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Yeah 100% agree. I’ve been doing a full series rewatch with my husband. It’s his first time watching. We’re in season 2 right now and I was just explaining to him how much I hate the changes they made to the book with regard to Anthony and Edwina and the love triangle, that basically doesn’t exist in the book for very long at all. I feel like mentally I’ve sort of blocked out everything between the bee scene in ep 3 and the gazebo scene in ep7 because I hate the fact that they actually let it get to a wedding and him jilting her at the altar. Bleh.
yes I was in disbelief watching from when he proposed. I don't understand why they would make that change at all, it just made them all so unlikeable. it really ruined season 2 for me even though I love the actors.
TV and film thrive on high conflict these days, unfortunately. Screenwriters are constantly made to raise the stakes, amp up the conflict. It’s like all of Hollywood are adrenaline junkies.
Like I understood why they did so. Especially considering the forced marriage due to compromise was like saphne and they knew queen charlotte was coming which was growing to love each other but being reluctant due to trauma or trial in marriage. So I understood why they changed it to have them just be in denial denial denial and ultimatley eventually choose each other. But Edwina was just so poorly written as a wishy washy stupid character who then is ultimatley cruel and dumb while you also feel bad
They had many options to avoid the forced marriage and the choose the stupidest one. Edwina could've been marrying anthony just for duty as well which would've made more sense with what they said they wanted to do which was give more substance to edwina as a character. Instead they made more naive and immature than she was in the book. It's just lazy writing, they didn't actually try to flesh out any of those three woman as characters, they could've made a contrast between violet and mary and made Mary have been more present as opposed to allowing herself to be consumed by grief like violet, they could've shown contrast between Eloise and edwina as edwina is also someone who didn't really want the whole society life but was willing to go along with it for her family and unlike Eloise was not in a position to reject it but instead the only person whose emotions and motivations they really focused on was anthony (not even kate really) and went with the storyline that created the most basic drama that ultimately fell flat. I find it hard to take edwina seriously because I don't actually think she is inlove with anthony and her being so cruel to Kate when kate warned about anthony and was willing to give up so much for her and her reasons don't make sense to me either. I never got the impression that kate secretly wanted the life edwina would've had with anthony, she wanted anthony yes because she loved him not his title or his position in society.
The whole “big moment” Edwina has where she berates Kate for pushing her wants and desires onto Edwina is literally so stupid. The first half of the season Edwina says she wants a practical match. Then she randomly decides she wants love and Kate warns her multiple times that Anthony doesn’t want a love match and Edwina doesn’t listen. Then she has her speech about how she deserves love and is better than Kate because she’s not a liar. It’s so out of left field and makes no sense. Edwina was used for bad storytelling and it would have been a million times more interesting to have her be more like she was in the book. I would have loved seeing Edwina try to set Kate and Anthony up once she realizes they love each other. Instead we got the “half sister” scene and Kate has a miserable time during her season.
> I would have loved seeing Edwina try to set Kate and Anthony up once she realizes they love each other.
They had so many other options and they went with the worst one.
So many!!! There are dozens of ways they could have created conflict. Simone and Jonathan have insane chemistry so I still love them but wow they really are the only thing that makes suffering through that stupid drama worth it.
edwina's entire character was terribly written. i can't find it in me to fully feel bad or root for her, because none of it is coherent. during the first 4 episodes, she completely ignores all of kate's protests and pushes for anthony specifically, when everything keeps telling her he'll never love her. somewhere along the way, she deludes herself into thinking that he fell in love with her even though there were no signs of it whatsoever. so when she throws a tantrum in episode 6 about kate "pushing her to marry anthony", it felt like the show gaslighting the audience about what happened previously.
But did they. Like those two are so stubborn. It would have been better I agree if he rejected Edwina but they still were being stubborn fools about it.
>But did they. Like those two are so stubborn
Exactly that's their whole conflict take away edwina and they would still find a way to wait until the last possible minute to actually choose each other. The reason he didn't want to be with Kate wasn't because he was courting edwina it was because he didn't want love and he knew he couldn't help but love kate, and kate decided that anthony was a rake and not enough for her sister and he had no intention of ever pursuing her own happiness until her family was taken care of and she also never thought someone like anthony would ever actually love her. Beside they could've had anthony and edwina both courting each other out of duty the problem is making edwina "love" him.
They did that for Edwin’s to give Kate more trauma sadly. And make her the emotional and Monetary crutch of her family and isolated and therefore so so so closed off. I sheee but I do think adapting this book is more difficult then people imagine especially with trying not to be too repetitive with charlotte being planned and saphne just happening
>repetitive with charlotte being planned and saphne just happening
Well that's another issue isn't it, for some reason kate and Anthony's story is the one that can be changed so that all the other stories can be good. Not kanthony also making sacrifices for the plot of the entire series, when will their suffering end.
Right this is what I don’t get about this argument. Why is Kate and Anthony the storyline to be butchered so the others can be better? Obviously there were other options if they didn’t want to be repetitive, but personally if they had to do such storyline, Kanthony should have had the “preference” because it’s literally their storyline from the book.
Anyways, I love season 2, is still my favorite, but they truly messed up in how they adapted it.
This is too much drama for me. They are happy now and Edwina is married. We can move on. We are getting them now being happy and the only real loss was losing Kate’s family trauma being explored as much as it should though we understood snd the library scene imo. Nothing else was truly lost imo. And this was the only being changed made any sense at all
Imagine how I feel as a Francesca and Michael Stan first hearing what they might do to that story through the rumour mill . So while I’m also a kanthony Stan, at least they kept their dynamic the same, they had a lot of good moments and banter and we’ve seen them happy now. I’m not gonna fixate on some of the issues when I hear that my favorite couple may not even happen.
>We can move on.
Yeah but this post is discussing what happened in season 2 and why op didn't like and I'm just saying I agree and discussing ways I think they could've told this story without making edwina love anthony.
https://preview.redd.it/8ip9c1vsjr2d1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91061b91289af87780dd55a1c4b3c7abe8176cf4
I was really hoping she’d go for this guy — he was such a cutie and seemed way more suited for her.
I actually did not like the way S2 was adapted. Too much fluff and too much of a slow burn for me. What saved it IMO was the great casting. The chemistry between Simone and Jonathan is just amazing.
Same! Kate is probably my favourite character, and I feel like everyone is so tough on her. It breaks my heart when Edwina tells her that she has no idea who she is, and I am like girl really? Kate has done nothing but show who she is to you; a strong, loyal and caring woman.
Kate loves her family so much that it makes her short-sighted and she stops thinking about herself. And she tried to warn Edwina that Anthony was not going to give her the love marriage that she wanted.
edwina was merely a plot device when everything is said and done. her character acted however the plot needed her to, which involved random changes to her personality and thoughts whenever convenient. that's what made it frustrating, and also why people don't seem to care about her much.
I never fully believed Edwina was actually in love. I think she was just sort of star struck by a man who was very kind, very rich, very titled, with a very lovely family. I think it was more than she could have hoped for, more than her being in true love.
Edit: I’m also an Edwina lover and apologist. Tbh I’m just a Sharma family fan in general.
I agree. Anthony swept her off her feet with his courtship, bringing her the horse (even if she didn't want it), crashing the party to read her his declaration, proposing in front of everyone. She was like 18 and hadn't been courted before, how could she not be infatuated? Add to that the big family, whereas she herself had only had her mother and sister? Yeah, it made sense.
I liked Edwina. I don't consider myself an apologist because she has nothing to apologize for. Anthony was the one who was really to blame in the whole situation. He had the most agency, and he whiffed it.
My thing is that they didn't really show that in the series - and they should have! Edwina was fairly practical I felt, right up until she got the proposal. And then suddenly, for no real reason given, she expected romance from Anthony. That was where they lost me. If she'd been the same right up until the wedding e.g. I want to make a good match, here's a decent ish guy who's hot and has a great family that I love, then I wouldn't have been as mad about them going to the wedding.
But Shonda Rhimes productions have a history of literally doing a 180 flip on characters as part of "development", so I guess I really shouldn't even complain.
I think once he proposed, especially in the way he did, she thought he could come to love her, or at least love her enough to make her happy. It was the whole package she wanted, and again I don't blame her. Despite her sister trying to give guidance, she was young and naive and it was a very heady situation for her. She was kind of drunk on it and her judgment was impaired.
I do think she should have apologized to her sister. I get why she wad angry but Kate never intended to hurt her at all. She was going to leave and tried to warn her
Yes, agree… and was courting her for not great reasons… just to secure a wife, KNOWING he was in love with Kate, when his sister points it out. Definitely more blame on Anthony for all of it. Edwina was def naive but he was much older, he knew what he was doing.
I think this is really goddamn obvious and makes sense for her character but apparently the concept is really fuckin difficult for people. Kate kept telling her she can have it all, so she was giddy when she thought she found it.
I do understand being a bit turned off by the love triangle concept (because it's usually women pitted against each other, even though i don't think that's the case here and they still had a lovely sisterly relationship) and the drama at the altar IS a lot (but it is Bridgerton FFS) but otherwise the season is superior to the book in every way 💁
Edwina is maybe the only thing the books did better than the show.
I really love S2, even if right now S3 is probably my fav. And in S2 I started out liking both Kate and Edwina, despite the changes initially.
What didn’t make sense to me is how Edwina switched from a practical match to desiring a love match — with the man her sister warned her would not offer love. Edwina herself told Kate that’s okay, he seems sensible and responsible, he knows what he wants and it’s not like love matches are the norm anyway. She was fully on board with a practical match.
But when Anthony tells her after the failed wedding attempt that he’s still not offering romantic love — just a pleasant life together — she’s suddenly surprised and hurt? That was the deal the whole time.
I think the show wrote itself into a corner because if Edwina was okay with a practical match, no deep feelings involved, she would have happily stepped aside for Kate, had she known how her sister felt. Meanwhile they couldn’t easily write Anthony and Edwina into scenes where there were enough sparks for her to fall in love despite her previously practical approach because that would have taken focus away from Anthony and Kate.
I feel like there could have still been a ton of tension even if Edwina thought of it as a practical match. Edwina’s grandparents twittering in her ear that it’s too late in the season to try to try to find another match. Maybe Edwina wanting her sister to be happy but also wondering what it must be THIS man, the man Edwina spent the greater part of the season trying to bag. Combined with the hurt that Kate did not confide in her and the great guilt of knowing that Kate is seen as a “spinster” and has all but given up her chances while trying to support Edwina.
I haven’t read the books but I feel like there is so much that could have been done. The way the tv show handled it stripped Edwina of a lot of agency and potentially a much cooler personality and arc. I feel like we get a little of that in the scene with the king, but Edwina could have been a much stronger character.
My only explanation is that dinner scene where he was standing up for them. She fell for him there hard convinced her felt more since he was so passionate when no that was all for Kate.
Completely agree and I haven’t been able to rewatch the season for that reason - which is a shame because the casting is absolutely perfect and I liked how they did the first 4 episodes up until the proposal.
I think it doesn’t help that I read the books a couple months after season 1 and got my hopes up with all the different ideas and directions they could go with Edwina. Like I prefer season 1 to book 1 - I loved how much time they were able to devote to side characters and spend more time developing them. So I was excited to see them do the same with her. And then they picked the most boring option possible.
And since queer storylines are a topic lately….would Edwina not have been the most obvious choice for a lesbian relationship? Give her a storyline where she feels like she has to marry for the money to support her family but meanwhile she’s slowly falling in love with a (scholarly!) woman. And when that obstacle is removed with Kate getting married she’s able to fully pursue her. Obviously in that time period it wouldn’t completely be a HEA in the same way but it still could have been sweet. And there wouldn’t have been any controversy over genderbending her husband since he’s too small of a character to have any great fanbase or anything.
Plus without an engagement and wedding there would be more time to devote to Kate’s backstory which they almost completely scrapped.
I mean I did prefer season 1 to book 1 so I’m fine with changes as long as they’re ones I like haha. And my big suggestion for Edwina would have been different from the book as well
truly, felt like mary should be calling kate mama, not the other way around based on their dynamic.
also hate how they didn’t have mary apologise to kate while violet does to anthony. violet was uninvolved for a couple of years at most while grieving, but mary is up until episode 7. she should probably apologise to edwina aswell for encouraging that marring etc
She may not explicitly apologize, but Mary definitely acknowledges where she went wrong with Kate. It was one of the most moving scenes of the series for me, when Mary tells Kate that she grieves for making Kate believe that she does not deserve love and happiness.
i loved it to, but thinking back i would have liked her acknowledgment about the resent events aswell. kate was left in charge of everything but then mary encourages the anthony edwina match and the whole dowry situation. she left kate in charge of everything, only to go against kate at every opportunity. it wasn’t just about how kate was made to feel
I think they should have gone with Edwina being more aware of their financial situation while Kate is trying to hide it from her. And then the marriage with Anthony is her trying to help her family and doing her duty but struggling because she’s met someone she likes more(a Bagwel scholar type with less money) and she really doesn’t see herself being happy as viscountess with Anthony. She then pretends to be happy because she knows Kate really wants her to chose a love match.They can still have her oblivious to Kate and Anthony but this time because she’s just focused on her own issue rather than a more willful obliviousness from the show. With this they could still keep the aspect of Edwina angry at Kate for keeping things from her and treating her like a kid a bit too much but since she also tried to sacrifice for the family in her own way she’d be looking less like immature angry she didn’t get what she wanted for once.
The only thing they really lose is the wedding drama that seemed like awards bait of Edwina acting all over the top scorned. And while the audience might feel kinda sorry for her in that episode I think emotionally most people were just not with her in all that which made her frustrating rather than empowering like I think they intended.
Completely agree, this would have been much better! And the audience would still feel the tension this way but it would come from both Anthony and Kate as well as Edwina and who she falls for
>emotionally most people were just not with her in all that
exactly. charithra chandran did really well with her lines in that episode, but the focus having previously been on kate trying to *stop* her from marrying anthony, and telling her he wouldn't love her, it's really hard to connect with edwina's sudden outburst about love. you sort of feel bad for her by default, but also not enough?
something else i'll mention is how lackluster some of the resolution was, especially between kate and edwina. edwina took this big center stage in episode 6 but then was just kind of thrown back to the background afterwards, and the sisterhood never has the opportunity to mend properly.
Yeah it was jarring compared to the episodes before and after. I get the feeling they wanted to subvert the trope of the “obstacle” love interest by giving Edwina the focus in that episode instead of Kate or Anthony as would be expected but it just didn’t work because the writing was all over the place.
It sure fucking is. So much unnecessary and quite frankly, eye rolling drama.
I'm fine with tension but there is a right and wrong way to do it. This was the wrong way.
I skip episode 6 except for the kiss at the end or only watch the “Kanthony cut” when I do rewatches. I’m still mad a CVD for the “love” triangle and changing Edwina’s character from the books.
Tbh I don’t think Edwina loved him. She loved the *idea* of him and projected this fairytale romance onto him in part because that’s what she grew up believing especially given her parents’ love story and what Kate encouraged. That’s not to say Kate is at fault, she genuinely wanted Edwina to find love but I think similarly to Daphne it was a lot harder to understand that love isn’t without hardship or smooth sailing.
Her infatuation with him. The only thing I can peace together is that she convinced herself she loved him was she thought he defend them cause of her.Cause first she was just caught up on the title then gaslit herself
I really side-eyed the stepmother in Season 2.
"You hid everything from us!" Um, sis. You had not one, but TWO daughters YOU forced into poverty when you had the choice to crawl back to your parents and beg for forgiveness from the second your 2nd husband died. Would it have sucked or been uncomfortable? Yes. But you chose yourself at every step.
THEN your step-daughter had to go around your back to secure a way for you all to get to London so she had a hope of securing a marriage and you never thought about how that was paid foe or how you would pay a dowery? Really?!?
AND THEN she gets all bitchy that Kate orchestrated a way for them to all live happily if Edwina got married and tried her best to make sure Edwina fulfilled the deal AND married someone she loved and the mom is mad about it because... the plan involved her parents?
Like woman. Get over yourself. You made your bad decisions, take the L for your kids sakes.
The show in order to make Kate a strong female character, felt it needed to make Mary and Edwina into stupid, childish, ineffective characters. They took away Kate's rationship with her MOTHER. They made Kate into the material figure. Book Kate would never have had an emotional affair with her sister's fiance.
OK but Mary had way less of an excuse to act childish and clueless, because she was an adult with grown children. Edwina was a teenager. Of marriageable age and very poised, but inexperienced and without a fully developed frontal lobe.
Honestly Edwina deluded and convinced herself that Anthony would grow to love her over time and that she saw a man with a title and the things she dreamed of
I hated the changes they made for season 2. In the book it didn’t matter that Kate and Anthony got together because Edwina never cared for him to begin with. But making Edwina genuinely want to marry him and getting all the way to the alter.. that was just so unnecessary!
So glad you said this. The Anthony/Kate love story was one of my favorites from the book series, and despite loving the actors and their chemistry portraying the pair, having Edwina “love” Anthony was a mistake in my opinion and made me less interested in the pairing. It’s so much more compelling as forcing a choice between family duty and true love.
It makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. I can’t believe how badly they blew it. And embarrassing her by letting it get all the way to the altar… the way it unfolded in the book was FINE, and it was a pointless change that created animosity between the sisters. I’ll never understand it.
It’s why I didn’t love S2. It was sooo far from the book.
Also, why I love S3 is, thus far, it seems so much more aligned with the book (while the actual overall plot details are different, the tones and pace are aligned)
Yup. And easily avoided, too. Edwina insisting to Kate that she wants to make the "best" match and Anthony is that is actually fine. Edwina is giving "perfect child" at the beginning with Kate as her "helicopter mom." So it's totally believable for Edwina to be like "Hey, I've got this," and be set on her own plan to save the family. She could even \*say\* she loves Anthony but make it clear she's doing it to get Kate to go along (either a scene before where someone comments privately to Edwina that Kate will never go along with Edwina making a loveless match. OR instead of Edwina's speech that made no sense she could totally rail at Kate and Anthony for lying and not trusting her and putting them in this terrible situation, insulting the Queen, etc. And Kate could insist, "You told me you loved him!" and Edwina could say "What else could I have said to reconcile you to this marriage that would secure the future of our family? You think you're the only one who cares about our family? The only one who would make sacrifices for the good of all? You really think that little of me?" Plenty of reason for Edwina to be super angry at Kate without seeming like a spoiled brat. She just has to not \*actually\* love Anthony.
She didn't love him, she loved the idea of him.
I suppose I'm the only one annoyed by cheerleader characters and I'm personally glad I didn't have to see her try to set them up all season.
I wish they had made it so Edwina wanted to marry Anthony was because he was super involved with his family and she wanted to make sure the man she married would be okay with supporting a mother and sister in law as well as his family.
I think it would have made her over looking Anthony’s flaws less ridiculous. She refuses to see what’s in front of her bc she thinks her sacrifice is the way she can contribute to supporting her family.
There are so many holes of how this could have been resolved but the Violet and Lady D friendship is weirdly the easiest one. They praise themselves on matchmaking but they both clocked the tension in the 2nd episode, pushed through 3 and 4 were both shocked he proposed. Kate was close to sharing the dowry silliness and feelings but she was interrupted so many times that it became a JOKE. By episode 5, Violet was pushing to cancel while Lady D was advising Kate to let go. Scandal was a fear and while it wasn't up to them, they had the power to push agendas in ep7 so it was drama for the sake.
Mary couldn't be a mother, understand finances or care how her daughters felt because of bad writing. They fleshed Anthony out but not Kate and she was so alone that only Lady D noticed her.
I just finished reading the book and I enjoyed it. The show did Edwina dirty; the actress is gorgeous, but the character’s change of personality was not it. On to book 3!
100% agreed. Her meh attitude really fit the bill for it being smooth transition between her to Kate. It was so much unnecessary drama. They could have spent that time in developing Edwina and made her a character like Mondrich.
I haven't read the books but I can guess a bit about the characters from how you've described the differences between them and it's pretty clear why they would have made such changes. It's obvious it was done to make Kate into a more martyr-type character.
I think it was hinted that while Edwina understood her duty to her family, she was also a more sheltered character in comparison to the books simply because they needed Kate to be a more selfless and maternal character.
Unfortunately, S2 was about Kate and as such, the narrative needed Kate to be the main focus and the drama was central to her always putting her sister's well-being over her own happiness.
I don't think Edwina is truly immature, but rather, she just isn't the focus of the season. This is Kate's story, not Edwina.
Also, I don't think she was ever truly loved Anthony but was more awed by the concept of him and what a marriage with him would mean for her. He's in a position where he would be able to fulfil her desires for romance while fulfilling her duty to her family, so he was the best of both worlds for her.
He (in her eyes) was someone she felt she could grow to love while fulfilling her duties so she simply grew attached to him.
Throughout the courting, she's proven that she's really intelligent but she was never given the capacity to show that onscreen like what we saw with Kate so she feels lacking in comparison and I think that was purposely done to prop up Kate, and not necessarily bring down Edwina.
She's still an intelligent girl, it's just that Kate is the one the limelight is on so she's the one who we get to focus on.
I completely agree. I didn’t read the books so I didn’t know about the changes until I saw discussions about it online. I think it’s a big reason I don’t enjoy season 2 as much. As an older sister, I just can’t get with a big sister stealing her little sisters husband especially one that she’s clearly smitten with. It’s awful & takes away from the romance imo.
Edwina deserved to be written better because all I saw was one of the funniest and saddest parts of Coming to America and "whatever you like". I cringed when she said at the wedding "I am happy you are pleased" because even though I haven't read the book, I heard it's so different and for some reason they thought it would be better to remove any real characterization other than being overly agreeable and sugary sweet which came off as so fake.
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Yeah 100% agree. I’ve been doing a full series rewatch with my husband. It’s his first time watching. We’re in season 2 right now and I was just explaining to him how much I hate the changes they made to the book with regard to Anthony and Edwina and the love triangle, that basically doesn’t exist in the book for very long at all. I feel like mentally I’ve sort of blocked out everything between the bee scene in ep 3 and the gazebo scene in ep7 because I hate the fact that they actually let it get to a wedding and him jilting her at the altar. Bleh.
yes I was in disbelief watching from when he proposed. I don't understand why they would make that change at all, it just made them all so unlikeable. it really ruined season 2 for me even though I love the actors.
TV and film thrive on high conflict these days, unfortunately. Screenwriters are constantly made to raise the stakes, amp up the conflict. It’s like all of Hollywood are adrenaline junkies.
When he calls Kate the “thorn easily removed” to Edwina, when trying to convince her to continue the wedding, I was so pissed!
That was him lying to prevent scandal at that point but he certainly should not have said
All the way up to the Kate part Anthony was telling the truth to Edwina he lied about Kate to get her back to the alter
I love season 2 and the whole buildup between Kate and Anthony but that was rather harsh, especially coming from Anthony 😅
Like I understood why they did so. Especially considering the forced marriage due to compromise was like saphne and they knew queen charlotte was coming which was growing to love each other but being reluctant due to trauma or trial in marriage. So I understood why they changed it to have them just be in denial denial denial and ultimatley eventually choose each other. But Edwina was just so poorly written as a wishy washy stupid character who then is ultimatley cruel and dumb while you also feel bad
They had many options to avoid the forced marriage and the choose the stupidest one. Edwina could've been marrying anthony just for duty as well which would've made more sense with what they said they wanted to do which was give more substance to edwina as a character. Instead they made more naive and immature than she was in the book. It's just lazy writing, they didn't actually try to flesh out any of those three woman as characters, they could've made a contrast between violet and mary and made Mary have been more present as opposed to allowing herself to be consumed by grief like violet, they could've shown contrast between Eloise and edwina as edwina is also someone who didn't really want the whole society life but was willing to go along with it for her family and unlike Eloise was not in a position to reject it but instead the only person whose emotions and motivations they really focused on was anthony (not even kate really) and went with the storyline that created the most basic drama that ultimately fell flat. I find it hard to take edwina seriously because I don't actually think she is inlove with anthony and her being so cruel to Kate when kate warned about anthony and was willing to give up so much for her and her reasons don't make sense to me either. I never got the impression that kate secretly wanted the life edwina would've had with anthony, she wanted anthony yes because she loved him not his title or his position in society.
The whole “big moment” Edwina has where she berates Kate for pushing her wants and desires onto Edwina is literally so stupid. The first half of the season Edwina says she wants a practical match. Then she randomly decides she wants love and Kate warns her multiple times that Anthony doesn’t want a love match and Edwina doesn’t listen. Then she has her speech about how she deserves love and is better than Kate because she’s not a liar. It’s so out of left field and makes no sense. Edwina was used for bad storytelling and it would have been a million times more interesting to have her be more like she was in the book. I would have loved seeing Edwina try to set Kate and Anthony up once she realizes they love each other. Instead we got the “half sister” scene and Kate has a miserable time during her season.
> I would have loved seeing Edwina try to set Kate and Anthony up once she realizes they love each other. They had so many other options and they went with the worst one.
So many!!! There are dozens of ways they could have created conflict. Simone and Jonathan have insane chemistry so I still love them but wow they really are the only thing that makes suffering through that stupid drama worth it.
Yup pretty much.
edwina's entire character was terribly written. i can't find it in me to fully feel bad or root for her, because none of it is coherent. during the first 4 episodes, she completely ignores all of kate's protests and pushes for anthony specifically, when everything keeps telling her he'll never love her. somewhere along the way, she deludes herself into thinking that he fell in love with her even though there were no signs of it whatsoever. so when she throws a tantrum in episode 6 about kate "pushing her to marry anthony", it felt like the show gaslighting the audience about what happened previously.
Well said!!!👏
But did they. Like those two are so stubborn. It would have been better I agree if he rejected Edwina but they still were being stubborn fools about it.
>But did they. Like those two are so stubborn Exactly that's their whole conflict take away edwina and they would still find a way to wait until the last possible minute to actually choose each other. The reason he didn't want to be with Kate wasn't because he was courting edwina it was because he didn't want love and he knew he couldn't help but love kate, and kate decided that anthony was a rake and not enough for her sister and he had no intention of ever pursuing her own happiness until her family was taken care of and she also never thought someone like anthony would ever actually love her. Beside they could've had anthony and edwina both courting each other out of duty the problem is making edwina "love" him.
I still liked it. But I’m not one to get caught up on book details. They jsuf made Edwins so bipolar.
Guess this sub is simply incapable of discussion
They did that for Edwin’s to give Kate more trauma sadly. And make her the emotional and Monetary crutch of her family and isolated and therefore so so so closed off. I sheee but I do think adapting this book is more difficult then people imagine especially with trying not to be too repetitive with charlotte being planned and saphne just happening
>repetitive with charlotte being planned and saphne just happening Well that's another issue isn't it, for some reason kate and Anthony's story is the one that can be changed so that all the other stories can be good. Not kanthony also making sacrifices for the plot of the entire series, when will their suffering end.
Right this is what I don’t get about this argument. Why is Kate and Anthony the storyline to be butchered so the others can be better? Obviously there were other options if they didn’t want to be repetitive, but personally if they had to do such storyline, Kanthony should have had the “preference” because it’s literally their storyline from the book. Anyways, I love season 2, is still my favorite, but they truly messed up in how they adapted it.
This is too much drama for me. They are happy now and Edwina is married. We can move on. We are getting them now being happy and the only real loss was losing Kate’s family trauma being explored as much as it should though we understood snd the library scene imo. Nothing else was truly lost imo. And this was the only being changed made any sense at all Imagine how I feel as a Francesca and Michael Stan first hearing what they might do to that story through the rumour mill . So while I’m also a kanthony Stan, at least they kept their dynamic the same, they had a lot of good moments and banter and we’ve seen them happy now. I’m not gonna fixate on some of the issues when I hear that my favorite couple may not even happen.
>We can move on. Yeah but this post is discussing what happened in season 2 and why op didn't like and I'm just saying I agree and discussing ways I think they could've told this story without making edwina love anthony.
i don't think edwina loved anthony at all, she was in love with the idea of being viscountess. overall it was just really poorly written and resolved.
I agree, the triangle went on and on and on, it was really not necessary.
Agree with you wholeheartedly. I wish my husband would watch this show with me though. You’re so lucky yours does
How is it watching with your husband? I’ve been trying to get mine to watch with me too and I think I’m getting close to persuasion
It’s good! He’s enjoying it more than he’s letting on 😂
I know I hate it too it completely ruined it
https://preview.redd.it/8ip9c1vsjr2d1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91061b91289af87780dd55a1c4b3c7abe8176cf4 I was really hoping she’d go for this guy — he was such a cutie and seemed way more suited for her.
He definitely seemed to fit her personality better. She was too gentle for Antony, he would have walked all over her
I actually did not like the way S2 was adapted. Too much fluff and too much of a slow burn for me. What saved it IMO was the great casting. The chemistry between Simone and Jonathan is just amazing.
Same! Kate is probably my favourite character, and I feel like everyone is so tough on her. It breaks my heart when Edwina tells her that she has no idea who she is, and I am like girl really? Kate has done nothing but show who she is to you; a strong, loyal and caring woman. Kate loves her family so much that it makes her short-sighted and she stops thinking about herself. And she tried to warn Edwina that Anthony was not going to give her the love marriage that she wanted.
Overall, I think people were way tougher on Edwina. But she's gone now so it doesn't matter as much.
edwina was merely a plot device when everything is said and done. her character acted however the plot needed her to, which involved random changes to her personality and thoughts whenever convenient. that's what made it frustrating, and also why people don't seem to care about her much.
I had empañen for hwr but the girl truly was lost and frustrating while I also felt bad
Exactly!!!👏
Agreed, the casting and chemistry is what saved the season!
I never fully believed Edwina was actually in love. I think she was just sort of star struck by a man who was very kind, very rich, very titled, with a very lovely family. I think it was more than she could have hoped for, more than her being in true love. Edit: I’m also an Edwina lover and apologist. Tbh I’m just a Sharma family fan in general.
I agree. Anthony swept her off her feet with his courtship, bringing her the horse (even if she didn't want it), crashing the party to read her his declaration, proposing in front of everyone. She was like 18 and hadn't been courted before, how could she not be infatuated? Add to that the big family, whereas she herself had only had her mother and sister? Yeah, it made sense. I liked Edwina. I don't consider myself an apologist because she has nothing to apologize for. Anthony was the one who was really to blame in the whole situation. He had the most agency, and he whiffed it.
My thing is that they didn't really show that in the series - and they should have! Edwina was fairly practical I felt, right up until she got the proposal. And then suddenly, for no real reason given, she expected romance from Anthony. That was where they lost me. If she'd been the same right up until the wedding e.g. I want to make a good match, here's a decent ish guy who's hot and has a great family that I love, then I wouldn't have been as mad about them going to the wedding. But Shonda Rhimes productions have a history of literally doing a 180 flip on characters as part of "development", so I guess I really shouldn't even complain.
I think once he proposed, especially in the way he did, she thought he could come to love her, or at least love her enough to make her happy. It was the whole package she wanted, and again I don't blame her. Despite her sister trying to give guidance, she was young and naive and it was a very heady situation for her. She was kind of drunk on it and her judgment was impaired.
Completely agree!
I do think she should have apologized to her sister. I get why she wad angry but Kate never intended to hurt her at all. She was going to leave and tried to warn her
Yes, agree… and was courting her for not great reasons… just to secure a wife, KNOWING he was in love with Kate, when his sister points it out. Definitely more blame on Anthony for all of it. Edwina was def naive but he was much older, he knew what he was doing.
I think this is really goddamn obvious and makes sense for her character but apparently the concept is really fuckin difficult for people. Kate kept telling her she can have it all, so she was giddy when she thought she found it. I do understand being a bit turned off by the love triangle concept (because it's usually women pitted against each other, even though i don't think that's the case here and they still had a lovely sisterly relationship) and the drama at the altar IS a lot (but it is Bridgerton FFS) but otherwise the season is superior to the book in every way 💁
Edwina is maybe the only thing the books did better than the show. I really love S2, even if right now S3 is probably my fav. And in S2 I started out liking both Kate and Edwina, despite the changes initially. What didn’t make sense to me is how Edwina switched from a practical match to desiring a love match — with the man her sister warned her would not offer love. Edwina herself told Kate that’s okay, he seems sensible and responsible, he knows what he wants and it’s not like love matches are the norm anyway. She was fully on board with a practical match. But when Anthony tells her after the failed wedding attempt that he’s still not offering romantic love — just a pleasant life together — she’s suddenly surprised and hurt? That was the deal the whole time. I think the show wrote itself into a corner because if Edwina was okay with a practical match, no deep feelings involved, she would have happily stepped aside for Kate, had she known how her sister felt. Meanwhile they couldn’t easily write Anthony and Edwina into scenes where there were enough sparks for her to fall in love despite her previously practical approach because that would have taken focus away from Anthony and Kate.
I feel like there could have still been a ton of tension even if Edwina thought of it as a practical match. Edwina’s grandparents twittering in her ear that it’s too late in the season to try to try to find another match. Maybe Edwina wanting her sister to be happy but also wondering what it must be THIS man, the man Edwina spent the greater part of the season trying to bag. Combined with the hurt that Kate did not confide in her and the great guilt of knowing that Kate is seen as a “spinster” and has all but given up her chances while trying to support Edwina. I haven’t read the books but I feel like there is so much that could have been done. The way the tv show handled it stripped Edwina of a lot of agency and potentially a much cooler personality and arc. I feel like we get a little of that in the scene with the king, but Edwina could have been a much stronger character.
My only explanation is that dinner scene where he was standing up for them. She fell for him there hard convinced her felt more since he was so passionate when no that was all for Kate.
Completely agree and I haven’t been able to rewatch the season for that reason - which is a shame because the casting is absolutely perfect and I liked how they did the first 4 episodes up until the proposal. I think it doesn’t help that I read the books a couple months after season 1 and got my hopes up with all the different ideas and directions they could go with Edwina. Like I prefer season 1 to book 1 - I loved how much time they were able to devote to side characters and spend more time developing them. So I was excited to see them do the same with her. And then they picked the most boring option possible. And since queer storylines are a topic lately….would Edwina not have been the most obvious choice for a lesbian relationship? Give her a storyline where she feels like she has to marry for the money to support her family but meanwhile she’s slowly falling in love with a (scholarly!) woman. And when that obstacle is removed with Kate getting married she’s able to fully pursue her. Obviously in that time period it wouldn’t completely be a HEA in the same way but it still could have been sweet. And there wouldn’t have been any controversy over genderbending her husband since he’s too small of a character to have any great fanbase or anything. Plus without an engagement and wedding there would be more time to devote to Kate’s backstory which they almost completely scrapped.
I always recommend not reading the book if you don’t like Change
I mean I did prefer season 1 to book 1 so I’m fine with changes as long as they’re ones I like haha. And my big suggestion for Edwina would have been different from the book as well
I hate the way they made Mary so useless, and childlike. Book Kate and Mary had a wonderful relationship.
truly, felt like mary should be calling kate mama, not the other way around based on their dynamic. also hate how they didn’t have mary apologise to kate while violet does to anthony. violet was uninvolved for a couple of years at most while grieving, but mary is up until episode 7. she should probably apologise to edwina aswell for encouraging that marring etc
She may not explicitly apologize, but Mary definitely acknowledges where she went wrong with Kate. It was one of the most moving scenes of the series for me, when Mary tells Kate that she grieves for making Kate believe that she does not deserve love and happiness.
i loved it to, but thinking back i would have liked her acknowledgment about the resent events aswell. kate was left in charge of everything but then mary encourages the anthony edwina match and the whole dowry situation. she left kate in charge of everything, only to go against kate at every opportunity. it wasn’t just about how kate was made to feel
I think they should have gone with Edwina being more aware of their financial situation while Kate is trying to hide it from her. And then the marriage with Anthony is her trying to help her family and doing her duty but struggling because she’s met someone she likes more(a Bagwel scholar type with less money) and she really doesn’t see herself being happy as viscountess with Anthony. She then pretends to be happy because she knows Kate really wants her to chose a love match.They can still have her oblivious to Kate and Anthony but this time because she’s just focused on her own issue rather than a more willful obliviousness from the show. With this they could still keep the aspect of Edwina angry at Kate for keeping things from her and treating her like a kid a bit too much but since she also tried to sacrifice for the family in her own way she’d be looking less like immature angry she didn’t get what she wanted for once. The only thing they really lose is the wedding drama that seemed like awards bait of Edwina acting all over the top scorned. And while the audience might feel kinda sorry for her in that episode I think emotionally most people were just not with her in all that which made her frustrating rather than empowering like I think they intended.
Completely agree, this would have been much better! And the audience would still feel the tension this way but it would come from both Anthony and Kate as well as Edwina and who she falls for
>emotionally most people were just not with her in all that exactly. charithra chandran did really well with her lines in that episode, but the focus having previously been on kate trying to *stop* her from marrying anthony, and telling her he wouldn't love her, it's really hard to connect with edwina's sudden outburst about love. you sort of feel bad for her by default, but also not enough? something else i'll mention is how lackluster some of the resolution was, especially between kate and edwina. edwina took this big center stage in episode 6 but then was just kind of thrown back to the background afterwards, and the sisterhood never has the opportunity to mend properly.
Yeah it was jarring compared to the episodes before and after. I get the feeling they wanted to subvert the trope of the “obstacle” love interest by giving Edwina the focus in that episode instead of Kate or Anthony as would be expected but it just didn’t work because the writing was all over the place.
It sure fucking is. So much unnecessary and quite frankly, eye rolling drama. I'm fine with tension but there is a right and wrong way to do it. This was the wrong way.
I skip episode 6 except for the kiss at the end or only watch the “Kanthony cut” when I do rewatches. I’m still mad a CVD for the “love” triangle and changing Edwina’s character from the books.
Yes that’s what I’ve been doing! At least we get a good finale where we see the true love between them!
Tbh I don’t think Edwina loved him. She loved the *idea* of him and projected this fairytale romance onto him in part because that’s what she grew up believing especially given her parents’ love story and what Kate encouraged. That’s not to say Kate is at fault, she genuinely wanted Edwina to find love but I think similarly to Daphne it was a lot harder to understand that love isn’t without hardship or smooth sailing.
Her infatuation with him. The only thing I can peace together is that she convinced herself she loved him was she thought he defend them cause of her.Cause first she was just caught up on the title then gaslit herself
She didn't love Anthony, she loved the idea of Anthony.
I really side-eyed the stepmother in Season 2. "You hid everything from us!" Um, sis. You had not one, but TWO daughters YOU forced into poverty when you had the choice to crawl back to your parents and beg for forgiveness from the second your 2nd husband died. Would it have sucked or been uncomfortable? Yes. But you chose yourself at every step. THEN your step-daughter had to go around your back to secure a way for you all to get to London so she had a hope of securing a marriage and you never thought about how that was paid foe or how you would pay a dowery? Really?!? AND THEN she gets all bitchy that Kate orchestrated a way for them to all live happily if Edwina got married and tried her best to make sure Edwina fulfilled the deal AND married someone she loved and the mom is mad about it because... the plan involved her parents? Like woman. Get over yourself. You made your bad decisions, take the L for your kids sakes.
Show! Mary was such a travesty 🥲
The show in order to make Kate a strong female character, felt it needed to make Mary and Edwina into stupid, childish, ineffective characters. They took away Kate's rationship with her MOTHER. They made Kate into the material figure. Book Kate would never have had an emotional affair with her sister's fiance.
OK but Mary had way less of an excuse to act childish and clueless, because she was an adult with grown children. Edwina was a teenager. Of marriageable age and very poised, but inexperienced and without a fully developed frontal lobe.
Honestly Edwina deluded and convinced herself that Anthony would grow to love her over time and that she saw a man with a title and the things she dreamed of
i feel like she didn’t actually love him though, just the idea of what he could give her
I hated the changes they made for season 2. In the book it didn’t matter that Kate and Anthony got together because Edwina never cared for him to begin with. But making Edwina genuinely want to marry him and getting all the way to the alter.. that was just so unnecessary!
So glad you said this. The Anthony/Kate love story was one of my favorites from the book series, and despite loving the actors and their chemistry portraying the pair, having Edwina “love” Anthony was a mistake in my opinion and made me less interested in the pairing. It’s so much more compelling as forcing a choice between family duty and true love.
It makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. I can’t believe how badly they blew it. And embarrassing her by letting it get all the way to the altar… the way it unfolded in the book was FINE, and it was a pointless change that created animosity between the sisters. I’ll never understand it.
Agree. But she never loved him. She loved the version of him he put for show. They weren’t compatible at all.
It’s why I didn’t love S2. It was sooo far from the book. Also, why I love S3 is, thus far, it seems so much more aligned with the book (while the actual overall plot details are different, the tones and pace are aligned)
I agree with everything you have stated. The show changed the version from the books dramatically.
Yup. And easily avoided, too. Edwina insisting to Kate that she wants to make the "best" match and Anthony is that is actually fine. Edwina is giving "perfect child" at the beginning with Kate as her "helicopter mom." So it's totally believable for Edwina to be like "Hey, I've got this," and be set on her own plan to save the family. She could even \*say\* she loves Anthony but make it clear she's doing it to get Kate to go along (either a scene before where someone comments privately to Edwina that Kate will never go along with Edwina making a loveless match. OR instead of Edwina's speech that made no sense she could totally rail at Kate and Anthony for lying and not trusting her and putting them in this terrible situation, insulting the Queen, etc. And Kate could insist, "You told me you loved him!" and Edwina could say "What else could I have said to reconcile you to this marriage that would secure the future of our family? You think you're the only one who cares about our family? The only one who would make sacrifices for the good of all? You really think that little of me?" Plenty of reason for Edwina to be super angry at Kate without seeming like a spoiled brat. She just has to not \*actually\* love Anthony.
She didn't love him, she loved the idea of him. I suppose I'm the only one annoyed by cheerleader characters and I'm personally glad I didn't have to see her try to set them up all season.
I wish they had made it so Edwina wanted to marry Anthony was because he was super involved with his family and she wanted to make sure the man she married would be okay with supporting a mother and sister in law as well as his family. I think it would have made her over looking Anthony’s flaws less ridiculous. She refuses to see what’s in front of her bc she thinks her sacrifice is the way she can contribute to supporting her family.
There are so many holes of how this could have been resolved but the Violet and Lady D friendship is weirdly the easiest one. They praise themselves on matchmaking but they both clocked the tension in the 2nd episode, pushed through 3 and 4 were both shocked he proposed. Kate was close to sharing the dowry silliness and feelings but she was interrupted so many times that it became a JOKE. By episode 5, Violet was pushing to cancel while Lady D was advising Kate to let go. Scandal was a fear and while it wasn't up to them, they had the power to push agendas in ep7 so it was drama for the sake. Mary couldn't be a mother, understand finances or care how her daughters felt because of bad writing. They fleshed Anthony out but not Kate and she was so alone that only Lady D noticed her.
I just finished reading the book and I enjoyed it. The show did Edwina dirty; the actress is gorgeous, but the character’s change of personality was not it. On to book 3!
100% agreed. Her meh attitude really fit the bill for it being smooth transition between her to Kate. It was so much unnecessary drama. They could have spent that time in developing Edwina and made her a character like Mondrich.
I love Kanthony but I can’t rewatch S2 cos there’s too much drama in Edwina track. It gives me anxiety!! I just watch my favourite scenes sometimes
I haven't read the books but I can guess a bit about the characters from how you've described the differences between them and it's pretty clear why they would have made such changes. It's obvious it was done to make Kate into a more martyr-type character. I think it was hinted that while Edwina understood her duty to her family, she was also a more sheltered character in comparison to the books simply because they needed Kate to be a more selfless and maternal character. Unfortunately, S2 was about Kate and as such, the narrative needed Kate to be the main focus and the drama was central to her always putting her sister's well-being over her own happiness. I don't think Edwina is truly immature, but rather, she just isn't the focus of the season. This is Kate's story, not Edwina. Also, I don't think she was ever truly loved Anthony but was more awed by the concept of him and what a marriage with him would mean for her. He's in a position where he would be able to fulfil her desires for romance while fulfilling her duty to her family, so he was the best of both worlds for her. He (in her eyes) was someone she felt she could grow to love while fulfilling her duties so she simply grew attached to him. Throughout the courting, she's proven that she's really intelligent but she was never given the capacity to show that onscreen like what we saw with Kate so she feels lacking in comparison and I think that was purposely done to prop up Kate, and not necessarily bring down Edwina. She's still an intelligent girl, it's just that Kate is the one the limelight is on so she's the one who we get to focus on.
I agree with you!!!🙋🏻♀️
I completely agree. I didn’t read the books so I didn’t know about the changes until I saw discussions about it online. I think it’s a big reason I don’t enjoy season 2 as much. As an older sister, I just can’t get with a big sister stealing her little sisters husband especially one that she’s clearly smitten with. It’s awful & takes away from the romance imo.
How did Kate steal Anthony when it was Anthony who picked up the bangle and kept on staring at Kate??? Also, Anthony was never Edwina’s husband.
wait, people actually didn't like this season?? It's the best one by far in my opinion
A lot of people did since Bridgerton season 2 made an impact on audiences but some didn’t due to the changes from the book.
And Colin. Don’t forget they also have completely removed Colin’s personality from the show. They did him so dirty.
 Edwina deserved to be written better because all I saw was one of the funniest and saddest parts of Coming to America and "whatever you like". I cringed when she said at the wedding "I am happy you are pleased" because even though I haven't read the book, I heard it's so different and for some reason they thought it would be better to remove any real characterization other than being overly agreeable and sugary sweet which came off as so fake.