Gladys Russell

Gladys Russell is the sheltered daughter of new-money titans Bertha and George Russell, kept indoors and out of society by a mother determined to control every step of her debut. She longs simply to go out, to meet people, to have a say in her own life, and chafes prettily but persistently against the leash.

Farmiga plays the frustration of a gilded cage without ever tipping into whining, finding real wit and backbone under Gladys's good manners. The show uses her as its clearest lens on how thoroughly Gilded Age daughters were currency, which makes every small act of assertion feel like a genuine risk.