One of the best parts of The Gilded Age Season 2 has been watching Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) scheming ladies’ maid Turner (Kelley Curran) return in high style as the wealthy Mrs. Winterton. Last week’s episode of the HBO series ended with Enid Winterton learning — to her hysterical horror — that Mrs. Russell had poached her beloved Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb). Instead of having the honor of hosting a party for the Duke in Newport, Mr. and Mrs. Winterton would have to deign to attend the Russells’ party for the British noble. The slight upset Mrs. Winterton, née Turner, so much that she vowed revenge. In The Gilded Age Season 2 Episode 5 “Close Enough to Touch,” she attempts to sabotage Bertha’s big moment…only the plan goes awry.

“This is another thing that I love about getting to play her,” Kelley Curran told Decider during our recent interview with The Gilded Age star, “is that she’s not always good at what she plans.”

So what was the plan? Using her friendship with a footman still in the Russell household, Mrs. Winterton attempted to sabotage the dinner Mrs. Russell held for the Duke. Because it was such a lavish affair, Mrs. Russell had to borrow chefs from other Newport houses, including one of the Wintertons’ employees. Together, the footman, Peter Barnes (Michael Burrell), and the chef, Schneider (Jesse Smart), would sabotage dinner by adding rancid ingredients at the last minute.

The one glaring problem with this plan? Well, it depended on everyone else employed by the Russells failing at their job. As it happens, the treachery was noticed and the Russells’ staff swiftly swooped in to foil their former colleagues’ plot. Peter Barnes would be sacked and Mrs. Russell wound up triumphant after all.

And what’s wild about the-woman-formerly-known-as-Turner’s masterplan is it would only succeed if she assumed her former colleagues wouldn’t be competent! Something Curran agreed wasn’t very smart, but that’s what adds nuance to the character.

“She doesn’t always execute well. Her messiness and her vulnerabilities and what she thinks is going to happen versus what actually happens is kind of like the totally muddy delight of getting into her humanity and making her less than just an archetypal villain,” Curran said.

“She can self-sabotage and she doesn’t always think things through and she acts before she considers things a lot of the time. But to me that’s what makes her so fascinating and what also makes me feel compassion for her.”

Mrs. Winterton’s own foibles got in the way of her successfully routing Bertha Russell this time, but there’s still three episodes left in The Gilded Age Season 2. There’s still plenty of time for this ambitious upstart to have her revenge…or will she find herself bested by the indefatigable Mrs. Russell?