Speaker 1: Welcome to the Parenting Roundabout podcast. I'm Terry Morrow and
Speaker 1: I'm Catherine hileco. As parents and parenting writers, we can't
Speaker 1: help but see everything through a parenting lens. But as
Speaker 1: our kids have become adults, we find ourselves more interested
Speaker 1: in getting caught up on movies and streaming than I'm
Speaker 1: going over the same parenting topics over and over.
Speaker 2: So since we're pretty sure we can find parenting wisdom anywhere,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about what we're watching, what we
Speaker 2: thought about it, and maybe what we can learn from it,
Speaker 2: if only what not to do. Watch and listen along,
Speaker 2: and let's all make like we're doing something important for
Speaker 2: our families. Each Wednesday we bring you our thoughts on
Speaker 2: a newer entertainment property, and for this week of July
Speaker 2: twenty second, we are returning to the latest season of
Speaker 2: a show that we've enjoyed in the past, The Guilded Age.
Speaker 2: As we mentioned yesterday a few times, we are a
Speaker 2: few weeks behind when it is airing on Sunday nights.
Speaker 2: This one. I very much enjoyed the title of the
Speaker 2: first episode, who is in Charge Here? Which it has
Speaker 2: many references.
Speaker 3: We have Yeah, we have ada and Agnes fighting for
Speaker 3: control of their home and their servants who are caught
Speaker 3: in the middle and real put out about it, getting
Speaker 3: conflicting instructions from the two.
Speaker 1: Ladies, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: And the butler just trying to keep the peace. And
Speaker 2: then we have at the Russells. Of course, we have
Speaker 2: is George in charge of the family or is Bertha?
Speaker 2: I think we know the answer to that one.
Speaker 1: He's Gladys in charge of her own life? Or is Bertha?
Speaker 1: You know the answer to that one? And Larry also
Speaker 1: is yeah, he's more like waiting out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And Larry, my friend, like he's the way he
Speaker 2: tells his sister, He's like, you know, time's running out.
Speaker 2: You should probably run Elope with this dude, like, sir,
Speaker 2: this is this is a girl who has been raised,
Speaker 2: you know, as a hot house flower. Like you think
Speaker 2: she's just gonna like steal away in the night, which
Speaker 2: she does by the end of the episode, Like yes, oh, Larry,
Speaker 2: come on, yeah, Oh shouldn't you just Elope? What stop?
Speaker 1: And also you're going into business with the footman from
Speaker 1: across the street and you're acting like he should be
Speaker 1: served coffee in your house, which is real big of you.
Speaker 1: But not so much that you would bring him to
Speaker 1: meetings to actually explain the thing, would you do not which.
Speaker 2: You cannot explain exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you think you so broad, but you're not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to sell this thing if you cannot explain it,
Speaker 1: or you're not gonna sell it well anyway. And then
Speaker 1: we have Aurora. Yeah, that came out of being sort
Speaker 1: of a secondary character that apparently, you know, her husband
Speaker 1: comes home and says, please divorce me so that I
Speaker 1: can go be with my mistress and you can flounder
Speaker 1: in society for the rest of your life. That is,
Speaker 1: you know, the whole She's just gonna she'll have a
Speaker 1: nice house and be well taken care of, but she
Speaker 1: won't have any social life whatsoever, although there's other people
Speaker 1: in Newport who are cast out right. I imagine she
Speaker 1: and Laura bann Anti could have a pretty nice party.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they could just do karaoke all the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they could put on Broadway place you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was a real gut punch, like, oh, yes,
Speaker 2: it's been nothing but sweet and lovely to everyone, and yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're all of a sudden, Charles, why are you such
Speaker 2: a jerk?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yes, just perhaps this is this should
Speaker 1: be taken by some as a lesson of what happens
Speaker 1: if you marry the wrong person. Yeah, and if you like,
Speaker 1: even if you love him and you think everything's just great,
Speaker 1: is he the kind of guy who at some point
Speaker 1: will run off with a recent widow And then of
Speaker 1: course everybody, you know, even even her friends, are going
Speaker 1: to exclude her from polite society because that is what
Speaker 1: you do. That's just that's the way polite society works.
Speaker 1: We're very sorry we have we're powerless against it.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I agness. It's just like, well, she might
Speaker 2: not be comfortable in groups like well, if you make
Speaker 2: her a comfortable she will be uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh, you know, probably would not want to
Speaker 1: go to a party at that house anyway because there
Speaker 1: won't be any alcohol.
Speaker 2: Yes, the whole there was a temperance meeting and the
Speaker 2: face acting from the audience from from Aurora and even
Speaker 2: Marion comes across with a little snark.
Speaker 1: But most especially Oscar, who just looks like, shoot me now,
Speaker 1: the only pleasure I have left in life, it's a
Speaker 1: glass of wine with dinner, and you're taking that from
Speaker 1: me too.
Speaker 2: It was. It was delightful. I mean, not for them,
Speaker 2: but for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know when you when you drag your kids to
Speaker 2: some meeting, they may.
Speaker 1: Respond, dear, Yes, Ada is feeling her power and uncomfortable
Speaker 1: for everybody. Yes, even those who might have one time
Speaker 1: rooted for her. They're like, we didn't think this was
Speaker 1: going to go this direction, okay, and.
Speaker 2: I just it was just a wonderful vehicle for snarky
Speaker 2: comments from everyone.
Speaker 1: Yes, so dear, And much romantic drama over at the
Speaker 1: Russell household, with Missus Russell determined to marry her daughter
Speaker 1: to the duke. The daughter determined to marry what a
Speaker 1: kid named Billy, very unpromising guy, and Billy's mother, always excruciating,
Speaker 1: makes the kind of mistake that we've all made of
Speaker 1: just saying the wrong thing that is going to cause
Speaker 1: your child no end of trouble, right, and you cannot
Speaker 1: pull the words.
Speaker 4: Back into your mouth.
Speaker 1: So she goes up to Missus Russell and is a, oh,
Speaker 1: isn't it wonderful? Our two children are all but engaged,
Speaker 1: and Missus Russell is saying, say what to me? Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh dear, and uh yeah, that was that was a
Speaker 1: disastrous misstep by Billy's mother. I just I just cringed
Speaker 1: for her. This is like, I believe I have done
Speaker 1: the same at one point or another, not on that
Speaker 1: particular subject, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean it's it's almost like when you
Speaker 2: you know, you're in a social situation and you're just like, oh,
Speaker 2: let me make conversation with this yes, with this person.
Speaker 2: Oh dear not that conversation.
Speaker 1: No, no, it was the wrong one. Yikes.
Speaker 2: And there's so many characters on this show. They really
Speaker 2: aren't gotten to Peggy yet.
Speaker 1: Who oh, yes, she has she has, which is always
Speaker 1: can't be good ominous in a period piece.
Speaker 2: But from what I've been reading online, everyone's like, oh
Speaker 2: it's it's okay because she's like in all the previous
Speaker 2: for the whole season. So the speculation is that a
Speaker 2: hot doctor comes to take care of her, yeah, to
Speaker 2: give her a love interest, since the white doctor was like,
Speaker 2: uh no, not doing that, and Agnes immediately is like, oh,
Speaker 2: he's going to pay for that, And yeah, I do believe.
Speaker 1: She felt like he would not want to cross her.
Speaker 1: But she is no longer in the same position of
Speaker 1: daunting power that you used to be. I wondered if
Speaker 1: that was supposed to be a comment on that, right,
Speaker 1: But we'll show him. We'll take away his alcohol. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's what we're about.
Speaker 2: Now, you'll be sorry.
Speaker 1: And early on we had dropped something that I'm sure
Speaker 1: we'll pay off in future episodes, which is the chef
Speaker 1: of the Russell household getting a letter and saying, I
Speaker 1: suppose it's bad news. This kind of thing usually is yes,
Speaker 1: which is also what Aurora might have said when her
Speaker 1: husband came in and said, stop, just sit and listen. Right,
Speaker 1: it's bad news. This kind of thing usually is also
Speaker 1: what we say parenting tip wise, when you get a
Speaker 1: note from the school. Yes, I suppose it's bad news.
Speaker 2: Nothing usually is.
Speaker 1: So I wonder what the deal will be with him.
Speaker 2: Yes, still still enjoy.
Speaker 1: A pin in this little placeholder come back in another
Speaker 1: episode for the chef.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, it's I still remember and enjoy the
Speaker 2: whole storyline of him being like where was he? Where
Speaker 2: is he from? Like Saint Louis or something?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Italian?
Speaker 2: Right, No, he's supposed to be French, like I supposed
Speaker 2: to be French, like a famous French chef. His name
Speaker 2: is Josh. He's from the Midwest, somewhere fantastic.
Speaker 1: Yes, he's glad he doesn't have to do the accent anymore.
Speaker 1: So we had a whole extended, uh change of scenery
Speaker 1: with George out in Arizona. Yes, a little more civilized
Speaker 1: than than Manhattan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when they're mad.
Speaker 1: They can get himself a drink if nothing else.
Speaker 2: And when they're when they're happy, they just fire a
Speaker 2: gun into the ceiling and.
Speaker 1: As yeah, you know, none of this pussy pooting around.
Speaker 1: So there's that whole plot and all apparently possible that
Speaker 1: George's bankrupt now because there was a problem with the
Speaker 1: bank and I'm sure that won't affect anybody's plants at all.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and he left Patrick Page out there to
Speaker 2: do his dirty work. And even you know Patrick Page
Speaker 2: is himself is just like, well, I'm expendable, Like he
Speaker 2: knows his place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he seems like a pretty capable dude. You know,
Speaker 1: he'll do it or die try it. Yeah, it just
Speaker 1: was like so weird, just like suddenly we're in Deadwood.
Speaker 1: Where do they move shows here?
Speaker 2: But and the little they you know, stagecoach up to
Speaker 2: this little town, which truly looked like a movie set.
Speaker 2: I was like, yes, you know, you spare no expense
Speaker 2: for the costumes and the and the dinners in Manhattan,
Speaker 2: but like this truly looked like a ghost town that
Speaker 2: you would visit at an amusement park, you know, just like.
Speaker 1: All it didn't look very gilded.
Speaker 2: All flat facades and something behind.
Speaker 1: Them is the impression we're only going to go there once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not going to spend a lot of money
Speaker 2: on it. I guess instead, we'll spend our money making
Speaker 2: it snow in Yes, in March, I guess is what
Speaker 2: the implication is.
Speaker 1: But they mentioned that enough. Yeah, we get it. It's unusual.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we heard along.
Speaker 1: But the uh, the help of the two different households
Speaker 1: having a snowball fight was kind of cute.
Speaker 2: It was cute. I'll give them that. But yeah, this
Speaker 2: whole you know, there's this whole argument between Bertha and
Speaker 2: her daughter Gladys in terms of like, oh, but I
Speaker 2: want to marry for love and you got to marry
Speaker 2: for love, so and Bertha's like, well, I was nothing special.
Speaker 2: You know, you have this opportunity and oh.
Speaker 1: Oh parenting wise, man, I yeah, parenting tip, don't do that.
Speaker 2: No, don't project your ambitions onto your child you've already gotten,
Speaker 2: Bertha so much of what you wanted. I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: you've You've won the opera war for one thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so well.
Speaker 1: But I think legitimately she is applying the lessons of
Speaker 1: her own life to her daughter, although her daughter is
Speaker 1: a completely different person and also in a completely different stage.
Speaker 1: I get the feeling that Bertha was not rich at
Speaker 1: birth and sort of scrapped her way into her relationship
Speaker 1: with George, and now she wants to pass on to
Speaker 1: her daughter the things that she's learned. But the things
Speaker 1: that she's learned aren't appropriate for somebody who has had
Speaker 1: a completely different life, which parenting tip. We all do this.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have lots of advice about the world
Speaker 1: of work for my daughter who will not work in
Speaker 1: the same industry I did and have anything anything like
Speaker 1: the same experiences in the workplace, So it's completely useless,
Speaker 1: And you know what She's We definitely are not supposed
Speaker 1: to be on team Bertha, obviously, although she's not wrong
Speaker 1: that Gladys is not necessarily making good choices for herself.
Speaker 1: Billy has like a neon sign on his head saying
Speaker 1: feckless and will leave you for somebody in your middle
Speaker 1: age and you will be off in a house in Newport.
Speaker 1: But Larry says, do not think it enough that Gladys
Speaker 1: just wants to be happy, And Bertha says happiness as
Speaker 1: a bip product of a well ordered life may last
Speaker 1: as a goal. It is doomed to failure. And that
Speaker 1: is not wrong, you know, just saying I love him,
Speaker 1: we'll be happy, let's flit off, you know, does not
Speaker 1: necessarily have such a long life finding something that is
Speaker 1: having a well ordered life? You know? But does that
Speaker 1: necessarily mean marrying the dook who you don't love and
Speaker 1: going off to a life of luxury but possibly not
Speaker 1: the way you would like it. That's not going to
Speaker 1: happen either, So you can't you can identify what's not
Speaker 1: going to work. You can't always construct what is. It's
Speaker 1: a problem. That's a problem right for parents. I would
Speaker 1: like to construct it. May I build a well ordered
Speaker 1: life for my child's police, so then she will be happy?
Speaker 1: Could I do that? These building blocks here have a
Speaker 1: set of legos? Could I build that place? You know?
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, so much of life involves making mistakes and learning
Speaker 1: from them. Yeah, but as parents, we want to eliminate
Speaker 1: the mistakes part and just go straight to the I
Speaker 1: have my life together now part.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, well, the parent has the lived experience that the.
Speaker 1: Child exactly exactly. I absolutely believe that Birtha is working
Speaker 1: from her lived experience that she's not like, I want
Speaker 1: to be the mother in law of a duke. She's saying,
Speaker 1: I'm going to construct for my child a life that
Speaker 1: is meaningful, right, but not possibly to Gladys, I'm not
Speaker 1: possibly happy. It's rough. I I sympath I was with
Speaker 1: Birtha birthday, even as I think we're supposed to think
Speaker 1: she's the bad guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean she's she's not. She's not. Oh
Speaker 2: that's the word. I'm like malicious about it. She's not
Speaker 2: like I really, I don't want you to be happy.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to be with the person that
Speaker 2: that you want to be with just because I have
Speaker 2: my own right, you know it's it's it's.
Speaker 1: Four year own good. Yes supposedly so, yes, she must
Speaker 1: be sensible and avoids stupid choices along with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's like eighteen or whatever.
Speaker 1: Maybe at one point she says to Gladys, you're a girl.
Speaker 1: If I say, and I pray, that's why you have
Speaker 1: no judgment. We have all said some version about your Yes,
Speaker 1: I love parenting tip. They don't want to hear it.
Speaker 2: No, unfortunately they do not.
Speaker 1: Oh no, but yeah, this plotline is gonna get worse
Speaker 1: than it's before it gets better. It is if it
Speaker 1: gets better.
Speaker 2: Yes, but I am glad to be back in this show.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, just.
Speaker 2: The historical fiction soap opera. Is it's my jam.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but it's these first episodes. You'll like setting
Speaker 1: up our conflicts for the season, right, and then they
Speaker 1: will play out. So I like the playing out part
Speaker 1: better than I like the setting up part. But parenting wise,
Speaker 1: just one point at which Adas said to Oscar, I
Speaker 1: will house you and feed you and even clothe you.
Speaker 1: You are safe from real poverty. The rest you must
Speaker 1: do for yourself. And that is like put that on
Speaker 1: an embroidery and put that up on the wall. This
Speaker 1: is what I give to my children. I will keep
Speaker 1: you from being destitute, but make something of yourself, will
Speaker 1: you please? Yes, I don't know. Foscar has it in it.
Speaker 1: And we hope that for our children. We hope that
Speaker 1: they will not just constantly be for the rest of
Speaker 1: their lives satisfied with housing and feeding and clothing, and
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm good, Yeah, it's gonna go upstairs and
Speaker 1: find my hidden stash of booze and have a party.
Speaker 2: Hang out in my fabulous bathroom and share a bathroom
Speaker 2: with my cousin.
Speaker 1: This is where I am.
Speaker 2: No, no, it's fine, you go.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh. Yeah, But Marian was going to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom, and then she has their conversation with Oscar
Speaker 1: and then she decides to take to the pig tray
Speaker 1: to Pagy and I'm like, don't you want to go
Speaker 1: to the bathroom first? What if you're up with Pagan?
Speaker 1: You have to go real bad and Oscar's in the bathroom.
Speaker 1: She has better bladder control. She's a young woman, right me,
Speaker 1: I would just have to probably, you know, pee before
Speaker 1: and after eight am, sing, friend.
Speaker 4: Sure, enjoy that bladder control while you can, lady, and.
Speaker 2: Your ability to just scamper up the stairs.
Speaker 1: With the true Sure, I can wait, that's mine, no emergency, right.
Speaker 2: Problem. Oh well, we'll see where Gladys thinks she is
Speaker 2: going in the in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1: So that definitely was Gladys sneaking out at the end.
Speaker 1: If I had my dark scenes. Problem with that is
Speaker 1: I could see that somebody was scurrying out of somewhere,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't see or what. Oh, yeah, but she
Speaker 1: seemed like the most likely choice.
Speaker 2: But yeah, first she packed a bag with a bunch
Speaker 2: of truly random items. And then because she's never had
Speaker 2: to pack a bag in.
Speaker 1: Her life, is she wearing a hat? She was wearing
Speaker 1: a ridiculous hat.
Speaker 2: Gloves cloak entire situations.
Speaker 1: Sweetie, are you going to Billy's house? Because I don't
Speaker 1: think they're going to be happy to see you under
Speaker 1: these circumstances, because I imagine you can expect Bertha's revenge
Speaker 1: to be swift if they do anything at all but
Speaker 1: bring her immediately back home, right, oh dear so well?
Speaker 2: Well, perhaps find out Next Wednesday, we'll continue with season three,
Speaker 2: episode two, What the Papers Say? Oh, I hope the
Speaker 2: papers still get end of this.
Speaker 3: Uh oh.
Speaker 2: We'll see you back to here tomorrow for our weekly
Speaker 2: roundabout roundup.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. You can find all our episodes
Speaker 1: on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. You can find recaps, links and an opportunity
Speaker 1: to comment on our website at parentingroundabout dot com.
Speaker 2: You can also talk to us on our Facebook page,
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Speaker 2: roundabout Chat. And please visit our Amazon shop at Amazon
Speaker 2: dot com slash Shop slash Mamitude, where you can find
Speaker 2: links to a lot of the things we've talked about
Speaker 2: over the years.