The third season of HBO’s period drama, “The Gilded Age,” concluded on Sunday, August 10, with a dramatic finale that answered a major cliffhanger and introduced new twists for the show’s most prominent families. The episode, titled “My Mind is Made Up,” resolved life-or-death questions while paving the way for social and marital drama in the show’s confirmed fourth season.
The most pressing question of the finale was the fate of George Russell (Morgan Spector), who was shot in the penultimate episode. George survives the attack after an emergency operation performed by Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) and Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson). However, his near-death experience leads to a painful confrontation with his wife, Bertha (Carrie Coon), over her ongoing scheming, particularly regarding their daughter Gladys’s (Taissa Farmiga) arranged marriage to the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb). The episode ends with a tearful Bertha watching George leave for New York, leaving their marriage in a state of separation, but not divorce.
Other storylines also reached pivotal moments. After a tumultuous season, Marian and Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) begin to reconcile at Bertha’s grand Newport ball. Their reconciliation is a hopeful sign for the couple, with the families on both sides now appearing to be supportive. Meanwhile, Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) receives a romantic proposal from Dr. William Kirkland, who, in a public gesture, asks her father for her hand in marriage. The episode ends before she gives a definitive answer.
The finale also sets up a new alliance for Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson) and Mrs. Enid Winterton (Kelley Curran). Oscar, who recently suffered a financial and personal setback, proposes a mutually beneficial marriage to Mrs. Winterton, a new widow. This arrangement would provide him with much-needed funds and her with social standing, while allowing both to pursue their own romantic interests privately. Gladys Russell also delivers a bombshell to her mother, announcing that she is pregnant, a development that seems to have stabilized her arranged marriage to the Duke.