George Russell (Morgan Spector) took the law into his own hands when finding and punishing the man who shot him in HBO’s The Gilded Age. The railroad tycoon was shot and nearly killed in Season 3. In Season 4, after months of searching, George’s bodyguards found the man responsible, and he was right in the Season 4; he does know the assailant.
Spector and Carrie Coon explain George’s shocking decision about the shooter in our Aftershow episode for The Gilded Age Season 4 Episode 2 above. Warning: The Gilded Age Spoilers ahead.
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Who shot George Russell?
A blast from The Gilded Age‘s past was the answer to the mystery of who shot George. As hinted in last week’s premiere, the shooter was Will Morris (Will Pullen), the son of Anne Morris (Katie Finneran). The Russells knew the Morris family before they were destitute.
Anne’s husband was Patrick Morris (Michel Gill), a banker and New York City alderman who came from old money and turned his nose down at new-money families such as the Russells. When Patrick and others pulled a trick on George in a business deal, George fought back in a way that caused financial ruin for Patrick, leading to his suicide.
Anne and Will were left to fend for themselves in the aftermath, and Season 4 revealed they were living in a small apartment with barely any money. Will shot George in an act of revenge, and George nearly did the same to him in Season 4 Episode 2.
George had Will held captive in secret by his bodyguards, the Pinkertons, and didn’t tell anyone about it, not even Bertha, who just arrived back in New York after being in England for the birth of their grandchild. Anne went to the Russell house as Bertha got home from the opera to beg for her help.
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Bertha was shocked and angered that it was Will who shot George, and she refused to help until Anne told her to consider that she would beg for mercy if their roles were switched. Bertha, who is still on shaky ground with George, asked him to show mercy for the sake of Anne, who didn’t know what her son did before George took justice into his own hands. She wouldn’t survive the loss of both her husband and her son. With George’s actions leading to Patrick’s death, albeit not deliberately, there was a reasonable argument for mercy.
Why is George Russell drinking laudanum?
After taking a swig of laudanum (which was used as a painkiller during this time period), George walked into the basement where he was hiding Will and held him at gunpoint.
George revealed that while people thought he was unconscious as Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) performed emergency surgery on his gunshot would, he was very much awake. He said he saw his life in startling clarity, and it was “nothing.”
George pointed the gun at Will’s head as Anne screamed for mercy. George fired a warning shot and told them to leave New York and never return. If they did, he would have Will killed.
Spector tells TV Insider that George’s actions leading up to this dark moment were proof that he was never going to kill Will.
“The Morrises were people who came to our house,” Spector says in the video above. “These people were in our social circle. This kid was probably at our house. Now he’s this ruffian who took a shot at me, but not too long ago before his fortunes changed he was just a kid who might’ve been one of Larry’s friends.”
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“I think, for one thing, George is not a killer,” Spector continues. “As much as he’s ruthless and gangster-ish in business, he’s not actually a gangster. People may disagree, but I think he walks into that scene wanting to teach this kid a lesson and wanting to scare the hell out of him. If George really wanted to see the kid dead, he could just call the police and have him prosecuted for attempted murder. He’d probably hang. Even taking the situation into his own hands at all, he’s already kind of protecting this kid from that certain outcome.”
George is clearly still struggling with his near-death experience, and the laudanum is a point of concern if it’s not medically necessary anymore. Plus, his business is under threat of major struggle because John D. Rockefeller (Neal Huff), his biggest client, is threatening a price change that could ruin Russell Industries.
Spector believes that George’s “sense of himself has really changed” because of his recent struggles, “and maybe that opens a little bit of a window for him to have to be a little more empathetic to that.”
Coon notes that if the Rockefeller situation worsens, the Russells could suffer a fate similar to the Morrises.
“We could also be destitute,” Coon says. “The stakes are so high right now, we could actually parallel their story.”
George and Bertha have always gotten themselves out of the worst of scenarios, but they’ve always had each other for support to do so. Thankfully, this episode of The Gilded Age showed signs that they’re reconciling with George kissing Bertha and returning home to her for comfort after the Morris ordeal. Will he open up about what’s really going on?
We’re breaking down each episode of Season 4 in video interviews with the cast in our Gilded Age Aftershow, the latest episode of which you can watch above or on TV Insider’s YouTube channel. New interviews come out each Sunday this season after the episodes air on HBO. This week’s episode also includes details about Gladys’ (Taissa Farmiga) feelings about her mother and Audra McDonald explaining Dorothy Scott’s scenes with Peggy (Denée Benton) and Mrs. Kirkland (Phylicia Rashad).
The Gilded Age, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO
