History Series / TheGildedAge

** In season 2, [[spoiler:Watson, George's valet, is implied be one. His definitely upper class daughter Flora [=McNeill=] has not seen him in many years and had been told by her mother that her father had gone down in the world since her birth, but never expected him to end up as a servant. Watson might not even be his real name, since he when introduces himself to Flora in season 1 it was with the name of Collyer.]]

* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: The first season presents Marian with two possible suitors, Larry Russell, the son of the wealthy family across the street, and Tom Raikes, a country lawyer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who handled her late father's estate. By the season finale, [[spoiler:Raikes dumps her for his own rich suitor Cissie Bingham, and Russell is still just a friend]].

* CompetingWithACorpse: Marian deduces this is the case when [[spoiler:Dashiell mentions the name of his late wife instead of her own while discussing marriage. Since she herself was wrestling with feeling true love for Dashiell, the fact he wasn't exactly loving her for her but as a ReplacementGoldfish led her to call off the wedding.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Bertha hits Mrs. Morris with a coldly polite one in Episode 3, when Mrs. Morris asks her to [[spoiler: tell her husband to take mercy on the aldermen.]] She pointedly asks what exact aspect of Mrs. Morris's conduct towards her (such as the dramatic bazaar snub in Episode 2) makes her believe she could reasonably ask Bertha for ''anything''.
-->'''Bertha:''' You come into my house, you make this strange request, and I'm trying to establish why. Do you feel I owe a debt of gratitude? Have you granted me a favor that merits return?...Mrs. Morris, I hesitate to teach the basics, but life is like a bank account. You cannot write a check without first making a deposit.
** Marian gives one to [[spoiler: Tom Raikes, when he pulls out of their plans to elope at the last minute because he can't give up the New York social life he has been exposed to in his pursuit of her.]]

** Carrie Astor might be the daughter of the ''de facto'' queen of New York, but she's a very friendly and sweet girl who has no issue at all befriending Gladys Russell, who is considered beneath her station.

* PetTheDog: Agnes is extremely conservative in her views about society, particularly about new versus old money. However, she also supports the Black community, donating to a Black college and employing Peggy as a secretary, which raises eyebrows even among her own staff. She also sympathizes with Peggy about [[spoiler:the loss of her child and the forced annulment of her marriage, having lost a child of her own and suffered through an unhappy marriage]].

** Ties with Bridgerton for the most gloves worn in any series in the 21st Century.

* PimpedOutDress: There is hardly a time, formal or informal, that any of New York's high society ladies aren't completely dressed to the nines. This is particularly true of the NouveauRiche women, who use their fashion as part of their ConspicuousConsumption.

* OnlyOneName: Bertha Russell's lady's maid Turner, is referred to only by her surname throughout the first season. [[spoiler:Even when in Season 2 she returns married to Joshua Winterton, other characters only say things like "Turner is now Mrs Winterton" until the third episode she appears in, where we finally learn her first name is Enid]].

** Agnes embarrassment in "Heads Have Rolled for Less" stems from actions she set in motion some episodes prior. [[spoiler:Her move to block Bertha entry into the van Rhijn house is to have Bannister retrieve Ada's lost dog, Pumpkin. This allows Bannister to be offered a tour of the house by Mr. Church, where Bannister looks down on nearly all aspects of Church's American-style of setting a table. When Bertha later needs to impress Mr. [=McAllister=] with an English-style luncheon, her housekeeper brings to her attention Bannister's ability, which brings him back into the house to at first educate Church on the setting, and when Bertha offers him $100, he agrees to run the luncheon. Angered at this disrespect, Church responds with sending a letter to Agnes at the time of the luncheon, knowing it would infuriate her and get Bannister in hot water. Agnes lets her emotions control her and she lashes out by storming across the street, but in the process nearly embarrasses herself with her actions in front of Mr. [=McAllister=]]].

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Knowing Agnes would never forgive her hand being forced on a matter, Marian and Ada leave Agnes completely unaware of Marian's [[spoiler: near elopement with Tom Raikes]].

* RightForTheWrongReasons: When Agnes believes that [[spoiler:her son Oscar is having an affair with Miss Turner, Lady's Maid to Mrs. Russell. she wants Turner sacked for this inappropriate action and sends Marian to be her messenger claiming that Miss Turner acted inappropriately towards a person above her station. While Mrs. Russell suspects that Agnes and Marian are talking about Oscar she doesn't intend to do anything until she sees Turner interacting with her son in a seemingly flirtatious manner and it unsettles her enough that she changes her mind. The truth of the matter is while Oscar and she weren't lovers, she is betraying the Russell family by telling Oscar intimate details in his plot to win Gladys' hand and previously tried to seduce George Russell but was turned down hard when she offered herself to him. So her firing is completely justifiable, just not on the evidence Agnes and Mrs. Russell have]].

** Ties with Bridgerton for the most gloves worn in any series in the 21st Century. HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: John Adams IV, [[spoiler:Oscar's lover]] is stated to be the great-grandson of President John Quincy Adams, and consequently the great-great-grandson of President and Revolutionary UsefulNotes/JohnAdams. This is actually moderately realistic; while the character is fictional, the Adamses were historically quite prolific, and prominently so,[[note]]Adamses were prominent in the federal government into the 1920s and in industry into the 1960s[[/note]] and the existence of a New York branch of the family in the 1880s is plausible.

* HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: John Adams IV, [[spoiler:Oscar's lover]] is stated to be the great-grandson of President John Quincy Adams, and consequently the great-great-grandson of President and Revolutionary UsefulNotes/JohnAdams. This is actually moderately realistic; while the character is fictional, the Adamses were historically quite prolific, and prominently so,[[note]]Adamses were prominent in the federal government into the 1920s and in industry into the 1960s[[/note]] and the existence of a New York branch of the family in the 1880s is plausible.

* SecretlyWealthy: Peggy Scott hides her upper-middle class background from her aristocratic employer. Her father owns a pharmacy and maintains a very nice brownstone with a servant of his own. Ironically, this means she has a larger inheritance coming to her than her white, ImpoverishedPatrician friend Marian, who embarrasses herself when she shows up unannounced to gift her some old shoes. Peggy's wealth was hinted at before this: Her wardrobe is always subdued but quality. She had no problem paying for Marian's train fare when Marian lost hers. Her mother implies that the restaurant where they first meet is below her standards. During Peggy's first meeting with her father, he wears a flashy suit and mentions that he could employ her himself.

** Peggy first finds success when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Thomas_Fortune T. Thomas Fortune]] publishes her story in his ''New York Globe.''

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Oscar and John break up over their different outlooks on how to live in a society that doesn't accept them. However, each of their points of view is presented as understandable. John refuses to marry a woman and is more comfortable about the rumors surrounding him because he views being what we would call closeted as living a lie. Oscar believes they are living a lie no matter how it's spun and believes marrying a woman is in his best interest. He also believes that John has the luxury of living as close to being openly gay as the time would allow because he doesn't have the familial obligations Oscar does. John has brothers who can carry on the family name whereas Oscar is an only child who has the weight of the family living on on his shoulders and will need some cash that a dowry will bring to help him care for Agnes and Ada as they age.

* HollywoodCostuming: Certain liberties are taken purposefully to underscore character beats.
** Bertha's dresses often have anachronistic, almost modern touches that wouldn't look out of place on a ballgown today, to show that she is still NouveauRiche and her tastes are more avant-garde than those of the much more historically accurate Ada and Agnes.

* SecretlyWealthy: Peggy Scott hides her upper-middle class background from her aristocratic employer. Her father owns a pharmacy and maintains a very nice brownstone with a servant of his own. Ironically, this means she has a larger inheritance coming to her than her white, ImpoverishedPatrician friend Marian, who embarrasses herself when she shows up unannounced to gift her some old shoes. Peggy's wealth was hinted at before this: Her wardrobe is always subdued but quality. She had no problem paying for Marian's train fare. Her mother implies that the restaurant where they first meet is below her standards. During Peggy's first meeting with her father, he wears a flashy suit and mentions that he could employ her himself.

The series, premiered on January 24, 2022, is an original story and not an adaptation of the Creator/MarkTwain and Charles Dudley Warner novel ''Literature/TheGildedAge'' that originated the era's name. A second season is set to be released on October 29, 2023.

** In season 2, Bertha is introduced to Mr. Joshua Winterton in order to secure his support for the Metropolitan, as well as his new, much younger wife, after such an almost scandalously short courtship that most of society hasn't met her yet, [[spoiler:who else should it be but Turner, her former lady's maid.]]

** [[spoiler: Cornelius Eckard III]], an old "acquaintance" of Ada's. In their youth, he was refused her hand in marriage by the Brook sisters' father for his lack of prospects. Agnes also reveals that her father refused his suit because he had heard him boasting that he was about to marry a "meal ticket", which is enough to chase him off a second time.
** [[spoiler:Mr. Raikes]] is revealed to be on in the series one finale, having dropped his previous suitor for a much richer one.
** In season 2, Bertha is introduced to Mr. Joshua Winterton in order to secure his support for the Metropolitan, as well as his new, much younger wife, after an almost scandalously short courtship that most of society hasn't met her yet, [[spoiler: who else should it be but Turner, her former lady's maid.]]

** Faced with the prospect of losing her daughter's companionship, [[spoiler: Mrs. Astor reluctantly swallows her pride and gives in to Bertha's demands to attend Gladys's debutante ball in exchange of allowing Carrie to participate in the planned quadrille.]]
** [[spoiler: Similarly, after a season of doing her best to ignore the existence of Mrs. Russell, when ordered by Mrs. Astor to attend the ball, Agnes concedes to avoid a quarrel with Mrs. Astor, but reserves the right to quarrel with Bertha later. She even exchanges a pleasant nod with Bertha during the ball]].

** The Season 2 premiere has George Russell commiserating with Jay Gould about the need to crush organized labor, while George's wife Bertha brings [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Sullivan Arthur Sullivan]] of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Nilsson Christina Nilsson]] (a very famous opera diva) to her dinner advertising the new Metropolitan Opera.

** [[spoiler: George's potential trial over the train derailment is resolved because his stenographer Miss Ainsley charged a pair of gloves to the name of Dixon in Bloomingdales, the man in charge of building the faulty engine, only to accidentally leave her purse behind for Marian to find and return to Mr. Russell, and the only reason Marian even recognizes Ainsley as George's stenographer is because she dropped off some papers at the Russells' while Marian was seeing Oscar and Larry off to Newport not long before that]].

** The Season 2 premiere has George Russell commiserating with Jay Gould about the need to crush organized labor, while George's wife Bertha brings [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Nilsson Christina Nilsson]] (a very famous opera diva) to her dinner advertising the new Metropolitan Opera.

** Bridget decides to follow Jack to what she wrongly suspects is a date with another woman, showing that she does actually have feelings for him in spite of her PTSD making it difficult for her to accept his romantic advances. She's called out for it.