Spoilers for The Gilded Age.
I probably should have been doing recaps for The Gilded Age this whole time, but most weeks, I’m not watching the show live. That’s been the beauty of The Gilded Age for the first two seasons – the show is so low-stakes, it’s not like everyone has to watch it at the same time in case you miss out on the big conversation. Except now, magically, it has become THAT show in its third season. The stakes are higher, long-term storylines are starting to pay dividends and there’s even a major storyline which is more like gothic horror than “fruity soap opera with multiple soup-intensive plotlines.” All of which to say… can HBO confirm that we’re getting a fourth season, please? There are only three more episodes of Season 3 and I would hate to think that we’re not going to get any resolutions beyond that.
Anyway, this isn’t a full recap, but I wanted to chat – Larry Russell and Marian Brook are finally engaged! What a slow-burner this has been, and it’s really lovely. A relationship built on friendship, kindness, and a low-drama courtship. I’m so glad that they got engaged and immediately went to speak to Agnes and Ada too, and then George Russell got to hear the news after that, before his wife. Is Bertha going to cause problems? Is she going to mess with the engagement? She wanted Larry to marry some heiress, I suppose. But I’m glad that George is already telling her to cool it with the machinations. Anyway, Deadline did an interview with Carrie Coon & Morgan Spector (Bertha and George Russell) about what went down in last night’s episode:
Spector on George immediately blessing Marian & Larry’s engagement: “I think at that point, George is just hopped up on bitterness and rage, and so he’s ready to stick the needle in wherever he possibly can,” Spector told Deadline of the role reversal after George felt he didn’t have control of his daughter’s marital fate. “It’s not really fair. I think it’s a little bit ersatz. He’s sort of throwing together this little revenge plot, but I do think he’s also determined not to repeat the same mistake and try to fight for his son’s autonomy and freedom.”
Carrie Coon on the engagement: “I wasn’t sure how the writers would deal with Bertha’s relationship with Marian, because I think she does respect Marian. I think she admires her,” Coon told Deadline. “I think she sees herself in Marian more than she sees herself in Gladys. And so I always wondered if she, when push came to shove, she would embrace Marian as a potential partner for Larry, but she’s not quite ready to give into that fight for status. I mean, she really expects a better marriage for him, because that’s what society dictates. It has nothing to do with her feelings for Marian.”
I didn’t think George was doing all that for revenge – I’ve always got the sense that he liked Marian a lot, and he recognizes how she’s been a good friend to both Larry and Gladys over the years. Even before George and Bertha knew the depth of Larry’s feelings for Marian, they both treated her like part of the family already. I genuinely hope Bertha comes around – and considering the teasers for the next episodes, I hope Marian doesn’t get too skittish about Larry’s night out with his bros. It’s sort of crazy that Oscar, Agnes and Ada are all rooting for Larian, right?
Also: Peggy’s storyline this season is so much fun and so nuanced – she’s basically living an Austen-esque rom-drama over there. I gasped when Mr. Fortune turned up at the train station. Mr. Fortune, a whole-ass married man, was fully expecting to travel with an unmarried woman and seduce her in Philadelphia! I love Dr. Kirkland but the GALL of his mother!!
Photos courtesy of The Gilded Age’s IG.
Mr. Fortune is a creep. Purposely dangling that carrot in Peggy’s face knowing she would take the bait and then showing up at the train station. I’m glad Dr Kirkland was like “uh uh”
The Russell’s are based on the Vanderbilts so I’m wondering if they will divorce too?
OMG Oscar’s swindler is at the gentleman’s club. What is going to do?
Did Ada get her husband’s watch back from that psychic?
Gladys is going to have to get a backbone.
The relationship with Lady Sarah and Hector is weird right???
That was my first thought when she handed over that watch – she’s never going to see it again. And what was Andrea Martin wearing? It looked like she had little dead, white animals hanging from her bodice.
Oscar did seem to sense that if Maud is working there, she doesn’t have his money but will he still confront her?
Jack was not at all comfortable in that club and that made me like him even more but Larry seemed way too comfortable there and he lied to Marian about where he was going. That may have repercussions.
I thought the same thing – all of a sudden we’re high stakes all over the place! I’m so worried that something bad will happen to Larry when he’s away but I’m hoping that the biggest drama between those two is that Marian is mad about the Haymarket for a few episodes. And the Duke’s sister is really creeping me out. Yikes.
Very early on in the first season Agnes was very specific about the superiority of old money vs. new when talking to Marian (“never the new”) and Bertha’s whole arc the first couple of seasons was about breaking into that society. So – in theory – Larry’s relationship with Marian, which connects the Russells with the “old New York” families, should be an accomplishment in the same way as Gladys marrying into the British aristocracy.
Don’t know if people listen to The Official Gilded Age Podcast – which is now also in video on YouTube – but it’s really excellent. One host is Alicia Malone, who I like better here than her regular gig as a TCM host, because on TCM, pretty much all the hosts, however pleasant, pale in comparison to the original, Robert Osborn, whose experience and depth of knowledge is hard to match. But the real gem for this podcast is Tom Meyers, who, with his Bowery Boys co-host Greg Young, has been doing podcasts about NYC history for close to twenty years, and adds in depth historical background about the show’s episodes. The second half of episode 3 includes an interview with Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, one of the GA co-executive producers, who goes into fascinating detail about the history of the black experience in Newport.
My prediction is that “Mr.” Larry will pledge all of his and Jack’s money to buy the mines in order to become an equal partner with his dad, and will then die in a tragic train derailment on the way back to New York, and since he is single without a will, the Russells will inherit the mines anyway, leaving both Jack and Marian high and dry and still poor as church mice.
Larry isn’t going to die. If you watch the mid-season trailer, he returns to New York and is arguing with Big Bertha about Marian.
My theory is that Larry will realize just how valuable those copper mines in Morenci are (in real life it’s one of the largest copper mines in the world) when it comes to electricity and building electrical infrastructures.
By 1884–1885: The Copper Boom Begins
• Mining companies, including those in Arizona (like Morenci), begin to expand operations aggressively.
• Investors start to recognize the long-term value of copper beyond just raw materials—it’s part of the electrical infrastructure boom.
• Railroad access improves (vital for transporting heavy ore), making remote mines like Morenci viable at scale.
I believe Larry will invest (and maybe get Jack to invest too) and it will save the Russell fortune and he will become filthy rich himself.
I’m SO WORRIED about Jack & his money! I was worried he wouldn’t get much for his clock, then he did, and now I’m worried he’ll lose it to a bad investment! I was a little panicked when Larry left him alone at the Haymarket, thinking he’d get drawn into some gambling or something. Now I’m worried he’ll give it to Oscar to invest (badly) or get guilted into letting George Russel have it.
Mr. Fortune was out of pocket to impose on Peggy that way. Did he think he could waltz back into her life and get a little something something on the side? SHE IS A LADY!
While Larry did lie by omission about going to Haymarket, it would not be proper for him to disclose this to Mation and her aunts. If this is her big freakout, then she needs to get a grip. He didn’t do anything untoward.
The Maud Beaton appearance was a surprise, but I find the storyline uninteresting. My guess is that her partner in crime left her high and dry, and she’s forced to make her way on her back and/or find new marks to con.
The Vanderbilt’s story may inspire the Russell’s story, but I imagine the writers going in a different direction. It would bum the audience if the star couple were to divorce. The conflict is dramatic enough.
I think the Duke is henpecked by his sister and lacks a backbone. That hag, Lady Sarah, clearly doesn’t know her country’s traditions, like precedence going into dinner, or that unmarried ladies (princess excluded) do not wear tiaras. Hopefully, Bertha will knock that bird’s nest off her head and put her in her place.
Did Sarah even bother to ask if Gladys had a tiara other than the wedding one?
@Kaiser, who wrote: “I didn’t think George was doing all that for revenge – I’ve always got the sense that he liked Marian a lot, and he recognizes how she’s been a good friend to both Larry and Gladys over the years.”
Agreed. From the moment Marian sneaked across the avenue to attend Bertha’s failed meet and greet, I’ve thought that George likes Marian and thinks her a suitable match for Larry. In the scene when Larry goes to greet Marian when Church announces her, you can see George in the right-hand corner of the scene looking at them together with interest.
I’m rather enjoying how everything and everyone seems to be turned upside down this season–except for Marian, Peggy, and Jack. I hope Hector turns out to be a decent man and that he and Gladys’s marriage evolves into a relationship based on friendship, affection, and trust. I was encouraged by his kind patience with her on their wedding night. His sister seems to have an unnatural attachment to him. I mean, he’s the Duke yet she seems to run him and his house. Gladys needs to find her ‘inner Bertha’ and become the Top ‘B’.
And regarding Peggy, as a black woman I’m grateful the show has hired black historians to help the narrative in her storyline regarding the black elite and the sad truth of colorism that still exists today. Spike Lee did a wonderful film about it called “School Daze”.
I am SO loving this season! I hope HBO MAX doesn’t cancel it now that it has finally found an audience via word of mouth. Carrie Coon talked about the limited funds given to the show for season 3, which is why we aren’t seeing many new gowns. Having said that, Gladys’s wedding gown was the SH$T!!! She was so beautiful!
Okay, okay … I’m done. 🙂