite knowing Russell's history. And he believed Russell when he said there was no such company, as if Russell would absolutely have a way of knowing that. So sure, it's more like the Nigerian Prince scam in that somebody thinks a random email from someone claiming you need to help them with this problem is real, but with Oscar doing even more work to fill in the gaps. Emotionally, the story works. We get that Oscar had this impulse to jump on a possibility to make himself rich, find happiness and apparently get back at Russell, despite Russell treating him just fine, imo. It just seems like that's all it is, that we're meant to recognize that people fall for such things all the time so this guy could with no explanations for why he'd be risking absolutely everything on it and too uninterested in details etc.

I think I'm getting it now. The only thing I had (and still have, but whatever) is the original point that I don't get why Oscar would think that some other deal has taken place before he knows about it if that was the thing he was keeping quiet. But if all he's keeping quiet is the "great investment opportunity" that he got before Russell, sure it makes sense he'd tell him now. Just to be clear, my issue isn't that I think anybody would be too smart to fall for a con. People do it all the time, even those you wouldn't think would, and even with other people jumping up and down telling them it's a scam. I just think a better writer who actually cared about this stuff would have written it better so it wouldn't seem like Oscar is saying hello to Russell this morning just so he can find out he's been scammed. His having been turned down by Russell for Gladys just doesn't seem like enough of a motivation for him since he doesn't seem all that humliiated to me, or that sensitive about it. Nah, that just means she's the housekeeper or the cook, I think.

So the deal we're talking about is whatever the fake railroad company was doing, right? And Oscar just for some reason now assumes that it's done? Nothing to do with Oscar himself being an investor? Because if the point is that the deal is already done and Oscar just wants to get in first, the guy taking his money has no reason at all to want him to keep quiet about it. Sure, I get that he's not a real businessman in that sense. But the very fact that he's expected to work in a bank says this is not just Lord Grantham with a different accent. Oscar knows what a weekend is and has daily dealings with people Grantham wouldn't. Like George Russell. What I'm seeing as the common demonimator here is Julia Fellowes, not them both of them regarding money and investing the same way.

Lord Grantham was an actual gentleman. He didn't work in a bank. Oscar offered to look over the financial documents because he does know something about it. He's not George, but he's not somebody playing dress up and sitting at a play desk. One of the main points of The Gilded Age is that it's in the US, not the UK. There's plenty similar things, but Oscar's not a lord whose experience is running a country estate he inherited. Like others, I don't get what's changed. If it's bad for Oscar to "warn" Russell that he's thinking of investing, what's the other guy warning Oscar about doing? Because it hardly matters to him if Russell decides to jump in and invest more. I thought the warning was supposed to be about Russell stepping in and doing something to derail whatever this new company is doing, in which case, Oscar telling him now is exactly what he's not supposed to do. Don't mention anything to anybody else until you've given me all your money is a pretty big red flag. Don't tell anybody what we're up to until we've done it is at least a little smaller a red flag. As a big investor, why would he want to warn Russell that this company is up to something big before it's done anything besides take his money? "I've invested in a railway company" isn't much of a flex. Not that he had to ask Russell. He could have tried someone else.

Exactly! On Mad Men it was perfectly in character for everyone and for the time period. Here it was like taking something that would happen then and having this guy do it as if it were normal. There's no reason he'd do it or that Peggy would feel the slightest pressure or desire to accept, imo. I'd think she'd be especially wary after kissing him. Which makes a lot more sense. Yes, I figured it would have to be something convoluted that way, so anything would be possible if they wanted to do it. And it's not as if the show sticks to any sort of legal details. Just look at the patent stuff and Oscar writing a check that signs over his whole fortune for nothing.

And...every single month before that? LOL. That's totally where I thought it was going and was so relieved when it didn't. Also, agreed ono the editor giving Peggy whisky to drink to celebrate something. This guy is just all wrong, and it's hard to tell whether it's a hint or just him being anachronistic. He kisses her while hiding from a lynching, answers doors shirtless, keeps trying to work with her despite being married and now he's offering her shots? That she's accepting? WTF? The scene with the toast made me think of Peggy being offered her first whisky on Mad Men--but there it was in character for everyone. It's true that the Reverend's financial situation should be known, and it seems like he's just been a guy who took care of his mother in a modest way for years, but I suppose they could come up with some unknown relative who suddenly dies after him. Or there's Marian's "worthless" stocks. Something to tide her over before she gets with Larry. And I do think that moment with Larry was a good way to show she's meant to be with him. They're not an exciting couple, but they seem to find comfort in the other's blandness and they can trust each other. It's a better foundation than most other couples we've seen on the show, save Ada and Luke.