(Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “The Gilded Age” season 3Section 8, “My Mind consists”, including the end.)
It begins, as it often should, with Audra McDonald.
Her “Gilded Age” The character, Dorothy Scott, tries on a dress for the upcoming Newport Ball – which feels quite satisfied with her beautiful embroidered roses – when her Archenemy, Mrs. Kirkland (Phylicia Rashad), enters the pass room to destroy her day. All season, Mrs. Kirkland has actually made a habit of destroying Dorothy’s fun. You can even say that she saves it, and this day is no different.
The courty mother to Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) Feigns surprises that Mrs. Scott and her daughter, Peggy (Denée Brown), are still participating in the ball. By Mrs. Kirkland’s assessment (which is all that matters), the unmarried Scott should feel too ashamed to “lose” his son, Dr. Kirkland, to allow the pleasure of a nice night out. “I had hoped that Peggy would make it respectable and send her regret,” says Mrs. Kirkland.
It does. That is the. With the back of the camel broken, Dorothy Scott, who calls all its righteous annoyance (and is channeled with perhaps a third of Audra McDonald’s extraordinary talent, which is still enough to run the city of Manhattan), Snobby Scold lets it. “Maybe you should get off your high horse,” spits Dorothy. “You have had a certain type of privilege among our people here at Newport that has created an illusion for you – the type that has enabled you to act without grace, way and impunity.”
Each word is snapped as a foot that collides in Mrs. Kirkland’s butt and forces the typically undisputed aggressor to stand down. Sure, she tries to preserve a sense of superiority before fleeing and reminds her sudden efficient enemy that, regardless of the accusations Dorothy throws her way, Dr. Kirkland now better than making MS Scott a wife The malicious mother’s whisper campaign made the trick. Kirklands will win the long game, as the rich so often do, and Scotts will have to sit there and take it, as well as their party in life.
Well, to paraphrase Cynthia Nixon’s Ada later in the section: “Society changes, bitch!”
Dr. Kirkland loves Peggy, he doesn’t care about her past and he tells so much. Good with his upset father, Frederick (Brian Stokes Mitchell), punishes the good doctor Mrs. Kirkland to spread gossip and weak Peggy’s honest reputation. Then the patriarch puts his foot down. “WOMAN“Frederick Bellows.” You are not Above inhabited. You have sewn accident and heart damage – and this is not the first time. It stops now. ”
Hell yesPapa Kirkland! Get her ass!
… OK, let’s beat the break at the upset for a second. It sucks that only men’s admonition is important here, especially since Dorothy delivers the same message and does so with greater purpose and passion. But hey, it’s “The gilded age. “That’s exactly how things work. Pegg Kirkland.
The same happiness – and only comeuppance – also gives Charlotte Drayton (Hannah Shealy) and her mother, Mrs. Caroline Astor (Donna Murphy). The earlier values for the annual ball first reject a previous invitation on behalf of Charlotte, her daughter, whose divorce is precisely the reason why Mrs. Astor lost value tariffs to begin with.
“We can’t allow shit from divorce to infect the social circles we keep dear,” says Mrs. Astor. “If you receive them, it will be an epidemic and I can’t be a part of it.”
In addition to her do Become a part of it and choose to participate in the ball despite her daughter’s scandalous look and her own promises to stay home. Bertha (Carrie Coon), ever the gracious values, only makes Mrs Astor eating a piece of crow when she blends into the foyer and instead chooses to sunbathe in another seasonal victory over old money. (The opera house was just the beginning.)
And yet Berthas Basking does not hold.
When Newport Ball ends in a picture-perfect way, Bertha George (Morgan Spector), “I just want the best for all of us.” And doesn’t that feel known? Is that why George gives her a look at curious thoughtfulness when expressing a satisfied recognition? In the middle of Russell’s latest Victory Lap, is something (GASP) wrong?
Let’s track echo back, should we? What kicked off the center of Revelry near the end of section 8 is all the way back to section 7, “Ex-Communicated”, when Larry (Harry Richardson) accused Bertha to interfere in his relationship with Marian (Louisa Jacobson).
“You have to understand, I just want the best for you,” says Bertha. “You want what is best for you“Her annoyed (and incorrect) son snapped back.” And if it doesn’t fit your plan, try to ruin it. “
Earlier in the final, Astors shared a similar exchange.
“Charlotte, I’m trying to protect you,” says Astor when it comes to her daughter’s presence at the ball. “No, Mom,” says Charlotte. “As usual, you just try to protect yourself.”
And before that – the scene that preceded it in fact – says Mrs. Kirkland to Kirkland: “I just did what I thought was right.” To which he clearly answers: “For whom?”
Children who squat with their parents. The future is fighting for its freedom from the past. This is war raging in “The Gilded Age” Season 3 Finale, and every Brouhaha ends with happy children and positive progress. Peggy and Dr. Kirkland is engaged. Charlotte is allowed to participate in the ball while retaining her place in the high society. Even Larry and Marian dance the night away and revive a romance that no one outside themselves gives two shit.
But among the mourning mothers so deserving and thoroughly embarrassed, you do not guarantee that fate comes across her. One is not a fairly monitored intruder, but a wrong abandoned victim. And while Bertha would never allow such a disappointing designation (after all, she is impenetrable for her enemies’ attacks), she has stuck with it anyway. She is yet another controlling matriarch that is mocked, and although she knows that her plans were proactive and important, she is destroyed to discover that her husband does not see them that way.
What sets Bertha apart from the bad mothers in the rest of the section (for, yes, she Can Being a bad mother sometimes) is both simple and systemic: it’s misogyny. The Russell couple has always existed when two arms were made to climb the ladder with American power. George’s right hand commands the business area, while Bertha’s left hand controls the social circles. Both are needed to move up: Without George’s money, Bertha could not surpass his opponents or hold a court with Dukes and Duchesses. But without Bertha’s knowledgeable understanding of the polite society, George would not be able to court -critical customers outside the office, maintain significant relationships or properly place his family for mobility upwards.
But what will be terrible in Season 3 Final’s Twist End is that TV’s hottest pair of power is not the one we thought they were. It’s not just that they are fighting. It is so that they do not respect each other – not the same – which is the fuel for their burning alliance, for viewers and for Russells themselves.
The next morning, after the ball, Bertha is shocked to learn that her husband is still cursed. She thought she had repaired what he thought was broken in the family – which did things right with her daughter, proved that she had nothing to do with her son’s relationship struggle (as if he needs any help) and throws another damn perfect party – but George is still uncertain.
“I don’t blame you for being reckless. I admire it. That’s what we share,” he says. “But I’m ruthless in business, not with the people I love.”
“And I am reckless for The people I love, can’t you see it? “Bertha shouts in anesthetized distrust.
No, he can’t see the truth. Because he is a man and men are idiots. (I speak from the first -hand experience.) George is pleased to stomach the risk of bankrupting his family to realize his large railways; He is even happy to consider killing his own workers, one by one, if they continue to beat for a living salary and secure working conditions (how dare the?); He is pleased to risk all kinds of economic, moral and family losses if it means Earn moneyBut he can’t stomach the temporary accident of a daughter on her wedding day.
At the end of the section, he still complains that Bertha “forced (Gladys) into a marriage”, even when Gladys himself does not complain! She’s happy! He has seen that she is happy! And why did he see his daughter so happy, back in New York, reunited with his family? Oh yes, for Bertha threw a perfect fucking ball again, no thanks to you, George. Gladys even trying to tell her parents that she is pregnant, but George has already fucked back to work before he can hear the good news.
And thus season 3 ends at Bertha’s destroyed expression. She looks out the window at a partner that she can no longer recognize – not after all his previous claims about respecting her role in their marriage has proven to be empty (or at least clueless) – but she is not angry. Not yet. Yes, she could accurately accurate her revenge in every way she looks appropriate, probably before his carriage arrives at the office. Yes, it would be a well -deserved ComeUppance, considering how desperately she tried to get her husband to honor her perspective all season. And yes, he is the case disastrously short.
We have seen in season 3 that women now, in the early 1900s, survive the once deadly divorce and other such scandals. What is left for Season 4 to decide is whether Bertha can survive a broken heart.
Rating: A-
“The Gilded Age” is available on HBO Max. HBO has already renewed the series for Season 4.
