‘The Gilded Age’ Season 3 Episode 6 Director On That Shocking Cliffhanger

Director Deborah Kampmeier breaks down how she filmed that shocking cliffhanger moment in The Gilded Age Season 3 Episode 6.

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

By the end of The Gilded Age season 3 episode 6, if your jaw wasn’t on the floor, then you weren’t paying attention. After nearly expressing love to Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson), John Adams (Claybourne Elder) steps into a busy street. He is then suddenly struck by a runaway wagon. As his broken body lies on the sidewalk, Oscar stands completely stunned.

He’s not the only one.

“When I read it, I gasped. I couldn’t believe it. I had that shock when I read the script, and I remember thinking I wanted to create that shock for the audience,” director Deborah Kampmeier shares in the below video interview with The Contending.

Mission. Accomplished.

“If You Want To Cook an Omelette” continues the drama on two continents. Carrie Coon’s Bertha journeys to remedy Gladys’s (Taissa Farmiga) discomfort at Sidmouth Castle. That means taking on Lady Sarah (the marvelous Hattie Morahan) as only Gilded Age women could. Kampmeier talks about visually bringing new light into Gladys’s world with different cinematography than we’ve previously experienced. Additionally, she shares the joy of staging that buzzy dinner sequence in which Gladys seems to finally come into her own.

Back in New York, Kampmeier leverages a gorgeous reflection shot to stage Oscar and Maude Beaton’s (Nicole Brydon Bloom) reconnection. In their subsequent scenes, Oscar lets loose his rage, and Kampmeier discusses working through the scene with the actors. She remarks on how the scene’s Haymarket setting perhaps allows Oscar the freedom to unleash his pent-up emotion.

Kampmeier also shares the behind-the-scenes motivation that leads Ben Ahlers’s Jack to his emotional goodbye as he leaves the van Rhijn household.

There’s a lot to break down here in “If You Want To Cook an Omelette,’ so catch up on The Gilded Age season 3 episode 6 and come back to discuss with director Deborah Kampmeier.

The Gilded Age airs Sunday nights on HBO at 9pm ET.