What makes a happy marriage on The Gilded Age? Season four has surprising answers

Is a happy marriage even possible in the world of HBO's The Gilded Age? Across four seasons, that's still somewhat of an open question.

The wedding of Enid Winterton and Oscar van Rhijn that opens season four of the Julian Fellowes drama makes good sense by the standards of 1880s New York. Enid, once a lady's maid, is a wealthy widow. Oscar has lost his fortune, but his family name can get Enid invited into houses where she might once have been expected to use the servants' entrance. What neither could have counted on was how much they would enjoy each other's company once they got home.

Taissa Farmiga, who plays Bertha Russell's daughter Gladys, counts herself among the show's devoted fans. One of her particular pleasures in the latest season, which has premiered on OSN+ in the Middle East, has been watching Kelley Curran and Blake Ritson play the newlyweds when Enid and Oscar have the house to themselves.

“It's my favourite thing. You haven't seen two people so comfortable with each other in the middle of their living room,” she tells The National.

Ritson worked out how Oscar would sit in a chair long before he had Enid for company. Reading Edith Wharton, he came across a character described as having “lounging grace”, which he immediately recognised in Oscar. The costume department even made him a shirt with a soft front so he could slouch without creasing it.

Whenever Oscar settled into a chair, his mother Agnes, played by Christine Baranski, would give him a disapproving look. Now Oscar and Enid are “just slouching together, and there are no looks”, Ritson says.

“So much of their life is performance in public, and so much of their energy goes into guarding their true identities,” Curran says. At home, they have the relief of being with somebody “who knows it and who cares about you anyway and who supports you anyway”.

Show caption: Set in 1880s New York, HBO's The Gilded Age explores the liv…

That newfound confidence is apparent in the premiere, when Agnes confronts Enid about her past as Bertha's maid. Once, Enid would have dreaded such a question. This time, she admits it without hesitation, surprising even Curran when she first read the script.

Oscar has spent much of his life concealing his personal life, aware of the consequences of discovery. Ritson admits that when he first took on the role, he thought Oscar's pursuit of wealth was motivated chiefly by greed and a mischievous desire to disrupt society. Four seasons later, he understands him differently.

“He's trying to safeguard himself,” Ritson says. “He's trying to protect himself. It's all a shield. It's protection.”

Ritson calls it an “unusual alliance”, born of a shared determination to make their way through a society that has little sympathy for either of them. He even suggests theirs is “possibly the happiest marriage on the show”.

Bertha (Carrie Coon) and George Russell (Morgan Spector) have long enjoyed a similar understanding. Early in the series, when New York society snubs Bertha by moving a charity bazaar out of her ballroom, George turns up at the rival event and buys everything on every stall. He understands exactly how much the slight has hurt her without needing to be told.

Their daughter's marriage, however, proves a far more serious test. George had promised Gladys she could marry for love, but Bertha was determined to secure an English duke for her daughter. George ultimately helped negotiate the dowry, and the disagreement drove the couple apart at the end of season three.

Show caption: Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell finds herself navigating ma…

When season four begins, Bertha is in England with Gladys, while George is in New York recovering from the shooting that nearly killed him. They are beginning to find their way back to each other, but their reconciliation is far from straightforward.

“What I love is that it feels really real to me,” Coon says. “The idea that one partner goes through something existential that they have not yet processed, and therefore they cannot effectively communicate what they're going through and what they need to their partner, and their partner is left in the dark trying to grasp at anything to try to figure out what they can do to help – that to me feels like any marriage.”

Coon recognises the difficulty from her own relationship with actor and playwright Tracy Letts.

“My husband is 15 years older than me. There are things he's dealing with now that I will not be able to relate to until I'm 61,” she says. “We are in some ways really far apart in some spiritual fundamental ways, and yet every single day we still have to figure out how to find each other inside that marriage.”

Bertha has always been the person George could tell what he really thought. Now he needs to be able to express his anger with her, too, and Bertha must be willing to hear it. Their marriage has survived years of challenges because they trusted one another, but that trust has been damaged. Neither can simply assume it will return.

Coon believes the experience could ultimately bring the Russells to “a more galvanised and profound understanding” of each other. Even after years together, they are having to learn how to communicate all over again.

Show caption: Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell and Morgan Spector as George R…

Peggy Scott (Denee Benton) is preparing for a wedding of her own, and has every reason to be optimistic. Her fiance, Dr William Kirkland (Jordan Donica), loves her despite the objections of his mother Elizabeth (Phylicia Rashad), who initially disapproved of Peggy's background. Her first book has also just been published, the culmination of years spent trying to establish herself as a journalist.

Yet the world she is marrying into may prove less accepting than the man himself. Elizabeth is deeply concerned with the family's standing in New York's wealthy black society, and barely acknowledges Peggy's achievement when she proudly shows her the book. She is much more enthusiastic about bringing Peggy into the right social circles. William, meanwhile, is eager to have children, although Peggy is less certain about starting a family so soon.

“Peggy is facing how to balance power and love,” Benton says, describing the difficulty of “centring marriage and ambition at the same time as a modern girl of her time”.

William has already defied his mother to be with Peggy, but the expectations of his family will not disappear once they are married. As Mrs Kirkland, Peggy will have a position in society that her future mother-in-law considers a considerable achievement. Whether that position will leave room for her own ambitions is another question.

Show caption: Denee Benton as Peggy Scott and Jordan Donica as Dr William …

Peggy may have found a husband who loves her for who she is, yet marriage could demand that she surrender some of the independence she has fought so hard to achieve. Social standing may satisfy the Kirklands, but it offers little consolation if Peggy must set aside the work and ambitions that give her life fulfilment. Even with William's affection, her happiness is far from assured.

Oscar and Enid, meanwhile, are still dancing when they get home on their wedding night. Enid wants to hold a salon for artists, and Oscar likes the idea. She once helped Bertha dress for parties like the one she is imagining. What is new for Enid is having someone she can tell how badly she's always wanted to give such a party herself.

“What you want in a marriage is to be seen, accepted and loved,” Farmiga says. “And against all odds, in an unconventional fashion, they seem to have found that.”

Now, as the latest season of the increasingly popular series unfolds, we will see if that apparent happiness can truly hold in a world with as many complications as this.

The Gilded Age season four releases weekly on OSN+ in the Middle East