The Gilded Age recap: Bertha’s big opera war hits a crescendo

Welcome back, Big Hat Hive! Instead of another millinery montage, however, this Sunday’s episode of The Gilded Age season two kicks off with an ode to another of the era’s great accessories: the finger sandwich. Yes, afternoon teas and luncheons abound this week, and they’re serving up more than just sliced cucumber—they’re serving up strategy.

First at the Russell residence, Bertha (Carrie Coon) is hosting yet another get-together to drum up support for the Metropolitan Opera—even allowing Mr. McCallister (Nathan Lane) to bring the Artist Formerly Known as Turner, a.k.a. Mrs. Winterton (Kelley Curran), to the shindig in the hopes of convincing her wealthy husband to buy an opera box. Bertha is clearly not pleased with the idea of socially fraternizing with her former lady’s maid but admits to her husband, “I can’t afford to object, even if it sticks in my craw.”

Not to be outdone by their new-money neighbors, Agnes (Christine Baranski) and Ada (Cynthia Nixon) decide to host their own luncheon at House van Rhijn, but each with their own aims. Ada wants to invite over her clergyman crush Reverend Forte (Robert Sean Leonard), an idea her older sister isn’t cheering (“We have to listen to him drone on all Sunday morning, can the lord really want more from us than that?”) but the function would give her an excuse to extend an invitation to her nephew Dashiell Montgomery (David Furr), whom she wants to officially set up with Marian (Louisa Jacobson). Agnes, where have you been? Those two have been flirting for weeks.

Back at the Russells, the arrival of Turner/Winterton has everyone gagged, particularly her former co-workers on staff. (Of her blatant social-climbing, the no-longer-French “Monsieur” Baudin proclaims: “Wake up, this is America; you could be anything you want. I should know!”) Church (Jack Gilpin) reminds everyone that it’s untoward for servants to discuss the guests of their employers—though we do get a rundown of how Turner’s advantageous marriage occurred, with her sending flattering letters to her now-husband after spotting him (and his wealth) in the newspaper—but the whole lot is having a hard time moving past it.

That includes Bertha. Along with delivering the society-shaking news that the opening night of the Met’s season will occur on October 22, i.e. the same exact night as the Academy of Music’s opening, she’s also forced to go head-to-head with Turner/Winterton. The latter sidles up to thank her host for the invite but to really to brag about her connections to the Duke of Buckingham, who she will be receiving in Newport, and to dig at Bertha’s own social-climbing schemes. “At one time, I knew a woman who was really desperate to get on their list so I feel it would be most ungrateful for me not to enjoy it,” Mrs. Winterton says of her own opera box, telling Bertha she won’t go against her allegiance to the Academy. Upon pushback, the new bride bites: “Are you threatening me with exposure? If you make trouble of me, I will respond in kind.” She sinks her teeth in further by hinting at that nude business with George (Morgan Spector) from last season, which Mr. Russell seemingly hasn’t told his wife about. It goes without saying, but Bertha is reeling.

She later confronts her husband about the Turner/Winterton business, and he admits that “nothing happened…except.” Ooh boy, lesser women have killed over “except.” He explains that, yes, Turner did come into his bed unprompted and, no, she was not clothed, but it’s Hot Beard’s withholding of said information that Bertha takes as the ultimate betrayal. “You allowed me to be waited on, to have my hair done, my clothes changed, by a woman who had been naked with my husband? It’s disgusting!” she tearfully roars before storming out.

George is very much in the doghouse, with his wife choosing to take dinner alone in her room rather than join him at the table. However, Mrs. Russell does dutifully slap on a smile to act as the gracious hostess upon the arrival of Mr. Henderson (Darren Goldstein), the union leader at her husband’s steel mill in Pittsburg. Hot Beard tries to smooth things over with the Knights of Labor head, even offering him a job in management (“Every man living has a price”), but Henderson is budging less than Bertha. “All we’re asking is for you to do the right thing, Mr. Russell,” he tells him. “The future is on our side.”

The only big labor happening over at the Van Rhijn luncheon is Agnes trying to stomach the thought of being served soup in the middle of the day. Much to her disgust, her sister has chosen to ladle up New England clam chowder to their guests because Reverend Forte had mentioned that he’s been searching for an authentic bowl ever since leaving Boston (the way to a man’s heart, yada yada yada.) He’s touched by Ada’s efforts, as well as by their shared appreciation of Adolph Menzel’s watercolor paintings. He later asks her to join him that Saturday at an exhibition of the German artist, which she giddily accepts. However, she must come up with a reason to escape the Van Rhijn residence for a few hours without her judgmental older sis finding out. Thankfully, Marian agrees to walk her to the exhibit to throw off Agnes’ scent, and the resulting day date is seriously sweet. We’re loving this for Ada!

Speaking of Marian, she and Oscar (Blake Ritson) are invited by Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara) to attend a new play by another Oscar—Wilde, that is. Marian spends the runtime cozying up to Dashiell, including offering to escort young Frances to a mother-daughter tea, while Oscar enjoys the humor of Maud Beaton (Nicole Brydon Bloom), who proves to be a good distraction from the fact that both Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) and John Adams (Claybourne Elder) are also in the theater audience.

As for Gladys’ parents, Bertha offers up a chance of penance for her secretive hubby: She wants him to use his shipping contacts and befriend the Duke of Buckingham before Turner/Winterton can get her hands on him. “If I succeed, will I be forgiven for my failing?” Hot Beard begs, but Bertha is firm: “Find the duke, make the introduction and then we’ll talk.”

Stray observations

• Peggy (Denée Benton) is piggybacking her New York Globe editor’s trip down to Tuskegee, Alabama for a story on Booker T. Washington, an excursion that will certainly open up the young writer’s eyes to the realities of her race outside of New York City. (Mr. Fortune, her editor, hasn’t been back down south since he was a slave, he tells her. “I see,” she says, to which he retorts: “No you don’t, because you can’t.”) Dorothy (Audra McDonald) is very worried about her going below the Mason-Dixon line for the first time—“You need to understand that once you cross that line, you are no longer human”—but Peggy is adamant, tearfully telling her mother: “I need to show the world that there are young, colored people really making something of their lives. It gives me a purpose and if I can put my whole self into my work, then I won’t have a spare second to think about my boy.”
• Following an illuminating lunch, Watson (Michael Cerveris) has been given a seemingly impossible offer by his son-in-law, Mr. McNeil (Christopher Denham): He can receive a generous pension and lodging so long as he moves to San Francisco and swears to never see his daughter or grandchildren again. “Goodness me. I suppose that’s not unreasonable?” Church tells him. “Could even be called generous…but it is heartless all the same,” the valet replies. Is Watson heading West?
• There are few in The Gilded Age who could out-bitch Agnes van Rhijn, but leave it to Oscar Wilde himself (played by Jordan Sebastian Waller). In America, he likes “almost everything but the food and the wallpaper,” and he campily dubs the Academy of Music a “yellow-bricked brewery on Broadway and 39th Street…though if it were actually a brewery, someone might hope to get some pleasure from it.” Shade!

Stream The Gilded Age now on Hulu.