S02.E08: In Terms of Winning and Losing

[AntFTW]

Quote

The staff questions its future at [the Van] Rhijn's house, just as Peggy questions her future at The New York Globe; Marian confesses her true feelings to Dashiell; the opera war reaches its climax.

Air date: December 17, 2023

[ChlcGal]

Thank God Mrs Fortune has finally shown up (if only fleetingly) and all of the twaddle about her being dead or gone can finally be put to rest.

"Old friendships are hereditary" HA!

Agnes is such a total softie! I lurve her.

ADA LOOK AT YOUR PAPERS!!!

Marion handled that well. I wasn't sure she'd be able to stop the marriage from happening. Frances was just as unsettling as always.

Oh Mrs Fish. You are so effing amazing.  Let's have tea together, dish about bitches, and be best friends. Call me!

Peggy, good girl. Don't let that flashy  man convince you to do something you know is wrong.

Bertha! That was so kind of you to give tickets to your employees.

I love watching people walk down steps in this show.  Or walking up them. Whichever.

I've never been so electrified by a full room as I was when they panned the Met.

And .. round 2 to Bertha.  OH SHIT.  And she was the one who outed Turner. Perfection!

Larry & Jack in business?? Love it!

Oh yeah. Larion is coming.

That scene with the women talking about Adas money was hilarious.  They were so calm about it.  Bring on Season 3 please.

Edited December 18, 2023 by ChlcGal

[Paws]

So Bertha sold Gladys to the Duke  to win.  George will have something to say I’m sure, especially w Billy Carlton being someone Gladys likes, and he likes her a lot, and he’s appropriate in every other way ….just not a Duke 

larry you handsome and smart young man. Marian, Marty him ASAP.

 

Mrs Fish, please sit next to me and let’s discuss the divorces 

[Haleth]

Bertha sold Gladys to the duke? ✔️

Aunt Ada inherited a fortune from her conveniently dead husband of two minutes? ✔️

Marion and Larry become more than friend? ✔️

I love this show but it’s so predictable.

Best part was the Russell servants going to the Met on a date. Sweet. Oh, and of course the fabulous dresses. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Haleth

[sistermagpie]

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.

[Straycat80]

What a happy ending to season two! I’m glad Marian came to her senses and I’m still shipping her and Larry. Gladys is too feisty to put up with Bertha and her match making, her and the Duke won’t happen.

Kudos to whoever called Luke having money put aside for Ada and the day is saved. I love that Ada is now richer than Agnes. 
I’m glad Opera wars is over. That was the most boring part of this season. 
I want to see Jack become rich.  Bring on season three! 

 

[AntFTW]

Marian's competing with a ghost! 😭

I bet Mrs. Fish has all the good tea.

Bertha pimped out her daughter to the Duke! 😭

How convenient that Luke Forte is wealthy. yay, happy ending... 🙄

LARIAN!

[JenE4]

Kind of disappointing that the only “twist” we didn’t see coming was Mr Borden and the housekeeper getting to go to the opera. Everything else was as expected. Though, I did like Bannister looking to Ada for the orders. We knew the balance of power would be changing, too, with Ada inheriting Luke’s fortune, but it was amusing that the tipping point comes from the staff.

[Atlanta]

We need season three. Still processing this episode.

Larrian!!! When the appropriate amount of time has passed, please let them court and marry. I also want comedic family dinners with the Russells and Agnes.

If Gladys must be a dollar princess, let her and the duke fall in love. She deserves better than Consuelo Vanderbilt. George is Team Gladys and so will be Larry. If he marries Marian that will get them connected to 'old' NYC.

Turnerton just can't let things go even though Bertha was never mean to her. Enjoy your money and your indulgent husband. 

Glad Peggy peaced-out on the newspaper. Perhaps she'll teach writing at the school. 

So what is Oscar to do now? If there's a season three, he can go on a mission to find Maud.

[Bumblebee84047]

I hope that George keeps his promise to Gladys to stand up for her if she finds someone she loves.  Because I think we all know how Bertha got the Duke to show up at the Met.

I really hope there's a season 3.  I want to see purse string holding Ada.  She is a deeply sweet, kind, woman; but she is no pushover.

[Atlanta]

Just now, Bumblebee84047 said:

I hope that George keeps his promise to Gladys to stand up for her if she finds someone she loves.  Because I think we all know how Bertha got the Duke to show up at the Met.

I really hope there's a season 3.  I want to see purse string holding Ada.  She is a deeply sweet, kind, woman; but she is no pushover.

I see her as a steel magnolia. 

[Bumblebee84047]

4 minutes ago, Atlanta said:

Larrian!!! When the appropriate amount of time has passed, please let them court and marry.

I want this to happen just because it will give us some amazing scenes with Carrie C oon and Christine Baranski.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Bumblebee84047

[BeatrixK]

Me to Mrs. Bruce:  YOU GET IT, GIRL!

I don't care I love Larry and Marion and I don't care how obvious it was or who knows it.

So an alarm clock mechanism that doesn't use oil will SURE come in handy for a rail road guy who needs stuff to run on time!  I don't care...i love John's earnestness and I love he will have the Russell's backing him.

Armstrong will just always suck, but hey - it's nice that some things never changes.

Ada in charge of the servants but Agnes owning the house...OHHHH....GIRLFIGHTS!!!!

And Marion's Met Dress was the Pretty in Pink Prom Dress of the Gilded Age.

[AntFTW]

4 minutes ago, JenE4 said:

Though, I did like Bannister looking to Ada for the orders.

Yes, that was funny.

[Atlanta]

Dear HBO, please green light season three. 

I need a Larrian wedding. And Carrie and Christine to have scenes together.

[sistermagpie]

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.

[AntFTW]

Since Ada doesn't have any children, I can see her making Marian the heir to her new fortune. That would be a sweet twist of events.

The penniless Brooks became the wealthy Brooks, and the wealthy Brooks became the penniless Brooks.

[chaifan]

1 minute ago, Straycat80 said:

Kudos to whoever called Luke having money put aside for Ada and the day is saved. I love that Ada is now richer than Agnes. 

Yes, I can't remember who it was, but someone posted in the thread 2 episodes back this speculation.  I certainly didn't think of it, and I thought it was brilliant!  I love how they set up the shift in power between Agnes and Ada, and that Bannister was the one who really pointed it out.  I think Season 3 will be a hoot!

I mentioned in the Ep 7 thread, that I'd love to see an Aunt Ada - oops, I'm sorry - a Mrs. Forte makeover montage at the beginning of Season 3.  Let Marian take Ada shopping, get a new hair-do, do her best impression of Carrie Bradshaw a la 1880 walking down the street with a million shopping bags, then go for Cosmos.  The only thing missing would be for Ada to snag Ward McAllister as her new gay BFF. 

I was never shipping Larian, and honestly, up until the last few minutes of the show I really didn't care whether it happened or not.  But I was surprisingly happy when they kissed.  Really, more of Larry kissing Marian, and Marian really kissing him back!  That would have been a bit of a scandal back then!

Larry and Jack - awww... now that's a pair I'm rooting for!

Gladys' dress for the Met?  meh.  I wasn't crazy about Bertha's either, but damn, I loved the trailing cape! 

Oh, Mrs. Fish.  You're wonderful.  Don't change.  I was still hoping that Mrs. Fish would be the key to tracking down Maude, though.  I guess that's not going to happen - the money is gone never to be seen again.

Bertha giving the hottest tickets in town to her ladies' maid.  Damn.  I don't know if she really likes Mrs. Bruce that much, was genuinely moved by her newfound love of music, or if she just doesn't want a backstabbing repeat of Turner and is trying to get Bruce into her good graces.  I want to believe it was genuine like/respect for Bruce, especially with the little nod from the box.

I wouldn't mind it if next season they ditch the Astor's.  I'm a bit bored of Lina vs. Bertha, and we've seen enough of it. 

Finally, yep, Bertha's sold Gladys to the Duke.  Will Fellowes follow the Vanderbilt story through, or will Gladys pull a Marian and seek her own path?

When does Season 3 air???

 

 

[Pop Tart]

1 minute ago, chaifan said:

Yes, I can't remember who it was, but someone posted in the thread 2 episodes back this speculation.  I certainly didn't think of it, and I thought it was brilliant!  I love how they set up the shift in power between Agnes and Ada, and that Bannister was the one who really pointed it out.  I think Season 3 will be a hoot!

It was me, or I was one who did. Played out just as I guessed and still I loved it. Loved Bannister’s reaction in particular and how Agnes suddenly realized what it meant.

Like everyone else I know Larry/Marion is endgame, but I have wanted it to be a slower burn. Even so I was charmed by their kiss.

As to Gladys, I certainly want her to find love too, but don’t find the young swain we met for the first time tonight interesting at all. She’s smart and charming and I want more for her.

[AntFTW]

Maybe next season, Bertha pushing the Duke onto Gladys may be a source of conflict between Bertha and George, and I'm assuming that Gladys ultimately won't like the Duke.

[Jodithgrace]

That was hilarious. As soon as Ada mentioned all those papers on Luke’s desk that she hadn’t gotten around to reading yet…I knew! Good old Reverend Rich Dead Poet…I knew he’d come through in the end. 
 

Marian’s opera dress…dreadful! But I loved Bertha’s cape. One has to win with a cape like that. That is not a loser’s cape. And now that the first night of the opera is over and the battle won (and lost) Gladys can avoid marrying the Duke. What is he going to do, sue her for breach of her mother’s promise? 
 

Oscar has got some penance to do. I wonder if next season we will see him track down the slippery Miss Beaton…I wonder if her name was intended as a joke since she’s beaten him. 

[AntFTW]

For those that are familar with Fellowes' other work, does he usually wrap up all the storylines by the end of a season, no cliffhangers?

Edited December 18, 2023 by AntFTW

[chaifan]

Oh, yes, I totally forgot to mention...

29 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Daniell's daughter M3gan - still a weirdo.

Hell yes!  A creepy weirdo kid.  If Marian and Larry get married and pregnant, I could easily see a scene with that kid pushing Marian down a flight of stairs.  All with a creepy smile on her face.

And Peggy.  So glad she did the right thing by putting some distance between her and Fortune, but sad that she has to sacrifice her journalism career for it.  Maybe Ada will also need a secretary and she'll have a full time job at the VR house.  If there's a Season 3 (please let there be a season 3!) they need to pull Peggy back into the main plots.  She was way too separated (dare I say segregated?) this season.

 

 

[Atlanta]

I hope Peggy teaches journalism classes at the school.

[AntFTW]

Also, we saw Enid get checked by her husband when she has her temper tantrum. 😂

Edited December 19, 2023 by AntFTW

[Bumblebee84047]

19 minutes ago, Atlanta said:

I hope Peggy teaches journalism classes at the school.

That's what I was thinking!

 

[peridot]

I hope Bertha drops McAllister as a friend.  I thought he was trying to support them both, but he just told her to come quietly to the Academy! What a weasel.

I loved the full house the Met had at the end, and I loved that Oscar referred to the people at the Academy as ghouls and skeletons.  Mrs. Fish has no shame, and I love it!

I really hated what they did to Mr. Fortune.  He didn't try to stop any inappropriateness with Peggy, and she was the one to end it for good.  I hope she finds another journalism job.

Not surprised at the predictable ending.  It was interesting to see Agnes' take on Anderson, why would she want to keep such a negative woman around?

I'm glad Dashiell is gone.  He and his daughter were so overbearing.  They had to whip out "he's still in love with his wife", and not "he's too controlling".

[Atlanta]

2 minutes ago, peridot said:

I hope Bertha drops McAllister as a friend.  I thought he was trying to support them both, but he just told her to come quietly to the Academy! What a weasel.

I loved the full house the Met had at the end, and I loved that Oscar referred to the people at the Academy as ghouls and skeletons.  Mrs. Fish has no shame, and I love it!

I really hated what they did to Mr. Fortune.  He didn't try to stop any inappropriateness with Peggy, and she was the one to end it for good.  I hope she finds another journalism job.

Not surprised at the predictable ending.  It was interesting to see Agnes' take on Anderson, why would she want to keep such a negative woman around?

I'm glad Dashiell is gone.  He and his daughter were so overbearing.  They had to whip out "he's still in love with his wife", and not "he's too controlling".

He would totally be Mrs Danvers to Harriet's Rebecca. LOL

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Bertha giving the hottest tickets in town to her ladies' maid.  Damn.  I don't know if she really likes Mrs. Bruce that much, was genuinely moved by her newfound love of music, or if she just doesn't want a backstabbing repeat of Turner and is trying to get Bruce into her good graces.  I want to believe it was genuine like/respect for Bruce, especially with the little nod from the box.

I honestly just thought Bertha was being kind.  She wasn't sure how the night would go, so might as well plug a potential hole in the audience. 

 

22 minutes ago, peridot said:

It was interesting to see Agnes' take on Anderson, why would she want to keep such a negative woman around?

I think it's for the reasons she noted in an earlier episode.  If she got rid of Anderson, she'd have to train a new maid and she really didn't want to have to do that. 

[RachelKM]

That was delightful. I may have seen every beat happening from episodes back, but it was still fun. 

Good old Reverend Rich Dead Poet was living the life of piety while secretly rich. I love that the show leaned in so hard on the tropiness of it all.

Marian: But doesn't mean we won't have to sell the house, the servants won't lose their jobs, and nothing needs to change?

They literally plucked the note card right off the writers' room board and put the words in Marian's (recently kissed) mouth. 😂

I thought Larian were cute and I bought it.  It could have used more lead up. But from his invitation to The Met all the way to the kiss, is was evident and I enjoyed it.

I admit, though, that Larry offering to go into business with Jack was even more delightful in that it was less expected.

As many did, I loved Mr Borden and the housekeeper going to the opera. 

And Mrs. Fish remains a god damned treasure. She's here to be entertained and she will be.

Things I'm looking forward to for season three (please HBO):

Ada becoming Mrs. Forte, woman of means and influence (at least within her household)

Russell-Trotter Clocks

Larian - complete with Bertha and Agnes as a side show

Things I am not looking forward to:

Galdys as sacrificial Dollar Princess (though the George and Bertha fireworks should be good)

Turnerton and her sourpuss face and ineffectual plots. (seriously, if you're gonna scheme, be better at it. She 0-4 via the Russell household.

[sistermagpie]

44 minutes ago, peridot said:

I hope Bertha drops McAllister as a friend.  I thought he was trying to support them both, but he just told her to come quietly to the Academy! What a weasel.

 

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.

[Marley]

I don’t even care if Gladys is promised to the Duke. Like I am supposed to root for her and some random she had like one convo with? Lol none of these ppl are ever really in love. Like some I’m sure but there is a lot of quick courtships.

George and Bertha are the best and have the best chemistry so I am always rooting for them.

Ada hadn’t looked at the papers and didn’t know she was rich yet. What a shock lol.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Marley

[buttersister]

As predicted.

So let me see if I get the Duke’s deal—a rich American wife (busted aristocrats sought those) at your service (no messy search) and powerful in-laws. Ok. Bring on the daddy/mommy wars. Daddy loves his Gladys, as her dress was nothing spectacular. Like Billy.

[lucindabelle]

Why does everybody assume that Ada will live with Agnes and Marian? She has her own house now, and her own household help what will happen to them? I thought Marian blurting  it out that way  was kind of weird because while Ada would certainly be expected to help them. I don’t see why she would be expected to move back home. Luke being rich was just so expected. It’s kind of like when Lord Grantham lost all his money or his wife’s money in Downton abbey, and then Matthew inherited a fortune from someone who wasn’t even related to him. fellows likes to dangle the possibility of poverty or even SHOCK  middle-class, but he never goes through with it.  It’s disappointing, because while I certainly wouldn’t enjoy watching Agnes be downright poor, or have to live with some unknown relative, the prospect of her being slightly just upper middle-class would have been interesting. As with the Rev. death, they could’ve held this off for a few episodes. At least we could’ve had a few episodes of poverty or at least them thinking they were going to be poor while they tried to sell the house and so on. 

Was I the only one appalled how much dirt those long long trains would be sweeping up? I thought Gladys’s dress looked beautiful, coming down the stairs, but was going to take up like two rows of seats, unless that train was detachable.

[CarpeFelis]

13 minutes ago, lucindabelle said:

Why does everybody assume that Ada will live with Agnes and Marian?

I’m assuming it because it seems most likely Luke’s home was provided by the church and would go to whoever replaces him as pastor. And now that Ada is single again, she would probably want to go back to living with Agnes and Marian. 

Really loved the sudden realization that Ada would be the one in charge now! And here’s hoping she doesn’t allow Oscar any access to her money, even though he’s probably learned his lesson.

I like the Marian/Larry pairing, but it feels way too soon after his affair with that woman in Newport he seemed to have fallen in love with. Also wondering how Agnes would react to Marian getting engaged to him. Will she call that strike 3?
 

[Roseanna]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

And Peggy.  So glad she did the right thing by putting some distance between her and Fortune, but sad that she has to sacrifice her journalism career for it.  

 

2 hours ago, peridot said:

I really hated what they did to Mr. Fortune.  He didn't try to stop any inappropriateness with Peggy, and she was the one to end it for good.  I hope she finds another journalism job.

Giving up journalism is only good to Peggy as she has no need to earn her living. Now she has time to write her novel.

Re: Peggy, Agnes's maid and "not deserving pity": haven't they heard the maxim: "You get pity for free, but you has to deverve envy."

Bertha once again deserved Turner's envy. 

[Roseanna]

30 minutes ago, lucindabelle said:

Why does everybody assume that Ada will live with Agnes and Marian? She has her own house now, and her own household help what will happen to them? I thought Marian blurting  it out that way  was kind of weird because while Ada would certainly be expected to help them. I don’t see why she would be expected to move back home. Luke being rich was just so expected. It’s kind of like when Lord Grantham lost all his money or his wife’s money in Downton abbey, and then Matthew inherited a fortune from someone who wasn’t even related to him. fellows likes to dangle the possibility of poverty or even SHOCK  middle-class, but he never goes through with it.  It’s disappointing, because while I certainly wouldn’t enjoy watching Agnes be downright poor, or have to live with some unknown relative, the prospect of her being slightly just upper middle-class would have been interesting. As with the Rev. death, they could’ve held this off for a few episodes. At least we could’ve had a few episodes of poverty or at least them thinking they were going to be poor while they tried to sell the house and so on. 

I agree. "All is like before" is no good plot in fiction. Characters need real trials in order to develop.  

In addition, it wasn't at all witty as Fellowes thought but disgusting to hear Agnes behave like she had met the worst possible accident in the world - moving to a smaller house and having only two or three servants isn't poverty. Real ladies didn't wallow in self-pity!

And it was really stuoiud of Marian to say that Oscar was unlucky. She herself was unlucky when her purse was stolen in the train station, that is, she didn't cause that to herself even partly. Instead, Oscar lost his mother's fortune by being both incompetent and greedy. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

So excited for S03 for many obvious reasons: 🤗

🔸The next chapter of #Larian, of course. 💋

🔸George will find out that Bertha has promised Gladys away to the old shoe, err I mean the Duke. Bertha/Gladys war will ensue.

🔸The Opera War is now over. Phew!

🔸Bye bye Dashiell & Frances. That’s what happened when you pulled a Ross Geller by mentioning Harriet.

🔸Larry and Jack are going into business together. Please keep Oscar away from this new venture.

🔸Peggy distancing herself from the handsome editor and to work on her first novel.

🔸Step aside Aurora Fane. It’s time for Mr. Charles Fane to shine. ✨✨✨

🔸Aunt Ada is the luckiest person in S02. She found love and wealth. 👍🏻

Quote

ADA: “Things maybe a little different in the future, Agnes. But I’m sure we will work it out.”

 

Aunt Ada embracing her new role as the breadwinner be like…

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[operakatz]

4 hours ago, chaifan said:

Oh, yes, I totally forgot to mention...

Hell yes!  A creepy weirdo kid.  If Marian and Larry get married and pregnant, I could easily see a scene with that kid pushing Marian down a flight of stairs.  All with a creepy smile on her face.

And Peggy.  So glad she did the right thing by putting some distance between her and Fortune, but sad that she has to sacrifice her journalism career for it.  Maybe Ada will also need a secretary and she'll have a full time job at the VR house.  If there's a Season 3 (please let there be a season 3!) they need to pull Peggy back into the main plots.  She was way too separated (dare I say segregated?) this season.

 

 

The actress playing the creepy daughter reminds me SO much of Olivia Barash (who played Sylvia in that infamous Little House on the Prairie clown rape episode)

[LaDuchesse]

Squealed to see replicas of two of my favorite tiaras this episode:

Lauchtenberg Fringe (on Bertha) and Liechtenstein Honeysuckle tiara (on Turner)

 

 

 

[BeatrixK]

7 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Since Ada doesn't have any children, I can see her making Marian the heir to her new fortune. That would be a sweet twist of events.

The penniless Brooks became the wealthy Brooks, and the wealthy Brooks became the penniless Brooks.

AND....doesn't it technically constitute 'Old Money' since his family was, apparently, 'Old money' in Boston.  Or, with the basic collapse of the Academy, does Old Money take a back seat to Bertha 'Muscle with a Bustle' Russell now that we have a broke Duke stealing Gladys away from cute nerdy dude.

Dear HBO...It's Christmas - PLEASE announce season 3...with 10 episodes!

 

 

[BeatrixK]

7 hours ago, Haleth said:

Bertha sold Gladys to the duke? ✔️

Aunt Ada inherited a fortune from her conveniently dead husband of two minutes? ✔️

Marion and Larry become more than friend? ✔️

I love this show but it’s so predictable.

Best part was the Russell servants going to the Met on a date. Sweet. Oh, and of course the fabulous dresses. 

True....but it's oddly comforting in a world of chaos to know Aunt Ada's bullshit mean love story she waited her whoooollllleeee life for at least came with a hella cash prize...and we knew we wouldn't end up seeing Agnes scrubbing floors.

The predictability is welcomed when the stakes are pure soapy and I love it!

 

----------

A very odd detail, and perhaps it's just with Marion's dresses I noticed it....but I noticed they 'reused' one of Marion's dresses from season one. (The navy blue with the little flowes and the sheer bodice and sleeves!   LOVE THAT ONE!)  It's so rare we see characters doing normal people behavior - like wearing clothes again we already wore once...which god forbid Bertha ever does.

 

MAN though....Marion's Met 'cloak'.....UGH.....just....hideous. (BTW - did Marion's met dress sleeves do a weird blurry thing on y'alls screens, too?  I swear her sleeves looked super blurry - I think my hi def was trying to vomit it back up.)

Bring on Larion so that we can see Agnes stress over having to receive 'New Money' on 61st street please! 

 

 

[NeenerNeener]

9 hours ago, Haleth said:

Aunt Ada inherited a fortune from her conveniently dead husband of two minutes? ✔️

Yeah, Fellowes has recycled a deus ex machina from Downton Abbey. 

Ada probably doesn't actually have a house of her own; the place she lived with Luke may have been church property and the next minister will live there, so it makes sense that she move back in with Agnes. Plus, that's where Luke died so she probably never went back to the rectory anyway.

If Ada leaves all her money to Marion, will Bertha be ok with her marrying Larry? The Van Rhijns (and maybe the Brooks) are old money, after all, and Agnes hangs out with Mrs. Astor. That may be the plot for the third season, if there is one.

I like the kid that plays Frances, but I've seen her in other things before so she doesn't creep me out. Most notably, Station Eleven and both seasons of The Santa Clauses.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by NeenerNeener

[chitowngirl]

9 hours ago, Atlanta said:

If Gladys must be a dollar princess, let her and the duke fall in love.

Perhaps a mini Hallmark movie-Gladys can’t stand him and then the clouds are lifted and he’s everything she didn’t know she was looking for.

Edited December 18, 2023 by chitowngirl

[BeatrixK]

So wait a minute....does ADA now own the textile company?

AUNT ADA IS A WOMAN OWNED BUSINESS, Y'ALL!

HBO - You just cannot leave us hanging!!!!  Season 3 announce NOW!

- Will Peggy work for Ada now to help her get her papers in order?

- Will Oscar get redemption by helping Ada invest?  (I can see Ada being all 'I trust you because I am the nicest person on this show and the world needs more Adas anyway.' and giving Oscar a second chance.)

- Now that Ada has money - is she gonna be on all the rich widower's radars and we will get 'Sex and the Gilded Age' - but with finger brushes instead of Beejs?

- I need season 3 because I am too invested in the Bordin/Mrs. Bruce romance and you CAN'T leave me with just a gloved hand kiss at the Opera as the cherry on the sundae to this, HBO - you just can't!!!!!!

- And Turner needs to be continually shown up because she is so very much fun to hate!!!!

HBO DON'T LEAVE US HANGING!!!!!  RENEW!

[Haleth]

The shot of Bertha entering the box facing the stage was beautiful.  Basking in the glory of being the winner.  All hail the new Queen of NYC and Newport!

9 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

That was hilarious. As soon as Ada mentioned all those papers on Luke’s desk that she hadn’t gotten around to reading yet…I knew!

Yup.  Nothing subtle about the writing.  Also when Dashiell called Marion by his dead wife's name.  That was going to seal it with Marion.

<small voice> I thought both Bertha's and Gladys's dresses were gorgeous.  The colors were so rich.  Hadn't we seen Marion's yellow dress before?  For someone so fair she wears yellow a lot.

I can't believe their wouldn't be a new season of the show.  Isn't this a pretty big hit for HBO?

[BeatrixK]

1 minute ago, Haleth said:

The shot of Bertha entering the box facing the stage was beautiful.  Basking in the glory of being the winner.  All hail the new Queen of NYC and Newport!

Yup.  Nothing subtle about the writing.  Also when Dashiell called Marion by his dead wife's name.  That was going to seal it with Marion.

<small voice> I thought both Bertha's and Gladys's dresses were gorgeous.  The colors were so rich.  Hadn't we seen Marion's yellow dress before?  For someone so fair she wears yellow a lot.

I can't believe their wouldn't be a new season of the show.  Isn't this a pretty big hit for HBO?

Yes...but...pricey.  Very, very pricey to make.

I expect the backlog left from the strikes has resulted in bidding wars for CGI and FX people to get projects completed first - and only so many of those folks good enough to go around.  And I'm sure a LOT of those same folks are busy rendering Dragons and Westeros for House of Dragon.

So hopefully the formula of 'can we profit off another season' shows YES.

 

/HBO...y'all done did this to me with Carnivale.  Not again, please...

 

[ofmd]

I had to laugh so hard when the anvils started dropping: "Luke was such a straightforward man leading a straightforward life, but the paperwork keeps stacking up..."

-Oh no! Luke was rich! Ppl were spoiled, I'm telling ya!

This show can be so heavy-handed, it's funny. They don't trust the viewers to predict or just see in subtle (or not-so-subtle) developments that power dynamics are changing, no, they have the butler spell it out the first minute he gets a chance.

Speaking of heavy-handed: "American society has been re-invented tonight!" *eyeroll* Yes, we get it, Mr Fellowes. Otherwise, Mrs Fish needs her own show.

Also, Faust and The Duke, or should I say, Bertha? Seriously, my eyes might be permanently stuck in the back of my head. So Bertha has sold Gladys in exchange for woirld dominance (well, NY dominance), so to speak.

Good for Harriet, I mean Marian, that she was honest with Dashiell and stood her grounds. No more pretending, dramatic public displays or leaving-in-front-of-the-altar.

For all the accuracy and care they put into the historical costumes, I wish they'd be equally as careful with the way people speak. "It's time I took control of my life" strikes me as anachronistic, one of many instances with this show. And also the way they would conduct themselves. Kissing at the front door with everyone to see? (Larry did that with his first lover, too.) Heck, I'm not even sure their innocent, frequent one-on-one meetings in the street wouldn't have gotten the rumor mill going.

Oh, now Mr Fortune is concerned about Peggy's voice and career. Maybe sleazebag should have kept it professional then, so she could still have both both.

I'd like to have seen more of poor Oscar. I think the greedy idiot will be ok though, what with Ada's new rule.

Edited December 18, 2023 by ofmd

[Hana Chan]

Looks like I get to be the contrarian here because I found this episode yawningly predictable. The end of the opera wars was a given since we know historically that the Academy limped along for a bit after the Met opened, but didn't last too much longer. It was a given that Bertha was going to win this battle against Mrs. Astor so no surprises there.

And we had tropes galore this week. Of course Luke would be leaving his widow of 15 minutes enough fortune to make up for what idiot Oscar lost. And of course Dashiell would make the idiot error, proving to everyone that he's not ready to marry Marion (as he's still mourning his wife). Was anyone doubting that Bertha would be pimping out her daughter to the Duke? And out of nowhere, we get Marion and Larry as a couple, with almost no build up beyond the occasional conversation on the sidewalk. 

I enjoy this show, but my biggest issue is that the Russels are always coming out on top, without much in the way of real challenges. Bertha bullies her way through life and everyone around her falls into line. Russell is a tyrant in the business world and never seems to put a foot wrong. I need to see them have some real conflicts where they have some risk of losing what is most important to them because right now, I find their stories rather tiresome. 

As for the change in fortune at the Van Rhijn household, I don't see Ada lording over her sister now that she wears the financial pants in the family. Agnes might have been imperious in how she treated everyone in her household (and seeing her knocked down a peg can be some interesting character development), but it wasn't as if she lost the fortune due to something she did beyond not seeing that her son was a moron. And she did suffer through a miserable marriage in order to save herself and her sister after their brother ruined them financially. Ada is too kind to let Agnes feel slighted and I would like to see them emerge as the old lady power couple of NYC.

In all honesty, give how privileged these characters are, it's sometimes ridiculous how the show wants us to root for one set of appallingly wealthy characters against another set of appallingly wealthy characters. The Russells might be cute in how they love one another but they are awful people. George will financially crush anyone who gets in his way, and Bertha will stop at nothing to climb to the top of the social pecking order. But on the other side you have characters like Mrs. Astor and Agnes who are just the worst snobs because they only respect family connections and how far back you can trace the fortune that you inherited. The past seasons have had the old money crowd suffer some pretty humiliating defeats, but it's past time for the Russells to start really running into headwinds.

[ofmd]

11 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

Kudos to whoever called Luke having money put aside for Ada and the day is saved.

Yes!

11 hours ago, AntFTW said:

How convenient that Luke Forte is wealthy. yay, happy ending... 🙄

 

Well, except for Rev Dead Poets...

11 hours ago, Atlanta said:

So what is Oscar to do now? If there's a season three, he can go on a mission to find Maud.

I'd much rather he got some character development, found a way to be happy (as much as possible within his day and age) without deceiving others or striving to become super rich. And learned on the professional front I guess. I'd still like to see a lavender marriage explored but suspect JF just isn't really interested in that kind of story.

10 hours ago, Bumblebee84047 said:

I want this to happen just because it will give us some amazing scenes with Carrie C oon and Christine Baranski.

And also, Baranski needs to be more at the center of the stories (which, for this show, is Bertha and the opera plot, and whatever will replace that storyline). I think she's wasted just sitting in her parlor, not aware what is happening under her nose, and just commenting from the sidelines.

10 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

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.

I agree about Luke. But for the show, he was just a means to an end (Ada getting rich).

Yup. I wish they'd elevate Mrs Fish to regular!

10 hours ago, chaifan said:

I wouldn't mind it if next season they ditch the Astor's.  I'm a bit bored of Lina vs. Bertha, and we've seen enough of it.

Yes, and I'd rather see Agnes as Bertha's opponent. Hard to do with her loss of power now, though.

10 hours ago, Pop Tart said:

It was me, or I was one who did.

 

Kudos! I saw it and thought, yup, sounds about right!

7 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I like the Marian/Larry pairing, but it feels way too soon after his affair with that woman in Newport he seemed to have fallen in love with. Also wondering how Agnes would react to Marian getting engaged to him. Will she call that strike 3?

 

Yes. According to half this board, Larry was muchk, much too immature for a serious relationship a hot minute ago, to the point that his mother ending it for him was perfectly reasonable. I guess he's grown up in record time.

Other than the pacing, I'm fine with those two sweet, pretty, bland kids getting together. And I assume Larry will make his own fortune now with the clock stuff, so he'll be independent.

7 hours ago, Roseanna said:

Giving up journalism is only good to Peggy as she has no need to earn her living. Now she has time to write her novel.

 

Some people actually love their jobs, including women. Particularly with journalism, where even today, many folks work for a pittance because it's their dream job and they believe they can make a difference.

That said, I also put some hopes in her novel, and I like that she will hopefully remain closer to the other storylines with her secretary job, assuming she will keep it.

Edited December 18, 2023 by ofmd