'The Gilded Age' Season 4, Episode 2 Recap: Marian and Larry Are Breaking My Heart, Y'all

George Russell is out for vengeance.

The episode definitely starts off with a bang when George Russell (Morgan Spector) finds his would-be assassin, removes him from his house in the middle of the night, and then doesn't give him up to the cops. There's this very interesting struggle we see George undergoing internally that I think frames the episode in a really nice way. So let's put a pin in that because I'm gonna come back to it.

I do really miss George and Bertha (Carrie Coon) actually acting like the couple we know and love. I need that to come back ASAP.

Larry and Marian are breaking my heart in 'The Gilded Age' season 4.

Marian (Louisa Jacobson) and Larry (Harry Richardson) are still not really talking, and it just makes me sad. I will say Larry saying that now that they've slept together, they have an excuse to get married and then Marian asking, "So you need an excuse to marry me?" That was a bar. That broke my heart.

But at the moment, Marian does have more important things to worry about because she's got a new job at a settlement house in the Lower East Side, and feels really strongly about helping the community. But then she turns around and puts her foot in her mouth when a little boy is injured at work (because, remember, this is a pre-child labor law in New York City).

Out of confusion, Marian asks the mom a ton of questions like, "He can't go to work tomorrow. What do you mean?" And then she realizes he has to work so that the family can eat. It opens Marian's eyes to another side of living in New York that she has not experienced. That is definitely one of the memorable parts of the episode for me.

And the van Rhijn's always have something dramatic going on.

Another memorable part of the episode is just the fact that Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and Agnes (Christine Baranski) are constantly fighting and icing each other out. That dynamic is so funny to me. Even if it's not supposed to be funny, their chemistry as sisters is just so good. However, I don't think anything will be quite as entertaining to me as the permanent Enid (Kelley Curran) versus Bertha showdown.

Everybody has a lot going on. Ada needs a new footman, so she hires Oliver (Taylor Trensch), who doesn't really know what he's doing. It's kind of endearing from a storytelling and character perspective, but in the historical context he is really messing up. It definitely provides some levity for the series, but he does not seem to have very good job security because he is not doing a good job.

In 'The Gilded Age' season 4, Peggy and Dr. Kirkland are fighting their own battles.

Peggy (Denée Benton) is having a hard time fitting in with her future mother-in-law Elizabeth Kirkland's (Phylicia Rashad) community. Everybody is low-key judging her book, and it's also kind of clear that her mom (Audra McDonald) might not understand the book either, so Peggy is just kind of trying to make it through...especially when Elizabeth decides to lie and tell everyone Peggy is a widow to cover up her true past. That's crazy.

Elsewhere in the city, Dr. Kirkland (Jordan Donica) is trying to help one of his patients by taking him to the hospital, immediately gets kicked out for being a Black doctor, and then his patient and friend of five years dies. I couldn't believe that. It made me so sad!

And the episode ends with an unexpected surprise.

One of the biggest segments comes at the end of the episode, when all of the characters find themselves at the Metropolitan Opera. This is where a lot of the drama comes in. Agnes doesn't necessarily want to be there since it's a new money endeavor, and her evening gets crashed by a reporter who wants to provide her readers with insight on Agnes preparing to host the president.

And then we also get a moment between Bertha and Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) where Mrs. Astor recommends coming up with a new story for why she's clearly separated from her husband. Mrs. Astor also wants to set her daughter up with Larry, so I'm gonna need Marian and Larry to figure themselves out because he cannot end up with another woman.

When Bertha returns home, she finds Mrs. Morris begging for her son's life (AKA the man who tried to murder George). It all culminates with Bertha and George having this whole conversation about showing mercy, which George ends up doing (to my utter surprise). Bringing it all the way back to the beginning, you can really see George's internal struggle, feeling so aimless and confused about what the future even should hold, and the kind of man he needs to be.

It definitely seems like him and Bertha are mending their relationship near the end, which makes me very happy. We'll have to see what episode 3 holds!