The opening credits are not even finished rolling yet and I am mesmerized. The direction alone is just perfection. I looked it up and the director of the first three episodes is Danny Boyle who has done a lot of movies but most notably to me was Slumdog Millionaire which was just fantastically directed. He’s also one of two executive producers. We are not five minutes in and I am all in.
Donald Sutherland’s first scene did not disappoint when a butler literally changed his underwear and brushed his teeth for him. I could have done without the gruesome suicide in the beginning. The suicide was George, Getty’s oldest son. At the funeral his touching words included saying “he would miss his phone calls.” At the wake, John Paul Getty III arrives just as his father, Getty Jr is trying to reconcile with his father and get back in at the Oil Company to replace the dead (half) brother and steals his thunder in the most remarkable way.
By 1973, Getty had gone through five wives and had long since decided to simply have a gaggle of girlfriends who all lived in the ginormous mansion. Currently, there are five of them. But another is expected to arrive. The errrr… head mistress? Helps get Paul settled in as his father left him standing out in the rain.
Paul owes the Italian mob six thousand dollars and he asks his grandfather for the money. He doesn’t mention the mob. He tells him he can work on one of his oil rigs for six months for the money. Paul plans to take the money and run. I do not think that will happen. Not with Getty.
Teresa is arriving as the latest addition to Getty’s harem. Apparently this calls for a large formal party replete with gold engraved invitations for all his family and friends and an astounding number of political types to welcome the new concubine. After much prodding by his wife, Getty Jr plans to ask again to take the empty seat as the heir to the company.
This calls for even more killings of the black geese that were delivered at the beginning of the show. #TriggerWarning The first goose death is quite gruesome and you don’t see it coming.
The current harem is taken into another ballroom to meet Teresa. As it turns out, she is a lioness. A real lioness with four paws, a tail and a frightening roar. All of them run except for the longest standing one who the staff refer to as “the lady of the house”, Penelope. Getty apparently enjoyed pranks like this.
At dinner, Getty Jr. (who btw is not the oldest son, and is Paul III dad) finds the courage to ask for the job with the company once again. He has done something to lose his position, probably drugs and with the death of George is hoping to get back in. But old man Getty tells him that it is his son, Paul the fuckup grandson who will be taking on the position once he is put through the paces. Then Getty makes everyone stand up and toast Paul III as his successor at Getty Oil. Getty Jr. leaves Sutton Place and goes out to his car and runs back in with a nude magazine with photos of Paul III. He tells his wife he did it because he is being a good father and keeping his son from getting money for his drug problem.
Speaking of drugs, Getty gets some sort of Czechoslovakian love potion injected directly into his penis by his doctor and it immediately has resplendent results for Belinda, the lucky chosen recipient of the Getty’s affections for the evening. Perhaps that poor man who has to read Getty erotica before his escapades can now find other avenues of employment.
The butler is given a letter to give to Paul III. His grandfather had given him a ticket to Rome on the first flight out the next morning. No money. No goodbye. He’s done here. He gets scared and blurts out all his troubles with the mafia in Rome and says he never wanted to be a Getty and tried to run away. He just got into some trouble and needs a tiny bit of help. The butler, in an unheard of moment of emotion give the boy a hug and tells him that if he really doesn’t want to be a Getty, he must leave and never, ever come back. Then he snaps back to robot mode.
The next week in Rome, Paul III is high as hell and dancing barefoot all over Rome making out with a bartender. What happened to that girl he called from the pay phone in Sutton Place professing his undying love to? He is quickly picked up by the Italian mafia. He’s barely 16.
I loved this episode. I feel like I have an advantage over some by knowing absolutely nothing about this story. I presume if you followed this back when it happened I’m sure you might have a lot of issues with the liberties that have to be taken.
Just finished watching. I’m looking forward to having something good to watch on the tube again. I love Netflix, and there’s nothing like a good binge weekend, but there’s something about a weekly show that somehow makes it more important. Maybe it’s the waiting and/or anticipation of what’s to come. I was young when the Getty kidnapping all played out in the early 70’s, but I recall bits and pieces of it on the news. So far, the actors seem well cast and the direction is well above average. Between this show and The Americans, I’m looking forward to the next 8 to 10 weeks of good appointment viewing. FX rocks!
Agreed, Kioshigirl. I wish we talked way more about FX shows than than Bravo ones at this point. Perhaps we are taking baby steps. I just discovered FX on demand has some decent movies too.
I found a great show on regular tv-Good Girls. It is about 3 “normal” women (broke single mom, mom of sick kid, mom with cheating husband) who rob a grocery store. Then, they find out the store was laundering gang money. And the gang wants it back.
One of the women from Mad Men is on it. It’s s good show.
I love Good Girls! One of the other women is from Parenthood.
I just watched the first episode last night and I was hooked within the first five minutes. I am really liking FX shows these days. I loved the Versace show and I’ve watched the Americans since season one. American crime Story about O.J. Simpson was great as well.
I love the one scene where grandfather Getty explains how he moves some money out of the trust into his various businesses and is able to actually show a loss on his taxes. How on earth can you do that and live the lavish lifestyle that he does? It was crazy to me. It was a great episode and I can’t wait till next week. Thank you for reviewing the show.
kiyo. Try this on Netflix if u haven’t yet ‘girls incarcerated’ It is new. One season. 8 epis.
I watched it. It was good. Its the kind of thing that breaks my heart. When you meet the families of some, you know they don’t have a chance. They haven’t gotten 1 iota of direction or support in all of their years. It is so hard for them to overcome. They are some angry little girls. I would like to know what happened to them all.
agree
Fabulous! I too was hooked within 5 minutes of the show. The soundtrack was spot on! I cannot wait for the next episode! FX – two thumbs up!
I’m totally hooked too! It’s off to a great start and I have a feeling it’s only going to get better.
Yay! Something to watch on Sundays!! I already know I’m gonna love this. Thx tt
Ya know, I wasn’t that crazy about it. I wasn’t alive yet when this all happened, so I googled it and got the basics. Not having even the basics going in is probably what threw me off. I also thought the focus on Getty’s sexual prowess was a bit odd, but maybe that is a key part of who he was. It felt to me like they were primarily setting up everything that is going to happen later on; it was just the first episode. I’ll give it a try again next week.
FX is great! And I wanted to watch this. After your wonderful review – this is a must!
Alls I have to say is.. good job Gigi Gorgeous 😉
I am not reading your post because I have not watched it yet.I am happy you are writing about it. I saw the commercials during the “Assassination of Gianni Versace” — it looks thrilling!
Thanks T!
Geez, I thought it was going to replace Versace.
Had NO IDEA it was on last night. Great surprise to see a recap for it on Monday.
Thanks TT. (Wasn’t even on my Tv list, lol)
I am so in. Just really enjoyed it. Can’t wait till Sunday. What a great night to have it on.
I’m super happy that you picked this up Tamara. I was 18 years old when the kidnapping happened. In my state, the law for drinking beer and admission to clubs was 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Dancing, drinking and our favorite game, foosball, led to crazy fun. The guys would change the game to Gettyball and pretend the ball was Getty’s ear. Remember the times of the early 70’s. The drugs of choice at that time were grass, strawberry mescaline and Quaaludes. Wild times! Thanks for the memory. It makes me smile and laugh at myself. God, we were so f’ing stupid.
What state was that? I have never heard 2 different ages between the genders.
Oklahoma. The Vietnam War Draft protest changed the legal age to 21 for both genders. There was outrage when 18 year old young men (boys) started being drafted against their will. The guys were scared their birthdate would be drawn. Parents were scared. We all were. It was a frightening time. Government wanted to place a gun in their hands, yet they couldn’t pick up a can of beer. Rather than lower the age of men, the law was amended as equal.
I remember when it was 18. I remember when it changed to 21.
TT, I loved this! Thanks for the re-cap! Such a great spot-on 70’s vibe to it! I’m old enough to weirdly enjoy appointment viewing again, too.
If we could have great stuff like “Trust,” and Versace, and “Feud,” I’d never flip to Bravo again!
Am I the only one who thinks it would have been cool for Balthazar to have played his Grandpa? He’s too old to play his dad but he could have played Paul, Jr. Maybe that would have been weird though. I don’t know. ?
Awesome show!
TT I am so glad you are recapping this. I haven’t watched the first episode yet but as soon as I get home that’s what I’m doing. I only hope it’s On-demand already. If you’re recapping I’m watching!
It kills me that I remember these historical movies as if they were yesterday. This should be good. Getty was a hard ass, I do remember that. I think Balthazar is the first working Getty since all of that went down.
I hope I get some insight into the old guy’s attitude toward his family.
Can one of y’all help the hearing impaired lady out and tell me the butler’s name? Assuming I need to know it past the second episode.
It was Bullimore, half the time I thought they were saying Baltimore but when I looked the cast to find the oldest paramour, I saw it
Thanks Mack! I sort of guess what people are saying and do a lot of lip reading. But I don not like subtitlles on my TV they are huge and distracting and I can still understand 98% of things but I need some mental hooks to hang things on and with Bllimore… I’m like clueless.
I really enjoyed watching this and husband too. We are hooked and agree with not knowing the back story it makes the experience a surprise honestly until my husbanmd debrief me I thought it was all made up kinda funny.
I watched it last night on-demand. I was not disappointed. Can’t wait till Sunday now! Is it on this Sunday? It is Easter right?
The animal death really bothers me.
I wish they would do the shows without.
Yeah. It was brutal and unnecessary.
Yes I don’t want to see any animals die especially in that graphic detail, I turned my head on that one and I had to turn my head when he was drinking the raw eggs with the Worcestershire sauce that’s just gross to me.
Just watched on Demand. Great recap TT. I’m completely in. What kinda crazy are these people?
The 70’s. I was a teenager and fell for all the indulgence of that era. Love hearing the music and seeing the news headlines. Can anyone say “flasbacks?”
I started to watch it. The beginning was very hard to follow. Then there was this man with a knife that was going to stab himself in the chest or stomach. I had to turn the channel because that was too close to home for me. I want to watch it – but is there any more self-mutilation in the first episode, after the self inflicted knife? I am not even sure if he actually did stab himself, I had to hurry and turn the channel. I am sure the geese killing is upsetting too, but that knife scene scared me away. I want to give it another chance..
I was not freaked out by the suicide by barbecue fork because I thought it was fake. Like I thought he was just pranking all the girlfriends for attention.
There wasn’t anything else gruesome other than the black goose getting smushed by the car,