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Spoilers follow for The Gilded Age<\/a> season-three finale, \u201cMy Mind Is Made Up<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gilded Age doesn\u2019t do slow-motion shots. But for Sunday night\u2019s finale, in which three seasons of romantic turmoil end in Peggy Scott\u2019s (Den\u00e9e Benton<\/a>) engagement to the dashing Dr. Kirkland (Jordan Donica<\/a>), EP and director Salli Richardson-Whitfield needed something extra special. \u201cWe\u2019ve been waiting for Peggy to have her happy ending, and I wanted you to cry once you knew what was going to happen,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re doing it in his POV, and we\u2019re floating into this new reality that\u2019s about to happen for her. I wanted it to feel like Cinderella \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s the most romantic way you could think of the man you love walking towards you.\u201d<\/p>\n Across town in Newport, Bertha Russell is hosting the season-ending ball, her biggest event yet \u2014 and one that needed to outshine the opening of a new opera house<\/a> and a royal wedding<\/a>. Usually hosted by Mrs. Astor<\/a>, this ball presents an opportunity for Bertha to take her rightful place at the peak of high society, where she\u2019s not just participating in tradition but defining it. Bertha takes a risk, as she is known to do, by welcoming divorced women, and the momentous occasion becomes even grander when Mrs. Astor arrives, signaling that even the power players of old-money New York are willing to follow her as society moves forward. \u201cBertha Russell\u2019s ballroom is full of the future,\u201d Mrs. Fish later tells Mrs. Astor. \u201cDon\u2019t hold so tightly to those of the past, or you may be swept away when they are.\u201d<\/p>\n In a series where each event must be bigger and bolder than the last, the goal for The Gilded Age\u2019s season-three finale was to meet that norm and double it \u2014 creating two balls that attained new heights of pomp and circumstance, felt connected yet distinct, and ensured various storylines reached a satisfying conclusion. \u201cHow do we wrap up these little things while leaving tidbits for the future?\u201d Richardson-Whitfield says of the questions she needed to answer. \u201cHow do we make all these stories interesting? Where do we put them, and how do we connect them? That all becomes part of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: Karolina Wojtasik\/HBO\n <\/p>\n It was important to Richardson-Whitfield that the balls looked as similar as possible. \u201cYou\u2019ll see a lot of shots that mirror each other,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to be able to intercut, and also show that symbolism of \u2018same but different.\u2019 Same music, same setup of orchestra, same shots for both, but a few little special pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n True to its Newport location, Bertha\u2019s ball was filmed at The Elms, the same preserved Gilded Age mansion representing the Russells\u2019 Newport home in season two<\/a>. \u201cPart of it is practical,\u201d says production designer Bob Shaw. \u201cYou need a grand ball space, but you also need somewhere people can have believable private conversations.\u201d Equipped with multiple spaces that would meet the high standards of a character like Bertha Russell, The Elms is also the site used to film the Russells\u2019 New York City kitchen and Gladys\u2019s bedroom. \u201cI\u2019m always having to tell people when we\u2019re in Russell New York versus Russell Newport,\u201d Shaw adds.<\/p>\n Finding the right venue for the Kirklands\u2019 ball, however, came down to the architecture of the building and its proximity to New York City. \u201cIt was important to us that they were similar in standing so that both would look opulent in their own way,\u201d says director of photography Manuel Billeter. \u201cThey\u2019re at a high economic level, but not at that rarefied level of the Russells and the Astors,\u201d Shaw adds. The goal for his team was to make sure the space could be designed to look elevated and elegant while minimizing travel time for Audra McDonald, who was filming season three while in rehearsals for Gypsy. Production ultimately filmed at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, a Vanderbilt mansion in Westchester County about an hour north of Manhattan that was also used for Mrs. Chamberlain\u2019s house and a charity auction in season one<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo: HBO\n <\/p>\n \u201cPlease, make your way to the terrace and enjoy our magnificent display of illumination,\u201d Bertha tells Mrs. Winterton as guests arrive. The deliciousness of this line wouldn\u2019t be effective without the presentation of lights that appear when Mrs. Winterton walks into the courtyard. The camera pulls back (via a drone shot) to reveal a large, illuminated red archway and the garden entirely lit with electric lights. The decision to use electricity for Bertha\u2019s ball was a natural follow-up to the lighting of the Times building in season one<\/a>, and it felt like the right time for this particular \u201cwow factor,\u201d as Billeter puts it. \u201cIt was a marker of wealth that one could actually showcase and utilize this new technology in their own private homes,\u201d he says. The lighting allows Bertha an avenue to continue topping her own previous spectacles, but Billeter also viewed it as an opportunity to deepen the contrast, visually, between the season\u2019s ups and downs. \u201cIntroducing electricity gave us a natural way to make the moment brighter.\u201d Billeter explains. \u201cIt was a fitting end to the season after so many darker moments.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest execution challenge for Shaw\u2019s team was delivering the grandiosity of how electric lights would\u2019ve appeared at the time without depicting too accurately how they actually looked \u2014 much harsher on the eyes, and styled in a way that would look to today\u2019s viewers like tacky Christmas lights. To avoid this, the production team used oversized, clear bulbs, some of which were nearly a foot tall. \u201cThe historical design of these bulbs would have been extremely difficult to source in those quantities,\u201d explains Billeter. \u201cWe had to test numerous LED bulbs, and then we narrowed down to the ones that suited us.\u201d Hundreds of yards of cable later, the stage was set for Mrs. Astor\u2019s well-lit grand entrance and a very public win for Bertha Russell.<\/p>\n Illuminating the Kirklands\u2019 ball was an easier task by comparison, but required a meaningful level of planning to ensure that it looked equally elevated and festive. Historically, the Kirklands would be using gaslight, so production presented their lighting at a lower visual level, using gas-era torch\u00e8res. From there, VFX extended the lighting in strategic places to make the space feel bigger and more romantic, setting a dreamy ambience for Dr. Kirkland\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n And Billeter did find a way to use those Christmas lights after unearthing some unexpected inspiration in 1890s articles from the New York Times: \u201cThey described rhinestones, diamonds, sparkles everywhere \u2014 exactly what I knew Kasia, our costume designer, would incorporate,\u201d he says. \u201cI leaned into that by lighting with Christmas lights off-camera so that the gemstones and fabrics would catch tiny glints in a festive way.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: HBO\n <\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>As long as it resonates with history, it works,\u201d costume designer Kasia Walicka Maimone says of her inspiration when working on such an enormous scale. \u201cWhat I felt I needed to do was give significance to both of those balls, creating similarities and differences so they would feel like equal partners while having meaningful variations.\u201d While certain Gilded Age looks (Gladys\u2019s wedding dress<\/a>, for example) directly reference a historical source, the costuming for the Newport balls was more generally inspired by the most glamorous looks of the period, with Walicka Maimone\u2019s team pulling inspiration from the show\u2019s library of historical research, including more than 40,000 photographs.<\/p>\n Honoring Bertha\u2019s determination to push boundaries and usher in new social norms, her ball was filled with gowns that represented the newest fashions arriving in America at that time. The guests don rich silhouettes and bold new colors, styles Walicka Maimone admits were tricky to execute given the many lighting considerations tied to the production design. \u201cIn daylight they popped, but in evening light they behaved differently. We strategized a lot about what would present well on camera.\u201d In contrast, the Kirklands\u2019 ball was outfitted to embody the commitment to tradition the Black elite would\u2019ve honored at that time. \u201cThe glamour of pale colors was justified for those balls because it allowed fabrics to shine and reflect the light without disappearing in candlelight or gaslight.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Walicka Maimone had to consider how the gowns moved during the dances, and that the actors and dancers could successfully execute precise choreography without, say, tripping on one\u2019s own dress train \u2014 a lesson learned early on in the first season. Fortunately, the large ensemble cast, many of whom are trained dancers and theater performers, were all used to being corseted or wearing tight-fitting clothes. Adds choreographer John Carrafa, \u201cThe old-fashioned waltz is built so that no one steps backward \u2014 especially the woman \u2014 so they don\u2019t step on their dresses. Fashion and dance evolved together, and the steps were designed to accommodate the clothing of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: HBO\n <\/p>\n While working on season one, Carrafa learned that most historical knowledge of the era\u2019s dances comes from contemporaneous dancing manuals. \u201cThese dancing masters would come over from Europe and say, \u2018I know the latest dance,\u2019 and teach it to everybody around the country, and that\u2019s how it would get disseminated.\u201d Carrafa explains. \u201cWe did the same thing\u00a0\u2014 looked at the literature, descriptions, photographs \u2014\u00a0and put together our version.\u201d Informed by the research, but ultimately determined by the music, Carrafa decided the dancers would perform a waltz at both balls.<\/p>\n The choice emphasized that the Black elite at the time were successfully executing the same traditions as the white society. Caraffa paid close attention to the nuances of the research and incorporated them into each dance on screen: At Bertha\u2019s ball, where the crowd was presumably more comfortable with their position in society, Caraffa instructed dancers to move more \u201cswoopy,\u201d as he puts it. \u201cI let Bertha\u2019s ball incorporate more of that later, freer style, as a nod to her breaking norms,\u201d he says. The crowd at the Kirklands\u2019 ball, however, would\u2019ve placed a particular emphasis on dancing in a more traditional way, and Carrafa incorporated patterns from quadrilles into the waltzes to add structure, mirroring the more regimented dance formations of the period.<\/p>\n At one point during Bertha\u2019s ball, Gladys waltzes in her newfound bliss with the Duke. While they twirl, the Duke asks, \u201cWhat are you grinning about?\u201d to which Gladys responds happily, \u201cOh, nothing.\u201d Moments like these stand out to Carrafa when he first reads the script. \u201cI\u2019m looking at whether they have to talk and dance at the same time, which is really tricky,\u201d he says. \u201cThen, I\u2019m figuring out, Okay, what kind of waltz can I do that will allow them to speak to each other and allow this more gentle romantic moment to happen?\u201d From there, Carrafa considers the technical needs, including how the ballroom is built out to support the principal actors and how the cameras and the rest of the dancers can move around them.<\/p>\n During filming, everything has to come together with extreme precision, which meant the camera operators had their own parts in the choreography and dancers had to frame moments perfectly on cue, adjusting naturally in the moment if the actors\u2019 pace changed. Carrafa calls the wider ensemble a \u201cdream team\u201d of professional Broadway and concert dancers, many of whom have been with the show since its first season. \u201cThey have created these elaborate characters for themselves,\u201d Carrafa says. \u201cYou would never know it, but amongst each other, this whole dynamic exists so that when you\u2019re watching the ball, it doesn\u2019t look like you\u2019re watching extras dancing, but members of the 400\u201d \u2014\u00a0the term Ward McAllister used<\/a> to describe the people at the top of Gilded Age society.<\/p>\n Photo: HBO\n <\/p>\n The arrivals are particularly important for Bertha\u2019s ball, so Richardson-Whitfield added additional scenes to help build tension into that part of the story. \u201cSome of the dialogue between Ada and Agnes, or Marian and Aurora, was initially going to be at home,\u201d she says. \u201cWe changed it to the carriage so that it was happening while they were on their way.\u201d Bertha greets the guests as they arrive, including the controversial divorcees, and to her relief, Mrs. Astor arrives publicly and on time, signaling to Bertha and her guests that the new-money matriarch\u2019s bold moves paid off yet again. Elsewhere, Larry and Marian reconcile, Oscar and Mrs. Winterton forge a path forward together, and Mr. Russell makes an appearance, closing out a successful night for Mrs. Russell.<\/p>\n Photo: HBO\n <\/p>\n In the final act of the episode, Peggy\u2019s resilience and vulnerability are finally rewarded when the man she loves proposes to her, set against the backdrop of a Black society celebration that is the first of its kind on the show. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen this world before,\u201d says Richardson-Whitfield. \u201cAs a Black woman, I wanted to bring that story to life in a respectful way and give fans what they\u2019ve been looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Kirkland arrives late to the ball, and rather than greet his parents, he makes a beeline for Peggy\u2019s father. Peggy, assuming her relationship with Dr. Kirkland has ended after he learned about her child, dances politely with another partner. She almost stops in her tracks mid-waltz as she spies Dr. Kirkland making his way across the dance floor, the camerawork slowing down to register her surprise \u201cThey needed me to turn at the right time so the camera could see me seeing him,\u201d Benton remembers. \u201cThe twirl was really meticulous and technical.\u201d<\/p>\n The slow motion \u201cchanges the language of the scene and makes it special, drawing the audience in,\u201d explains Billeter. \u201cPeggy\u2019s storyline goes from heartbreak to joy, and that moment \u2014\u00a0combined with slow motion, her looking right into the camera, and a shift in the music \u2014 puts her and Kirkland in a cocoon of intimacy. It\u2019s a real barrier-breaker for audience connection with her character.\u201d Richardson Whitfield recalls some of the direction she gave Benton in the moment: \u201c\u2018This is almost like a fantasy dream sequence. No one else is around. At that moment, when you catch eyes and see him walking towards you, time stops. What does that mean for you?\u2019 And you see that in her performance. The room, the sound, everything, it\u2019s like a vacuum, just these two souls coming together until he goes down on his knee.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJordan and I got engaged so many times that night,\u201d Benton says, laughing. \u201cBut it was sweet, you know, you got all these Staten Island bros on the crew that were like, \u2018Man, you made me remember when I proposed to my wife.\u2019 Everyone just got swept up in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/00a23b619e843922d71e71b014554fbfd1-gildedage-ep8.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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