Bertha Russell is playing with fire.
There’s a fine line between trying to help your children secure a better future and engineering it for them without their input.
Berth is currently walking that line, and The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 2 showed George and Gladys that when it comes to Gladys’s life, she’ll be damned if anyone else has the final say about it.
And you know what they say about playing with fire? If you play with it, you will get burned.
In Bertha’s case, it may not be tomorrow or the day after, but at some point, she will feel the wrath of her decisions. And the thing is, it’s not just Gladys that she’s pissing off.
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It’s not as if this was the first time she had ever lied to George or withheld information, but it certainly reaches a point with people. And I fear that every person has their breaking point.
Even a man like George Russell.
When Gladys ran away at the end of The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1, it seemed fairly obvious she was running to Billy’s, which was exactly where Bertha found her the next morning.
And I’ll give it up to Gladys for standing her ground as much as she could against her mother, but unless the two of them run away from New York and go into hiding, she will never be able to escape Bertha’s meddling.
Gladys and Billy love each other, but the politics at play during that time and Bertha would not allow them to get together, and it became increasingly evident throughout the hour that unless Billy pulled a rabbit out of his butt and got George on board, there was no chance.
Even if he got George on board, Bertha wouldn’t have found a way to get what she wanted in the end. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles on the Upper East Side.
It was so obvious that Bertha planted the story about Gladys and the Duke as a means not only to get the town talking but also to try to force Gladys and George’s hand. Although Gladys wouldn’t have cared about the backlash if she got to be with Billy.
Poor Billy and Mrs. Carlton were trying, and every back and forth between the two mothers harkened back to past seasons when much of the storyline revolved around the new money versus old money storyline.
As soon as Bertha threatened Billy, Mrs. Carlton turned from a kindly woman who seemed to be looking out for the best interests of her son and Gladys, for that matter, into someone who snubbed the new money people as users.
Of course, the timing of everything made it so that Gladys had to get dumped right before the Duke’s arrival, and I will get slight props to Billy for at least dumping Gladys to her face when he could have just ghosted her forever or something else equally cruel.
Although they both have wealth, they come from different worlds. Ultimately, Billy was in an untenable position where he began to realize that stepping on the Russell’s toes would damage them both in ways they may never recover from.
This romance was the epitome of love not being enough and the product of a time when women had little to no agency, especially young women whose parents wanted better for them and sought to secure their futures.
So, where do things go from here?
I predict that we are going to get that Gladys and Hector wedding, come hell or high water, and it’s going to be incredibly depressing to watch Gladys slowly lose herself in the process of giving in or falling in line to become the next Bertha Russell.
I sound like I hate Bertha, and I don’t! I get where she’s coming from at almost all times, and I wanted to see the Metropolitan Opera House succeed more than anyone during The Gilded Age Season 2!
However, her desire to push everyone in her life, and to do so through intimidation and manipulation, can be very off-putting at times, especially as it relates to Glayds, who has never had the same desires and feelings as her mother.
Ultimately, Bertha may push Gladys and George away if she’s not careful, and that’s the storyline I think is worth watching as the season unfolds.
On the other side of the street, the Scott’s came to town to visit Peggy, who was still ill, and this story was a long time coming.
Peggy has spent much time at The Brook House, but her two worlds have been separated for obvious reasons.
Arthur and Dorothy were somewhat at odds in their approach to the situation, but above all else, they were concerned about Peggy. And wanted to make sure she was getting the proper care, especially in the home of rich white people they didn’t know.
Agnes is many things, but one thing she has shown herself to be is mostly accepting, though it’s not as if she would break any societal norms to push back against certain practices or do much of anything to invoke change.
As much as she would be capable, of course.
You see that during the following hour when she rang for her longtime family doctor to tend to Peggy and then was flabbergasted that he wouldn’t help her because she was black.
Agnes has an abundance of privilege that she uses at her disposal, and she sees the world, especially as it relates to class and racial economics, through a very narrow frame.
You want to ask her how she could have been truly confused about the doctor’s unwillingness, and it’s because she genuinely thought that the doctor would see someone who was ill and disregard everything else.
Perhaps that was what Agnes would do and what she’d expect of other decent human beings, but it was not the reality of the world.
Arthur did not mince words when it came to telling Agnes that her privilege wasn’t allowing her to see the bigger picture and that her ignorance could have done irreparable damage to their daughter.
Dorothy was keeping the peace more and trying to adhere to what she knew, and I respected that they came out of the entire situation with different perspectives because that felt incredibly real.
Invited or not, it’s unfortunately realistic for Dorothy to seek entrance through the servant’s quarters. And it’s normal not to want to disturb any fragile peace you can achieve in the home of wealthy white people on Fifth Avenue in the 1880s.
The Gilded Age hasn’t always known how to approach race, oftentimes depicting things in a way that lets you know racism is still prevalent. Still, outside of some cutting remarks from Mrs. Armstrong and the occasional side eye, we don’t see the actual realities of what the world looked like during that time for the black community.
This conversation was a long time coming in the series and an important one to have between Peggy’s family in the home where she has spent a great deal of time.
It was a nice moment to also see Agnes just reflect on the pain of feeling like she could do nothing for her child when they were ill, which is very much a universal experience that all parents can relate to.
We may never have another opportunity to see these three interact again, but it was special while we had it!
Side note: Peggy and Dr. Kirkland were so giddy and cute together in their brief scene, and I loved seeing him so enamored with Peggy, even when she was sick, but still so beautiful and talented!
Peggy deserves something good, and this could be it!
You know who else deserves something good? Marian.
But she is scared to DEATH to allow herself to feel everything she’s feeling and give into another love affair that could end badly for her and ruin one of the best relationships in her life.
It’s a scary place to be in when you’ve had a lot of bad luck when it comes to love, and suddenly, you have something in front of you that seems too good to be true.
How do you trust that? How do you let down your walls and allow yourself to be happy when you’re petrified that it could all come crashing down and that, this time, you won’t come back from it?
Marian’s fears are justified, but it’s frustrating to see her not be fully transparent with Larry. She gives him a little, but she’s holding a lot inside, and because of that, I worry that things will come to a head at some point if they don’t get on the same page.
Elsewhere during this hour, Jack and Larry continue working together, and while this storyline has been nice, I’m not entirely sure where it’s meant to lead.
I assumed Jack would achieve his big breakthrough and essentially enter a whole new world, but I fear it could go the opposite way, and perhaps he will discover the ruthlessness of capitalism.
Where this storyline will go, we’ll have to see, but hopefully, it doesn’t end with a heartbroken Jack.
Posh Extras
- John Adams came through for Oscar to try and help him at his lowest point. But what will Oscar do with the opportunity in front of him?
- Mrs. Astor is unintentionally hilarious for the way she stalked around the party after Charles showed up and then left expeditiously.
- Charles is AWFUL. Aurora is putting him in a rough spot by not agreeing to the divorce, but he acts like she should roll over and die. It’s very evil, and the fact that he’s unwilling to give her some time is madness.
- The servants getting a clear answer on who was in charge between Agnes and Ada was necessary, and the right call. Though, I do wonder if at some point the sisters will find a way to govern together.
Another GREAT episode and has only The Gilded Age Season 3 has only just begun!
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You can watch The Gilded Age on Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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