Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Gilded Age” Season 3, Episode 8.
“The Gilded Age” ended its celebrated third season with two lavish parties, an engagement and a life saved. But the morning after came with a rude awakening for Bertha Russell — setting the stage for plenty of drama ahead in Season 4.
Episode 8, titled “My Mind Is Made Up,” continued “Gilded Age” tradition of wrapping things up with Bertha’s (Carrie Coon) latest triumph on her way up the societal food chain, until the final moments of Season 3. Victory came to her doorstep with the end-of-the-season gala, in which she ended the exclusion of divorced women from society with the approval of Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) and presented a united front with her husband and children in attendance. But the final sequence the morning after saw George (Morgan Spector) admit that his near-death experience from the prior episode left him reassessing his priorities, including whether to stay by his wife’s side.
“When you have a partner you’re very close to, you can find that you were part of decisions that you wouldn’t have made if you’d been left to yourself. That’s what happened to George,” series creator Julian Fellowes told TheWrap, referencing the season-long argument between Bertha and George surrounding their daughter’s marriage to the Duke of Buckingham.
“We felt that George would look at his life after this attempt on it and not be pleased by everything he saw … [with Season 4] now there’s room to explore where that takes him, in comparison to his wife, who is still very firmly committed to her ambition,” he added.
Bertha and George’s impasse
Fellowes cited historical context for George’s decision to reassess his life and partnership with Bertha. The executive producer noted that after years securing their fortunes through intimidation tactics and schemes, robber barons of the era eventually turned to philanthropy and charity work to paint a better picture of their legacies. Whether a career change is in George’s future remains to be seen, now that he and Larry secured fortune for the Russells moving forward with their railroad business venture.
As for Bertha, she had little time to nurse the wounds from the conversation with George before Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) walked in her room with the news that she is pregnant — after growing to love the Duke in the latter half of the season.
“Isn’t that what life is like? Something can be going perfectly with your life and then something else comes in and undercuts it a little bit,” co-writer Sonja Warfield said of the episode’s final sequence. The final moments show as Bertha heartbreakingly looks out her window and sees half her family riding away, unable to share Gladys’ big news as the beloved couple remains on the rocks.
Denée Benton and Jordan Donica in “The Gilded Age.” (HBO)
Peggy’s love story
Beyond the Russells’ shifting dynamics, “The Gilded Age” put Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) through the ringer before taking her relationship with Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) to the next level.
After his mother Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad) spilled the beans on Peggy’s past adoption and the scandal that followed, the couple faced potential heartbreak as William worked through his feelings about Peggy keeping the information from him. Peggy felt hopeless at first, and almost missed the ball she and her family planned to attend in Elizabeth’s honor, but she ended up attending at the encouragement of her mother Dorothy (Audra McDonald).
Elizabeth got some stern words from Dorothy, her husband Frederick (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and William himself, who was then encouraged to follow his heart and asked Peggy’s dad for her hand. Then, in one of the show’s biggest romantic gestures yet, William stood in front of everyone at the ball and proposed to Peggy, ending the season as an engaged couple.
“I started crying on set at that last scene — even though I wrote it!” Warfield said. As for whether Elizabeth would continue to be a thorn on the side of the happy couple, she added, “Have you ever had a mother-in-law?”
Harry Richardson and Louisa Jacobson in “The Gilded Age.” (HBO)
Marian and Larry
Another couple on shaky ground by the end of the season were Larry and Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson). After getting engaged earlier in Season 3, a misunderstanding and past trauma led to Marian calling it off via letter, a development that Larry did not take well.
Early in the finale, Larry was too preoccupied with his father’s health to mend fences with Marian, which initially led her to think all hope of reconciliation was lost. But when the pair reunited at Bertha’s ball, they talked through their differences and seemed willing to cautiously continue in their courtship. It’s not clear if their engagement is fully back on or not, but we’ll take it as a good sign that they ended the season with a dance.
“Marian is more at fault than Larry is in this third season, because she doesn’t trust him and is allowing her experiences in the past to color her opinion of Larry, which is really not fair. In that sense I’m more on Larry’s side,” Fellowes said. “But her life is complicated.”
“She has real abandonment issues, so I think she, in some ways, is recreating that by pushing Larry away,” Warfield added.
What’s next?
That’s just a taste of all that happened in the Season 3 finale. Elsewhere in the ensemble, Agnes (Christine Baranski) received good news when she was asked to become the new vice president of the New York Heritage Society. A deserved win after her recent misfortunes led Agnes to finally accept her sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) as the new head of their household. And Jack (Ben Ahlers) was settling into his new life as a rich inventor, and seemed to be cozying up to Bridget (Taylor Richardson) during a visit to his home for dinner.
As for Oscar (Blake Ritson), after mourning the loss of his former lover John Adams, he seemed ready to bounce back and take on society. He ended the season agreeing to partner up with the recently widowed Mrs. Winterton aka Turner (Kelley Curran) with a potential marriage.
Fellowes and Warfield declined to tease their plans for where things will go next in Season 4, or how long it’ll take for the series to return with new episodes — Coon previously shared online that she has one film project ahead in her schedule before she’s available to return for filming. But the writers did express their gratitude, both to viewers who celebrated the show this season and for HBO allowing it to move forward and grow into the hit series it is today.
And with so many talented Broadway stars in the cast, will they ever put on a musical episode?
“I don’t know what it would take before we did a musical of ‘The Gilded Age,’ although I have done musicals before, and I have had a couple of Broadway openings and I can tell you those nights stand out in my memory,” Fellowes said. “It’s very enjoyable when you’re in the middle of it.”
“The Gilded Age” Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on HBO Max.
