After a one-and-a-half-year gap, The Gilded Age Season 3 has finally premiered!
I will be with you every step of the way as we spend another season in New York City, Newport, and wherever else the series decides to go.
Everyone is back this season, and if the first hour is anything to go by, this season may be the best one yet.
Let me issue this disclaimer as we get ready to dive into The Gilded Age Season 3, Episode 1: These reviews will not delve into the history but rather focus on the vibes.
Yes, this is a historical drama, but there is a heavy emphasis on the drama, and that’s what we’re all here for, right? We’re here to talk about Bertha’s control issues, Agnes and Ada’s power struggle, various romances, and Peggy Scott.
I’m always going to talk about Peggy Scott.
As we were welcomed back into New York’s high society, a few months had passed since The Gilded Age Season 2 finale, and a lot had changed, while much had also stayed the same.
With George off trying to be the railroad king of the world across the country, Bertha was doing her best to finalize her plan to marry Gladys off to the Duke of Buckingham, or Hector as she calls him.
This storyline has been percolating for some time, with Gladys opposed to entering into a loveless marriage for the sake of a title and a significant place in society and Bertha basically telling her at every turn that she’s a fool for thinking that way.
Bertha is A LOT of things, but perhaps most of all, she’s a control freak, alongside being a master manipulator. Bertha had many missions since she moved to the big city, and she rarely doesn’t get her way.
She’s not above alienating her children, or even her husband, to get what she wants, disguising it always as being for the greater good. And I wholeheartedly hear where Bertha is coming from at certain times.
Women in those days were relegated to planning dinners and parties and looking pretty, while the men tended to business, consulting their wives behind closed doors where their peers couldn’t see them.
The more you matter, the more influence you have in society and perhaps with your husband as well. However, not every household is run like the Russells, where Bertha is in charge, and George is just along for the ride.
But George has been pretty firm in not wanting to marry his daughter off for the sake of her social standing, and it’s something that Gladys banked on so much during this hour that it made me increasingly nervous.
She was dead set on believing that when George returned, Billy would ask for his permission to marry her, George would agree, and to hell with Bertha and her lofty plans.
But could it really be that simple?
I don’t doubt that Bertha loves her children and thinks she knows better than them and that she believes stability and prominence are more important than love. However, the way she never takes into account how others feel has become quite draining over the past three seasons.
There are times when I completely agree and am rooting for Bertha, but this will not be one of those times.
So much of the series revolves around women being robbed of their choices and agency, and this feels like it’s setting up to be another one of those instances, no matter how much Gladys believes George will ride in on his horse to save the day.
Now that Bertha is aware that there is a suitor out there for Gladys, someone who isn’t as high class as the Duke, there’s no way she’s just going to roll over and give up.
My guess? She will find a way to scare Billy off before it gets to the point where she and George even have to battle out what’s best for their daughter’s future. And I say that because I’m not bold enough to ever bet against Bertha.
With Gladys finding love in a hopeless place, her brother has also found love. It would be nice if Larry and Gladys could just relish in their love affairs and not worry about outside noise, but that’s not the family they’re in.
The Marian and Larry romance has been going strong in the months since they first kissed, but it’s still being kept under wraps at Marian’s request, and I GET IT.
Marian has had two failed engagements in a short amount of time, and she’s not exactly excited for the whispers that will follow her coming out with a third bachelor and possible engagement.
But at the same time, will there ever be a good time?
Marian can’t escape her past, and no matter when she and Larry debut themselves as a couple, people will talk. She and Larry are happy together, and it’s a shame that neither one can proudly express that happiness.
The conversation with Peggy and Marian was something Marian needed to hear because Larry isn’t like her past relationships, and he is a kindhearted man who cares for her.
Perhaps most importantly, he has always been her friend and has always cared for her heart. That’s not something I could ever see changing.
But it’s easy to tell someone to ignore the outside noise and much harder to put into practice, especially in 1800s America, where one misstep will get you ostracized from society in the time it takes to walk from the van Rhijn’s to the Russell’s.
Speaking of the van Rhijn’s, Agnes was still not over Oscar losing her fortune, and she was behaving in the exact way you’d expect her to behave after such a devastating loss.
Of course, Ada coming into a fortune from her dearly departed husband meant that her life, for the most part, could still stay the same, but no longer was she truly the mistress of the home, though she failed to get that memo.
The Ada and Agnes relationship has always been one of the strongest in the series, as they love each other fiercely. Still, they’re also fundamentally different people in every single way.
And that was never more clear than during this hour when they clashed at nearly every turn and left the staff unsure of which direction to follow.
There’s a power struggle between the two ladies, and it’s not as simple as saying Ada is in charge now because she has the money. Agnes is the one person on the planet who won’t give in, even if it’s the right thing to do, and even though she’s penniless, that power within her own home is the one thing she can still hang onto.
Ada’s also too nice to put her foot down in a meaningful way, at least she was during this hour, but how long will that last when Agnes refuses to take a hint?
One thing I do know is that any battle inside the walls of that home will eventually get sorted out because the sisters love each other, and they’ll always be tethered. There’s no way I see a serious divide that threatens that relationship, even if Ada tells Agnes she must start unlearning her whole existence.
One thing the two did agree upon was that Peggy needed medical attention after she got sicker and sicker while visiting the house to help Ada with her Temperance meeting.
Peggy was playing it off like it was nothing serious, but every time we saw Peggy, she was getting increasingly unwell. And why no one sought out her parents the second day she was unable to leave her room, no matter what she said, is beyond me.
Peggy’s quick illness feels like some kind of flu situation, except at that time, the flu could easily kill you if not treated swiftly.
The doctor refusing Peggy’s care was just a reminder of the times in the most heartbreaking and cruel of ways. Peggy could have been on her deathbed, and a doctor should, above all else, treat people who need to be treated regardless of their skin tone.
I know Peggy will be fine, but I hate that we’re opening the season like this, though with the Scotts being called on, we should be in for an absolute acting masterclass when Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald come face-to-face.
That’s appointment television.
Posh Extras
- I love parts of George, like the way he loves his family, but I HATE the way he conducts business, even if I can understand it’s good old capitalism at play. His dismissiveness to hardworking people irks my soul.
- Poor Jack. He’s in such an odd position as he straddles two worlds while trying to get investors for his clock, and it will only get increasingly more complex to navigate.
- How will Bertha react when she eventually finds out about Larry and Marian? She won’t be nearly as upset as she is about all things Gladys, but she certainly won’t be rolling out the red carpet for her, either.
- Oscar is still feeling the effects of blowing his family’s fortune, but I love this mini-plot of Ada making him find another avenue for income outside of herself. I’m very curious to see what his journey looks like this season because Oscar making an honest living? I can’t picture it.
- Charles, ever so casually telling Aurora that he had met someone and wanted a divorce, was cruel. Her life will never be the same, and he gave her like two minutes of his time to upend her whole life. What a time.
The Gilded Age returned with a strong premiere, and this season has a lot of promise.
Let’s just make sure Peggy gets well ASAP.
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You can watch The Gilded Age on Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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