Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 6 - "Heads Have Rolled For Less"
In The Gilded Age episode 6, Carrie Astor (Amy Forsyth) was crying over the man she would eventually marry, although her real-life nuptials are still a couple of years away. Carrie's mother is Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy), the leader of Old New York's elite, dubbed the Four Hundred while Larry is the son of New Money millionaire George Russell (Morgan Spector). In The Gilded Age's version of history, Carrie is friends with Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) and they move in the same social circles, even though it conflicts with the values of Mrs. Astor, who snubs New Money from entering high society.
Carrie Astor was introduced in The Gilded Age episode 1 when she was seen at a Newport, Rhode Island party thrown by Mamie Fish (Ashlie Atkinson) that was also attended by Larry Russell and Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson). The next time Carrie was seen was in The Gilded Age episode 2. Carrie asked whether the Russells were worth formally befriending after Mrs. Astor witnessed an ostentatious display of George Russell's wealth at a charity bazaar but her mother dismissed the idea. In what little audiences have seen of Carrie Astor thus far, it's apparent that she doesn't share her mother's insistence on keeping society pure from the "new people." Carrie is definitely born into an Old New York bloodline but Miss Astor, who is 21 years old in The Gilded Age's 1882 timeframe, has no problems socializing with people from New Money.
Not coincidentally, in The Gilded Age episode 6, Carrie was crying over a different New Money person, Marshall Orme Wilson, who is her future husband. Larry and his younger sister Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) found Miss Astor sobbing over Orme at a bizarre "doll's tea party" hosted by Mrs. Fish. Marshall Orme Wilson hasn't been introduced in The Gilded Age and he obviously hasn't joined the powerful Astor family yet but, in real life, Marshall was a banker in his father's firm of R. T. Wilson & Co. Orme and Carrie married on November 18, 1884, at Astor Mansion. They had two sons, Marshall Orme Wilson Jr. and Richard Thornton Wilson III. Marshall Orme Wilson died on April 1, 1926, and Carrie outlived her husband by 22 years before her death on September 13, 1948, at the age of 86.
In The Gilded Age, however, Gladys is surprised that Carrie's plight mirrors her own. Like Gladys, Carrie's own domineering mother doesn't approve of her relationship with Marshall Orme Wilson. Gladys just suffered through her parents buying off her suitor, Archie Baldwin (Tom Blyth), and ensuring they never see each other again. Just as Bertha has specific plans for Gladys' future, Mrs. Astor also wants to control who Carrie eventually marries, and she disapproves of Marshall because he's from a New Money family like the Russells. Carrie and Gladys were able to commiserate about the unfair amount of power their mothers wield over their lives and they became friends.
While Carrie is at an impasse with her own mother, she was able to use her status and influence to dazzle Bertha and help Gladys. There's nothing Bertha wants more than to be acknowledged by Mrs. Astor and high society, and Carrie promising to invite her friends to a ball she and Gladys are throwing is something Mrs. Russell simply couldn't resist. Although Carrie Astor is destined to marry Marshall Orme Wilson, perhaps she will also help bridge the gulf between Mrs. Astor and Bertha Russell in The Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age airs Mondays @ 9pm on HBO and streams on HBO Max.