Spoilers for The Gilded Age season 3 finale ahead.
In the penultimate episode of The Gilded Age season 3, we learned that George (Morgan Spector) was left on death’s door after being shot by a 19th century hitman disguised as a courier who turned up on his doorstep. I was gripped, believing George dying is exactly the edge The Gilded Age season 4 needed to level-up the drama of its previous three seasons. Instead, I got the exact opposite outcome, and I’m frustrated.
George was indeed shot, but managed to make a miraculous recovery. Hooray! Lives are saved and the Russells can return to being the stoic force in New York society that they’ve always been. But that’s where you’re wrong. Once George is well enough to remember he’s being streamed live on HBO Max, he promptly tells wife Bertha (Carrie Coon) that he’s not even sure if he loves her or trusts her, leaving for New York without so much as an amicable thought between them.
In short, the big twist is that Bertha is potentially left as a single spinster while achieving her big mission of having Royalty in her bloodline thanks to Gladys (Taissa Farmiga). Given that the cast previously teased how “new” each season is supposed to feel from the last, having more of the same in the form of a quiet, subtle parting of ways feels like the ultimate disappointment. Why plant a death cliffhanger if you’re not going to follow through with it, all guns blazing? If anything, it all sends alarming bells ringing for The Gilded Age season 4, as far as I’m concerned.
The Gilded Age season 4 is already underwhelming if George dodging death and love is the best it can do
If your penultimate episode is more jaw-dropping than your actual season finale, something has gone wrong. I know The Gilded Age is praised for not sensationalising its storylines as the years go on, but the stakes have to be noticeably raised at some point. With Glady’s pregnancy announcement, Bertha’s triumph is immediately turned into frustration in her private life, setting up season 4 to explore the split between her public and personal spheres.
As far as Carrie Coon is concerned, Bertha won’t take any of this lying down. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she explained: It’s heartbreaking, of course. But, at the same time, her wheels are already turning about how she’s going to fix it. You know she’s not going to give up on it. She’s indefatigable, of course. So I think she’s looking out that window and she’ll have a moment of grief, and then she’s going to get to work on some kind of plan.”
Given how George’s brush with death has been set up, what’s to stop him coming back home and wanting to pick up where he left off in his marriage, making any individual growth completely redundant? I can’t completely trust any new season 4 episodes if such a monumental moment has been walked back and erased in less than one episode. Or, in Bridgerton style, a new romantic relationship will be at the core of the show going forward. If you ask me, George and Bertha need to split for good, and then perhaps the HBO show can move onto more exciting endeavors.
Of course, the most obvious answer to whether this will happen is Gladys, who’s turning into a mini-Bertha before our very eyes. “Ambition is my parents’ love language. If they didn’t both have that, they wouldn’t be right for each other,” Farmiga told Elle, potentially hinting that Glady’s arranged marriage to the Duke of Buckingham is what will eventually bring them back together. But for now, George has had as much as he can take of Bertha’s unrelenting drive, but is that interesting to watch? Unless Bertha goes nuclear in The Gilded Age season 4, I think not.
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