Spoilers for The Gilded Age season 3 episode 7 ahead.
The Gilded Age is carrying the mantle of televised period drama greatness set up by Downton Abbey over a decade ago, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Instead of soap opera sensationalism, tension and high stakes comes in the form of complicated relationships, intellectual manipulation and ever-changing social dynamics. Nobody’s getting involved in nefarious love triangles that make no sense, or having punch-ups on the street simply because there’s nothing better to do. Each step is a calculated one, and it works.
But has The Gilded Age season 3 changed all that? Across episodes 6 and 7, the action has been teetering towards the over-produced. We’ve seen the fandom come alive over Larian’s engagement, a double-crossing at the Haymarket with Oscar (Blake Ritson) left as the victim, and two death scares that have seemingly come out of nowhere.
It’s the second of these scares that now hangs a huge question mark over The Gilded Age season 3 episode 8, and it’s got the power to change how we see the HBO Max show going forward. It’s clear that each new season is trying to do something different than the last, and now that season 4 has been officially renewed, following through with the threat of death seems like the perfect way to elevate The Gilded Age all over again.
Sorry, but George has got to go for good in The Gilded Age season 3 episode 8
Yep, that’s right. For reasons currently unknown to us, George’s (Morgan Spector) life hangs in the balance in the closing scene of season 3 episode 7. He’d previously won out against Clay (Patrick Page) and Mr. Sage (Peter McRobbie), getting the business back on track in spite of their rivalry. However, this comes at a price. A courier soon visited George’s office, pulling a gun on his secretary before aiming it straight at George himself. The gun goes off, the screen goes black and we’ve got no idea whether he’s alive or died.
As far as The Gilded Age goes, this is a much more stereotypical cliffhanger than the show usually opts for. But it’s a signal that once again, it’s looking to change. Just like Carrie Coon told TV Line: “It started with how we kicked things off in the Wild West [in the season premiere]. It was signaling to the audience that this is not Season 2. We’re doing new things.”
So, what if season 3 is signaling not to expect the same again from season 4? The best way to keep things fresh is to do something completely unexpected, even if it goes against the structural fabric of what’s come before. If anything, George dying could serve as a total reset in The Gilded Age’s timeline, and who knows what could come from that. A time jump? Flashbacks? A hidden past?
If we can overlook the fact the HBO Max show has the potential to be sensationalized in season 4 (and fingers crossed it won’t be), such a brutal shift in tone could actually be really exciting. Sure, we lose George as collateral damage and poor John Adams (Claybourne Elder) was taken out in a freak carriage accident the week before. But the training wheels are off for what is and isn’t possible in this version of 1800s New York. Besides, even Spector himself is enthused by it.
“[It] just didn’t feel like the kind of thing that would happen on The Gilded Age,” he explained to TV Line, despite the historical accuracy compared to the real-life 1872 murder of Jim Fisk. “I’m thrilled the more we get to expand the world… [it’s] adding colors to our palette.”
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