The Gilded Age: Revisiting key events of Season 2 as Season 3 nears premiere

With season 3 of The Gilded Age premiering on Sunday, June 22, 2025, at 9:00 PM ET/PT on HBO and Max, there is increased anticipation for returning to the soap-opera-lined New York streets of the 1880s. Lauded for its acerbic critique of America's old money versus new money battles, The Gilded Age keeps wowing viewers with the social schemes that have been initiated from the beginning.

As the series goes into its next phase, the fans are looking back at Season 2—a season of social conflict, self-realization, and turning points that led to where things would go next. Season 2 of The Gilded Age did more than pick up where character development had ended—it ramped it up. From Bertha Russell's dogged rise to the upper echelons of society to Marian Brook's subtle rebellion against family norms, each story followed the changing cultural terrain of America in the years after the Civil War.

By its period context as background and motivation, The Gilded Age Season 2 carried historical issues like labor unrest, racial injustice, and gender into the foreground of the series. Before entering the next season, let's take a close examination of the key events and tensions that shaped Season 2.

---

Bertha Russell's social conquest: The opera rivalry

The main story arc of Season 2 of The Gilded Age was that of Bertha Russell's dogged pursuit of acceptance by society. Having been rejected by the old money elite in Season 1, Bertha doubled her efforts to gain some ground in New York high society. She worked on the opera scene, where she countered the Academy of Music's hegemony by being a friend to the upstart Metropolitan Opera House.

This was not merely about art—this was a struggle for cultural legitimacy. The Academy was protected by New York's bluest-blood families, and the Met represented the ascendancy of industrial capital. Bertha's arrival underscored how culture became a battleground during the competition between old money and the nouveau riche drive. Her victories and misfortunes during the season exposed the ruthlessness and calculation needed to climb The Gilded Age's stringy social hierarchy.

---

The Brook family: Parallel lives and family strife

In the Brook family, Season 2 presented a richer picture of conflict within the family. Marian Brook, still reeling from her broken engagement, found her mission in teaching and passive rebellion against the overly stern rules of her Aunt Agnes. Her advocacy of a coeducational school was especially loathsome, as it directly countered the conservative philosophy upon which Agnes existed.

Ada Brook, usually relegated to the sidelines in Season 1, saw her character evolve. She inherited a surprise fortune and, as an aside, took a stand for the first time in decisions that were historically dominated by Agnes. Her newfound independence centered on the subtle evolution in even the most conservative families. In The Gilded Age, the Brooks sisters symbolized the generation gap—a common theme that highlighted much of the conflict and tension throughout Season 2.

---

Peggy Scott's emotional growth and journalism profession

Peggy Scott's story in The Gilded Age Season 2 was outstanding with regards to emotional depth and historical relevance. She had already proved herself as a skilled journalist in Season 1 and proceeded to become more front-and-center in reporting on issues facing the African-American society. She traveled to Alabama with her mother, where she found out a family secret that had been hidden for years: the son whom she had assumed died during birth was alive.

This discovery lent complexity to Peggy's character and brought to the forefront the systemic injustices Black families experienced across the South and North. Her reporting started to touch on not only local concerns but also national concerns. During Peggy's reign, The Gilded Age touched on how Black voices were not able to be heard within communities that were systemically exclusionary of them, and therefore her journey became one that is most rooted in real-world historical strife.

---

Labor discontent and industrial influence: The tests faced by George Russell

George Russell, the Gilded Age's most prominent industry leader and one of its most influential men, was struggling to contend with an intensifying labor revolt in Season 2. A walkout in his steel mill compelled him to face the unsavory truths of exploitation of labor, terrible conditions on the job, and the emergent specter of unionization. His answer was characteristic of the period in its contradictions: to profit from capitalist expansion and yet to silence its growing critics.

The narrative was not necessarily an account of George's dominance; it was an account of the way that The Gilded Age employed single characters to enhance tensions in frameworks. His bargains, setbacks, and conscious conspiracies were a reflection of the true industrial struggles of the 19th century. The season employed George's business transactions to create the observation that economic change once occurred at the cost of the laborer.

---

Oscar van Rhijn: Money, marriage, and concealed motivations

Oscar van Rhijn went about seeking a wealthy marriage, concealing his homosexuality in a world that did not allow open discussion of sexuality. His motive for marrying rich heiress Maud Beaton was not romantic, but rather pragmatic, and his act highlighted the performative nature of marriage among New York's elite society.

Oscar's behavior throughout Season 2 of The Gilded Age was one of an overarching refrain: the compulsion to adhere to social norms to preserve status. His quiet conflict, never openly voiced, contributed to the series' portrayal of repressed revolt under veneers of social propriety. Oscar's evolution served as a reminder of how even the most advantaged victors were bound by privilege, too.

---

Social transformation and female agency

If Season 1 of The Gilded Age seeded social change, then Season 2 watched them sprout. Women throughout society were making drastic decisions—whether it was Marian going into business, Peggy facing uncomfortable realities, or Ada seizing her own agency. These women weren't responding to the world—they hadn't ever stopped responding to it—they were constructing it.

Their changing roles defied the conventions of their day, against conventional frameworks. The season showed how, within the opulent ballrooms and sitting rooms of The Gilded Age, even revolution's earliest stirrings and change were on the horizon. The women's storylines added dimension to the show's historical background, noting that transformation can begin at home.

---

Up next: The path to Season 3

As The Gilded Age returns for its third season, Season 2 loose ends are left hanging in the air. Bertha Russell's position in society, Marian's mixed-up road, Peggy's increased power, and the Russells' dominance of industry—these all hang in the balance. Season 2 set the stage for more heightened clashes and personal accounting in the seasons to follow.

For audiences set to return, The Gilded Age Season 2 provides context. It was a year of culture wars and moral panics, and changing loyalties—each intricately intertwined with the larger story of a nation rebuilding itself. From Fifth Avenue salons to editorial rooms of Black newspapers, The Gilded Age never ventured far from its core question: who was leading, and who got to determine what society ought to be?

In each of its stories, The Gilded Age employed its characters not only as token players but as reflections of an America in states of upheaval. With Season 3 looming on the horizon, understanding how Season 2 unfolded isn't only useful—it's essential. The series continues to be a sketch of an era in which money dominated, yet society was nowhere near cemented.

Also read: The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 1: Release date news, time, streaming details, and more