‘The Gilded Age’ Stars Take Us Behind-the-Scenes of Peggy’s Romantic Engagement to Dr. Kirkland: “He Made the Crew Guys Cry”

The Gilded Age Season 3 finale gave Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) the gloriously romantic happily ever after she’s always deserved. After years of enduring one tragedy after another, Peggy finally gets to win. However, the HBO show doesn’t give our girl this triumph without forcing her to revisit her trauma.

**Spoilers for The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 8 “My Mind is Made Up,” now streaming on HBO MAX**

In The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 8 “My Mind is Made Up,” Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) finally confronts Peggy about her scandal-ridden past. She admits that she did, in fact, marry her first love without her parents’ permission and that she had to give up the child from that union when her father forced an annulment on the couple. Peggy also explains that she and her parents were, in fact, present for the funeral of her son in Philadelphia.

Dr. Kirkland takes this all in and departs, leaving Peggy to assume it’s all over between them. She breaks down, sobbing in her mother Dorothy’s (Audra McDonald) arms.

“I think that Peggy in that moment really does think it’s the end,” Denée Benton said. “I mean, in that time, having a stain on your past as a woman, whether it was your fault or not, it was just unforgivable.”

Benton went on to explain that Peggy’s tears aren’t just for the love lost with Kirkland, but for everything else she’s endured.

“I think it opens up her grief again around the loss of her child, around the trauma with her parents, around letting herself hope again,” Benton said. “I think that shame is so internalized. It’s incredible to see Dorothy be like, ‘Regardless of what happens here, you are worthy. You get to choose yourself still.’ And I think it’s just one of the most beautiful scenes that we get to see.”

What Peggy doesn’t realize is that it’s not over for Dr. Kirkland. His imperious mother (Phylicia Rashad) might assume that Peggy’s backstory is a dealbreaker for her son, but he still loves Peggy. So much so, Dr. Kirkland seizes the opportunity at the Newport ball to ask Peggy’s father Arthur’s (John Douglas Thompson) permission to propose in front of everyone they know.

“It was divine because we’ve been dreaming about it since 2019,” Benton said of the proposal scene, “and it also was shot over three twenty-hour days.”

“Yeah, it was such a blast. It was hard, but it was also just to stop at any given moment and just look around at all the beautiful Blackness that was being celebrated for those three days, that we don’t get to portray often on television,” Jordan Donica said. “And not for a fantasy, but for a reality. That was what was cool. And that’s the gift of this show.” 

“He also made the crew guys cry with his proposal,” Benton revealed.

“Yeah, I reminded them of their proposals. They’re like, ‘Oh, have you done this before?’ I was like, ‘No. It’s the first time I’ve ever gotten down on a knee and proposed, so.’” 

“Lucky me. Lucky Peggy!” Benton said. “But the boys were touched. It was sweet.”

“They were,” Donica said. “They were, yeah.”

Benton also shared that she thought the drama earlier in the episode made Peggy’s happy ending all the “sweeter.”

“I think seeing Peggy really broken in that [earlier] moment, I think makes the moment even sweeter when that slow motion turn around and she sees him there,” she said. “You know, that he made the right decision and didn’t let all of this get in the way.”

Fingers crossed The Gilded Age Season 4 gives Peggy and Dr. Kirkland the fairy tale wedding they both so richly deserve.