Julian Fellowes’s The Gilded Age is a spiritual successor to Downton Abbey but lacks the crucial sense of fun that crackled through his “big house” blockbuster. The reason for this has to do almost entirely with location. Downton was set among the preening toffs of the English countryside, while this sequel-of-sorts unfolds against the backdrop of Gilded Age United States, a realm of robber barons and racism.
The robber barons are still with us, only nowadays they build digital highways rather than railroads. The racism is still here, too. Which is perhaps why The Gilded Age, now back for a third season (Sky Atlantic, 9pm), feels both underwhelming and also slightly in denial about the cultural forces underpinning its tale of feuding millionaires.
There is, inevitably, an Irish character, scullery maid Bridget. She is played by American actress Taylor Richardson in vaguely authentic fashion, even if she seems to have based her accent on pop star CMAT (I constantly expected her to whip out a guitar and a Dolly Parton hat).
Elsewhere, the show touches upon issues such as America’s perpetual racial schisms yet never has the courage to dig under the skin of the subject. For instance, when aspiring author Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) falls ill, and a doctor refuses to attend to her because she is black, it is treated as a quirk of the plot rather than anything more pernicious.
‘Love you all, it’s been a privilege’: Joe Duffy presents last Liveline as he retires from RTÉ
Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman excel at jaded on-air grumbling
The Bear review: The restaurant needs a recipe for success if it is to survive, both on screen and in reality
Natasha review: Moving insight into brutal personal experience that became a national lightning rod
Another issue is that, while Fellowes grew up among Britain’s privileged nobility, his grasp of blue-blood, turn-of-the-century New York feels less assured. As the new series begins, several plot lines resolve around forbidden love and young couples eager to cast off the shackles of high society and marry for romance rather than status. But there are so many of these characters it’s hard to keep track of them all. Would one smitten pairing not have sufficed in order for Fellowes to make his point about the stifling quality of upper-crust United States of the time?
Season two ended with Ada (Cynthia Nixon) usurping her older sister Agnes (Christine Baranski) as matriarch of the Dutch-Pennsylvanian van Rhijn family. That means change – with the doors of their Manhattan brownstone now thrown open for the use of the local temperance association (the furious Agnes looks like she could do with a drink to calm down).
The other big storyline revolves around Carrie Coon’s Bertha Russell trying to arrange for a suitable marriage for her daughter Gladys (railway tycoon husband George being out west, claiming a new fortune). Awkwardly, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) already has found love in Billy Carlton (Matt Walker) and isn’t much impressed by her mother’s attempts to interfere.
So far, so Downton. However, New York isn’t the English countryside, and the inherent comedic qualities of Britain’s aristocratic class are sadly absent. Lacking that charm and also the sense of an old order marching towards the twilight, The Gilded Age is nothing more than a dour show about snobbish New Yorkers. It is very pretty but peel back the layers, and it quickly loses its shine.
The Gilded Age (Season 3) is on Sky Atlantic, Mondays, 9pm
