‘The Gilded Age’ Season 4 Star Taissa Farmiga Talks Gladys’ “Intense” First Episode
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for the first episode of The Gilded Age Season 4.
Duchess Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) has more challenges to face in Season 4 of The Gilded Age following her arranged marriage to Hector, the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb).
The first episode of Season 4 plunges viewers into Gladys’ struggle in the throes of childbirth across the pond.
“I was thinking ‘This poor girl does not get a break,’” Farmiga said of her reaction to reading the script for the premiere episode. “She has a very privileged life, but honestly, all of Season 3 was clearly an emotional roller coaster with being forced into this arranged marriage that she thought was going to be a hellish nightmare.”
Though theirs became a true love match over time, Gladys was not happy at first about the arrangement by her mother Bertha (Carrie Coon). She also moved far away to Sidmouth Castle in England, where she and her husband now reside, following the lavish wedding ceremony.
“In the end, she did find a loving partner, a human who chooses her and [whom] she has a connection with,” Farmiga continued. “So she was starting in a place of what I thought would be happiness and contentment, but of course, the first moment you see Gladys’s face in Season 4 is a bit intense.”
Luckily Bertha Russell is present as her daughter gives birth, though she watches in horror as the doctor called to the castle to aid Gladys in labor says the Duke may have to choose between mother and child if the doctor cannot save them both from a breach birth.
“The thing about Taisa Farmiga is that she’s great. She’s great on her take, but she’s also great on your take,” Coon said of her costar. “And Taissa has the stamina and the capacity to bring that all day long, which makes it easier for the other actors who are interacting with her. That’s always a joy, and she makes it really scary and easy to do that work.”
It’s really Glady’s lady’s maid Adelheid Weber (Erin Wilhelmi), though, who saves Her Grace’s life when she tucks the Duchess in post-birth and finds Gladys is still bleeding. She calls in Mrs. Russell and Dr. Thomas, who rushes to stop the hemorrhage, but it comes at a drastic consequence for Gladys, whose uterus has to be removed in order to stem the blood flow. This means she won’t be able to give birth to any more children.
The doctor then places the news with the Duke, and Bertha by extension as she is present, telling Hector that it is now his information to share with his wife. Bertha consoles the Duke as the news sinks in for them both and advises him to let Gladys heal and get stronger before he informs her of the surgery needed to save her life.
“Bertha almost loses her daughter. She almost lost her grandson, and, within a year, she almost lost her husband, and I think what that means for Bertha is that her priorities have never been more clear,” Coon added.
Gladys’ mother also shares with her daughter that Hector chose his wife over the baby if it wouldhave come down to only saving one during labor.
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