The Gilded Age 3×8 Review: “My Mind Is Made Up”

The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 8, titled ‘My Mind Is Made Up, offered an intense finale as a whole lot of things changed for a bunch of characters. I want the already greenlit season 4 ASAP!

I do think I agree with the general fandom sentiment that the recently aired third season of The Gilded Age was the best one yet. A whole lot happened, and the creative team did an impressive job of juggling a bunch of storylines and giving them a good time of screentime (all things considered).

With George having been shot in the previous episode (you can watch my episodic recap videos over on The Geekiary YouTube channel), ‘My Mind Is Made Up’ opened with George (Morgan Spector) being rushed home from his office. Taking him to the hospital was out of the question because, of course, someone like George would want to keep things hush-hush from society.

Even though the family doctor was called, it was incredibly fortunate that William (Jordan Donica) was right across the street during that time talking with Peggy (Denée Benton). He rushed to the Russell estate and immediately began treating George. With Marian (Louisa Jacobson) having second thoughts about breaking her engagement with Larry (Harry Richardson), it made sense for her to follow suit. She needed to be with the Russells during such an event. I liked how she jumped into action, literally climbing on top of the table being used as an operating table by William to try and keep George alive.

The camera took a moment to showcase Bertha’s (Carrie Coon) expression during such a scene. It was at that instant that Bertha was more than willing to accept Marian as Larry’s wife-to-be. Again, it wasn’t as if Bertha disliked Marian. In a sense, no one disliked Marian. She’s a kind woman who spoke her mind without causing drama and disagreements. It’s just that after having married Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) off to Duke Hector (Ben Lamb), Bertha wanted Larry to marry a woman of high repute.

However, Marian’s courage and determination to save George had made her, as Bertha later put it, see Marian through Larry’s eyes. And she was more than happy to accept her into the family if Larry and Marian’s engagement could get back on track (which I’ll get to in a bit).

As for William, I liked how the writers handled him operating on George. One of the best things about The Gilded Age is that the narrative doesn’t shy away from portraying the experiences of the African-American community during the 1880s. Even though William had taken the Hippocratic Oath, it would have been understandable if he were unwilling to treat George, especially without proper medical equipment. As George later stated, William took an immense risk that night because if George had died, there would have been certain people ready to prosecute William for medical malpractice, their anger amped up by the fact that he’s a Black man.

I enjoyed William’s addition during the third chapter of The Gilded Age. His character and family showed a very different type of Black family during the 1880s, living in Newport. William’s mother, Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad), had a storyline that involved how light-skinned Black people experienced privilege over dark-skinned Black people. Elizabeth also looked down on Black people whose family members were recent freed/runaway slaves, such as Peggy’s father, Arthur (John Douglas Thompson).

Not wanting William to marry Peggy, Elizabeth caused a whole lot of drama by bringing up Peggy’s unfortunate past. I enjoyed the scene where Peggy’s mother, Dorothy (Audra McDonald), stood up to Elizabeth and brought her down a few notches. If there’s one thing Dorothy won’t allow, it would be anyone making Peggy feel less than anyone else.

William wanting time to think about his romance with Peggy after learning about her past and having talked to her directly was understandable. However, he loved Peggy, and I was so glad the finale showed William proposing to her at the ball. The entire scene, complete with time slowing down once Peggy noticed William walking toward her, was shot well. Peggy deserves all the happiness.

Even though Peggy’s an ambitious professional woman who also stands up for women’s rights, she wants to be a wife as well. So, it will be interesting to see her juggling her roles once season 4 comes around.

As for the other romance, Larry not accepting Marian’s apology also made sense to me. Not only was Larry under extreme emotional pressure after George got shot, he also didn’t like the fact that Marian didn’t trust his word when he told her he got up to nothing distasteful on the night he went out to meet his friends.

Though the writers kind of dragged out the drama between the two during the finale, it was clear they were going to mend things before the episode ended. At this point, everyone, including Agnes (Christine Baranski), was okay with Larry marrying Marian. The two came to an understanding that they will continue to have disagreements, but as George advised Larry, marriage is about weighing those disagreements against the things you love about your spouse, and more often than not, love wins.

So, yeah, I think the fourth season will feature two weddings, Marian to Larry and Peggy to William. I’m so here for the glamor!

Marriage was a big narrative throughline during The Gilded Age season 3. We got to see Gladys being married off to Hector against her will. And we got to see Bertha taking a stand during the finale to support female divorcees and prevent them from being cast out of society. With how things progressed between Bertha and George, there might be a possibility that Bertha was into supporting divorced women like Aurora (Kelli O’Hara) and Charlotte (Hannah Shealy) because she wanted to get the ball rolling to be able to preserve her status if George decided to divorce her down the line.

I highly doubt George will divorce Bertha in season 4. But I think the writers will use their marital issues to continue causing a whole lot of drama before the inevitable reunion between the two. For those wondering, while I agree that Bertha was quite ruthless in how she managed her family during the third season, I do feel George treated her unfairly.

His biggest argument was that he felt he had failed Gladys as a father when he was forced to walk her down the aisle to marry Hector. And though Gladys and Hector came to an understanding and were now happily married, Bertha had decided to take a huge gamble on their daughter’s future, and George wasn’t ready to let go of said decision… yet.

With Gladys having told Bertha about being pregnant during the final moments of ‘My Mind Is Made Up’, I hope she realizes that George and Larry were ganging up on Bertha. I would like to see Gladys take an active role in trying to mend things between George and Bertha. Yes, Bertha risked Gladys’s life, but fortunately that turned out well for her. So I think Gladys can help George find it in his heart to accept their current circumstances and forgive Bertha, and most importantly, himself.

The queer representation caused some uproar in the fandom when the writers decided to kill off Oscar’s ex-boyfriend John right in front of his eyes in episode 6. Following that, episode 7 allowed Oscar to share his feelings about the tremendous loss, coming incredibly close to stating he was a gay man in front of Agnes, Ada (Cynthia Nixon), and Marian. However, Marian was able to handle the situation and consoled Oscar, more or less, showing her support even though she wasn’t sure about the entire queer situation with her cousin.

The finale set things up for Oscar (Blake Ritson) in an interesting manner. He reconnected with Enid (Kelley Curran), now a very rich widow, and the two seemed to have agreed upon a lavender marriage. Oscar had the connections Enid needed to continue moving in society, and Enid had the money Oscar could invest and help grow. I don’t know if the writers will give Oscar another male love interest during the fourth season, but regardless, I’m here for Oscar and Enid climbing the social ladder. Bertha will likely have a thing or two to say about it.

Another person who will likely need to figure out his new place in society is Jack (Ben Ahlers). His invention led to him earning a lot of money. However, he’s unaware of moving in society as a distinguished man after being a footman. He also can’t hang out with his peers, the staff at the Van Rhijns. But I think he will figure it out. Marian and Larry will surely help out where they can.

As for Agnes and Ada, the finale had Agnes accept Ada as the head of the household. Took her long enough. Ha!

I doubt she will stay quiet as Ada continues to run things, but it was still nice of Agnes to give Ada what she’s wanted for a while now. Also, being made the Vice President of the New York Heritage Society will keep Agnes busy.

Like I said, I’m very excited about The Gilded Age season 4 after how ‘My Mind Is Made Up’ ended. There’s still so much story to tell with this cast of characters, and I would like them to return as soon as possible.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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