S02.E07: Wonders Never Cease - The Gilded Age

May 2024 ยท 3 minute read

1. Wow, Luke was killed off incredibly quickly, wasn't he? I figured he was going to make it until at least the season finale, but I guess this gives us an episode to have Ada get a chance to read his will.

2. Let me get this straight: Agnes has made it quite clear for two seasons now that she doesn't have all that much respect for her son, and yet I'm supposed to believe that she's allowed Oscar to handle all of her money?  And, also, that Oscar's ability to access/handle the family money has never come up before? Like, if he's had access to it all along, why wasn't he siphoning from her accounts last season? And, also, that Oscar, as a banker, wouldn't have tried to ask around before making that investment - especially given that he absolutely has the social contacts to do so?  I mean, sure, yes, everyone in his social circle just accepted Maud Beaton without asking too many questions, but this is the same social circle that also just accepted Mrs. Russell's former maid into their inner circle - someone Oscar knows did not exactly enjoy a high social standing just last season. That is, pretty recently, strongly suggesting that no one in New York society is exactly going out of their way to vet anyone. (Which makes Mrs. Russell's struggle last season to get socially accepted even less plausible, but I digress.)

And sure, bankers make mistakes all the time. But Oscar was introduced to us as someone who deliberately spies on his neighbors for financial advantage, and tries to learn things to achieve his goals. This felt out of character.

3. I've been asking this for two seasons now and I will continue asking: why does John Adams continue to be friends with Oscar? John Adams, my dude, I realize that dating men during this era was tricky, to say the least, but still. Have better standards for yourself. 

4. Calling it now, without any advance spoilers: next episode, Marian realizes that she can't marry Cousin Dashiell because she doesn't love him, only to realize in the very next scene or two that she has to marry Cousin Dashiell because otherwise Agnes, Ada, Oscar and the various servants, with the exception of Clock Guy, won't have anywhere to live which is just awful, only to realize that she just can't, only to be saved at the last minute by Ada's inheritance from Rev Dead Poets. (Whoever came up with that name, thank you.) Lingering shots will suggest a future relationship between Marian and Larry.

5. Go, clock guy, go! Win that patent next episode!

 

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