‘The Gilded Age’ Creator Unpacks Shocking S3 Plot Twist Fans Saw Coming All Along
The tension between Bertha and George has been rising ever since the wedding episode, and fans knew exactly how it could play out in the season finale.
The wait is finally over for The Gilded Age’s fans now that the third season’s final episode has given a resolution to a bunch of issues. But not all of them got a happy ending.
Quite a lot has been happening in the show’s most recent episodes, but the drama started swirling right after that crucial decision that Bertha makes to secure her daughter Gladys’ careless future.
However, while Bertha was just fine with how things turned out for Gladys, her husband George wasn’t really happy about him failing to keep his promise to his daughter.
Despite this not being addressed in The Gilded Age for a while, Bertha and George’s fallout for this reason in the finale has been something that many fans predicted a long time ago.
What Happens to George and Bertha in ‘The Gilded Age’ Season 3 Finale? (Heavy Spoilers Ahead!)
Picking the story up where episode 7 left it, the final episode sees George recovering after being shot and gradually realizing he has to stand up to his own principles before Bertha turns him into her puppet.
Particularly, Gladys’ wedding became the point of no return as Bertha got what she wanted despite George promising his daughter that she would be able to marry the one she truly loves.
Since this never happened anyway, George felt like he let Bertha use his children for fulfilling her personal ambitions and never really got over it. This is why he finally reveals all his thoughts to Bertha and leaves, making it unclear whether they would survive as a couple in The Gilded Age’s season 4.
This happens right before Bertha is about to tell George that their daughter Gladys is pregnant.
‘The Gilded Age’ Creator Says Bertha Made George “Act Against His Instincts”
As George himself stresses in the conversation with Bertha, he’s a tough guy when it comes to business, but he will do whatever it takes to protect his children, even if he has to protect them from their own mother.
According to The Gilded Age’s showrunner Julian Fellowes, Gladys’ (initially) unfortunate fate is what George can’t forgive both Bertha and himself for.
“For Bertha, Gladys and the duke are happy, they’re getting along, what’s the problem? Everything’s fine. Whereas for George, it’s a deeper consideration. But what almost frightens George is that his wife has been able to manipulate him into doing something with which he completely disagrees”, Fellowes revealed in an interview with Deadline ahead of the finale’s release on August 10.
