Note: This story contains spoilers of season 3 of “The Gilded Age”, episode 8.
“The Gilded Age” ended its famous third season with two sumptuous holidays, a commitment and a saved life. But in the morning after came with a brutal alarm clock for Bertha Russell – preparing the way for a lot of drama to come in season 4.
Episode 8, entitled “My Spirit is composed”, the continuous tradition of “the golden age” to wrap things with the last triumph of Bertha (Carrie Coon) on the societal food chain, until the last moments of season 3. The victory came to his door with an approval from the society of the society of the society with the approval of Mr. Mr. Front with her husband and children present. But the last morning sequence after seeing George (Morgan Spector) admits that his imminent death experience in the previous episode let her reassess her priorities, especially if she has to stay alongside her wife.
“When you have a partner you are very close, you can see that you were one of the decisions you would not have taken if you had left yourself. This is what happened to George,” the creator of the series Julian Fellowes told Thewrap, referring to the season’s argument between Bertha and George surrounding their daughter’s wedding.
“We thought George would look at his life after this attempt and would not be satisfied with everything he saw … [with Season 4] Now there is room to explore where it leads him, compared to his wife, who is always very firmly engaged in his ambition, “he added.
The impasse of Bertha and George
Fellowes cited the historical context of George’s decision to reassess his life and partnership with Bertha. The executive producer noted that after years, he obtained their fortune through tactics and intimidation programs, the thieves barons of the time finally turned to philanthropy and charity work to paint a better painting of their heritage. It remains to be seen if a career change is in the future of George, now that he and Larry have obtained fortune for the Russell to move forward with their railway business.
As for Bertha, she had little time to breastfeed the wounds of the conversation with George before Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) was walking in her room with the news that she is pregnant – after having grown to love the Duke in the second half of the season.
“Is that not what life looks like? Something can go perfectly with your life, then something else enters and the sap slightly,” said co-series Sonja Warfield about the final sequence of the episode. The last moments show that Bertha looks heartbreaking through his window and sees half of his family moving away, unable to share the big news from Gladys while the beloved couple remains on the rocks.
Peggy’s love story
Beyond the changing dynamics of Russells, “The Gilded Age” placed Peggy Scott (Benton dene) through the Ringer before spending his relationship with Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) at the next level.
After his mother Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad) overturned the beans on the past adoption of Peggy and the scandal that followed, the couple was confronted with potential sorrow while William crossed his feelings about Peggy, keeping information from him. Peggy felt desperate at the start and almost missed the ball she and her family planned to attend in honor of Elizabeth, but she ended up taking care of the encouragement of her mother Dorothy (Audra McDonald).
Elizabeth obtained severe words from Dorothy, her husband Frederick (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and William himself, who was then encouraged to follow his heart and asked the father of Peggy. Then, in one of the greatest romantic gestures in the series to date, William was held in front of everyone at the ball and proposed in Peggy, ending the season as a committed couple.
“I started to cry on this last scene – even if I wrote it!” Said Warfield. 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?”
Marian and Larry
Larry and Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) were another couple on trembling field at the end of the season. After engaging earlier in season 3, a misunderstanding and a past trauma led Marian to do so via the letter, a development that Larry did not take well.
At the start of the final, Larry was too concerned about his father’s health to repair the fences with Marian, which initially led him to think that any hope of reconciliation was lost. But when the pair gathered at the Bertha ball, they talked about their differences and seemed to continue with caution in their nuptial parade. It is not clear if their commitment is entirely back or not, but we will consider as a good sign that they have finished the season with a dance.
“Marian is more at fault than Larry in this third season, because she does not trust him and allows her experiences in the past to color her opinion on Larry, which is really not fair. In this sense, I am more on the side of Larry,” said Fellowes. “But his life is complicated.”
“She has real abandonment problems, so I think she, in some ways, recreated this by pushing Larry,” added Warfield.
What is the next step?
It’s just a taste of everything that happened in the final of season 3. Elsewhere overall, Agnes (Christine Baranski) received good news when she was invited to become the new vice-president of the New York Heritage Society. A victory deserved after his recent misfortunes led Agnes to finally accept his sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) as a new head of the house. And Jack (Ben Ahlers) is settling in his new life as a rich inventor, and seemed to make fun of Bridget (Taylor Richardson) during a visit to his home for dinner.
As for Oscar (Blake Ritson), after crying the loss of his former lover John Adams, he seemed ready to bounce back and resume society. He ended the season by agreeing to associate with the recently widowed widow, Aka Turner (Kelley Curran) with potential marriage.
Fellowes and Warfield refused to tease their plans to find out where things will then go to season 4, or how long it will take for the series to come back with new episodes – Coon previously shared online that she had an upcoming film project in her schedule before she was available to come back for shooting. But the writers expressed their gratitude, both to viewers who celebrated the show this season and for HBO allowing it to move forward and become the successful series, it is today.
And with so many talented Broadway stars in the distribution, will they ever put a musical episode?
“I do not know what to do before doing a musical by the Gilded Age ”, even if I have already made musicals, and I had some Broadway openings and I can tell you that these nights stand out in my memory,” said Fellowes. “It’s very nice when you are in the middle.”
The “The Gilded Age” seasons 1-3 are now streaming on HBO Max.
