The year is 1886 in New York. The Statue of Liberty is about to be dedicated. Almost nobody has a telephone at home. And President Grover Cleveland is coming to dinner at Agnes van Rhijn's house on East 61st Street. Across the street, Bertha Russell is out to top her. That is season 4 of HBO's The Gilded Age, back Sunday at 9 p.m. The Journal's John Anderson reviews it, and he has changed his mind about the show.
Mr. Anderson used to think the overacting was an accident. Now he is sure it was the plan all along. Christine Baranski's Agnes gets the best lines. Carrie Coon's Bertha plays a social revolutionary in a 19th-century stage style, and she means every bit of it. The costume and set designers are in on it too. One scene puts three women on a couch in Agnes's parlor. Mr. Anderson says the clash of their colors and patterns is strong enough to put a viewer on the floor. Some gowns, he writes, would suit a department-store holiday parade. The first one was still 38 years away, in 1924.
History shows up, then steps aside for the guest list. George Russell (Morgan Spector), the Vanderbilt-style tycoon, is recovering from an assassination attempt while Washington's new antitrust mood closes in. John D. Rockefeller (Neal Huff) holds the leash. Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) has a hit first novel and an invitation from Frederick Douglass to speak at the statue dedication. Bertha's daughter Gladys, now a duchess, is gravely ill in England. And Agnes's niece Marian works at a settlement house downtown, which horrifies her aunt. Ada, the sister with all the money, says it reminds her of Jesus among the lepers. Agnes snaps back. “He didn't have to make his way back to the Upper East Side!”
A fashion note from East 61st Street
Now, the clothes. The Russells are new money. Their house is loud, their dinners are loud, and their dresses are loud, because the point is to be seen. The van Rhijns are old money. Agnes doesn't need to be seen. Everyone already knows the house. And the quiet sister, Ada, is the one with all the money. Mr. Fellowes has been telling that joke since Downton Abbey. The wardrobe is the joke in fabric.
Our read
This one is about behavior (Behavioral). Bertha spends to be seen. Agnes already belongs, so she doesn't have to. That is the whole engine of the show, and it drives a lot of modern spending too. A loud purchase buys an audience for a season. The old-money rule, the one Agnes lives by, is the better financial habit. Buy the thing once, buy it well, and wear it until the audience stops noticing. Cost per wear beats cost per compliment every time.
The concrete thing is the audience line in your own budget. This week, pull last month's card statement and mark each purchase that was for other people to see. There's no shame in a few. There's a lot of money in a lot of them. Then watch Sunday with a clear conscience. The umbrella goes in the hall closet long before it rains. Bring the statement and we'll look at the line together.