‘The Gilded Age’ Finale: Louisa Jacobson on That Ada Twist & Marian’s Future
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 2 finale.]
Everything has changed after The Gilded Age Season 2 finale. Sunday’s episode revealed the victor of the opera war, confirmed a new but long-suspected romance, and delivered a Van Rhijn family cliffhanger in the final seconds that won’t be addressed until the potential third season of the HBO period drama. The Gilded Age Season 2 was delightfully fun TV with every episode, building and improving upon the Season 1 foundation. Fans (and we) are already clamoring for a renewal, but that’s a ways away. For now, let’s dive into the delicious Gilded Age finale twists with Louisa Jacobson (Marian Brook), executive producer/writer Sonja Warfield, series creator Julian Fellowes, and more.
Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) and Mrs. Astor’s (Donna Murphy) opera war came to a head in Episode 8. After much social campaigning and private plotting — and some battles won by the queen of the old-money crowd — Bertha and her Metropolitan Opera won the glamorous war. She not only pulled off a sold-out opening night at the fledgling opera house, but she also secured her center box from Mr. and Mrs. Winterton (Dakin Matthews and Kelley Curran) and wrested the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb) from Mrs. Astor and the Academy of Music’s opening night.
The Metropolitan Opera was, indeed, the place to be because of the Duke’s presence, but his attendance came at a price that Bertha was willing to pay: a marriage to her daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga). The final moments in the Metropolitan showed George Russell (Morgan Spector) seething over Bertha’s scheme, and this may be something they can’t come back from. As Spector told TV Insider, this is “going to be an enormous point of conflict” for George and Bertha moving forward. “He’s really planted his flag on this one thing,” he says, “and [Bertha’s] just completely ignored him.”
Barbara Nitke/HBO
While Aunt Agnes (Christine Baranski) attended the Academy’s lackluster opening night, the newly single Marian sat in the Russell’s box at the Metropolitan. Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) escorted her home, and they kissed on Marian’s front steps. Fans have been shipping “Larian” all season long, and it wasn’t hard to tell that Marian wouldn’t commit to her engagement with the ill-suited Dashiell (David Furr). Jacobson tells TV Insider that she and Richardson didn’t know about their characters’ romance until they got the scripts for Season 2, but she was “really excited” by the development.
“We have good chemistry together on screen, and I personally have been wanting that to happen, so I was very excited when I found that out,” she shares. Fellowes says he knew Larian would happen in the early days of the series but first wanted to have Marian explore the question of, “Do I keep trying for what I really want or should I settle for what’s OK?” Once Jacobson and Richardson learned of their characters’ entwined fates, Jacobson says it added “a little glimmer in the eye” in their scenes this season.
“All the little interaction scenes we had on 61st Street, I think knowing that the end would play out as it does allowed us to have a little sparkle of a flirt,” she shares. “In terms of working with [Richardson] on set, he’s so great. It’s totally friendly. He’s such a funny guy. He’s just super warm and easy to work with.”
“I think there’s so much potential there,” Jacobson adds of Marian and Larry’s future. “I also think it just makes sense that Marian would want to spend a little more time with that family [the Russells] because they’re so modern and forward thinking and they move the city forward. I think that’s really exciting for Marian.”
Barbara Nitke/HBO
The biggest moment of the finale took place not in an opera house, but in the Van Rhijn home. The widowed Ada (Cynthia Nixon) received the bombshell news that her gone-too-soon husband, Reverend Luke Forte (Robert Sean Leonard), was filthy rich and left her everything. He came from old money in Boston but turned to a life in the church instead of wielding his inheritance. This was a life-changing development for Agnes, Ada, Marian, and Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson) after Oscar squandered nearly all of Agnes’ fortune in a dirty scheme ran by Maud Beaton (Nicole Brydon Bloom).
Ada’s sudden inheritance meant she could stop Agnes from having to sell the house, but it also meant she now runs the house. Now it’s Agnes who must rely on her sister’s money, and it’s Ada to whom the Van Rhijn household staff will answer. Butler Bannister (Simon Jones) showed his loyalty to the woman paying his wages, showing Agnes how quickly the tables have turned on her. Ada is effectively new money now, and woe to anyone who’s in the room when Agnes learns of Marian’s romance with the new-money Russell heir.
Where exactly a potential third season would pick up after this cliffhanger is not a topic that’s been discussed just yet, Warfield shares. That’s something to be decided if/when they get the Season 3 green light. But going into Season 2, Warfield says, “We did want to upend that power dynamic. Ada had really been oppressed by Agnes.” Last year, Baranski and Nixon warned of a “tectonic shift” to come between the sisters in Season 2. Now we know what they meant. But Warfield implies this life-changing power flip won’t cause an irreparable rift between Agnes and Ada moving forward.
“The thing about siblings is, you can fight with your sibling like you fight with no one else on this earth, but in the end, you can still come together and be sisters or brothers. We have so many places to go,” she explains, adding that, “Ada’s so interesting because she’s old money, but now she’s got money from her husband, which is old money, but she’s sort of new money because she’s never really controlled the money. It’ll be fun.”
Barbara Nitke/HBO
Jacobson says Marian and Ada’s Season 2 dynamic became more like a mother-daughter bond. Ada getting a love story, and Marian getting to support her lovely aunt in that dream-come-true experience, “was a real gift to” her and Nixon. “I think the other gift in Season 2 from Julian and Sonja was this dynamic in the household that was almost abusive from Agnes to Ada. I would say it was … It’s very, very troubling to witness something like that in a household and for someone to be treated like that. So that was a gift for me as an actor to really want to stand by Ada and be there for her and be her best man and kind of soothe her and love her. I think it was really nice.”
Warfield confirms that Larian has been brewing since Season 1, even if the actors didn’t know it. She can’t wait to write Agnes’ reaction to that pairing and the idea of having the Russells as in-laws. Now that she’s no longer providing the roof over everyone’s heads, however, her disapproval will matter little. This is the same woman who couldn’t stomach the idea of having soup at luncheon. Can you imagine how she’ll act in response to real consequences? What a juicy dynamic to give an actor like Baranski.
“My long game is to completely undo Agnes,” Warfield says with a smile. “She’s kind of my favorite character to love and hate. And so I just want to see her just be unraveled in a way, but still maintain decorum and her witty retorts.”
Ada’s Season 2 plot was tightly tethered to Agnes, but this season was also about her coming into her own. Luke gave her that opportunity, and with the inheritance she can be truly independent for the first time ever. Some fans on social media feared Luke’s story would end with a reveal that his love for Ada was a lie. Jacobson laughs and says “dying is so much better” than learning that Luke was a scammer like Maud.
Ada “deserved to know what it’s like to be loved,” Warfield explains. “It’s empowering in that time period. That’s how women had power, through marriage. I wanted to put her relationship with Agnes under pressure and stop Agnes from being so oppressive and give Ada a voice and independence.”
Mission accomplished. What did you think of The Gilded Age Season 2? Let us know in the comments below.
The Gilded Age, Seasons 1 & 2 Available Now, Max
