#julian fellows

[straydog733]

I just need to share with you one of the stupidest writing choices I've seen in a long time.

(Spoilers for The Gilded Age S2 Premiere)

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So The Gilded Age is not a good show, but it's a not-good show that I'm going to watch every second of. It's by the guy who made Downton Abbey, leaning into all his worst habits, and it's trash in incredibly tacky outfits. But anyway, in Season 1, they have this character named Peggy. She's a young woman, from a Black Elite family in New York, ambitions to be a journalist, but also some mysterious secret that she's keeping all season. It's eventually dribbled out that she had a baby who died at birth, but when someone tries to blackmail her for her scandalous past, turns out she was married at the time (to a lower class man her father didn't approve of, but married nonetheless), so she can be pitied, not scorned. After the baby died, her father paid her husband to fuck off and annul the marriage. This was a few years ago, and Peggy has been trying to find the midwife who delivered her stillborn, to talk to her and get a bit of closure.

PSYCH, BABY'S ALIVE! Her father paid the midwife (what must have been an absurd amount of money) to kidnap his grandson, foist him off to another family, and tell Peggy her baby died. The first season ends with her and her mother heading off on an adventure to find and reunite with her boy.

So this plot was very unpopular and got the show a lot of criticism. It was boring, it was a scandal with all the scandal removed, it was a retread of a Downton plot, and it took Peggy away from the actually interesting stuff about New York black high society and black journalism at the turn of the century. So how best to respond to these criticisms in the premiere of Season 2?

PSYCH, BABY'S DEAD AGAIN! We start the season after a time skip, in which time Peggy has managed to track down her three year old son, gotten in contact with his family, and almost reunited with him...only to learn he died of scarlet fever six months ago. The season starts with them having learned this a bit ago and already in mourning, because the show creator refuses to put anything interesting on screen, and by the end of the episode she is determined to leave her parents' home again and basically return to her non-baby Season 1 plot. 

And I just can't get over the fact that they double-killed her baby. I get wanting to write out this stupid plot, but there are ways to do it that don't feel like a shaggy dog story and bury a vibrant character in mourning for the season premiere! 

Andrea and I have been plotting alternatives, and it would have been SO easy: have her meet the kid, realize he's a happy toddler with a loving family, and that she doesn't want to tear him away from that to be a single mother (which a character on Downton did twice with the same baby, so you'd even be attoning for a previous sin!). "Oh my darling son, I am glad to know you, and I will make you proud of your mother's accomplishments as I take the publishing world by storm!" Then you never have to show the kid again, can throw in a line every now and then about her visiting, and she can still do her fun plotline! Boom, fixed it!

It is all just brain-bendingly stupid and I needed to ramble and share the joy. And as a reward for getting to the end, have a ridiculous costume photo of an unrelated character:

[plainselfraisingflour]

S4e4 downton abbey: when Jack Ross meets Rose, she gets swept away by her rude and racist relatives - and Jack starts singing 'A Rose by any other name....' and gives her the cutest wave ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍😍😍😍✨️✨️✨️💛💛💛💛💛💛💛❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[rainsofcamelot]

OK I WON'T THROW HANDS WITH JULIAN FELLOWES- LARIAN NATION HOW ARE WE FEELING

[the-real-lordrisley]

Thomas Barrow fans finding out that he is in fact going to be in the third film (instantly made me 10x more excited)

[t0yearnf0r]

Again watching downton abbey and I hope I’m not the only one who thinks Mrs Hughes has like a kind of motherly relationship with Thomas?? She’s kind of strict sometimes, but she never seems to *hate* him. I think that’s quite nice to be honest.

[bleulone]

HARRY RICHARDSON as LARRY RUSSELL in THE GILDED AGE (2022—)

[junodarling]

In case you didn’t know, Thomas Barrow and Jimmy Kent set fire to Downton Abbey and ran away together and everyone at Downton died and Thomas and Jimmy lived happily ever after

I will never finish your series, sir

[hondacivicbrain]

all I want is for Oscar and Maud to get gay married and live in blissful gay/lesbian solidarity forever

[boardchairman-blog]

**Shots of the Episode**

The Gilded Age (2022)

Season 2, Episode 4: “His Grace the Duke” (2023) Director: Deborah Kampmeier Cinematographer: Manuel Billeter

[doyouknowthismusical]

[vox-anglosphere]

Downton Abbey's grandest dame

Perfectly cast, Maggie Smith stole every scene as the matriarch of Downton Abbey in this beloved, long-running, TV period drama.

[bridgertonfan12]

They would be so cute together though come on! We all want some upstairs/ downstairs love story.

[rainsofcamelot]

i joke about julian fellowes too much but i am actually SCARED of that man. like, I CANNOT trust him. he will make you the happiest person on this earth and then shatter you by killing your favorite character. when i tell you i am praying for larry not to be randomly killed in a carriage accident in the s3 finale 😭😭

[julyzaa]

Spoilers for those who haven't seen the summaries for the next episodes of The Gilded Age

[rhaella-rhavelli]

She heard the rustle of clothes behind her, a soft thwump as heavy fabric dropped onto the wooden floor, and then more fabric rustling. She bit back a smile and took her time smoothing out the dress before turning back to him.

Rhaella never would have thought it was possible to be so amused and so aroused all at once.

A stunning commission by the talented @ladywarlock03 to go with Julian’s Book XIX - The Sun, Chapter 1 paid scene rewrite by the amazing @lunastarhawk. 💕

[oscarwetnwilde]

"Shut up, Mabel! There is nothing going on between me and Isobel."

From the shooting script of Gosford Park by Julian Fellowes.