The following reveals major plot points from tonight’s episode of HBO‘s The Gilded Age, “Ex-Communicated.”
The Gilded Age has always kept viewers in the loop about Oscar van Rhijn’s (Blake Ritson) sexuality; however, his family is another matter.
In last week’s episode, Oscar’s former lover and friend, John Adams (Claybourne Elder), was tragically killed after a runaway horse and carriage accidentally ran him over. It was a heartbreaking and shocking moment for Oscar and viewers of the series, which is not known for killing people off like many other shows.
Oscar is dealing with extreme grief in “Ex-Communicated” and trying his hardest to seem as minimally affected as possible in an attempt to hide what John really meant to him. He leaves home as normal, with his mother Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), aunt Ada Forte (Cynthia Nixon), and cousin Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) seeing him off. The latter two showed concern for Oscar after the tragedy, but his mother dismissed their worries, saying men don’t feel such things as women do.
Later, Oscar meets with John’s sister, Mrs. Bell, who gifted the former two photos, one of Oscar and one of John, that the latter kept together in a drawer. Oscar is left speechless, not wanting to say the wrong thing to John’s sister. She assures Oscar that John’s secrets were always safe with her, and now, so are Oscar’s. She also addressed the fact that John and her other brothers, as well as her husband, chose to look the other way about anything they suspected about John’s sexuality.
In an unsuspecting surprise, Mrs. Bell revealed that Oscar was to inherit John’s summer home in Livingston Manor, located in upstate New York. “He always meant it for you, if something ever happened to him,” she told a shocked Oscar. Additionally, John left money to pay the cost of the house for five years and a letter.
“He thought of everything,” Oscar tells Mrs. Bell.
She replied, “Oh, he thought of you.”
Although Oscar tried to decline the generous gift left to him by John, his sister insisted that it’s what John wanted. She added, “Just enjoy it and remember John. What happiness he knew, you gave him.”
Oscar’s nightstand with the gifts John’s sister gave to him
Back at the van Rhijn and Forte house, Agnes and Ada were mid-discussion when Oscar returned. The house looked dark and somber, even before heartbroken Oscar entered the room. He declines his mother’s offer of a meal, leaving Ada concerned.
“Is something wrong?” Ada asked Oscar.
He replied in an agitated tone, “No, Nothing’s wrong. Why do you keep asking me that every single blessed day?”
Marian jumps into the conversation, revealing they’re all just concerned about him after the loss of his friend. He tells her he’s perfectly fine, and in fact, John’s death has made him a homeowner. Unaware of Oscar and John’s true feelings for one another, the family questions why someone would gift their friend something so extravagant when the deceased has living relatives.
After so many questions, Oscar buckles under the pressure.
“I agree, it seems odd that he gave more to me dead than when he was alive,” Oscar tells his mother.
She replied, “Oh, don’t be macabre.”
He yells, “How should I be, mama? I can’t be too sad, but I can’t be too cheerful. I’m sure you don’t want to hear that I miss him.”
“You know, I sat in the back row of his funeral like a stranger who walked in to get out of the rain. When I should’ve taken my rightful place,” he added as he burst into tears.
Agnes is utterly confused and demands to know what this is all about. Oscar reached his limit and is ready to reveal his feelings for John, perhaps everything they endured and missed out on, because they would never have been accepted by society. Marian swooped in and stopped him before he could say anything that he might regret. However, the unspoken came through loud and clear. While Marian and Ada tried to smooth things over, Agnes sat in silence. She understood that the pain her son was feeling was much more than that of someone who had lost a friend.
When Oscar ran up to his room, Agnes took a deep breath. With tears in her eyes, she mourned, too.
Baranski and Nixon spoke to Deadline about tonight’s dramatic scene, how Agnes’ silence spoke volumes, and whether they think there should be a proper follow-up chat with Oscar about his sexuality.
DEADLINE: Christine, your performance in the episode “Ex-Communicated” is a master class in revealing a wide variety of deep emotions, processing intensely shocking information very quickly, and telling a story using very few words. What insight can you share about this scene, where Oscar is grieving a man he adored but holding back because he is terrified of being shunned?
CHRISTINE BARANKSI: That was a marvelous scene to film because it went so deep into the heart of something, the love that dares not speak its name. That was a tribute to Blake’s incredible acting and the pain he was going through. You saw the level of anger and pain in him, and regret and loss. When he lashes out, it’s almost frightening. It speaks to the depth of his feelings for this person that he lost. And so it becomes clear as he goes up that staircase that there’s been so much unacknowledged. There are so many feelings going through Agnes: the horror of [what has been unacknowledged] and the sadness of not knowing who her son really is. Imagine my child, and that’s what my child is going through. You don’t think about those things verbally, as when you’re acting it. You allow yourself as an actor to just react.
But in retrospect, I can say, thinking about it, how many different levels there were going on. And what I loved most was when he left, and then there was just this beat of the three women left.
CYNTHIA NIXON: And not being able to look at each other. Not only Agnes and I, but also Marian and I.
CB: It was almost as if we were embarrassed.
CN: It was so shocking. It was so radioactive that we just couldn’t even…
CB: It was a beautifully acted scene by Blake.
DEADLINE: Do you believe this is a conversation that should continue at another time?
CN: Yeah, I don’t know. I think the show deals with it in a very deft way. To pretend that we could have a conversation about it would be very unrealistic.
CB: And also, the truth is revealed by what’s not said. That was sort of brilliant, because it didn’t talk about homosexuality at all. And yet, there it was. It was breathtaking in the acknowledgement, precisely because it wasn’t acknowledged.
DEADLINE: Cynthia, there was a scene between you and Louisa in the same episode where your characters are having a heart-to-heart about Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) and Marian’s broken engagement. Marian tells Ada, “I’d be better off as a spinster.” What can you share about this scene and Ada’s heartbreak at hearing those words from her niece?
CN: Ada is sort of funny, and she’s a little bit silly. But I think one of the very touching things about Ada is all of the pain that she’s gone through in her life, previous to meeting Luke, her husband, that she tries not to talk about. She doesn’t want to complain. She’s just made her peace with her lot in life. She tries to be cheerful, loving and upbeat. But I think it’s a wonderful look, not into the pain of having loved so deeply and then lost that person, but all the decades before in which her loneliness was so profound.
DEADLINE: Ada and Agnes share some delicious moments this season, as Ada is running the household. What do you think was going through your characters’ minds, taking on these new roles?
CB: As a character and as an actor, you live in the little moments. You explore those little moments that reveal so much about the deepest feelings of the character, and one of the first ones was my not wanting to share my China and silverware with Ada’s invitees of this temperance [movement]. And it speaks to, “Those are mine, and you can’t have them.” It’s these little power plays that are a variation on the theme of, “No, you’re crossing a line here, or “That’s mine, and it used to be this way. And why can’t it be the way it was?” It’s just so many of those little moments that add up to what the really big issue is, which is that she doesn’t have control anymore, and it’s hurt her pride and sense of identity. But this makes for great storytelling and great drama, and it’s also extremely funny.
