'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Does Gladys Get Married?

The fourth episode of The Gilded Age is all about the Duke and Gladys’ wedding. But in it, we see that Gladys has entirely given up on her life, not leaving her room at all in the days counting down to her wedding. Additionally, there’s a new woman in town, and she is Bertha’s sister, a loud and almost obnoxious woman who is entirely the opposite of Bertha because she doesn’t hold her tongue or follow the rules. It’s definitely interesting to get a glimpse into Bertha’s past. Meanwhile, downstairs, John’s got a new deal, but is it really what he wanted? On the other hand, the fake French chef has a question to ask, but he’s not going to get the answer he expected. With that said, though, let’s jump into episode 4.

Spoiler Alert

Does Ada Get To Communicate With Luke? 

The Gilded Age episode 4 begins with Bertha training the staff for the grand wedding situation coming their way. The only question on everyone’s mind, though, is “Will Miss Gladys be joining us?” Meanwhile, the conflict between Mrs. Forte and Mrs. Van Rhijn has taken a new form. While Ada seems to be all smiles, she’s definitely taking small jabs at Agnes, even if they might not be on purpose. In the runup to the Russell wedding, Agnes buys a new dress, though Ada doesn’t think it necessary (for herself that is). However, Ada does intend to look into how Agnes has spent her money, because it is, after all, Ada’s money. While this is exactly how Agnes has been treating Ada all these years, Agnes seems to think Ada is overstepping. Agnes tells Ada she’s going to a charity event, and Ada asks her how long she’ll be, because she’s invited someone over whom Agnes will obviously not approve of. However, things don’t work out as Ada hoped because Agnes isn’t the person invited to the charity; Ada is. See, Ada’s paying the bills, so it’s her name on the card. However, more importantly, Agnes sees that Ada is partaking in the occult by trying to “call upon” Luke with a strange woman and the cook. Ada has no choice but to send her away for the time being. While they both believe in life after death, Agnes is certain that Ada is taking the wrong path. She is a controlling older sister after all. 

Is Jack Rich Now?

Meanwhile, Jack and Larry have been invited back to the clock manufacturer’s shop, but Jack doesn’t know why. When they get there, Jack wonders if they’re going to steal his idea despite the patent, but Larry reassures him. It’s all so sudden that Jack doesn’t even have the time to be shocked, never mind process the resulting discussion. The manufacturer wants to buy the clock and the patent for 600,000 dollars, a sum of money that Jack never even imagined in all his life. Suddenly, Larry’s making the deal, but Jack doesn’t even get a say in anything. Jack believed he’d be spending all his time from now on working on clocks, but instead, he’s now got more money than even Ada and Agnes. Jack doesn’t know how to process any of this, and he tells the cook about it. She tells him to continue working for Ada and Agnes for the time being (obviously after she dropped her glass because of the shock of 300,000 dollars). I do think it’s a little bit unfair that Larry gets half the amount, seeing as Jack did all the work. It should’ve been at least 60-40, if not more. 

How Does Marian Become Gladys’ Bridesmaid? 

In the middle of all the chaos, one of Gladys’ bridesmaids can’t make it to the wedding, so Larry decides to convince his mother to make Marian the final bridesmaid. Bertha hates this idea because no matter how nice Marian is as a person and how much her kids like her, she doesn’t match the standard Bertha wants for her family. But don’t be confused; giving her the green signal to be a bridesmaid isn’t the same as allowing her to marry her only son. Meanwhile, there’s another burden on Bertha’s shoulders, because her sister Monica has been invited to the wedding thanks to correspondence with Larry. Bertha is clearly not too pleased to see her sister there, though the others seem happy to see her. Bertha’s simply too embarrassed by both her past and her sister’s behavior. Monica already knows that Gladys is likely not going to be happy in this marriage, but Bertha refuses to acknowledge it because she believes in her heart that power is the most important thing in the world. Marian is sure that Bertha doesn’t approve of her, but Agnes tells her that Bertha will be happy to have her, making her niece very happy. 

On the other hand, while Peggy and Kirkland’s relationship might be slowly progressing, Mrs. Kirkland certainly thinks it isn’t serious. She also continues to insult Peggy’s family’s history, which is why her father refuses to see the Kirklands at all. At the same time, with just days to the wedding, Bertha’s secrets are all over the news, making it seem like someone in the house is leaking secret information, like Gladys’ underwear may be getting monogrammed. At night, Bertha purposely gives Monica hot coffee while they’re dining with the Duke and her sister to kill two birds with one stone. She wants Monica to wear a different dress to the wedding, and she wants her to stop interrogating the Duke’s sister about whether she’ll be living with Gladys and Hector even after the wedding (accomplished because she drops the coffee on her dress). Meanwhile, Bertha gets Marian to talk Gladys into making the right choice, because it is nearly the day of the wedding, and she’s still not happy about the idea. Marian tells Gladys about how some arranged marriages have worked much better than love matches, but Gladys asks her what she would do in her position. Marian tells her that they’re entirely different people and Marian isn’t a public figure. It might not be a helpful discussion, really, but it does make Gladys consider the prospects. 

But the real problem here is that George is losing investors because it seems his company isn’t doing very well, and nobody trusts Russell Industries when there is a banking crisis in New York. Essentially, everybody is angry that Russell is putting in too much money, when he doesn’t have any to spend. But George is sure that he’s going to make America the best country in the world with his railway plans, and he’s going to get the money he needs one way or another. But for the time being, he has to marry his daughter off to someone she doesn’t like. 

Does Gladys Get Married? 

On the other hand, there’s a scandal involving Mrs. Aster’s daughter, and though she doesn’t love the Russells, she tells her daughter that she will not take her to the wedding because it would bring them shame. She also tells her daughter that she won’t have to deal with divorced parents, as if it’s a good thing, but her daughter believes otherwise. Unfortunately, such is life in high society. But this conversation certainly weighs down on Mrs. Aster, because at the wedding, she feels like everyone is out to get her. 

On the day of the wedding, Gladys is still not ready to come out of her room, so George gives her the pep talk she needs (since she’s not talking to Bertha at all). George tells her that backing out now will damage her reputation much more than Hector’s, but if she really doesn’t want to do this, he will be there to support her. He is also not sure of Bertha’s choice for their daughter, but he tells Gladys he’ll wait downstairs for 10 minutes before sending word to the church. Meanwhile, the chef at the Russells asks Mrs. Bruce to marry him, only to find out that she’s been married all along and that her husband is in a hospital. Of course, there’s no question of divorce, but even if there were, Mrs. Bruce doesn’t want to leave him at such a time. 

At the end of The Gilded Age episode 4, Gladys finally shows up to get married, but she is crying her eyes out. It seems Hector isn’t too bothered by this. Of course, he’s the only one to be able to see her tears. They both say their “I dos” and are ready to be shipped off to England. On the ship, you can already tell what the power dynamic of this couple is going to be because, despite Gladys implying that she’s tired, Hector asks her to go to bed with him so they can properly become “man and wife.” Also, I don’t quite like his sister at all, and I have a feeling Bertha’s decision was the wrong one. But I really hope I’m wrong. 

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