The Gilded Age S01E06 is the sixth episode of a historical drama television series created by Julian Fellowes for HBO that is set in the United States during the Gilded Age, the boom years of 1880s New York City. Fellowes is, of course, best known for creating critically acclaimed and popular period dramas like the Gosford Park film and Downtown Abbey TV series.
Entitled “Heads Have Rolled For Less”, The Gilded Age S01E06 contrasts serious threats to robber baron George Russell’s railway business with his wife Bertha’s gains in the bid to break into the upper echelons of New York’s social class. This episode finally introduces a certain friction between the Russells with respect to the importance of social climbing vis-a-vis life’s realities.
The Gilded Age S01E06 demonstrates Bertha’s ruthlessness with respect to her ambitions – she will be accepted by New York’s high society, whatever the cost. This of course will rub her neighbour Agnes Van Rhijn the wrong way completely as she clings on to her unwarranted and illogical prejudices. As previously highlighted, this attitude is difficult to appreciate in these contemporary times and the folks behind the series need to tread lightly on this.
Apart from Bertha’s strident march towards social acceptance, nothing much else happens in The Gilded Age S01E06, though the Russell siblings indicate a certain resistance to what their parents have in store for them – a generation gap that will no doubt be explored further in the episodes to come. Again, there seems to be some difficulty in getting any joy in respect of character growth as the ensemble of characters seem pretty much stuck with their lot but that may be emblematic of the 19th century as a whole!
One imagines that the series will continue to build on these various plot threads. Still intriguing. Recommended.
READ OUR REVIEWS OF THE GILDED AGE.
Now streaming on HBO Max.
… still there’s more …