HBO Max’s “The Gilded Age” has answered one of its biggest lingering mysteries: who tried to kill George Russell (Morgan Spector) at the end of last season. In Season 4 Episode 2, titled “You Won’t Hear Me Beg,” the show reveals the culprit is Will Morris, played by Will Pullen.
The episode picks up where the Season 4 premiere left off, with Pinkerton agents and George Russell raiding a tenement building to track down his would-be assassin. The trail leads to Will Morris, whose family has a long-running grudge against the Russells dating back to Season 1.
A grudge dating back to Season 1
Will Morris is the son of Patrick (Michael Gill) and Anne Morris (Katie Finneran), a wealthy couple who clashed with George and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) early in the series. Anne, a socialite, repeatedly snubbed Bertha, at one point refusing to let the Russells’ ballroom be used for a major charity bazaar, which prompted George to buy out the entire event.
Meanwhile, Patrick, an alderman, tried to outmaneuver George in a stock scheme involving a proposed train station. George had proposed that Patrick and fellow aldermen buy shares before quietly passing legislation allowing him to build the station, which would boost the stock’s value. Instead, the aldermen sold their shares to attempt a short sale and reneged on passing the legislation. George responded by secretly buying up the shares himself, driving up the price and leaving the Morris family facing ruin.
In Season 1 Episode 3, “Face the Music,” Patrick ordered his wife to make peace with Bertha in hopes of softening George’s resolve, but Bertha refused, noting Anne had done nothing to deserve the favor. Patrick eventually begged George on his knees for mercy, but George refused because of how Anne had treated Bertha. Facing financial ruin, Patrick went home, told his wife he was proud of her and their children, and died by suicide. Anne spent the rest of that season in mourning, publicly calling George a murderer before being pushed out of her own charity.
Anne Morris returns — and George makes a choice
Now Anne is back, pleading for her son’s life after learning Will was behind the attempt on George’s life. “It was great to see Katie Finneran again,” Morgan Spector told Decider. “She came in and did like an amazing job. Just sort of watching her — you know, she has to live through this horrendous thing happening to her son.”
Throughout the episode, George keeps Will hidden while he weighs whether to kill him or hand him to police, who would likely hang him for the crime. Bertha tries to intervene on Will’s behalf but is turned away. The episode builds to a tense standoff, with George holding a gun to Will’s head while Anne kneels before him, echoing her husband’s plea years earlier.
George ultimately spares Will’s life.
Spector explained the decision stems partly from an earlier scene in which George and Bertha compare Will to their own son, Larry (Harry Richardson). “I think maybe out of that sort of sense of, ‘Hey, it could be me as well,'” Spector said. “You know, there’s some sense of mercy. But he is also, you know, I also think he is a thoughtful and merciful person. There’s a limit to George’s ruthlessness.”
Carrie Coon, who plays Bertha, pointed to past evidence of that limit. “He didn’t shoot the laborers,” she said, referring to a tense labor dispute in Season 2.
“He didn’t shoot the union guys,” Spector confirmed. And in the end, he didn’t shoot Will Morris either.
The episode closes with George returning home to Bertha after resolving the ordeal.
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