'The Gilded Age' Season 3 finale reveals who lives, who dies, who gets divorced
All's well that ends well for the fair residents of Manhattan's 61st Street. Well, for everyone except Bertha Russell.
Carrie Coon's conniving, scheming, take-no-prisoners socialite in HBO's "The Gilded Age" (all episodes now streaming on HBO Max) got everything she ever wanted by the end of the period drama's third season − everything except the devotion of her husband, George (Morgan Spector).
In the final moments of the eventful Aug. 10 finale episode, George informs Bertha that, despite her nursing him back to health after a gunshot wound and helping his business save face with an extravagant ball, he has still not forgiven her for offenses past and may not even love her anymore. What was her crime? Well, marrying their daughter off for status, but mostly for being as ruthless as he is, but doing so as a woman.
For Bertha, who has just learned their daughter (Taissa Farmiga) is actually very happily married now and expecting her first child, life has never been so good and so devastating, as she watches her husband's carriage speed away from her perfectly appointed Newport, Connecticut, manor. But she's one of the only unhappy characters in the finale in the late-1800s-set series, which was recently renewed for a fourth season.
Russells, Van Rhijns and dukes, oh my! Who's who in 'The Gilded Age' Season 3
Here's where everyone in the world of New York City Society stands, and everything we know so far about "The Gilded Age" Season 4.
What happened to George Russell in 'The Gilded Age' finale?
George nearly lost his railroad company and fortune this season after overleveraging his businesses and being unable to make a few crucial deals. But everyone's favorite robber baron came out on top with a few new enemies, one of whom arranges for him to be shot at the end of Episode 7. George's men rushed him home to the mansion on 61st Street rather than the hospital. They're trying to keep the shooting quiet to save face, and they were very lucky Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) happened to be across the street at the Van Rhijn house when George was bleeding out on the impeccably varnished Russell dining table. Kirkland saves George's life, with help from Marian (Louisa Jacobson), who is unafraid to get her dress bloody.
Everybody assumes the gunman was an agent of his former right-hand-man Mr. Clay (Patrick Page), but the Russells refuse to involve the police, and the identity of the attempted murderer remains unknown at the end of the season.
Who got engaged in the 'The Gilded Age' finale?
Dr. Kirkland wasn't just busy saving capitalists from revenge plots this episode. The tall, handsome physician finally gets over his mommy issues long enough to get down on one knee for everyone's favorite journalist/suffragette/secretary in the most romantic way possible. Peggy (Denée Benton) gets the love and happy ending she has long deserved, in front of the entirety of Black Newport society and Kirkland's haughty mother (Phylicia Rashad).
More: Gladys Russell from 'The Gilded Age' is based on a real life socialite. Here's her story
Less romantic but more cunning, grief-stricken Oscar (Blake Ritson) suggests an unholy alliance with wealthy widow Mrs. Winterton (Kelley Curran), Bertha's former maid and recent social climber. His cousin Marian makes up with Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) after their extremely lame melodrama, although it seems like they may take their relationship much slower than they originally intended.
What do we know about 'The Gilded Age' Season 4?
HBO recently announced "Gilded" will be back for a fourth season, and there are plenty of plot threads left tantalizingly loose after the conclusion of Season 3. Agnes' (Christine Baranski) and Ada's (Cynthia Nixon) reaction to Oscar's new bride will test how high Baranski can raise her eyebrows and turn up her nose. Former footman Jack (Ben Ahlers) has a newfound life in the wealthy class but seems terribly lonely in his fancy house.
Society queen Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) has accepted her soon-to-be divorced daughter, but how much more change can the blue bloods of New York possibly stomach? There were many episodes about temperance, women's suffrage and Jim Crow laws this season on the series, all historical elements that brought great change and chaos to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The future belongs to America, Bertha claimed at her ball. We'll see who from the cast will still be hanging on to Lady Liberty's coattails as the wheels of progress keep turning in "Gilded" Season 4.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 finale means for Season 4
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