How The Gilded Age Subverted One of Downton Abbey’s Most Frustrating Storylines

It’s hard not to compare Downton Abbey to The Gilded Age, especially when they have the same creator (Julian Fellowes), and because Downton Abbey matriarch Cora herself is an American dollar princess born into this era. Gilded has been going heavy in the soapy drama, and while imperfect, I find myself returning each episode and rooting for the Russells as a couple. Especially since they avoided a very frustrating storyline that plagued Downtown Abbey.

Spoilers for The Gilded Age & Downton Abbey

Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham and the patriarch in Downton Abbey, was one of the most infuriating characters on the show. He was deeply incompetent, had a lot of insecurity, and wasted his wife’s money as if it was his own. At every turn, he was frightened to break with tradition, even when tradition was dragging him down by his lobes. But his greatest sin—besides ignoring Dr. Clarkson’s warning about his pregnant daughter Sybil in favor of the opinions of Sir Philip Tapsell—was cheating on his wife Cora with a housemaid, Jane.

Robert’s boring infidelity was not only jarring as a viewer to watch, but was underdeveloped and based on nothing. Cora was always a loyal wife, and his affair was just a way for Robert to get attention. It was one of the moments where I turned on him as a character and never looked back.

(Especially when Cora has forgiven him nearly every sin, even some of his worst. He is truly Mary’s father in every way.)

From the initial trailers, we saw that in The Gilded Age, George Russell’s wife’s lady’s ambitious maid, Turner, would sneak into his bedroom and attempt to seduce him. The show built him up as a man who absolutely loves his wife, and was willing to spend a lot of money to shame anyone who would embarrass her. So I wasn’t looking forward to this development.

Not to mention, it is his wife Bertha’s support that helps George feel secure enough in spending enough money to save his company. They are a team, solid and seemingly unshakeable. But we know affairs are not only about sex. And in the first two episodes, George had seemed to smilingly look on whenever Turner flirted with him.

Where to watch Downtown Abbey: Apple TV+, Prime Video,

That is why George’s reaction in the third episode of complete disgust and dismissal of Turner when she crawls naked into his bed (and tries to imply that his wife is not enough) was so, so deeply satisfying.

When asked about this scene by Entertainment Weekly, actor Morgan Spector, who plays George Russell, was asked if his character really means “every word he says about loving his wife and her being his sanctuary discussed.” Spector replied, “Absolutely.” He continued:

“Because they are new money, they are not necessarily constrained in the same way by the rules of this older aristocracy and the need to get a family name. Bertha wants all of that, but they don’t currently have it. They find in each other their equal and their match. There are some moments in the season where little fissures open up between them, but they’re things that exist within a marriage. They’re not the kinds of things that you would concede to somebody who’s trying to threaten their marriage. On the level of George’s deep feeling for Bertha, he does mean every word he says.”

That is amazing and quite a character swerve from the one we saw depicted on Downton Abbey when it comes to leading men. Thus far, the relationship between Bertha and George as equals has been one of the best parts of the show. I hope Turner doesn’t keep trying to mess it up. Happy marriages are great to see on television and there is enough drama around them to keep them interesting, especially with the fraught, glittering time period.

Team Wife Guy.

(image: HBO/PBS)

This article includes affiliate links, which may provide a small compensation to The Mary Sue.