Turner may be going down on The Gilded Age. But it may take the unlikely alliance of Mrs. Bertha Russell and (gasp!) Mrs. Agnes van Rhijn to make it happen. And with her suspecting her lady's maid's deviousness, will Mrs. Russell learn about Turner and Mr. Russell? Based on the preview for Episode 7, "Irresistible Change," it seems like the Russells' marriage on The Gilded Age is headed for another crash.
Bertha and George Russell have a lot to worry about on The Gilded Age with train wrecks and social climbing. Though they've been solid all season, Episode 6 showed some cracks in their marriage with George continuing to be frustrated that Bertha continues to put her attempts to make it in New York society above everything else, including their family, their fortune, and the lives of five dead men. But it might be Bertha's turn to be outraged at her partner if she learns that her maid once tried to seduce her husband and he didn't tell her.
In "Heads Have Rolled for Less," Armstrong witnessed Turner placing her hand on Oscar as they came back from their walk in Central Park. Agnes's lady maid doesn't know that her employer's son and Turner have only been meeting so that Oscar can get some intel on marrying Gladys Russell. But based on the preview for "Irresistible Change," it looks like whatever Armstrong whispered to Agnes was enough for Agnes to do the unthinkable — reach out to her neighbor, Mrs. Russell.
"You're to dismiss Turner?" George asks in the promo. "Mrs. van Rhijn thinks she's been having an affair," Bertha replies. Surely, after that Bannister luncheon fiasco, Agnes didn't go and speak to Bertha directly in person (heaven forbid!) nor does she fully explain why she wants Mrs. Russell to fire Turner fire. But Agnes likely assumes that Oscar is downstairsing it with Turner (which would probably be less shocking to her than the truth about his sexuality). But she doesn't want to admit such a thing to Mrs. Russell, so she just drops this affair tidbit. The preview then shows Bertha spying on Turner being friendly with her son, Larry. So Bertha now might assume Turner's having an affair with him. And if she keeps digging, well... she might discover that Turner's intended to have an affair with her husband George.
George did the right thing in Episode 4, "A Long Ladder," by kicking a naked Turner out of his bed and proclaiming his devotion to his wife. But clearly not firing Turner was going to come back and haunt him. Yet, his lying skills are on display in the Episode 7 preview as he cooly asks Bertha about Mrs. van Rhijn's allegation, "How does she know?" So will he confess to Bertha what happened? Or, far more likely, when Bertha goes to fire Turner over her "affair" with Larry, Turner will let slip what really happened with George that one night, whether intentionally or not. But let's be real, knowing Julian Fellowes's writing, Turner would absolutely love to drop that bombshell on Bertha if she already knows she's fired.
So Turner meeting Oscar van Rhijan (truly, O'Brien and Thomas behavior if I ever saw it) may be her downfall. But their park scheming may also cause a severe rift in the Russells' marriage. Because while George is currently in the right over his wife's fixation with Mrs. Astor rather than the train crash, I have a feeling that Bertha will show no mercy when it comes to flat-out lying in their marriage.
Images: HBO, Alison Cohen Rosa/HBO