(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
In The Gilded Age, Marian Brook (Lousia Jacobson) knows what goes on at an establishment like The Haymarket. Or, at least she thinks she does. Unfortunately, Marian did not get the guided tour of the hottest club in New York City. Instead, she thinks her now-ex fiancé Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) has been enjoying everything on offer at a “house of ill repute.”
There is nothing like a good old-fashioned misunderstanding to crank up the relationship angst. For much of the terrific third season, Marian and Larry (aka Larian) have been immune to the drama and destruction facing nearly every other romantic pairing on Julian Fellowes’ lavish HBO series. Even Larry’s parents are in a downward spiral. But Marian’s refusal to hear Larry out before making a rash decision to end their engagement ensures that Larry is the hard-done-by person in this couple. And he was the one who lied!
A quick refresher of Larry’s transgression: On the night of their engagement, Larry told Marian he was going to the upmarket restaurant Delmonico’s to celebrate his Harvard roommate getting married. Instead, the bachelor party ventured to a more scandalous location, The Haymarket. The very real, now shuttered Manhattan hot spot has been likened to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, and isn’t quite the “disorderly house” that Marian thinks it is.
Okay, there is a brothel upstairs, but that isn’t all The Haymarket has on offer. When Larry gives wide-eyed Jack (Ben Ahlers) a rundown of the nightclub’s menu, he points out the drinking and gambling on display. Richardson plays Larry with such boundless enthusiasm that it is impossible not to get swept up in his exuberance (okay, his impeccable curls and that smile also help).
Larry tells Jack the club isn’t complicated, but he hadn’t factored in Marian’s trust issues. Unfortunately, this particular roadblock to happiness unfolds in a way that makes Marian appear unreasonable even though she has every right to be angry.
When Larry finally comes face-to-face with Marian in Sunday night’s penultimate episode, he explains the club is a place for young men where “entertainments are arranged that are perhaps not the most respectable.” Okay, some of his description is doing some very heavy lifting, highlighting Marain’s assessment isn’t entirely wrong. Still, Larry is adamant he only had a drink, which we know to be true.
A comedy of errors is how Marian found out about the deception because Larry neglected to inform Jack that he’d told Marian different plans. If you’re gonna lie, you’ve got to make sure everyone is on the plan—especially when one of those people lives in the same house. Inevitably, Marian asks Jack if he had a good time at Delmonico’s; his confusion and lack of poker face immediately raise red flags.
It doesn’t help that Marian has been stewing on Larry’s deceit for an entire month while he has been away on business (saving his family empire from ruin, no less). In that time, everyone around Marian (other than her Aunt Agnes) had tried to reason that Larry’s night out with the guys was likely just drinks and nothing more. Instead of taking a beat and listening to advice to allow Larry to explain, Marian avoids. It is this steadfast refusal to talk to him that shifts my sympathy toward Larry. Sure, be mad at him for being a lying POS, but not without telling him why he is a lying POS.
Even Aunt Ada (Cynthia Nixon) thinks Marian is tormenting Larry by leaving him hanging without an explanation. Given that Ada was the one left on the doorstep to deal with a heartbroken and confounded Larry after he read the vague breakup letter, I’m not surprised that she is calling out her niece. You know you have f---ed up when your own blood thinks you are being harsh.
By the time Larry confronts Marian at her workplace—usually, I would find this overstepping, but she gave him little choice—I find myself increasingly annoyed by Marian’s overreaction. That softens a touch when Jacobson and Richardson finally get to interact, as a lot of frustration stems from Marian’s attempt to avoid conflict.
Nevertheless, this scene occurs after Marian has shown her cousin Oscar (Blake Ritson) so much love and grace, offering a jarring contrast. The sweet, caring moment with Oscar about his sexuality emphasizes Marian’s capacity for understanding, even if she doesn’t know all the particulars. With Larry, she jumps to conclusions and hits destruct.
“I know what goes on at those places. I am a lady, but I’m not an idiot,” she confidently announces to Larry. Except she doesn’t know. Or rather, she has reduced it to the idea that anyone who walks through the Haymarket doors is paying for sex. Larry’s wounded aura makes it easy to align with him in this dispute. However, Marian does have something on her side. Larry lied about where he was going, so why should she believe his claim that he only had a drink?
While Marain’s point is valid, she has been painted into an unforgiving corner of stubbornness and outrage. Larry explains that he didn’t want Marian to think the worst of him and became a self-fulfilling prophecy in return. Again, he really should’ve prepped Jack about the Delmonico’s fib. Instead of acknowledging Larry’s contrition and putting this behind them, Marian sees this dishonesty as a pattern that will continue when they are married.
While the cause behind the Larian implosion is one of the more contrived turns of this season, Marian does finally listen to a voice of reason. It would’ve saved a whole lot of heartache if she’d taken a beat and talked to Jack in the first place, but she was so quick to think the worst. It is only when Jack tells Marian that he was with Larry all night that her doubts vanish. Maybe Marian’s engagement isn’t so over after all.
