I’d
previously seen ads for this show on Comedy Central, but I never saw any
episodes of it until I started going through Andrew Rannells’s work. It’s actually quite a bit cooler than I
would’ve guessed from the previews, historical jokes mixed with social
commentary mixed with sly feminism, all with strong comedic acting.
Sisters
Lillian and Beatrice are the Kardashians of turn-of-the-century Newport. It’s all about money, bling, and sex, each
sister going about it in her own way.
While Lillian schemes to marry a geriatric millionaire before he drops
dead, Beatrice is forced to do some soul-searching after finding herself on the
wrong end of a sex scandal. Meanwhile,
third sister Hortense (not included in the Kardashian comparison above due to
her much-maligned homeliness and journalistic pursuits) may have unexpectedly
stumbled across love.
It’s very
funny, cartoonish at times (there’s a scene of the women’s brother Frederick,
evidently having lucked his way into the vice presidency, failing to spell
“vice president” at least half a dozen times on a sheet of paper) and always
irreverent. I like the parallels the
show draws between the culture of excess/self-absorption/scandal that exists
both then and now – for every joke about how different things were in the early
1900s, there’s another that could’ve easily been tweaked from last week’s
tabloid headline.
Rannells
plays Bertram Fussleforth VII, the grandson of Lillian’s decrepit fiancé and
potential thorn in Lillian’s side.
Bertram is very upper-crusty, quite congenial, and constantly keeping
Lillian on her toes with comments that could easily be taken as digs or
innocent coincidences of word choice.
Bertram is also Hortense’s maybe-beau, an even greater injustice for
Lillian – having hitched her wagon to Bertram’s fast-fading grandpa, it seems
ludicrous to her that her ugly sister might wind up with the much young/more
handsome Bertram.
It’s not
too often that Rannells plays a character in a straight romance, so that’s fun
to see. The wooing between Bertram and
Hortense is very over-the-top, full of dramatic proclamations tinged with
absurd observations. Bertram is all
about Hortense working as a writer and dazzles her with his enlightened views
on women, nothing that perhaps women wearing pants shouldn’t be illegal, “as long as her doctor approves.” I also get a kick out of his interactions
with Lillian, especially her increasing aggravation at him amiably calling her
“Grandma.”
Recommend?
In
General
– Definitely. This is one I’d like to go
back and watch from the beginning.
Andrew
Rannells
– I would. Rannells is funny here, equal
parts blueblood, clueless, romantic, and deadpan goofy.
Warnings
Swearing,
sexual content (including incest,) gross-out humor, drinking/drug references,
and thematic elements (mostly via the extremely-irreverent jokes.)
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