*Caution: Spoilers ahead for The Gilded Age up through Season 3, Episode 7, “Ex-Communicated.”*

The Gilded Age has been on fire lately—or, should we say, en fuego.

When it premiered back in early 2022, the HBO period piece drama felt like our gay little secret. Though it came from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and employed many of our favorite actresses & Broadway stars (Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Audra McDonald, Nathan Lane, to name a few), it didn’t exactly have the kind of “must-see TV” chatter that surrounded many of the network’s other shows.

But, of late,The Gilded Age has reached “the show everyone’s talking about” status like we always knew it could, breaking its own viewership numbers week-after-week, and scoring an early renewal for Season 4. Gilded Age mania is sweeping the nation!

That seemed to culminate last week with the shocking carriage incident that sent the dashing John Adams (Claybourne Elder) flying through the air. With his limp body lying on the ground at episode’s end, we were left to wonder: “Wait, did the show really just off one of its few queer characters?”

So, fans tuned in for this week’s episode eager for answers and dreading confirmation that our dear John Adams was really gone. And what we got was… a telenovela?

¿The Gilded Age en Español?

Yes, due to an apparent glitch on HBO Max (we blame the frequent name changes!), audiences who tuned in on the streamer were initially greeted with the show’s Spanish dub.

While this season has followed a few of its characters across the pond to England, we didn’t anticipate a stop-over in Spain, so the language mix-up left more than few confused, to say the least:

Even Señora Russell herself, Carrie Coon—fabulous social media user that she is—chimed in, hilariously asking her followers, “¿A todos les gustó mi acento?,” a.k.a. “Did everyone like my accent?”

It only took a minute or two before folks figured out a solution: All you had to do is go to your audio settings and set to “Spanish (Latin America)” to hear the English dub. Which is sort of logical but also illogical in a fun way? Anyway, HBO eventually fixed the error and La Edad Dorada was back to its regular programming before we knew it.

Which brings us back to John Adams and that fateful carriage collision. The episode took its sweet time to even acknowledge it happened—you’d think it’d have the city all abuzz, but the hoi polloi were more concerned with the fact that Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane) had published a new book, Society As I Have Found It, that spills all the tea on the New York City elites. What a little gossip!… We have no choice but to stan.

The fallout of The Gilded Age‘s “bury your gays” shocker

In any event, John Adams is a goner. Those sentimental goodbye posts from Claybourne Elder and the cast weren’t a misdirect: They really offed him in the most brutal way possible. This wasn’t just The Gilded Age falling into the “bury your gays” TV cliche—they straight up trampled on their gays and broke our hearts in the process!

Though we’ve already unpacked some feelings over the use of the eyeroll-inducing TV trope, as teased, the moment has sparked some interesting developments for Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson), the show’s other gay and John Adams’ former secret lover.

Understandably depressed after seeing the man he loves get flung through the air seconds after an emotional breakthrough for the two, Oscar meets with John’s sister Nancy (Kate Baldwin, another Broadway vet) who reveals her brother left him the keys to his summer home upstate and shares the sweet sentiment that, “What happiness he knew, you gave him.”

She knew their truth and showed great sympathy. But not everyone “gets it.” Enter Oscar’s mother Agnes (Baranski), who’s clearly been in deep, deep denial about her son’s sexuality for some time now.

When a still grieving Oscar returns home, Agnes does what she does best, nag, telling her son he “can’t be too sad.” Oh Agnes, you silly woman. That pithy comment sends Oscar into a rage, going on about how he was relegated to the back of John’s funeral procession instead of sitting up front where he wanted—and, frankly, deserved to be.

Though his dear Aunt Ada (Nixon) seems to know what’s really going on, cautioning Agnes to be more sensitive because her son’s “mourning the loss of his savior,” a nosy, obstinate Agnes keeps pressing: “What’s wrong with youm Oscar?” He shouts back, “Do you really want to know, Mama?,” before storming off to his room.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Baranski—ally that she is—opens up about how tough that scene was for her to play: “She finally has to admit something that she never wanted to even consider because it’s so taboo. It would be so horrifying to her. And yet, when he plays out that scene and goes up the stairs a broken man, it’s heartbreaking for me to realize that he can’t speak to me about it.”

There’s a world where she does come to terms with the reality of the situation and, in turn, Oscar is finally able to open up to her and others about his sexuality, which could make for some beautiful TV. But, again, did we really have to bury our only other gay to get to this point?

But, hey, at least at this point The Gilded Age can say it’s not only leaving its gay character’s fates in the balance for dramatic effect!

Another Gilded Age Cliffhanger

At the end of an eventful episode, George Russell (Morgan Spector) is riding high off the discovery that he now owns some copper mines that will keep him filthy stinkin’ rich, when a mystery assailant breaks into his study at the gentlemen’s club and fires on him. Cut to black.

Is The Gilded Age really making a habit of whacking a major character every episode now? Could it really be the end of George? We’ve said for years that this show is “for the gays,” but after offing Claybourne Elder’s John Adams and now possibly zaddy Morgan Spector’s character, we’re starting to think it might be actively antagonizing us.

Well, next week is the Season 3 finale, so we’ll know more then. Fingers crossed we don’t have to say goodbye to George, and that Oscar and his mother have the emotional breakthrough that’s been a long time coming. We’ll take any good news we can get—even if it is in Spanish!