![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/00a23b619e843922d71e71b014554fbfd1-gildedage-ep8.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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The Gilded Age<\/a><\/p>\n My Mind Is Made Up<\/p>\n \n Season 3<\/p>\n Episode 8\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 3 stars<\/p>\n ***\n <\/p>\n \n Photo: Karolina Wojtasik\/HBO\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd George Russell, who did NOT die, became as awful a husband, as awful a robber baron, and as awful a man as the good old city knew.\u201d I am concerned about George! We\u2019ll come back to it, because first we have to go through his emergency surgery and everything after that, but your character development is not cool, George. You\u2019re reverse Ebenezer Scroogeing it.<\/p>\n We left last week\u2019s episode<\/a> with Bertha in charge of the end-of-the-season ball, Dr. William Kirkland preparing to interrogate Peggy about her past, Jack the Clock Boy buying a house, Gladys and Hector about to leave for New York, and then George got shot. Also, Kathy Geiss is hanging around<\/a>.<\/p>\n A carriage frantically drives George through the streets to his home, as hospitals were places of filth and disease (at least for poor people<\/a>). Bertha has him carried into the parlor, and very fortunately, William is right across the street, trying to have a dramatic conversation. No soap opera revelations for you tonight, William! Only death-defying surgical feats. William pulls out the bullet with Marian\u2019s assistance, and then George goes into shock. Bertha stays at George\u2019s head throughout the operation and wakes up in the same position the next day. The Russells\u2019 doctor finally shows up, whereupon he yells at William. Shut up, loitering doctor! You weren\u2019t even here! He admits that William did a great job and saved George\u2019s life. (Suck it, sir!) Then William stands next to Bertha and we all realize that Jordan Donica<\/a> is 10 feet tall.<\/p>\n Marian fell asleep in a chair in the front hall, and she and Larry have a conversation where she apologizes for calling off the engagement, and he\u2019s like, \u201cWell, now I\u2019m mad at you.\u201d This is very much a Relationship Conversation. \u201cOkay, you say you\u2019re sorry, but you didn\u2019t trust me, so now I\u2019m not talking to you.\u201d So the engagement is still off. Look. Marian. Larry. There are many more important things going on, so I need you two to fix this quickly.<\/p>\n I mean, we\u2019re out here having our hearts broken about Peggy\u2019s giddiness over William wanting to speak to her. No, Peggy, it\u2019s not that kind of conversation! It\u2019s one of the bad ones! She and Dorothy are so happy, and then we smash cut to Peggy and William sitting silently in the parlor after they talked about her incredibly traumatic past. William, excuse me, she tried to tell you about this, and you were like, Oh, I don\u2019t care about the past. Lies! Now he thinks things are \u201cinsurmountable\u201d and leaves. Why are all the men (except for Jack and Oscar) absolute trash this week?<\/p>\n Oscar, by the way, has a new life plan, and it involves Mrs. Winterton, whose husband has recently died. Did she murder him? I mean, probably. Let\u2019s say she did. That\u2019s canon now. So the murderess Winterton runs into Oscar at the opera. Oscar wants to manage her money, and she wants to attend Mrs. Astor\u2019s ball, but there\u2019s no way Mrs. Russell will invite her. Oscar decides to take on this challenge because he likes money and has nothing else to live for now, so he might as well make a lot of it. He goes to Bertha and says, So, you like Marian now. It\u2019d probably be nice for you if she came to the ball. Bertha agrees to invite Mrs. Winterton, assuming Oscar can get Marian to attend. This feels like the society version of buying pork belly futures. Bertha does tell George she will cancel the ball because of his whole \u201cgetting shot\u201d thing, but he tells her not to use him as a reason. Okay, George, but she did offer, and she also said your health is her only priority. That \u201conly\u201d part is, I admit, a lie, but it seems right that it\u2019s her highest priority.<\/p>\n When Mrs. Astor and Bertha discuss the ball (with Charlotte in attendance), Bertha says she invited Aurora Fane and is inviting Charlotte as well. Mrs. Astor is alarmed. If two divorced women can attend a party, then women will start divorcing willy-nilly. Okay, but did you see that TikTok<\/a> about how, before divorce was possible, women would just straight-up murder their husbands? Not everyone can be Mrs. Winterton, a well-known murderess. You\u2019ve gotta give women an exit strategy from their shitty marriages. Mrs. Astor doesn\u2019t understand this, because her marriage has been settled by her husband living on a boat. She doesn\u2019t want Charlotte to go to the ball. When Charlotte asks if she\u2019s just supposed to do needlepoint for the rest of her life, Mrs. Astor tells her that Charlotte would first need to learn how to thread a needle. ASTOR ZING.<\/p>\n Should we talk about Jack? He gets very little screen time, but we seem to be inching toward a Jack-Bridget thing, primarily brought about by his intense loneliness. Bridget brings him lamb stew, and he tells her it feels safe with her there. Just marry him and become his beard, Bridget. He\u2019ll keep inventing things, and you guys can have game night with your friends. It\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n At the Van Rhijn-Forte household, Ada has discussed the Marian\/Larry situation with Agnes, and Agnes tells Marian she must go to Larry and admit she was wrong. Agnes never needs to do this because she is never wrong, she says. A very Baranski-esque comment. Then who should return but Mrs. Foster from the New York Heritage Society? Agnes has been dodging her for weeks, as she expects Mrs. Foster to be rooting around for a donation, but it turns out she just wants to ask Agnes to become vice president of the society. A place to focus her energies! Mrs. Foster\u2019s return is Ada\u2019s doing, and Agnes is uncharacteristically and quietly grateful to Ada, and later tells her she should sit at the head of the table. Sister growth!<\/p>\n As we shift over to Newport and the ball, Mrs. Kirkland is still on the march against Peggy. Dorothy is having none of this and tells Mrs. Kirkland that she has acted without grace, manners, and impunity. Mrs. Kirkland sputters something about those from Newport, and Dorothy says, \u201cBut I am not from Newport.\u201d GET HER, AUDRA. Mrs. Kirkland leaves, transmuted into a patch of scorched earth. When the Kirklands prepare for the ball, William and Mr. Kirkland (Brian Stokes Mitchell!) tell Mrs. Kirkland she has \u201csown heartbreak and calamity.\u201d \u201cLook at the time,\u201d says Mrs. Kirkland. Imagine hearing those kinds of words back-to-back from both strangers and family, and still being like, \u201cI am an impenetrable shield of rightness.\u201d<\/p>\n At the ball, Peggy is SO BEAUTIFUL, LOOK AT THE FEATHER IN HER HAIR. Peggy is beautiful. The dancing is beautiful. Everything is beautiful. William arrives and beelines to Arthur and Dorothy, and immediately asks Arthur for Peggy\u2019s hand in marriage. This is a real turnaround from earlier, sir, but I approve because this scene is Bridgerton<\/a>-levels of me grabbing my heart and going \u201cnooooooooooo it\u2019s so cuuuuuuuuuuute.\u201d William gets on one knee in the middle of the dance floor while everyone is watching and promises never to leave her again. Aghhhhhh, it\u2019s so good. You deserve this, Peggy!!! You deserve a feather-laden, dance-encircled proposal from this very tall man!<\/p>\n At the Astor ball (the Russell ball?), Church announces more and more arrivals, as if this were a garden party organized by James Trickington<\/a>. Marian and Aurora arrive. Gladys and Hector are there. Charlotte Drayton decides to go, even if Mrs. Astor is furious about it and calls the decision to invite divorced women the \u201creckless folly of Mrs. Russell.\u201d Charlotte responds that Mrs. Astor is just trying to protect herself, rather than caring about her family. Charlotte, it\u2019s like you didn\u2019t even read my interview with Donna Murphy<\/a>. Mrs. Astor is all about family. But now she has to put her words into action.<\/p>\n Bertha looks antsy all evening, as Mrs. Astor has still not shown up. But then!! BUT THEN. HER ARRIVAL. This is legitimately my favorite scene in the whole season. The whole series? Maybe. Mrs. Astor\u2019s carriage pulls up; at first, we only see her back. The jewelry reveal is everything. The music coupled with it is everything. I watched this scene three times. She is the moment. She is Dolly Levi down the steps of the Harmonia Gardens once more. She is mother. Charlotte comes up to her and asks what made her change her mind. \u201cYour situation may be embarrassing, but you are not an embarrassment. You are my daughter.\u201d A LOVELY MOMENT.<\/p>\n Everything is pretty downhill from there. George and Bertha have a cute moment, Oscar proposes a marriage deal to Mrs. Winterton, Larry and Marian make up, Gladys is having a baby, and we hear the sentence, \u201cBertha Russell\u2019s ballroom is full of the future.\u201d Okay, guys.<\/p>\n Based on George and Bertha\u2019s interaction at the ball, and what he says to Larry about not letting a misunderstanding get in the way of your happiness, I thought they had made up. But the next morning, George is like, well, back to New York, bye. He\u2019s furious that Bertha forced Gladys into her marriage. What? But Gladys is literally right there and happy? What? He thinks the shooting made him examine his life. George. What the fuck are you talking about?<\/a><\/p>\n I will here register my dismay over a lackluster season finale. There were so many dramatic moments the season could have ended with \u2014 Gladys\u2019s wedding, George\u2019s assassination attempt \u2014 and instead it closed with a thud. A very wrapped-up-feeling thud. George is still mad at Bertha, sure, but Gladys is happy and having a baby; Larry and Marian are back on; Peggy and William are engaged; Ada and Agnes both have new roles and seem content with them; Bertha has assumed the Astor mantle. What are we supposed to be looking forward to for next season? We had no stunning declaration or perilous event. We just have 98 percent of our enormous cast being \u2026 fine. What\u2019s your game, Gilded Age?<\/p>\n VULTURE NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n