The true Gilded Age in American historical past was a time of rampant political corruption, flagrant consolidation of wealth, and grotesque racism. Miserable, proper? Let’s discuss as a substitute about The Gilded Age, Julian Fellowes’ opulent interval drama that includes luxurious costumes, swoony romance, and an all-star solid that clearly delights in bringing this lavish cleaning soap to life. Within the upcoming third season, Fellowes and his crew proceed to focus largely on the fantastic thing about the titular period moderately than its uglier realities. However the brand new episodes of HBO's Gilded Age lastly ship tales for its Black characters which are as sturdy as these for his or her white counterparts — and the result’s the present's most satisfying and entertaining outing but.

Although the season 2 finale aired almost a year-and-a-half in the past, the brand new episodes choose up just some months later. Kindhearted Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) and her rich beau Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) are courting in secret, resulting from Miss Brook’s current failed engagement to a different man. Marian’s aunt Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) is normally fast to disapprove of her niece’s romances, however the stately socialite is just too busy adjusting to her new penniless actuality — and the truth that her widowed sister, Ada Forte (Cynthia Nixon), now holds the purse strings.

Over on the mansion throughout the road, Larry’s youthful sister, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), is sneaking round together with her milquetoast suitor, Billy Carlton (Matt Walker), although she is aware of her mom — the formidable Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) — desires to marry her off to the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb). Whereas Bertha’s husband George (Morgan Spector) opposes pushing his daughter into a wedding she doesn’t need, he stays extra centered on his work buying the land and cash wanted to construct a cross-country railroad line. As for the downstairs crew, the Van Rhijn’s footman, Jack Trotter (Ben Ahlers), waits anxiously as Larry Russell begins searching for a purchaser for his patented alarm clock design. In the meantime, the Russells' butler, Mr. Church (Jack Gilpin), and his workers search to ferret out a spy who’s been leaking particulars in regards to the household’s non-public life to the press.

For the primary two seasons, the one Black character to have any interplay with the Fifth Avenue crowd was Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), the Brooklyn-based reporter and aspiring author who additionally works as Agnes’ private secretary. Although Peggy and her household — together with her mom, Dorothy (Audra McDonald) and her pharmacist father, Arthur (John Douglas Thompson) — had their very own storylines, the present by no means actually delved into the world of the well-to-do Black elite who existed at the moment.

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With season 3, Fellowes and his co-writer, Sonja Warfield, appropriate this by extending its focus to the concentric social circles of Black and white New Yorkers — and at instances even letting them shift and intersect. Theater lovers might be thrilled to study that Gilded does, in the end, discover a strategy to have McDonald’s Dorothy and Baranski’s Agnes share some scenes — underneath circumstances I gained’t spoil. Extra importantly, the brand new season takes us inside Black excessive society. Peggy meets a good-looking younger physician named William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), and far of their courtship takes place in Newport, R.I., the place his prosperous dad and mom, Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad) and Frederick (Brian Stokes Mitchell), reside year-round.

The Gilded Age is equal elements historical past and fantasy, so it’d be unfair to count on a completely sensible depiction of the racism Peggy and firm would truly face. Nonetheless, this season Fellowes permits the characters to have their most pointed conversations about race to this point. Agnes informs the Scotts that she was introduced as much as deal with everybody with “easy good manners,” prompting Arthur to reply, “I’m not satisfied good manners will show an efficient remedy for 2 and a half centuries of slavery.” Peggy and her household even encounter bias inside their very own neighborhood — particularly from Elizabeth, who disapproves of the Scott household resulting from their darker pores and skin and Arthur’s previous as a slave.

As at all times, Fellowes and Warfield steadiness the social problems with the time with home drama. Including to Agnes’ umbrage about dropping her fortune is Ada’s choice to become involved within the burgeoning temperance motion, which she sees as a strategy to honor her late husband. A well known Fifth Avenue spouse is blindsided when her husband broadcasts he desires a divorce, which is able to depart her exiled from New York society — as per the principles established by the town’s social arbiter, Lena Astor (Donna Murphy). This gross imbalance of energy between women and men is what drives Bertha to push Gladys into marriage with the Duke, as a result of she understands the grim truth {that a} lady’s worth is inexorably tied to the person at her aspect. Nonetheless, her unwillingness to take her daughter’s emotions under consideration — in addition to a disaster in George’s enterprise dealings — begins to place a pressure on the Russells' marriage.

The performances stay stellar. Baranski reigns over each one in all her scenes as Agnes, who wields her inflections as a grasp artist wields her brush. (“I’ll spend the remainder of my days with society’s cast-offs, and girls of ill-repute!”) Nixon brings a delicate power to Ada, and Coon is haughty perfection as Bertha. Not solely can we get the fun of seeing Baranski and McDonald on display collectively, however the latter’s Dorothy additionally has a gripping face-off with Rashad’s Elizabeth. (What a time to be alive!)

As soon as once more, the visitor solid is excellent: Invoice Camp, sporting a powerful handlebar mustache, is gloriously gruff as Wall Road energy dealer J.P. Morgan, who joins George in his railroad scheme. Andrea Martin is suitably theatrical as Madame Dashkova, a so-called medium, and LisaGay Hamilton makes a welcome look as suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who recruits Peggy to her trigger. Merritt Wever arrives as Bertha’s sister, Monica, who’s as grounded and unfussy as Mrs. Russell is grand. (Apologies to the various, many different actors on this huge ensemble; you're all due particular person accolades, however this overview is already operating lengthy.)

The season’s solely misstep comes within the finale, when the rising pressure between George and Bertha builds to a climax that’s considerably confounding and — on this viewer’s opinion — out of character for George. The revelation feels significantly tacked on in an episode that’s in any other case stuffed with glamour (two balls!), a romantic proposal, and hard-fought social victories. Nevertheless it’s a small quibble, and after three more and more satisfying seasons, maybe it’s finest to belief that Fellowes and Warfield know what they’re doing. As Bertha says to her disapproving husband, “I gained’t query your enterprise for those who don't query mine.” Grade: A-

The Gilded Age season 3 premieres Sunday, June 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, on HBO.

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