A major element to the story of THE GILDED AGE is the clash between old money and new, specifically Mrs. Russell's quest to be accepted among the wealthy who detest her because she is nouveau riche.
And one of the more jaw-dropping qualities of that conflict is how much in the open it takes place. For every invitation that Mrs. Russell is excluded from in the early episodes there is also a bit of in your face jousting, as happens at the 20 minute mark in episode 102. The Russells are welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Morris; Mr. Russell is trying to convince Mr. Morris to support the train station he wants to build. Meanwhile Mrs. Morris, who has shown nothing but contempt for Mrs. Russell from the start, cannot help but attack her, to which Mrs. Russell responds in kind, all in a tone of endless pleasantness.
Part of what makes the scene sing is the play of the scene. It begins like an improv game: we get a first beat, in which we learn they're going to insult each other using what the other had said directly before. Mrs. Russell says she likes her architect because he's unafraid and Mrs. Morris responds, "He is unafraid of decoration, certainly."
Then it's Mrs. Russell's turn, and we in the audience, having seen the game, are not only waiting to see how she plays it but I think invited to play along ourselves, listening to the interchange closely to try and anticipate the jab. Some of it doesn't totally make sense--Mrs. Russell wonders whether the Morris' architect is a relation because his first name is Morris; some of it doesn't totally work--we get not one but two jabs from Mrs. Morris about how much money the Russells spend on their chef. But it doesn't matter because that opening has already hooked us into the game of it all we just want to guess where each swing is finally going to land.
I also think the scene works as well as it does because both sides retain such a warm exterior composure as they are thrashing each other. There's just something inherently delightful about taking dialogue in the opposite direction from what is actually being said. Somehow it expands our sense of the space of a scene, of what might be possible.
Much as I did yesterday, I highly recommend you watch this very short dinner table scene. It's brilliant and delightful.
