HBO‘s The Gilded Age is really putting the Russell marriage through it. The first half of the season dealt with Bertha’s (Carrie Coon) schemes to marry Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) to the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb), and it seems that George (Morgan Spector) hasn’t gotten over it.
Besides needling Bertha about Gladys all throughout The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 5 “A Different World,” George also works behind her back to send Larry (Harry Richardson) to Arizona on business and to celebrate their son’s engagement to Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson).
However, the couple’s main fight this week centers on a certain Mr. Alfred Merrick (Paul Alexander Nolan).
**Spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 5 “A Different World,” now streaming on HBO MAX**
Over the course of The Gilded Age Season 3, we learn that George is secretly risking his business empire to secure the money to make the first transcontinental railroad connecting New York to California. After Gladys’s expensive wedding (and dowry), George is even deeper in the red. He needs to appeal to the wealthy Mr. Merrick to sell him his family’s shares in a key Chicago rail line. So he asks Bertha to help him charm Mr. Merrick at dinner.
The problem is Bertha and Mr. Merrick have something of a flirtatious energy going that George doesn’t like at all. Mr. Merrick fawns over Bertha’s ambitions and she reciprocates by not-so-subtly praising his looks and general manner. As if to add insult to injury, though, Mr. Merrick later fully rebuffs George’s plans, thus making our beloved Train Daddy feel especially dressed down by the situation.
George literally accuses Bertha of making him a “cuckhold” at his own dinner table. She argues she was just charming him as George instructed. However, it’s clear that all is not well between the usually happy couple.
So who is this Mr. Merrick? Where have you seen him on The Gilded Age before? And should George be jealous of the dashing businessman or nah? Here’s everything you need to know about Mr. Merrick and the actor who plays him, Paul Alexander Nolan…
Mr. Alfred Merrick is first introduced in The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 2 “What the Papers Say” by none other than Mrs. Mamie Fish (Ashlee Atinkson). Mrs. Fish explains to Bertha that Mr. Merrick is a huge admirer of her. Indeed, he goes on to praise her work championing the Metropolitan Opera House, revealing that he’s seen her there many times, but was too shy to introduce himself.
George is interested in Mr. Merrick because his family owns key shares in the Illinois Central Line and he wants control of them. When he realizes that Merrick is on the Met board (and a fan of Bertha), he gets the idea that maybe he and his wife can schmooze Merrick into cutting him a deal. Hence the awkward dinner that’s basically just Merrick and Bertha gushing over each other while George looks on in jealous silence.
Mr. Merrick goes on to tell George over a game of billiards that there’s no way his family will cede power of the railways to him and that his brother Edgar has big plans for their future. George is stymied! (But should he be jealous? Maybe? Especially if he keeps feuding with Bertha!)
But who plays Mr. Alfred Merrick and where have you seen him before? Mr. Merrick is played by actor Paul Alexander Nolan, who is best known for his theater work. (Although you might have caught his guest spot on Madame Secretary.)
Paul Alexander Nolan is a Canadian actor who got his stage start at the prestigious Stratford Festival. More recently, he’s appeared in Slave Play, Parade, and Water for Elephants on Broadway. You can follow him on Instagram @paulalexandernolan.