I’ve already put together a detailed list of spoilers that some cast members (yes, I’m looking at you, Carrie Coon) have let slip, as well as critics who had early access to the episodes and also gave a few things away. However, the official synopsis for Episode 5 also contains plenty of clues worth decoding. Let’s dive in:

Episode 5 – A Different World

Gladys struggles to adapt to her new circumstances… and to Lady Sarah’s control.

After a series of personal and professional victories, Larry encounters a familiar face.

During an event with Dr. Kirkland, Peggy receives an opportunity from a former colleague.

Later, drama unfolds at Mrs. Fish’s luncheon in Newport.

What we know is that this episode will center heavily on Gladys and the harsh reality of her life in England. In the trailer, we see her trying to do her best to fit in, only to be mocked by her husband’s and sister-in-law’s guests (“So many rules!” she sobs). Lady Sarah is clearly a cruel and controlling presence—she owns the castle, while the Duke of Buckingham, Hector, is merely her puppet.

In other words, after being sold off by her mother and forced into a loveless, friendless marriage, Gladys is left alone, fragile, and unsupported.

Now, moving on to Larry—there’s both a problem and a twist. Yes, he’s been thriving professionally: he closed a million-dollar deal thanks to Jack’s watch (which he curiously knows is worth as much as Ada Forte’s entire fortune and less than what Agnes Van Rhijn used to have). Meanwhile, we know Marian is increasingly uneasy about what she’s discovering about her boyfriend.

Once a kind, well-meaning young man, we saw him having an affair with the widow Susan Blaine last season, and in the current one, he tried to cut Jack out of negotiations over Jack’s own invention—only backtracking when he couldn’t decipher the watch’s mechanism. He’s also put Marian in compromising positions after she asked him to be discreet… but I digress. What’s not in the synopsis, but is in leaked spoilers, is that Larry will propose to Marian—and yes, she’ll say yes. But then there’s Bertha…

At her suggestion, George will send Larry off to Arizona to handle the mining business. My hope is that the bold “What is in it for me?” line he throws at George signals that he’s negotiating for autonomy—and making sure nothing like what happened to Gladys happens to him. I’m rooting for Larian! But there’s always a “but”… he’ll go to a “gentleman’s club” (fancy term for brothel) and run into none other than Maud Beaton. Yes, our favorite con woman is back on The Gilded Age.

Back in Newport—or perhaps back in New York—our dear Peggy is living her own drama. With her snobbish mother-in-law digging for dirt to break up her romance with the very marriage-minded Dr. Kirkland, Peggy is holding on to more than one explosive secret from her past. And—as we saw in the trailer—she runs into her former boss (and almost-lover), the very married T. Thomas Fortune, and there’s definite tension between him and William Kirkland. Juicy, right?

And at Mrs. Fish’s house, trouble is brewing among two women who were once firmly in charge back in Season 2: Aurora and Mrs. Astor. Both are now under the cloud of scandal. In Aurora Fane’s case, her husband has left her for another woman. Meanwhile, in the Astor household, it’s Lina’s eldest daughter who’s making headlines in gossip columns around the world. This turns both women into social outcasts, and judging by the stills from the episode, poor Aurora is about to suffer even more humiliation.

In those photos, Bertha is always seen with Marian, but we know she’s against the young woman’s engagement to Larry, and Aurora is Marian’s beloved cousin. Even out of duty, I hope Bertha remembers that Aurora was a friend and instrumental to her social ascent in New York. Will she stand by her?

Sunday can’t come soon enough!