Is anyone watching? The acting is so hit or miss and the dialogue is pretty stilted, but I can't look away.
So if anyone else is watching, can someone please explain to me what on earth was going on with the financial thing in last night's episode that would bankrupt all the aldermen? I was trying to figure out if it was like Trading Places but couldn't figure it out. Please help.
Also, I was fully anticipating the scandal around Mrs. Chamberlain being something really terrible but the fact that it's just a child out of wedlock and she married the guy? That's what has all those women in a twist?
I am not caught up either. In the last episode that we watched, there was inside trading with the Aldermen. They were buying something (did not catch what it was, stocks maybe?) on speculation. This would go up if they passed a certain law, but if they law didn't pass then they lost their money. The law was something that benefitted the Russell business. Was it something allowing the train station to be built?
I am not caught up either. In the last episode that we watched, there was inside trading with the Aldermen. They were buying something (did not catch what it was, stocks maybe?) on speculation. This would go up if they passed a certain law, but if they law didn't pass then they lost their money. The law was something that benefitted the Russell business. Was it something allowing the train station to be built?
That part I followed. The aldermen bought stock in his company, then passed the law to build the station and the stock went up so they made money.
But things go sideways this week (don't want to spoil it) and I got thoroughly confused about what happened and why.
I'm with you, @princessbubbleyum, I followed it at first but then was confused.
I am not exactly enjoying the show but I love the visuals. I don't know if I like Mrs. Russell because of her attitude or because of the actress's voice.
I'm with you, @princessbubbleyum , I followed it at first but then was confused.
I am not exactly enjoying the show but I love the visuals. I don't know if I like Mrs. Russell because of her attitude or because of the actress's voice.
I feel the same. She's in the new Ghostbusters and her voice is different, so I think she's doing some kind of different voice that's deeper for this.
Also, Cynthia Nixon is a spinster, but why does she talk like she is ditzy? Is that on purpose? I don't get the voice choices these actors are making.
I'm with you, @princessbubbleyum , I followed it at first but then was confused.
I am not exactly enjoying the show but I love the visuals. I don't know if I like Mrs. Russell because of her attitude or because of the actress's voice.
I feel the same. She's in the new Ghostbusters and her voice is different, so I think she's doing some kind of different voice that's deeper for this.
Also, Cynthia Nixon is a spinster, but why does she talk like she is ditzy? Is that on purpose? I don't get the voice choices these actors are making.
I thought her voice was different to show that she was different as in not fitting in with the old money social circle. But I didn't realize that she was doing the voice on purpose.
Also, I agree Cynthia Nixon has a different voice and likely to show the difference between Sex and the City. And it does seem weird, but I was thinking maybe to show that she doesn't really have power, so she doesn't have a voice of great authority. Maybe I am thinking too much into this- ha ha.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Feb 8, 2022 12:09:34 GMT -5
I’m watching !
I missed yesterday’s episode but I agree, the acting is hit or miss and the writing is a mix of Downton Abbey w New York. Not surprised as Julian Fellowes is behind both series.
I got into The Gilded Age after watching Million Dollar American Princesses on the Smithsonian Channel at the suggestion of a friend.
For the stock thing : the alderman has to pass a law (zoning law? I don’t know) to allow the train station to be built. Russell convinced them to do it by giving them insider trading info so they bought a ton of stock before they passed the law and made a big profit when the law passed, then they shorted on the assumption the stock prices would tank when the law was repealed. Instead Russell started buying all the other shares himself thus driving it higher so they lost their “bet” that the stock price would go down.
Oh, so the Aldermen bought the stock when it was low, changed the law and the price rose but then they didn't get to a chance to sell before Mr. R started buying stock and keeping the price artificially high? But then, how would they lose everything? Couldn't they just...keep the stocks like normal rich folks?
Thinking about it more, I guess if they took loans out to buy the original stock and then couldn't pay back the loans because they couldn't sell the stock then they'd be in trouble?
For the stock thing : the alderman has to pass a law (zoning law? I don’t know) to allow the train station to be built. Russell convinced them to do it by giving them insider trading info so they bought a ton of stock before they passed the law and made a big profit when the law passed, then they shorted on the assumption the stock prices would tank when the law was repealed. Instead Russell started buying all the other shares himself thus driving it higher so they lost their “bet” that the stock price would go down.
Ok so they did two different things.
1) They bought low, passed the law and made money.
2) Then they shorted assuming it would tank but he prevented it from doing it. And since Mr. Morris went all in, that's how it wiped him out.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
I love the costumes and all, but I can't help but feel sad because that age was comprised of the "haves" and "have nots". There was no middle class and most have nots lived in abject poverty and in appalling living conditions.
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny
I have not watched this week's episode, but a few general thoughts:
- Cynthia Nixon's manner of speaking is so forced in this that it is impossible to discern whether the acting is in anyway decent. It's really distracting.
- Christine Baranski is always the perfect snob and I love her for it.
- The "downstairs" dialogue and characters are too Downton Abbey for me. C'mon JF, think outside the box a bit.
Despite my complaints, I am still enjoying it. Gotta love a show where the biggest dramas include which ballroom will host a charity fundraiser and who will attend which dinner party.
I have not watched this week's episode, but a few general thoughts:
- Cynthia Nixon's manner of speaking is so forced in this that it is impossible to discern whether the acting is in anyway decent. It's really distracting.
- Christine Baranski is always the perfect snob and I love her for it.
- The "downstairs" dialogue and characters are too Downton Abbey for me. C'mon JF, think outside the box a bit.
Despite my complaints, I am still enjoying it. Gotta love a show where the biggest dramas include which ballroom will host a charity fundraiser and who will attend which dinner party.
The opera house drama is real though. There is a historical fiction novel called The Social Graces that covers it - and a lot of the climate covered so far in the Gilded Age.
ETA: FWIW, I didn't love the book for a lot of the reasons I'm not totally loving the show so far. It's a lot like, THIS is your problem? But at the same time, women's lives were so limited. Like, once she was involved in the suffrage movement, Alva Vanderbilt didn't care as much about balls.
Post by basilosaurus on Feb 8, 2022 17:04:10 GMT -5
I'm having a hard time getting into it. I love the costumes and Christine Baranski, though.
I could tell the niece was Meryl Streep's daughter just because she sounds so much like her older sister. That's distracting, too, though not as much as Cynthia Nixon's oddly girly voice. She played a women with dissociative personality disorder on SVU and used all kinds of voices. It was pretty brilliant. So I have to think this is intentional.
I've never seen Mrs Russell in anything else, but her voice sounds so familiar. I can't place who she reminds me of.
The new/old money is already tiresome. Move it along, Fellowes.
I'm having a hard time getting into it. I love the costumes and Christine Baranski, though.
I could tell the niece was Meryl Streep's daughter just because she sounds so much like her older sister. That's distracting, too, though not as much as Cynthia Nixon's oddly girly voice. She played a women with dissociative personality disorder on SVU and used all kinds of voices. It was pretty brilliant. So I have to think this is intentional.
I've never seen Mrs Russell in anything else, but her voice sounds so familiar. I can't place who she reminds me of.
The new/old money is already tiresome. Move it along, Fellowes.
When I first heard Mrs Russel’s voice I knew I knew the actress from something else, I had to look her up, she played Nora in The Leftovers. I’m enjoying the series so far. I love the fashion and I’m rooting for Bertha!
I'm having a hard time getting into it. I love the costumes and Christine Baranski, though.
I could tell the niece was Meryl Streep's daughter just because she sounds so much like her older sister. That's distracting, too, though not as much as Cynthia Nixon's oddly girly voice. She played a women with dissociative personality disorder on SVU and used all kinds of voices. It was pretty brilliant. So I have to think this is intentional.
I've never seen Mrs Russell in anything else, but her voice sounds so familiar. I can't place who she reminds me of.
The new/old money is already tiresome. Move it along, Fellowes.
When I first heard Mrs Russel’s voice I knew I knew the actress from something else, I had to look her up, she played Nora in The Leftovers. I’m enjoying the series so far. I love the fashion and I’m rooting for Bertha!
Post by penguingrrl on Feb 8, 2022 19:16:39 GMT -5
I wanted to love it but am not impressed so far. The story is fine, but the writing is awful, the acting is stilted and some of the costumes are so painfully inaccurate that I can’t get past them.