Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 6 – “Heads Have Rolled For Less”
One of the most shocking moments in The Gilded Ageoccurred in episode 6 when Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) broke her rule of never acknowledging her New Money neighbors, George (Morgan Spector) and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon). Aunt Agnes was consumed with rage when she received an anonymous note that her English butler, Bannister (Simon Jones), was moonlighting for Bertha Russell. But is there something else that fueled Mrs. van Rhijn’s fury that led her to actually enter the Russells’ palatial home and violate her most steadfast belief?
Along with Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), Agnes van Rhijn personified Old New York’s rule that New Money millionaire families like the Russells must be shunned from high society. Yet, in spite of Aunt Agnes’ edicts, members of her family and household staff have interacted with and befriended the Russells across 61st Street. In fact, Agnes’ nieces, Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) and Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara), have befriended Bertha Russell and dined at her magnificent palace. Agnes’ son Oscar (Blake Ritson) has also befriended the Russells and he aspires to marry their daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga). Meanwhile, the van Rhijn and Russell servants know each other professionally and Bannister has toured George and Bertha’s home. The very fact that Bannister is an English butler is why Bertha hired him for $100 to replace her own butler, Church (Jack Gilpin), who is American, in order to impress Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane), with an English-style luncheon.
When Agnes received the anonymous note informing her of the horrified Bannister’s betrayal, she impulsively forgot her most important rule and stormed into the Russells’ home. In truth, there was likely a part of Agnes that was curious what Bertha Russell’s palace looked like on the inside. After all, Agnes spent months peering out of her window watching the Russells’ home, the most ostentatious palace on fashionable Fifth Avenue and 61st Street, being built. Further, so many of the people in her household have been inside and sang the Russells’ praises that it likely chipped away at Aunt Agnes’ resolve, even if she would never admit it. Mrs. van Rhijn must have been secretly curious all along. Despite repeatedly vocalizing her cherished beliefs, Agnes is only human and she likely desired to finally see Bertha’s house for herself. Agnes’ sudden fury that Bannister lied to her was the perfect excuse to break her own New Money rule.
To Agnes’ shock (as well as Bannister’s), she instantly regretted her hasty decision when she saw she interrupted Bertha’s luncheon with her nieces, Marian and Aurora, Mr. Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel), the “adventurer” who means to marry Marian, and Ward McAllister. Making matters worse, Agnes’ lady’s maid, Armstrong (Debra Monk), told Mrs. van Rhijn that she saw Oscar behaving intimately with Turner (Kelley Curran), Bertha Russell’s treacherous lady’s maid. The fact that nearly everyone in her home who Agnes intimately trusts double-crossed her and dismissed Mrs. van Rhijn’s beliefs of preserving Old New York’s values against New Money was almost too much to bear.
The old age that “curiosity killed the cat” may prove true in The Gilded Age, not just for Aunt Agnes but also for Bannister, Marian, Aurora, and Oscar. Mrs. van Rhijn allowed her fury to overwhelm her resolve and she was nearly humiliated at the Russells’ luncheon, were it not for Marian and Aurora thinking quickly and helping her save face. While Aunt Agnes broke her own rule, in spite of herself, at least now her curiosity of what’s behind the walls of the Russells’ home is satisfied in The Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age airs Mondays @ 9pm on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
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