Yeah, they are so late, it is time to just burn through the final installments of THE GILDED AGE Season Three. As good as they were, I just shouldn’t commit to writing weekly reviews; I just clearly can not keep up.
Season 3, Ep. 06 – “If You Want to Cook an Omelette”
One of the interesting elements of the series that I appreciate is the folding in of real-life persons into the story. We’ve had J. P. Morgan, John Singer Sargent, Booker T. Washington, Oscar Wilde, and Clara Barton over the years, just to name a few. Plus, we can’t forget Nathan Lane as Ward McAllister and Donna Murphy as Caroline Astor. In this episode, we add two more. Peggy and Mrs. Kirkland attended a tea for noted suffragist Frances Watkins Harper. The other is when a crucial historical figure arrives that changes the story greatly for some of our lead characters. He is Risley Sage, played here by Peter McRobbie (pictured).
Mr. Sage was an ambitious big-money financier and later railroad executive. He had a hand in the Union Pacific’s creation of the first transcontinental railroad. Uh, we all knew going in that George Russell was not going to achieve his goal of being the first to connect a railway across the contiguous U S states, right? In this hour, though, George still tries to keep a foothold in the matter. We see that J. P. Morgan summons George, the Merrick brothers, and Risley Sage to his estate to discuss the matter. It is not a clear-cut matter. Morgan says the Illinois Central Line expansion cannot proceed unless a majority shareholder takes charge. The Merricks agree to sell George their railroad shares. However, Mr. Sage’s new partner plants damaging news stories about George’s finances, causing the brothers to renege. That new partner is Richard Clay, George’s former secretary. Clay has upped his chances by becoming a partner, not just an assistant, in what will be the winning side in the business of railroads. All George Russel can do is refuse to capitulate to Sage.
We can only deduce that it is George’s bullheadedness that keeps him on his pursuit. He is making small headway as we learn that his son Larry, out in Arizona, is alerted by a metallurgist that undetected copper veins worth millions were found. Now, can George convert that into money fast enough? As for Bertha, she is off to visit Gladys at Sidmouth Castle. Bertha helps Gladys assert herself over the domineering Lady Sarah and urges Hector to support Gladys as duchess. Bertha has got herself in great distress with her husband over their daughter; can she make it right?
And what of poor Oscar Van Rhijn? Because he wears his heart on his sleeve or just because he doesn’t think through his thoughts well enough, he comforts Maud Beaton, who claims that Crowther left her penniless. And so, he forgives her and helps her restart her life. Alas, fate rewards him cruelly for his kind actions. In a literally out of nowhere incident, his confidante (lover?) John Adams, after promising more investors Oscar’s way, was quickly and fatally struck by a careening carriage! We did not see that coming, did we?
One more plot point we also didn’t expect was Marian Brooks calling off her engagement to Larry Russell because she learned that he was at the Haymarket, which she equated to him visiting a brothel. She’s been burned before and does not want to associate with a miscreant.
To wind up the episode, I can say we did see this coming for some of our characters. Ada realizes Madam Dashkova is a fraud. That just took a matter of time, poor woman.. Jack resigns after Ada says his new wealth requires that he make a new life. Jack leaves each household member a generous cash gift. What will his story be going forward? And, though we did not exactly know who would find her out, Mrs. Bruce suspects Bertha’s maid, André, is leaking information about the Russells to the press. When this plotline came around, my first suspicion was the new help in the house, but is someone else behind her subterfuge, or was she working on her own? Who saw that she got that job? Will it be revealed by season’s end? I have my suspicions, you?
Season 3 EP. 07 – “ExCommunicated”
For being the penultimate episode, I wasn’t shaken by any of it, except what befalls George Russell. Before we get to that, we touch on the other plot points. A grieving Oscar inherits John Adams’ summer house and some money. It puts him on solid ground, but he still isn’t at peace. Marian comforts Oscar and expresses an understanding 
of him. It was only a matter of time, and it was nice to see it unfold and Marian’s presence in that moment. She doesn’t, however, have time to hear out Larry. Marian refuses to see him, and he blames his meddling mother for their breakup. Marian helps Jack find a house on 61st Street. He clarifies that Larry did nothing wrong at the Haymarket, though Marian remains doubtful. Can that relationship be mended?
Ada finds another cause to ease her days as she takes on sponsorship of a suffrage meeting featuring Frances Watkins Harper. During the event, Mrs. Foster of the New York Heritage Society approaches Agnes, seemingly for a purpose. Church, Borden, and Mrs. Bruce expose André as the household spy, forcing her resignation. Ward McAllister seems to be on the outs as well. His “tell-all” book about New York’s elite gets him banned from their society. Also, Mrs. Kirkland is up to no good as she continues to convince her son that Peggy Scott is not worthy of his pursuits. As Hector and Gladys prepare to visit New York, Hector encourages Lady Sarah to move to London. Bertha has stepped up to aid her daughter and turned the tide, it seems, in the Duke’s household, finally seeing that Gladys has a voice.
It is George’s storyline, though, that grips us. The lucrative copper mines give George financial leverage to realign with J.P. Morgan and buy the Merricks’ railroad shares, thwarting Risley Sage and ousting Mr. Clay. I thought that Sage & Clay would be sitting pretty and that the historical facts of the day would win out here, beating down Mr. Russell and ending his dream of the big railroad. George seems to be able to seize the day and live for another day in big business, but then a man arrives at George’s office and shoots a clerk before firing at George. The pecking order in the Gilded Age is brutal!
Season 3 Ep. 08 – “My Mind Is Made Up“
The big question, as we end the season, I think, is what of George Russell’s medical emergency. It turns out that he will be well enough, but not so his marriage. We see George, seriously wounded, rushed to the Russell house. Dr. Kirkland, who is at the Van Rhijns, dashes across the street, as he is the nearest doctor, thus saving George’s life. To avoid publicity and any police involvement, George insists the Newport ball continue as scheduled. Meanwhile, a private detective is hired to investigate the shooting.
As for the younger Mr. Russell, his wound is of the heart. Marian comforts him and apologizes for doubting him, though Larry is too hurt and unforgiving. That is, until he takes his father’s advice. Larry reconciles with Marian, and we couldn’t be happier. Will Bertha let this union happen now that her husband has laid 
down the law regarding her meddling? Love seems to win out for Peggy Scott, despite the obstacle that is Mrs. Kirkland. Dr. Kirkland believes Peggy’s history may be insurmountable, leaving her heartbroken. Mrs. Scott confronts Mrs. Kirkland for unfairly maligning Peggy. With his father’s urging, Dr. Kirkland bolsters up and proposes to Peggy. Bridget visits Jack at his new house. There might be a relationship there, too. And Oscar approaches Mrs. Winterton, now widowed, and proposes a marriage of convenience. Plus, it finally appears that Agnes has finally conceded that Ada runs the Van Rhijn household, after much rebuke.
George recovers enough to appear at the ball, as does Hector and Gladys, and also Mrs. Astor. Even though she urged Bertha to still host the Newport Ball an episode or so ago, she was reluctant to go due to all the scandal swirling about. George tells Bertha they will remain separated and chastises her for manipulating their children for personal ambition, but also blames himself. He and Larry return to New York. Gladys, now pregnant, is reunited with former maid Adelheid. Situations are changing aplenty, some for the better and some for the worse. New relationships are moving on, a scandal over the McAllister book is at a boil, and an attempted murder needs to be solved. But we’ve got to wait until Season Four for that.
Sorry, the end of the season ended up being treated this way. Care to write for HBOWatch, so that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again? Feel free to inquire. I raise a glass to that thought and to THE GILDED AGE.
