Challengers isn’t the only one who has a feverish tennis match…
The second season of HBO’s The Gilded Age steps up in every single way. Now that the cast has established the relationships and the scope, the performers and directors can truly play in this corseted world like never before. Everything is bigger and bolder, and the tension will have you reaching for your fan to cool yourself down from all that delicious restraint. For episodes two and four, director Deborah Kampmeier revels in establishing the relationship between Larry Russell and Susan Blane as much as she gets to create a flowing dance of camera movement for the backstage drama behind an exciting tennis match.
One of The Gilded Age‘s strengths lies in how it never sacrifices intimate storytelling between its characters as it’s propped up against these incredible sets and luscious costumes. Everything supports one another. Kampmeier’s two episodes both feature the intimate and grand, and she excels with both scales. In episode two Larry Russell is immediately smitten with Susan Blane’s presence as he is brought in to maybe work on the architecture of her home after her husband’s death. Other shows would position the tension between the age gap between these characters, and while are historical circumstances surrounded that difference, notice how Kampmeier shoots to show Laura Benanti’s Blane falling for this young man. When Larry and Susan finally share a kiss, the lens almost tears up with joy that Blane will have a second chance at love.
Kampmeier excels at the building of relationships in other scenes like when Mrs. Armstrong is told by Agnes van Rhijn that she needs to shape up or be shipped out in regards to her attitude towards Peggy Scott returning to work at the van Rhijn household. Kampmeier subtly uses mirrors to convey Armstrong’s need to look within herself in two separate scenes.
In addition to revealing just how she shot that tennis match, Kampmeier talks about ambitious camera movements in seemingly simple scenes. Episode two opens with Oscar van Rhijn going to speak with George Russell about asking for Gladys Russell’s hand in marriage, but Kampmeier curiously swirls the camera up and around Oscar’s head as he enters the vast, palatial Russell home. For these kinds of set-ups, we don’t even realize how directors are spoiling us. Kampmeier, who joined the Julian Fellowes-penned drama for this season, is looking forward to returning to this time for the third season, but we have to thank her for how she melds together emotion and character with precision and style.
The Gilded Age is streaming now on Max.
