And who wouldn’t want to travel to New York, and not in the metropolis of today, but in the “golden” era of the USA? Can it get any better? Yes, considering that he can do this entire journey without even leaving his home, through the series “The Gilded Age”.

The second season of Julian Fellowes’ signature period series premiered on October 29, 2023, ending the wait for viewers to re-enter the magical world of 19th century America.

The series debuted on our screens in January 2022 through the HBO platform, successfully maintaining the frenzy that follows similar series in recent years.

The story dates back to 1882, when Marian Brook, played by Meryl Streep’s daughter, Louisa Jacobson Gummer, is forced, after the death of her father, to move from rural Pennsylvania to New York and live with her two aunts of Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon). Befriending Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), a prominent African-American woman, Brook becomes embroiled in a class war with both one of her aunts and her wealthy railroad neighbors. Young Marian struggles to conform to social norms that dictate that only the rich and older have the power to make decisions, and decides to chart her own path.

The plot develops around the American aristocracy of the 19th century. century of the “gilded age” (The Gilded Age), as Mark Twain very aptly named the period when the economy experienced growth, socio-economic changes were rapid, but everyone preferred to “gild” social problems, rather than they solve.

The creator himself, who became world famous from “Downton Abbey”, had previously stated about the series:

“I researched a lot to make the characters. These people were unique. You can easily understand why they scared those already in power. They overcame every obstacle. Did they want to build a palace? They were building it. The “old” New Yorkers were not like that and quite suddenly everything changed. What it means to be rich has been redefined. They created a mentality about the rich that lives on to this day: The rich are rich in a way that was created and developed in the 1880s and 1890s. In Europe things were different».

And because such an era could not be full of scandals, secret alliances and revelations that come to disturb the apparently calm waters of a consolidated aristocracy, the second season comes with rich developments, which keep the interest of the viewers alive. The new episodes embody everything that the creator revealed: The great “battle” between the old and the new order of things. A middle class that enriches and dominates, faced with the existing order of things, dissatisfied with the developments. Scandals are gradually revealed and opportunistic alliances divide the television audience.

The second season of “The Gilded Age” promises to maintain its scandalous character, gradually revealing whether the aristocrats will finally adapt to the new conditions or make the checkmate move, which will overturn every well-established convention.