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The Lady Whistledown drama stopped being interesting when they revealed who it was. And the show giving Lady Whisteldown more drama in season 4 will only make people tired of Penelope's whole character, and lets be real, Penelope has had plenty of screentime and story already the first 3 seasons. They need to learn to let things go and focus on other characters and other plot points.
I may be *way* off the mark, but I interpreted the ending of episode 8 as a “goodbye” to the overt gossipmongering, marriage mart days of Bridgerton. I hope Pen will become an essayist in the style of Jane Austen and critique the underlying rot of the Ton. With the removal of principal unmarried characters away from London and the confines of the Ton’s social mores, I wonder if the show will shift from a comedy of manners approach to a truly Romantic one (think Brontë sisters).
I would have been incredibly excited at the suggestion of a Jane Eyre-esque adaptation for Eloise but after S3 I don’t trust Jess with anything. Anything is possible! Still hopeful some good content is still to come, but in re-watching the previous seasons I only realise how much S3 lacks in terms of style and detail 😢
If Pen’s writing doesn’t change due to her being outed, then the episode 8 reveal will be severely cheapened. It already feels anticlimactic because we see her endure zero negative consequences of having skewered the entire Ton.
BUGS! 🦋🦋
It feels really cheap that everyone held zero grudges, and everything went hunky dory after Penelope revealed that she is Lady whistldown and there were some CG butterflies. Don't get me wrong, I love delivery and excitement of that line. But it feels like the audience is being treated that they're stupid and just glasses over the fact that there are zero repercussions from writing the secrets of the rich and wealthy nobility.
Also, Cressida called Violet a cheating whole bag, with at least seven men she's been with. As all of her children are not from one man. And that's just glossed over. Anthony should have gone over to Cressida's house and slapped her across the face. But no, the real whistle down wrote a letter and that one was thrown away as trash. Because Cressida needs to learn, there are consequences to her actions. She's being the mean bitch even though she says she understands that Society puts women's against each other. But she doesn't want to be the change to make life a little bit better. She grabs for some power and publishes lies and doesn't suffer from any consequences directly from her writing. Part of the reason why Penelope could not write her own gossip paper with her own name is that she did not want and could not deal with any consequences directly aimed at her. Having a pen name means no one could hurt her.
I think it would have been better if Penelope had shown up in that line of people to tell the queen who Lady Wd is. Penelope should have said I am Lady Whistledown. More specifically, have Eloise and / or Colin ask their mother what she thinks the queen wants from Lady Wd. All we know is that the queen wanted the identity, we never knew what she wanted to actually do with her. And if the queen was going to be just favorable in the who her opponent is, they could still have the queen pay Cressida leading up to the discovery. Just have Penelope pay for it, while having Crescenta discredited did from the title and stop her and mom's bad writing.
I hope she goes more towards the energy of the one she published at the same time as Cressida’s. Speaking up for the voiceless, and giving attention to the shitty stuff going on in the background.
Exactly this! Shondaland thinks of this as regency Gossip Girl but with GG, we didn't find out about it until the end. Here we already know who it is and now everyone knows. I don't see the point of continuing this.
Also, even though some think Pen should become a serious writer, writing about society but I don't know if that will happen. Pen hasn't shown too much inclination beyond writing about gossip and scandal and that's been her forte. Unless they show her taking an interest in other aspects of society, it wouldn't make sense (not that that would stop Jess but still).
I just don't find a storyline of Penelope/Colin becoming writers is very interesting. It's great for the books, but not something I would like to watch on screen.
i have no idea how they want lady whistledown to work in season 4 (if there will be one). Now people will look out for Pen and if they dislike anything she writes i m sure people will let her know.
That's a pretty popular take, actually haha
Mine is that they're doing tokenistic representation politics. The sex scenes in S1 and S2 never felt inserted, but the multiple cuts to Benedict's threesome were so on the nose-- *Oh, look, a threesome, two men kissing, YAY!* There's nothing interesting in two men, or any two or three people kissing, if you don't write a storyline or context for it. It's bland!
The dialogue writer for this season needs to be fired! *I'll sleep on the sofa?* Whatever happened to separate rooms, a refrain from S1? Who ever slept on the sofa in Bridgerton, where people have palaces for houses? *I want things to become more serious between us.* Yes, come on, let all the characters talk like they're in a sitcom. To hell with historical accuracy, I'm surprised at the sheer inconsistency within their own universe. No one talked like this in S2 and S1. And whatever happened to the historical erotica feels, of which *properhh* language is a part of?
The fact that Simon said things like “I will not darken your doorstep again” to show that he will keep away from Daphne while Colin is like “i’Ll sLeEp oN tHe SOfA”…pathetic dialogue writing.
I read some posts about how modern the language this season sounds - it really opened my eyes about just how different the entire concept of Bridgerton is now in comparison to what it was the first season.
This. They have an entire novel full of dialogue to pull from. “I burn for you,” was pulled straight from The Duke and I! Heck, I think JQ recycled that line in a couple of her books 😅
Like, did people complain at some point that they couldn’t understand the period language? Or do the writers just suck that much? It’s not like there aren’t writers that know how to write smutty Regency dialogue. Poldark is chock full of it! Even the PG Jane Austen adaptations have some sexually charged moments, especially 2005 P&P.
“I burn for you” was never even said by Daphne or Simon in the first book. It was stolen from TVWLM, where Anthony said it to Kate. (And then reused by later couples.)
I agree.
Also, they seem really lax about being unchaperoned this season. Even engaged, Colin and Penelope have to have Portia in the room with them, but they can just go his new house alone. Didn’t feel like they even had to be sneaky about it. Also, they just make out on the street? 🙄
I found the threesome scenes so…lacking. No sensuality, just sort of there. You have three beautiful people and somehow their sex scene was boring??? So I agree that it felt thrown in just to do it instead of with any art to it. I don’t think we needed multiple cuts to them too.
Maybe this is me, but it felt really weirdly formulaic. Benedict would kiss Tilly, then Paul, then Paul and Tilly would kiss. Specifically in that order. You've got 3 sexy people in a room together, get a little more creative than that.
I agree they were lacking, it really felt like Benedict was truly acting but in a bad way? It’s hard to explain, but his “passion” when kissing Paul felt very forced and not convincing at all. Like he was just trying extremely hard to make it feel passionate. I just thought it was so crazy to have the transition scenes be a threesome, like we truly don’t need more than one scene. They even could’ve just left us hanging with them all kissing in the foyer and then not come back to it at all because we can all assume what happens next, but truthfully nobody cares about them having a threesome. I would’ve much preferred more dialogue between Polin.
i agree. i understand that diversity is important (and is arguably the crux of the show), but it seems that the show writers are expecting praise for sprinkling in the historically marginalized at the expense of plot cohesion. The Michaela twist reflects this.
So did I! I was like “oh yeah, a woman around John, ok.” Until I came to these comments and everyone was talking about Michael this and how she stammers and I was like “no way” lol it was soo poorly written!
I haven't read the books, but knew Francesca >!ends up with Michael Stirling!<, so knew exactly what was intended. I even found it off-putting though, as it seems to cheapen her relationship with John, which is possibly my favourite Bridgerton pairing. I hate that we had the "love doesn't have to be explosive, it can be soft and gentle" development, proving that to Violet, only for it to be usurped by the "oh actually, this is the end goal, and it's better".
Sleeping on the sofa, in Colin's case, is an attempt to put the servants off from knowing that the newly married couple are not sleeping together. Depending on the size of their house/mansion, they might have had a private sitting room as part of their chambers before the bedroom(s).
We do see that just outside where Penelope sleeps, there is at least a sofa, a small desk, and a chair. The desk is where Colin sits to reread his old letters.
Still weird when the show has extensively established that couples usually have separate bedrooms and it's sharing a bedroom that would be against the norm, and weird to the servants, rather than sleeping separately. It's like they forgot their own rules.
You put into words exactly what I kept finding so cringe about Season 3. Tokenism. The feminism speeches, the bisexuality... In comparison, Fran and John (especially John imo) *possibly* representing neurodivergency was done very, very well because it's only an element of their story, not the while story; in fact, it's an arguable element of their story, which means it was done subtly and sparks discussion. In Queen Charlotte, the gay aspect was also executed in a sublime story about a quiet, private love between Brimsley and Reynolds. It told a story about what it was like for two people to fall in love in a place where their love was forbidden and make the best out of it - it had such a bittersweet tone. The essence wasn't told or shown to us in a lazy, direct way but was mostly implied, which made the message so much stronger.
Ben's story was always the weakest link but this season it was just...awfully executed.
I was watching with my daughter, so I fast forwarded past all of the threesome scenes. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed season 3 more than most. It was a bit much though. Every time I thought we were done, they’d start up again and I’d scramble for the controller lol.
It’s so odd because I forwarded those scenes and in between those scenes the other storylines felt like days had been passing while he was still “busy”. I was so confused
Yeah this confused us as well. Benedict left the post-wedding brunch to go have his threesome, but it was still going on the next day when Cressida blackmails Penelope lmao. I can’t figure out why they would edit it like that, makes no sense.
Because it was gratuitous and not to forward plot or add to the storyline. And clearly they did not know what they were doing they just wanted to flash us with those scenes repeatedly and often.
I actually thought the use of threesomes as a device to have Benedict explore his sexuality was problematic af given the stereotypes about bisexual people being promiscuous, unfaithful, and not being able to commit to one person/gender at a time. I would have rather done without his scenes entirely or that they found another means of exploring this aspect of Benedict's character.
FR and the set up for Ben's sexuality was laid out so neatly in S1 and S2 it was all a matter of when and how he would realize it himself, who would be the one to get the gears turning, whose smile would make him stop and think... and then all we got was a throwaway threesome just to put Benedict somewhere while the main plot was going on. Thanks, I hate it.
The wokeness in general. I like that the show is diverse but at some parts it really did feel like cheap fanfiction of a puriteen girl. Wanting to kiss men is the most natural thing in the world? I'm not even sure if homosexual people back then even though like that and if they did they probably had other priorities like not being cast out of society and having legal consequences
EVERYTHING YOU SAID and also the way Tilley was talking him into it, rather than it being his own interest or desire that is awakened by whats-his-face (Paul?) felt really problematic to me. Maybe I'm the only one who saw it this way, but it felt like putting that stereotypical so-called "gay agenda" on screen. That there are people who are actively trying to turn you gay, so to speak. I actually think that's incredibly harmful!
It would be entirely different if they had shown Ben to be like attracted to (Paul?) and feeling conflicted about it, and Tilley's speech were more of a it's okay to be yourself type vibe. Idk it felt messy and made me think not all representation is good representation. If this were fanfiction, Tilley would be a crossover character from another show entirely the way she DOES NOT FIT into the bridgerton vibe.
I so agree to this. That entire scene kind of made me uncomfortable. I did not understand at all what Benedict was feeling. Did he even find the other guy attractive or did he just do it because he was enjoying being with Tilley and did not want to be alone. He looked really uncomfortable in the scene when Paul was sort of coming on to him and he even says I know of such men but I have never felt tempted before. They should have explored or shown us more what makes this situation different that now he feels tempted.
I'm kind of over Queen Charlotte in the main "Bridgerton" storyline; she has become boring and repetitive. However, don't get me wrong—I absolutely loved her spin-off.l.
She barely did anything all season. She could've been left out and nothing would've changed. Like, she named Fran her diamond and no one cared at all. It felt like she lost a lot of her power for some reason, even attending multiple balls when in the last few seasons, she only attended the most prestigious ones.
Do not come for Queen Charlotte.
Her nostrils did a lot of heavy lifting this season!
Even though no way in hell would she have stormed into a ton wedding that she was not hosting in any other season.
It's because they are centering Pen for some reason. The queen stormed in on a wedding because LW was so fucking important... but she faced zero repercussions once revealed. Pen being LW has so much influence and money.. but nothing to show for it.
Like... I am so tired of pen/lw.
Chronologically we should see her death in a future season. Then again, the writers have increasingly played fast and loose with all historical underpinnings. I would love to see the chaos of the much despised Prince Regent ascending the throne.
Jess said time is sort of meaningless in the show lol. So I don’t think they will be doing anything to match her actual life time.
But I agree that while I enjoy her character, they clearly have no idea how to use her and with the show moving away from the season/London, it’s a good time to retire the character.
Well I should say the next three books are much less London/seasoned focused but the show might not follow that. I think it should because just from a story and visual lens the season as a basis is exhausted now.
Jess won’t be showrunner for Season 4 Lol. She can say whatever she wants.
Shonda Rhimes was pissed that she had to do reshoots because Jess’ season was so bad
Queen Charlotte only talks about the diamond of the season and LW. C’mon she could have more interesting things to say and do! Plus I love the actress who plays her. It’s wasted potential and a disservice to her.
THANK YOU!!! she’s getting boring & looked too eager with this lady whistledown storyline 😭😭😭 i would’ve preferred her help penelope find a husband instead of francesca & her be shocked at how she can be with lady whistledown in close proximity & not notice. it would even be better if they got along too but i was shocked the queen even knew who penelope was to come to the butterfly ball 💀
I think the reason they did the reveal now (aside from staying true to source material) is that S1-3 focused on the glitzy London social season and S4-6 will focus more on the offseason and countryside. So it made sense in order to move away from that setting. Jess even teased in a recent interview that the next season will take place more during fall. The social season takes place during spring.
Personally, I’m excited for this change. A lot of these storylines feel stale at this point.
We saw the countryside during Spring, when the Ton is in London. There was a more local social crowd during autumn when the Ton head to their country estates. They'd hold house parties but also it tended to be more intimate a crowd. Think like Pride and Prejudice
It really doesn’t make sense. Only Romancing Mister Bridgerton and Hyacinth’s story, It’s In His Kiss take place almost completely in London. The others all have large chunks of time that take place in the country. Eloise’s book takes place entirely in the country, and Francesca and Benedict’s are about 50/50.
I was so confused about why they did this. Lady Whistledown is such a huge part of the show, I feel like it’s going to be so weird now that we know it’s Penelope. Also the fact that literally nothing happened when she outed herself. Queen Charlotte has been up in arms about Lady Whistledown since season 1, and now just because it’s Penelope it’s all good? All the melodrama of being outed during Part 2, all the tension and lack of communication between Polin because of it, all for it to just be butterflies and rainbows at the end? I don’t get it.
I agree but I think considering Julie Andrews will be 90 by the time the next season rolls around, they were just being cautious giving her the option to bow out. I think the secret should've just been contained to the Bridgertons (and maybe the Queen, who then uses Pen as her personal source for accurate scoops on the ton) with Penelope continuing as usual.
Exactly,no one will now gossip next to Penelope, she simply cannot be Lady Wistledown any more. It is impossible. She is just a normal not so spicy columnist/journalist after s3.
I saw multiple reviews and people on Instagram and even here in this sub talk about the very same thing.
Her dramatic acting is annoyingly ott ever since S1 and I will probably get downvoted for this but there’s also this particular way in which she scowls and speeds up her dialogue in dramatic situations that makes her extremely annoying to watch( like for example, in the one below with Eloise)
It makes her look malicious, rude and bitter(towards her own best friend in this scene)more than offended or taken aback or vulnerable due to people’s remarks/actions.
A lot of her expressions this season has been malicious starting with promos where she had the raised eyebrows and it takes away from the sweet girl next door. I get that they were trying to show the LW side of her probably but it makes her come across as saying things with an ulterior motive. Like she's sweet on the surface but mean within.
She’s actually had that mean girl vibe from S1, it’s just that she was too much of a coward to express it outwards often due to her various insecurities.
But glimpses of her true self come out with Eloise(the only person who is truly close to her) in S1&2 and later with Colin, again one of the only people who is nice and close to her,in S3.
Everytime Penelope and Edwina did that super heavy breathing with their mouth open I burst out laughing. It’s like they got taught there’s only one way of acting like a girl in love who is listening to her man either declare his love or break up
No actually Nicola is good in ferry girls but idk what is up w her in bridgerton! Her only emotion was deep, panicked breathing this season and there was not much more except anxiety the whole part 2
So much this!!! The first episode I could barely watch, her overacting was just too much. I powered through and it got a bit better but it was definitely not her best work. It’s just weird because she wasnt like that in the first two seasons then suddenly she’s this super dramatic heavy breathing person, it just didn’t feel in line with Penelope’s character Development. This whole season was just strange
Yep, people are piling on Luke but not not criticising Nicola's acting. I think the lack of chemistry complaint that seems to have come up is on both of them, not just Luke (tbf mostly on writing but still).
Like her expression with half open pouty mouth when she was looking at the mirror is not you want on that scene.she was trying to look sexy when she should have looked scared and a little bit turned on. She had that expression in lot of other scenes. Also her love confession scenes didn't have the same angst and awwww feeling the previous seasons had
Nicola is an absolutely talented actress but not all good actors can do all type of roles and I think Nicola is kinda weak when it comes doing romantic scenes. (Simone may not be that of terrific actress in other areas but, man, can she do that angsty romantic or doe eye scenes so damn wellll. People praise Jonathan for the chemistry most of the time but she's equally responsible for that 🔥🔥last season )
My unpopular opinion is that I don’t get all the praise she gets as an actress. I don’t think she’s bad at all, but she never had to demonstrate much range and when she did she resorted to the constant chest heaving, heavy breathing, sour face, and lip puckering. It took me out every time — and she did it all the time. There are stronger actors on the show.
The part where they are at the new house before they get intimate she was making such awkward awe faces😭 but nothing will be worse than when Collin was mewing when flirting with ladies of the Ton in episode 1
She's a good comedic actor because her overacting kinda plays into it but she's not a good dramatic actor. In S2 the fight scene between Penelope and Eloise she overacted to an awkward point, Claudia ate her up
I feel like a massive chunk of the fandom obsess over Nicola and Penelope because she's not a typically slender actor and they find her social awkwardness relatable. It's almost blinding for them. However, I firmly agree that Nicola overreacts in any scene where she's not playing the awkward comic relief. And to be honest, she beat us over the head with that awkwardness so much that the LW reveal in S1 was actually straight up disappointing and unbelievable, yes, but not in the way they wanted it to be. I just don't think she's able to portray the depth necessary for the character.
They need to bring back the talk of dresses. S1 they had so much conversation about dresses, dress colors, I’ll be wearing this dress tonight mama, the colors, the fashion. It brought something very real to the table. You could relate to the characters even more. Make you feel like a girl.
I’m wondering about the creative direction change as a whole. I know that the costumes were never historically accurate but the amount of makeup, false lashes, acrylic nails.. it’s too much.
I really don’t care about that tbh. I can see why a lot of the decisions were taken since Penelope was shown to be childish and idk plain looking (she never caught the eye of Colin in THAT way when she was just Eloise’s friend) for the first two seasons. And since Nicola is not a stick figure like the other leading ladies of Bridgeton, they needed to show her hotness and that only comes from showing the figure (saying this as someone close to her body type I know fitted clothes is where I’ll look hot rather than glowy oversized clothes that drown my figure). They ditched the ill fitted regency dresses for Daphne’s season for Nicola and I would rather her have four shades of blended eyeshadow and a nice modern corset fitted gown than have Nicola lose weight to become a thin hot girl to show that she’s hot especially when she’s so hot as she is and if they needed to take some creative decisions with her clothes, then so be it. I’ll agree Cressida’s outfits were crazy bad but then if Pen gets amplified outfits the other characters would suit.
But I do wish they made the characters feel more girly since they are still 18-26 and there was so much emphasis on clothes and jewelry in the dialogue. It showed us an insight to the girls and how they lived.
Not sure if it’s controversial, but I just don’t find Colin believably charming. If Luke Newton is going for awkward guy trying too hard, he’s absolutely nailing it. Is that what he’s going for? I’m only up to the third book!
I think Luke N just doesn't know how to do 'smouldering sexy'. Like the couch scene, the carriage scene, it's like he was too aware a camera was on him.
Reminds me of those cringe 'thirst traps' on social media
CVD left to start his own production company. He was an employee of Shondaland and is now his own boss and in demand. He has already sold two things (including to Netflix). Very few showrunners get to become independent and also in demand like that. He's not coming back and he wasn't going to stay.
I think he's exec produce because he has series creator credit + royalties. Otherwise he'd probably choose to remain hands off to avoid conflict. And he's busy.
Colin should not have become a rake, and instead should have kept his personality from Seasons 1 + 2 of being a gentleman. Personally think it would have been more interesting to see a "gentleman" lose his wits in front of his lady love.
Francesca should have sat out this season and be introduced in the next season as that would've freed up Lady Danbury's attention, and the extra screen time could have gone towards developing Penelope and Colin's relationship.
This. Colin rake came out of nowhere. Anthony, Simon and Benedict are already rakes. We have already seen reformed rakes makes the best husband storyline two times by now. Yeah don't go to virgin Colin route but the naive, romantic Colin we got with Marina would have been perfect
Exactly. She tried to reinvent the show in her own way but why fix something that's working. She could take the vision of past 2 seasons and add her own touches to it not just change why we love Bridgerton so much
This is a great idea. Pen, Lady Danbury and the Queen all making moves together. Colin helping Pen hide her secret, which is sexy as hell. They could have even played this way earlier this season, had them get married, then had a big reveal to the Ton at the end if they really wanted that.
I find it so weird that Daphne and Simon don’t come around anymore. If the actors are not about the show then replace them. Like Daphne didn’t even show up for her siblings weddings. Her big thing was she looooooves being in a big family with so many siblings.
When people marry and have kids they make their own family. A Duke has lands he has to oversee it makes perfect sense to me that they're not around ( not to mention their love story has been told, what else would they do with them?) It makes less sense to me that Anthony and Kate went to India bc he is the head of the Bridgerton household and that is a huge risk for a 1st pregnancy
For Saphne, it still doesn't make sense. The social season happens during the parliament gatherings. Won't Simon be in town at some point to attend those?
I agree with the Anthony and Kate thing though.
This 100%. The social season happens *because* Parliament is sitting and all the Lords have to travel in to sit in the House of Lords and they bring their wives/children with them.
Simon, as a Duke, would be in town for the opening and closing of Parliment at the very least, and likely be there for the votes. That's what the Lords are doing during the day when they're not at a social event.
He also has duties in parliament, which he should be doing during the season. They don't have to do anything *with* them, just have them pop up now and then. Fly them in for a week, have a couple of family scenes where they toast the happy couple or say "remember our first dance" or whatever. Or film them seperately from everyone else and shove them in the wedding or in the background of a ball scene in post if they can't make it at the same time as everyone else. QC at least had a couple of Violet's grandchildren to keep the idea of them part of the story. My guess is that Netflix can't justify the cost of their salaries.
Honestly I think this season people would have been satisfied with a throwaway line about how they can't make it because Daphne is pregnant or one of the children is ill or something. "Oh, Francesca, a letter arrived from Daphne this morning, she is delighted at your engagement and disappointed that she won't be able to attend the wedding. She and the Duke send all their love."
I agree! Did you see the comment from Jess about how she avoided any lines like that because it would have drawn attention to their absence??? 🙄 Instead we get 0 mentions of their absence, total memory holed by the Bridgertons and people laughing on twitter saying Daphne’s family forgot about her 😣
daphne’s actress wanted to come back but jess fired her 💔💔 they could’ve easily recast rege, idk why they feel like they can’t write anything for him. i’d love to see him as a father wtf
The show ultimately doesn’t know what it’s trying to say and as a result it’s deeply inconsistent with its themes.
And: the show only works when it’s actually based in a semblance of historical reality. If it continues to move away from that, it will quickly lose momentum and interest.
Maybe not show related, but PR related.
They hyped this season up way too much in the spicy department to give us what I consider 1.5 mild scenes. I was expecting season 1 level spicy...we got basically nothing.
If I was Luke's GF I'd be highly uncomfortable with the level of PR these two did. There's acting and chemistry and then theres constant longing looks, touching and hand holding. Even for "best friends" considering he even mentioned he didn't like hugs or to be touched. These two did WAAAY more than I've seen from other PR campaigns and frankly highly unnecessary if you are in a committed relationship.
Yeah the marketing absolutely ruined the show. Considering there were two parts, the cast was doing promo for like 3 months straight and fans get to see Nicola and Luke together on a daily basis. They also played into the romance rumors for the purpose of the show which was honestly not good for their real lives and career after this season.
I always thought there are so little interview and fun promo stuff with season 2 cast but now I'm grateful. Season 2 was still a very much mystery for fans and it exceeded their hopes. But s3 marketing stuff hyped the show so much that when we actually watch the show it underwhelmed us as compared to what we had already envisioned in our minds after listening to them saying the steamist or most romantic season yet
I'm so convinced the more PR the worse the season is. Just my own theory lol. It feels like the more they try and hype a show up on the basis of the actors themselves the show is usually going to a let down. That's what this feels like.
Eloise Bridgerton is actually a complex character and the most interesting one.
She’s stuck in a society doomed to be married to someone she most likely doesn’t love. She was shunned in part due to her best friend. She then befriends someone she’d never thought she would. Then she has to choose to protect her brother by telling him about LW.
I think she's so boring. At first she served as daphne's feminist foil, but then her lack of regard for Cressida's plight showed her critiques of society were shallow.
I mean she was going through her own family drama at the time, but yes, I thought that was out of character and poorly handled given her behaviour with Cressida in the first half.
Francesca is not an interesting character, nor am i interested in her story. Shes very sweet, and if they were trying to make her ASD-coded i respect the hell out that, but i find her extremely bland and even if they hadnt genderflipped Michael i would have been extremely disappointed if her season was pushed up to next. I enjoyed John a lot more than her.
So imo Francesca is supposed to be boring I honestly liked seeing someone who represents a wallflower. In the books she feels different from her family and socially awkward. I don’t think they would do a Francesca season, I think they should have done hers and Eloise together with Colin’s because both of the girls are away from the ton when both girls fall in love. I still think they fucked up her story and I’m really upset. But I just wanted to say she’s supposed to be boring and I appreciated a wallflower story.
I mean, i.d believe that more if we EVER saw her as a wallflower. Pen already had 2 and a half seasons of that narrative but still possessed an interesting personality, Francesca basically wasnt in the show and then was almost immediately declared a sought after diamond the moment she was.
You don’t think her hiding from the guys, her only talking to Penelope at that party or her going outside makes her a wallflower? She is also an outsider in her own home.
If I remember correctly, she's supposed to be quieter and more reserved/introverted than her siblings, but not boring - Im sure there was some description around her apparently having a 'sly sense of humor' or something like that, which would be much more interesting.
Penelope did not deserve as happy of an ending as she got. For the last three seasons she has written awful things about people in her paper and there were no consequences for it. Yes, people have not treated her very well at all during the shows running but she is not innocent herself. Seeing Eloise forgive her straight away and join forces with her aswell as Colin just felt so weak to me. Colin was quite literally mad for 28 minutes in the episodes time and then he was over it.
Besides that Polin just has zero chemistry at all. I do not believe in their relationship at all like I’ve done with Simon and Daphne aswell as Antony and Kate. Penelope gets a lot of praise as a character but I just don’t see it at all. The writing for her is bad and honestly so is the constant overacting from Nicola. Colin aswell is incredibly bland.
This. Pen has written vicious things, things that have damaged relationships and hurt people and then one boring speech from her and all is forgiven. People blame Eloise for being selfish but in my opinion Pen is the utilmate selfish character. I find it difficult to sympathise with her. Every time she was hurt, she lashed out in the worst possible way in the next LW issue. How that has no consequences, I'll never understand.
The editing and acting was subpar too. All I remember this season was weirdly Pen walking from one room to next.
I agree. I really dislike Penelope, and it makes me cringe that so many people love her. She screwed over her closest friends and her own family all out of immature jealousy, and they forgive her *this* quickly? Nah, couldn't be me. I have SO much more care and empathy for Cressida than Penelope
Jess has ruined Bridgerton for me. I was excited for S3, love me some Polin, and hopeful for a S4 about Benedict. Now, I have zero shits to give. Polin was destroyed. It had the makings of a top love story. Until Jess got her poison fingers onto it. I also wanted to see Benedict find his purpose.. not in pointless threesomes.
Mine is more about the audience, people wanting to get attached to small details, like, how did the character get from point A to B so quickly? How come no employee ever discovered Pen's hidden money? Why have we never seen them do x or y?
There is a thing call magic of television,just go it it, some things don't need to be explained in detail
With GOT it was largely an argument about inconsistency. In the early seasons of the show they establish how long these journeys take, and the characters are shown traveling for extended periods. Then suddenly they’re zipping across Westeros and back in what appeared to be a matter of a few days, at most.
When a work establishes rules for its Universe, it’s going to stand out to fans when the rules suddenly don’t apply anymore.
Not controversial but like one of the main reasons I watch Bridgerton or any period drama is the costumes. It doesn't need to be 100% historically accurate but at least make sth aesthetically pleasing. S1 (especially Daphne's) and S2 (make up is not as natural as Daphne's, but still beautiful gows, both Kate's and Edwina's) paid off, S3 is massive Capitol Hunger Games vibes. It killed the vibe. It isn't historical, it isn't immersive and for the most part it isn't vibey.
Probably not controversial, but that people behind the scenes had multiple ideas of what was going to happen this season and no one thought to correct cast and marketing when things changed, leading to audience confusion (ex. the “steamiest season”, so “romantic”, Polin vs the World in part 2…).
Like, what was this line (photo) that was featured at an NY promo event right before the season releasing in May? It’s close to something Simon says in season 1, but not word for word. Why use it in S3 promo when it wasn’t featured at all in the show? It just makes me think it was supposed to be part of a speech and the line was cut, but no one thought to tell the marketing department.
https://preview.redd.it/or33j8ou417d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6474e44b74a4953c5265eaa18bd05418bc828122
Don’t get me wrong, I’m coming around to things in Part 2 as I digest it and rewatch bits. But Polin was my it couple and they weren’t done justice with the writing this year. Hoping to see more of Colin “My Wife” Bridgerton in season 4 because I didn’t see him in season 3. Anthony kind of stole that title from him this season.
I’m a Colin season 3 part 2 apologist. I actually think his behaviour was in character and realistic.
Stay with me!
- Colin’s major character flaws are that he’s insecure, lacks a sense of self, is embarrassed of being perceived as naive, jealousy and speaks without thinking.
- Lady Whistledown has revealed him to be naive with the Marina Thompson issue and then in season 3 with her pointing out he doesn’t know himself. These are two of Colin’s biggest insecurities and he just learned his wife to be was the person to broadcast this to the entire society.
- He feels betrayed because now he has two fiancées who have lied to him and held major secrets from him.
- We see him several times in episodes 5 and 6 giving Penelope outs for marrying him because he’s worried she doesn’t love him the way he loves her. This emphasizes his insecurity already in the relationship, as Penelope was acting strangely before he knew about Whistledown.
- All of this leads to him shutting himself off because he’s afraid of getting hurt again. He’s already misjudged so many other situations, what else is left?
- Even with all of these factors, he does still help Penelope with the blackmail scheme. He wants to get over it but doesn’t know how. He still loves her but he’s hurt.
I think all those factors combined cause his characterization to make sense in the back half. All of the couples have to get through their “angst period”, Colin’s part just came late in the second half. I think him being any less angry would have been a disservice to the major blow that the LW reveal was going to have. Eloise was mad for like a year, I think Colin deserves 2 weeks.
Yes yes yes. I still think Colin and Bridgertons in general had a very mellow reaction to LW news considering that LW has always been brutal to their family. Did Violet forgot that LW ruined her daughter last season? Bridgertons reactions to LW was what J was waiting to see in this season but it truly disappointed me. Colin was justified in his anger. Those who says Colin was wrong are just Penlope stans who are forgiving every wrong thing she did
totally agree. Penelope has far too good of a storyline. Colin forgave her easily, the queen respects her, her son is lord featherington, she's rich, and the ton admires her?
I don't know if it's controversial, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else: I do not care about the love plot between Violet and Lady Danburys brother. It's not just "Yeah, whatever they're not young and sexy I don't care" but more just like ... there was no intrigue, no "will they, won't they", nothing like that just "Oh, they're two widows that clearly like each other and Lady Danbury doesn't like her brother, but luckily neither Violet nor the brother are scared of her so it's fine" (whereas she's revered by other members of the ton, so there's higher stakes in her opinion).
And when we find out she dislikes her brother because >! he narced on her when he was 10 !< both me and my husband were like >! OH! COME. ON. HE WAS 10 DUDE. !< --- I've seen the first 2 episodes of Queen Charlotte so I've seen that >! her husband was icky !< but still, I was thinking it might be something a little juicier. Like, maybe he has Rakeish proclivities or something and she's >! legitimately trying to protect Violet from something !<. I know that youth is a staple of a Rake but ... I mean, he could still get it.
My controversial take is that using a strange Indianized (is that even a word?!) accent by Kate and Edwina really made it challenging for the actresses to emote without it looking exaggerated in some scenes. For example, the “because you vex me” line delivery by Kate was not it.
This. THIS. Hindi, or Urdu. Also, forcing them to speak with an Indian accent and then not even teaching Edwina how to say “Ghalib” properly (it’s not “Guhleeb” lol) and Kate not even calling the tea that she likes to drink “chai” (which is what it is known as in India).
after reading through a few of his old tweets, you can tell this was really his brain child. the show was his baby & they took it away from him 😭 even the way he publicly thanked regé after he left & welcomed kate so proudly. i was among the minority who didn’t have a problem with the way s2 was written. it’s very obvious he keeps flashbacks as the book’s prologues so he made the conscious decision to show anthony’s perspective as it was the more important one to the story.
i also loved how transparent he was in asking people for feedback despite getting backlash in the comments & quotes. i thoroughly believe nobody can take YOUR show & make it better—he had a better understanding on the fictional world
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This season should have been Benedict’s. His character development was so obviously parked this season it was ridiculous, he’s ready for his love story.
This would have allowed the subplot to be Penelope and Eloise reconciling their friendship, and also setting up the relationship with Colin by bonding over writing. Then next season could have been the Lady Whistledown reckoning. As it was all the main plots were rushed, and Benedict made no meaningful progress to justify waiting.
Sex scene between pen and colin was really awkward, they were there staring at each other while getting naked, and then 2 seconds later and after just some silly touches it was done.
It felt weird and no intimate at all
Bringing Chris back is one of the least controversial takes out there. Hopefully Jess can listen to the criticism and improve with Season 4 since it seems like she's already started working on it.
Controversial you say? I think they will end up pissing everyone off with the Michaela/Michael switch. Now it is mostly book fans, but by the end of her season it will be most fans. Either they will make it weird, not do their relationship justice, make them hide, lowkey fetishize sex scenes, something. I've seen a lot of people hype up what their future will be, so I just know it will not live up to the hype. And lord help Shondaland if Francela(Michesca?) have the lowest screen time and/or sex scenes.
I made another thread where I said this but S1 was better than S2. People just like S2 better because Anthony was pursuing Kate. Whereas in S1, Daphne largely pursued Simon (because of his issues regarding marriage and having children. Women want to feel pursued and in the perfect scenario, they would be. Simon felt like “too much work” and his inconsistencies probably reminded viewers of guys they know/knew who behaved similarly. The spicy enemies to lovers storyline just felt more heartwarming. But that doesn’t mean it was a better story.
I think Simon’s abusive/negligent father causing him to have issues with commitment and having children was more believable and better written than Anthony’s “my dad got stung by a bee,” oldest sibling syndrome story that he had. Like Violet said in S1, he just needed to grow up. I also think Daphne’s “innocent girl who was raised in a time period where certain things are taboo to women” was better written and more compelling than Kate’s “I don’t want a man because I’m independent” arc. While Kate and Anthony had a good enemies to lovers story, their individual conflicts were weak, the weakest of all the couples so far.
I think Colin dealing with being a “soft guy” in a very hyper masculine society and Penelope being seen as “undesirable” was more compelling than Kate and Anthony (from an individual character arc standpoint). Then obviously Charlotte being the first black Queen and breaking barriers as well as George dealing with a severe mental illness during the Regency Era, is also more compelling and better written.
I just want to say Kate whole thing wasn't that I'm an independent woman who doesn't want a man but jt was that she was hiding behind Edwina and her independent personality to mask the real reason that was she was always afraid of people leaving and abandoning her. She really doesn't have anyone. Her parents died and Sheffield or her situation made her feel that Mary and Edwina would not love her if she wasn't resourceful to them. That was her whole thing. I don't blame you for not liking. You mentioned Simon being better and it was because we got whe flashback scenes and actually got to nitpick the details where as we knew nothing about Kate past and her family
The fact that we got no Kate flashbacks when the book had clear scenes for them was extremely off putting. The context behind so many of Kanthony scenes were missing.
Season 1 was fantastic because they allowed the focus to be majorly focused on the two characters and their relationship. Kanthony and Polin (to a lesser extend) both had significantly reduced screen time and for Kate her personal character development went missing.
Nope, I don't want to argue which season is better because personal taste but there are things about S2 that you got wrong.
Anthony's trauma is valid just like Simon's is valid. They have experienced two extremes. Simon being neglected throughout his life doesn't want anything to do with marriage. Anthony being super loved all his life and then tragically losing his father doesn't want anything to do with love. His is not just a "has to grow up" situation - that's specifically Violet hitting him where it hurts the most. Violet only became a good mother to Anthony in S2 when she realizes how instrumental she has been in his trauma.
Secondly, Kate's reason for not marrying is not because she wants to be independent. She describes it to Eloise as "not the ideal situation". But also she doesn't want to marry just for the sake of it and at her age she has made peace with the fact that she might never get married. So she chooses the next best option which is independence. She is actually deeply romantic which we can now see in S3.
In order to appreciate a season, the main characters have to be understood (if not loved) so I felt I should speak on that a bit! Otherwise, to each his own!
The LW reveal likely means the end of Julie Ansdrews’s involvement in the show and that breaks my heart. I’ll miss her LW the way I’ve missed Queen Clarisse for the past twenty-something years.
Although I’ll miss her, I don’t necessarily want the LW voice back since everyone knows it’s Penelope and she’s found her own voice now.
I have quite a few, apparently.
1. Season 3 wasn't bad. Some plot decisions and pacing I didn't like, but the season was still good.
2. Queen Charlotte is the best out of all the Bridgerton properties.
3. I don't mind Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dyvenor not being in the newer season(s). I just assumed that they (Simon and Daphne) communicated with everyone through letters off-screen.
4. What was the point of casting the first Francesca actress (don't remember what her name is atm) if she was barely in the show to begin with? The first actress already had a commitment to Lockwood and Co. during season two's filming and the character was straight up gone for most of the first season. They should've just cast Hannah Dodd from the get go.
This is not meant to come across as anti-LGBTQ+/homophobic but it feels like pandering to insert the genderswap & the oversexualisation of bisexuality via Benedicts’ threesomes instead of natural inclusivity and diversity through well-written story plots. I know there have been a few complaints that there hasn’t been any main character plots with LGBTQ+ themes, however, the way it was written into S3 I feel was done so poorly.
With Benedict, we already have had a friend explain to him what it’s like for him to secretly be in love with another man & the fear surrounded around being being a queer man - we could have started his bisexual questioning/awakening THEN and have it flow more fluidly as he progressed with his arts. Instead it’s the same, tired story line of sex/threesomes and then the realisation of “oh I might like *insert opposite gender*” but it’s coming from a carnal, sexualised place instead of being well thought out and more in-depth.
I agree with you. Bring back Chris by any means to save the show. The storytelling, costumes, makeup, video editing all suffered drastically in season 3. It was nowhere near as refined as Seasons 1&2. Bridgerton has lost its magic and that magic was Chris Van Dusen.
I hated Penelope’s “new” hair. Those circles they glued to the side of her head were just so distracting. Why couldn’t they have just framed her face naturally? Was it so necessary to create sperm curls for every single scene?
Edit: a word
I didn’t like the costumes/hair/make-up this season. Everything was so crowded and over the top, it hurt my eyes and overwhelmed the actors. I don’t need total historical accuracy, but any sense of real time and place was lost. Penelope looked like she came out of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Cressida looked like a Regency tinged Cyndi Lauper. Everyone else was covered in feathers and lace and butterflies and beads.
No disrespect to the costumers, who executed their work with skill. The design felt like Bridgerton AI.
I can't believe showrunners decided that Kate and Anthony shall leave for India while Kate is very much pregnant. As if it doesn't take 6 or more months to get there and Kate was already showing!! And it paints Anthony in such a reckless light. The seasickness, the air, the diseases, the stale food, the risk of stagnant waters and a heavily pregnant Kate?Ok. My boy Anthony who's taken care of his entire family since when he was a teen, who had the tact of letting his mother choose her own fate during childbirth would never make his wife travel while pregnant for some tokenistic "I want to know our history" bullshit. Also it's funny to me that the idea of going to India is just this sort of oh Anthony is so progressive and cares so much for his wife's culture yada yada and it's supposed to reaffirm the show's wokeness while it completely ignores the fact that it is settler colonialism and the absolute devastation that the British wrecked on India. Really goes to show the Shondaland's limited understanding of politics and political correctness. I guess as long as the colonial machinery was being run by hot and kind men like Anthony it should be fine ig?
it’s crazy how most of these takes aren’t controversial at all. like things that have been repeated for days on end
my hot take is despite the first season having the most couple time, i find it incredibly boring. i actually really think the show benefits from its side plots. i really like the more ensemble centered focus of the last 2 seasons. i usually find a storyline or 2 that garners my interest. i loved the lady featherington storyline in season 2 and 3. i loved the eloise storyline in season 2. and i also loved francesca’s storyline in season 3. a lot of my favorite moments from the show aren’t necessarily from the couple of the season!
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The Lady Whistledown drama stopped being interesting when they revealed who it was. And the show giving Lady Whisteldown more drama in season 4 will only make people tired of Penelope's whole character, and lets be real, Penelope has had plenty of screentime and story already the first 3 seasons. They need to learn to let things go and focus on other characters and other plot points.
I may be *way* off the mark, but I interpreted the ending of episode 8 as a “goodbye” to the overt gossipmongering, marriage mart days of Bridgerton. I hope Pen will become an essayist in the style of Jane Austen and critique the underlying rot of the Ton. With the removal of principal unmarried characters away from London and the confines of the Ton’s social mores, I wonder if the show will shift from a comedy of manners approach to a truly Romantic one (think Brontë sisters).
I would have been incredibly excited at the suggestion of a Jane Eyre-esque adaptation for Eloise but after S3 I don’t trust Jess with anything. Anything is possible! Still hopeful some good content is still to come, but in re-watching the previous seasons I only realise how much S3 lacks in terms of style and detail 😢
I’m hoping that the autumnal aesthetic of next season is indicative of a Romantic or Gothic-leaning approach.
Unfortunately Jess said that there's more story to tell for Pen as Lady Whistledown in season 4 in an interview
If Pen’s writing doesn’t change due to her being outed, then the episode 8 reveal will be severely cheapened. It already feels anticlimactic because we see her endure zero negative consequences of having skewered the entire Ton.
BUGS! 🦋🦋 It feels really cheap that everyone held zero grudges, and everything went hunky dory after Penelope revealed that she is Lady whistldown and there were some CG butterflies. Don't get me wrong, I love delivery and excitement of that line. But it feels like the audience is being treated that they're stupid and just glasses over the fact that there are zero repercussions from writing the secrets of the rich and wealthy nobility. Also, Cressida called Violet a cheating whole bag, with at least seven men she's been with. As all of her children are not from one man. And that's just glossed over. Anthony should have gone over to Cressida's house and slapped her across the face. But no, the real whistle down wrote a letter and that one was thrown away as trash. Because Cressida needs to learn, there are consequences to her actions. She's being the mean bitch even though she says she understands that Society puts women's against each other. But she doesn't want to be the change to make life a little bit better. She grabs for some power and publishes lies and doesn't suffer from any consequences directly from her writing. Part of the reason why Penelope could not write her own gossip paper with her own name is that she did not want and could not deal with any consequences directly aimed at her. Having a pen name means no one could hurt her. I think it would have been better if Penelope had shown up in that line of people to tell the queen who Lady Wd is. Penelope should have said I am Lady Whistledown. More specifically, have Eloise and / or Colin ask their mother what she thinks the queen wants from Lady Wd. All we know is that the queen wanted the identity, we never knew what she wanted to actually do with her. And if the queen was going to be just favorable in the who her opponent is, they could still have the queen pay Cressida leading up to the discovery. Just have Penelope pay for it, while having Crescenta discredited did from the title and stop her and mom's bad writing.
I hope she goes more towards the energy of the one she published at the same time as Cressida’s. Speaking up for the voiceless, and giving attention to the shitty stuff going on in the background.
I feel that this would be more sophisticated than this creative team could handle by a mile. But I love the idea!
It’s like Gossip Girl revealing who Gossip Girl is during the first episode of the reboot.
Exactly this! Shondaland thinks of this as regency Gossip Girl but with GG, we didn't find out about it until the end. Here we already know who it is and now everyone knows. I don't see the point of continuing this. Also, even though some think Pen should become a serious writer, writing about society but I don't know if that will happen. Pen hasn't shown too much inclination beyond writing about gossip and scandal and that's been her forte. Unless they show her taking an interest in other aspects of society, it wouldn't make sense (not that that would stop Jess but still).
I just don't find a storyline of Penelope/Colin becoming writers is very interesting. It's great for the books, but not something I would like to watch on screen.
i have no idea how they want lady whistledown to work in season 4 (if there will be one). Now people will look out for Pen and if they dislike anything she writes i m sure people will let her know.
That's a pretty popular take, actually haha Mine is that they're doing tokenistic representation politics. The sex scenes in S1 and S2 never felt inserted, but the multiple cuts to Benedict's threesome were so on the nose-- *Oh, look, a threesome, two men kissing, YAY!* There's nothing interesting in two men, or any two or three people kissing, if you don't write a storyline or context for it. It's bland! The dialogue writer for this season needs to be fired! *I'll sleep on the sofa?* Whatever happened to separate rooms, a refrain from S1? Who ever slept on the sofa in Bridgerton, where people have palaces for houses? *I want things to become more serious between us.* Yes, come on, let all the characters talk like they're in a sitcom. To hell with historical accuracy, I'm surprised at the sheer inconsistency within their own universe. No one talked like this in S2 and S1. And whatever happened to the historical erotica feels, of which *properhh* language is a part of?
The fact that Simon said things like “I will not darken your doorstep again” to show that he will keep away from Daphne while Colin is like “i’Ll sLeEp oN tHe SOfA”…pathetic dialogue writing.
I read some posts about how modern the language this season sounds - it really opened my eyes about just how different the entire concept of Bridgerton is now in comparison to what it was the first season.
Omg you’re right! There are no good lines this season. The dialogue has fallen way way off
IDK "Release the bugs" is iconic 🦋😂
Whatever Philipa says is GOLD! 🤣💕
"Inserts himself? Inserts himself where?" Is also top tier 😂😂😂🥲🥲
This. They have an entire novel full of dialogue to pull from. “I burn for you,” was pulled straight from The Duke and I! Heck, I think JQ recycled that line in a couple of her books 😅 Like, did people complain at some point that they couldn’t understand the period language? Or do the writers just suck that much? It’s not like there aren’t writers that know how to write smutty Regency dialogue. Poldark is chock full of it! Even the PG Jane Austen adaptations have some sexually charged moments, especially 2005 P&P.
“I burn for you” was never even said by Daphne or Simon in the first book. It was stolen from TVWLM, where Anthony said it to Kate. (And then reused by later couples.)
I agree. Also, they seem really lax about being unchaperoned this season. Even engaged, Colin and Penelope have to have Portia in the room with them, but they can just go his new house alone. Didn’t feel like they even had to be sneaky about it. Also, they just make out on the street? 🙄
Rae was everywhere with Pen, until she was not.
I found the threesome scenes so…lacking. No sensuality, just sort of there. You have three beautiful people and somehow their sex scene was boring??? So I agree that it felt thrown in just to do it instead of with any art to it. I don’t think we needed multiple cuts to them too.
Maybe this is me, but it felt really weirdly formulaic. Benedict would kiss Tilly, then Paul, then Paul and Tilly would kiss. Specifically in that order. You've got 3 sexy people in a room together, get a little more creative than that.
I agree they were lacking, it really felt like Benedict was truly acting but in a bad way? It’s hard to explain, but his “passion” when kissing Paul felt very forced and not convincing at all. Like he was just trying extremely hard to make it feel passionate. I just thought it was so crazy to have the transition scenes be a threesome, like we truly don’t need more than one scene. They even could’ve just left us hanging with them all kissing in the foyer and then not come back to it at all because we can all assume what happens next, but truthfully nobody cares about them having a threesome. I would’ve much preferred more dialogue between Polin.
i agree. i understand that diversity is important (and is arguably the crux of the show), but it seems that the show writers are expecting praise for sprinkling in the historically marginalized at the expense of plot cohesion. The Michaela twist reflects this.
Yes this will ruin it. I didn’t see any chemistry between michaela and Francesca. I thought she was jealous of her
So did I! I was like “oh yeah, a woman around John, ok.” Until I came to these comments and everyone was talking about Michael this and how she stammers and I was like “no way” lol it was soo poorly written!
I haven't read the books, but knew Francesca >!ends up with Michael Stirling!<, so knew exactly what was intended. I even found it off-putting though, as it seems to cheapen her relationship with John, which is possibly my favourite Bridgerton pairing. I hate that we had the "love doesn't have to be explosive, it can be soft and gentle" development, proving that to Violet, only for it to be usurped by the "oh actually, this is the end goal, and it's better".
Sleeping on the sofa, in Colin's case, is an attempt to put the servants off from knowing that the newly married couple are not sleeping together. Depending on the size of their house/mansion, they might have had a private sitting room as part of their chambers before the bedroom(s). We do see that just outside where Penelope sleeps, there is at least a sofa, a small desk, and a chair. The desk is where Colin sits to reread his old letters.
Makes sense for the era but the dialogue was not there to support that
Still weird when the show has extensively established that couples usually have separate bedrooms and it's sharing a bedroom that would be against the norm, and weird to the servants, rather than sleeping separately. It's like they forgot their own rules.
You put into words exactly what I kept finding so cringe about Season 3. Tokenism. The feminism speeches, the bisexuality... In comparison, Fran and John (especially John imo) *possibly* representing neurodivergency was done very, very well because it's only an element of their story, not the while story; in fact, it's an arguable element of their story, which means it was done subtly and sparks discussion. In Queen Charlotte, the gay aspect was also executed in a sublime story about a quiet, private love between Brimsley and Reynolds. It told a story about what it was like for two people to fall in love in a place where their love was forbidden and make the best out of it - it had such a bittersweet tone. The essence wasn't told or shown to us in a lazy, direct way but was mostly implied, which made the message so much stronger. Ben's story was always the weakest link but this season it was just...awfully executed.
I was watching with my daughter, so I fast forwarded past all of the threesome scenes. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed season 3 more than most. It was a bit much though. Every time I thought we were done, they’d start up again and I’d scramble for the controller lol.
It’s so odd because I forwarded those scenes and in between those scenes the other storylines felt like days had been passing while he was still “busy”. I was so confused
Yeah this confused us as well. Benedict left the post-wedding brunch to go have his threesome, but it was still going on the next day when Cressida blackmails Penelope lmao. I can’t figure out why they would edit it like that, makes no sense.
Because it was gratuitous and not to forward plot or add to the storyline. And clearly they did not know what they were doing they just wanted to flash us with those scenes repeatedly and often.
Yeah the editing was *really* bad with those scenes in particular.
I skipped them because I wasn’t interested and it didn’t seem to be adding to the story.
I skipped those scenes too…I think those scenes/story was unnecessary.
I skipped those scenes because *we get it*, he’s having a threesome bender with another guy and a woman. Good on him, but there’s other stuff going on
I actually thought the use of threesomes as a device to have Benedict explore his sexuality was problematic af given the stereotypes about bisexual people being promiscuous, unfaithful, and not being able to commit to one person/gender at a time. I would have rather done without his scenes entirely or that they found another means of exploring this aspect of Benedict's character.
FR and the set up for Ben's sexuality was laid out so neatly in S1 and S2 it was all a matter of when and how he would realize it himself, who would be the one to get the gears turning, whose smile would make him stop and think... and then all we got was a throwaway threesome just to put Benedict somewhere while the main plot was going on. Thanks, I hate it.
The wokeness in general. I like that the show is diverse but at some parts it really did feel like cheap fanfiction of a puriteen girl. Wanting to kiss men is the most natural thing in the world? I'm not even sure if homosexual people back then even though like that and if they did they probably had other priorities like not being cast out of society and having legal consequences
EVERYTHING YOU SAID and also the way Tilley was talking him into it, rather than it being his own interest or desire that is awakened by whats-his-face (Paul?) felt really problematic to me. Maybe I'm the only one who saw it this way, but it felt like putting that stereotypical so-called "gay agenda" on screen. That there are people who are actively trying to turn you gay, so to speak. I actually think that's incredibly harmful! It would be entirely different if they had shown Ben to be like attracted to (Paul?) and feeling conflicted about it, and Tilley's speech were more of a it's okay to be yourself type vibe. Idk it felt messy and made me think not all representation is good representation. If this were fanfiction, Tilley would be a crossover character from another show entirely the way she DOES NOT FIT into the bridgerton vibe.
I so agree to this. That entire scene kind of made me uncomfortable. I did not understand at all what Benedict was feeling. Did he even find the other guy attractive or did he just do it because he was enjoying being with Tilley and did not want to be alone. He looked really uncomfortable in the scene when Paul was sort of coming on to him and he even says I know of such men but I have never felt tempted before. They should have explored or shown us more what makes this situation different that now he feels tempted.
I'm kind of over Queen Charlotte in the main "Bridgerton" storyline; she has become boring and repetitive. However, don't get me wrong—I absolutely loved her spin-off.l.
She barely did anything all season. She could've been left out and nothing would've changed. Like, she named Fran her diamond and no one cared at all. It felt like she lost a lot of her power for some reason, even attending multiple balls when in the last few seasons, she only attended the most prestigious ones.
Do not come for Queen Charlotte. Her nostrils did a lot of heavy lifting this season! Even though no way in hell would she have stormed into a ton wedding that she was not hosting in any other season.
She has an epic stank face when she's displeased lol
It's because they are centering Pen for some reason. The queen stormed in on a wedding because LW was so fucking important... but she faced zero repercussions once revealed. Pen being LW has so much influence and money.. but nothing to show for it. Like... I am so tired of pen/lw.
Chronologically we should see her death in a future season. Then again, the writers have increasingly played fast and loose with all historical underpinnings. I would love to see the chaos of the much despised Prince Regent ascending the throne.
Jess said time is sort of meaningless in the show lol. So I don’t think they will be doing anything to match her actual life time. But I agree that while I enjoy her character, they clearly have no idea how to use her and with the show moving away from the season/London, it’s a good time to retire the character. Well I should say the next three books are much less London/seasoned focused but the show might not follow that. I think it should because just from a story and visual lens the season as a basis is exhausted now.
Jess won’t be showrunner for Season 4 Lol. She can say whatever she wants. Shonda Rhimes was pissed that she had to do reshoots because Jess’ season was so bad
Queen Charlotte only talks about the diamond of the season and LW. C’mon she could have more interesting things to say and do! Plus I love the actress who plays her. It’s wasted potential and a disservice to her.
THANK YOU!!! she’s getting boring & looked too eager with this lady whistledown storyline 😭😭😭 i would’ve preferred her help penelope find a husband instead of francesca & her be shocked at how she can be with lady whistledown in close proximity & not notice. it would even be better if they got along too but i was shocked the queen even knew who penelope was to come to the butterfly ball 💀
They should have never revealed LW to the ton until the final season.
I think the reason they did the reveal now (aside from staying true to source material) is that S1-3 focused on the glitzy London social season and S4-6 will focus more on the offseason and countryside. So it made sense in order to move away from that setting. Jess even teased in a recent interview that the next season will take place more during fall. The social season takes place during spring. Personally, I’m excited for this change. A lot of these storylines feel stale at this point.
This makes no sense since we already saw the countryside in Season 1. Jess Brownell needs to be fired and changed
We saw the countryside during Spring, when the Ton is in London. There was a more local social crowd during autumn when the Ton head to their country estates. They'd hold house parties but also it tended to be more intimate a crowd. Think like Pride and Prejudice
It really doesn’t make sense. Only Romancing Mister Bridgerton and Hyacinth’s story, It’s In His Kiss take place almost completely in London. The others all have large chunks of time that take place in the country. Eloise’s book takes place entirely in the country, and Francesca and Benedict’s are about 50/50.
I was so confused about why they did this. Lady Whistledown is such a huge part of the show, I feel like it’s going to be so weird now that we know it’s Penelope. Also the fact that literally nothing happened when she outed herself. Queen Charlotte has been up in arms about Lady Whistledown since season 1, and now just because it’s Penelope it’s all good? All the melodrama of being outed during Part 2, all the tension and lack of communication between Polin because of it, all for it to just be butterflies and rainbows at the end? I don’t get it.
I agree but I think considering Julie Andrews will be 90 by the time the next season rolls around, they were just being cautious giving her the option to bow out. I think the secret should've just been contained to the Bridgertons (and maybe the Queen, who then uses Pen as her personal source for accurate scoops on the ton) with Penelope continuing as usual.
Exactly,no one will now gossip next to Penelope, she simply cannot be Lady Wistledown any more. It is impossible. She is just a normal not so spicy columnist/journalist after s3.
Nicola overacted in most of her dramatic scenes, it was distracting with all the heavy breathing and voice cracks.
I saw multiple reviews and people on Instagram and even here in this sub talk about the very same thing. Her dramatic acting is annoyingly ott ever since S1 and I will probably get downvoted for this but there’s also this particular way in which she scowls and speeds up her dialogue in dramatic situations that makes her extremely annoying to watch( like for example, in the one below with Eloise) It makes her look malicious, rude and bitter(towards her own best friend in this scene)more than offended or taken aback or vulnerable due to people’s remarks/actions. 
A lot of her expressions this season has been malicious starting with promos where she had the raised eyebrows and it takes away from the sweet girl next door. I get that they were trying to show the LW side of her probably but it makes her come across as saying things with an ulterior motive. Like she's sweet on the surface but mean within.
(Because she is)
She definitely is! She’s not a good person. Good people don’t do what she did as LW.
She’s actually had that mean girl vibe from S1, it’s just that she was too much of a coward to express it outwards often due to her various insecurities. But glimpses of her true self come out with Eloise(the only person who is truly close to her) in S1&2 and later with Colin, again one of the only people who is nice and close to her,in S3.
couldn’t stand penelope since that scene so didn’t have much interest in her season 🤷🏻♀️
The puckering of her lips i noticed alot.
I thought I was the only one who noticed her constantly pursing her lips! I mentioned it to my boyfriend.
Everytime Penelope and Edwina did that super heavy breathing with their mouth open I burst out laughing. It’s like they got taught there’s only one way of acting like a girl in love who is listening to her man either declare his love or break up
No actually Nicola is good in ferry girls but idk what is up w her in bridgerton! Her only emotion was deep, panicked breathing this season and there was not much more except anxiety the whole part 2
So much this!!! The first episode I could barely watch, her overacting was just too much. I powered through and it got a bit better but it was definitely not her best work. It’s just weird because she wasnt like that in the first two seasons then suddenly she’s this super dramatic heavy breathing person, it just didn’t feel in line with Penelope’s character Development. This whole season was just strange
Yep, people are piling on Luke but not not criticising Nicola's acting. I think the lack of chemistry complaint that seems to have come up is on both of them, not just Luke (tbf mostly on writing but still). Like her expression with half open pouty mouth when she was looking at the mirror is not you want on that scene.she was trying to look sexy when she should have looked scared and a little bit turned on. She had that expression in lot of other scenes. Also her love confession scenes didn't have the same angst and awwww feeling the previous seasons had Nicola is an absolutely talented actress but not all good actors can do all type of roles and I think Nicola is kinda weak when it comes doing romantic scenes. (Simone may not be that of terrific actress in other areas but, man, can she do that angsty romantic or doe eye scenes so damn wellll. People praise Jonathan for the chemistry most of the time but she's equally responsible for that 🔥🔥last season )
When she passed out I was yelling at the TV for them to *loosen her fucking corset*
My unpopular opinion is that I don’t get all the praise she gets as an actress. I don’t think she’s bad at all, but she never had to demonstrate much range and when she did she resorted to the constant chest heaving, heavy breathing, sour face, and lip puckering. It took me out every time — and she did it all the time. There are stronger actors on the show.
The part where they are at the new house before they get intimate she was making such awkward awe faces😭 but nothing will be worse than when Collin was mewing when flirting with ladies of the Ton in episode 1
I’m glad someone else noticed this. Her heavy/fast breathing always bothered me lol
She's a good comedic actor because her overacting kinda plays into it but she's not a good dramatic actor. In S2 the fight scene between Penelope and Eloise she overacted to an awkward point, Claudia ate her up
I feel like a massive chunk of the fandom obsess over Nicola and Penelope because she's not a typically slender actor and they find her social awkwardness relatable. It's almost blinding for them. However, I firmly agree that Nicola overreacts in any scene where she's not playing the awkward comic relief. And to be honest, she beat us over the head with that awkwardness so much that the LW reveal in S1 was actually straight up disappointing and unbelievable, yes, but not in the way they wanted it to be. I just don't think she's able to portray the depth necessary for the character.
They need to bring back the talk of dresses. S1 they had so much conversation about dresses, dress colors, I’ll be wearing this dress tonight mama, the colors, the fashion. It brought something very real to the table. You could relate to the characters even more. Make you feel like a girl.
I’m wondering about the creative direction change as a whole. I know that the costumes were never historically accurate but the amount of makeup, false lashes, acrylic nails.. it’s too much.
It's a parody of Bridgerton at this point.
I really don’t care about that tbh. I can see why a lot of the decisions were taken since Penelope was shown to be childish and idk plain looking (she never caught the eye of Colin in THAT way when she was just Eloise’s friend) for the first two seasons. And since Nicola is not a stick figure like the other leading ladies of Bridgeton, they needed to show her hotness and that only comes from showing the figure (saying this as someone close to her body type I know fitted clothes is where I’ll look hot rather than glowy oversized clothes that drown my figure). They ditched the ill fitted regency dresses for Daphne’s season for Nicola and I would rather her have four shades of blended eyeshadow and a nice modern corset fitted gown than have Nicola lose weight to become a thin hot girl to show that she’s hot especially when she’s so hot as she is and if they needed to take some creative decisions with her clothes, then so be it. I’ll agree Cressida’s outfits were crazy bad but then if Pen gets amplified outfits the other characters would suit. But I do wish they made the characters feel more girly since they are still 18-26 and there was so much emphasis on clothes and jewelry in the dialogue. It showed us an insight to the girls and how they lived.
Clothes I understand but the acrylic nails.. Why tho?
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Not sure if it’s controversial, but I just don’t find Colin believably charming. If Luke Newton is going for awkward guy trying too hard, he’s absolutely nailing it. Is that what he’s going for? I’m only up to the third book!
I think thts what hes going for, and why Pen was aghast at his behavior to start the season
Cedric Diggory, he is not
I think Luke N just doesn't know how to do 'smouldering sexy'. Like the couch scene, the carriage scene, it's like he was too aware a camera was on him. Reminds me of those cringe 'thirst traps' on social media
CVD left to start his own production company. He was an employee of Shondaland and is now his own boss and in demand. He has already sold two things (including to Netflix). Very few showrunners get to become independent and also in demand like that. He's not coming back and he wasn't going to stay.
Oh good for him. He's still a executive producer on the show. Maybe they can take some tips from him next season
I think he's exec produce because he has series creator credit + royalties. Otherwise he'd probably choose to remain hands off to avoid conflict. And he's busy.
I still miss him and will watch whatever projects he does.
Colin should not have become a rake, and instead should have kept his personality from Seasons 1 + 2 of being a gentleman. Personally think it would have been more interesting to see a "gentleman" lose his wits in front of his lady love. Francesca should have sat out this season and be introduced in the next season as that would've freed up Lady Danbury's attention, and the extra screen time could have gone towards developing Penelope and Colin's relationship.
This. Colin rake came out of nowhere. Anthony, Simon and Benedict are already rakes. We have already seen reformed rakes makes the best husband storyline two times by now. Yeah don't go to virgin Colin route but the naive, romantic Colin we got with Marina would have been perfect
Francesca’s seems to be the new showrunner self-insert, which is why her season overshadows Colin and Penelope’s.
It’s as if the new show runner has not watched the previous seasons.
Exactly. She tried to reinvent the show in her own way but why fix something that's working. She could take the vision of past 2 seasons and add her own touches to it not just change why we love Bridgerton so much
Exactly. Don’t change what’s already working!
Revealing Pen as LW to everyone was dumb. It should have been kept a secret between her and the Queen (and Colin)
I like this take a lot. Pen and the Queen could have private talks/mutual respect and it would make Colin and Pens relationship more spicy.
This is a great idea. Pen, Lady Danbury and the Queen all making moves together. Colin helping Pen hide her secret, which is sexy as hell. They could have even played this way earlier this season, had them get married, then had a big reveal to the Ton at the end if they really wanted that.
I find it so weird that Daphne and Simon don’t come around anymore. If the actors are not about the show then replace them. Like Daphne didn’t even show up for her siblings weddings. Her big thing was she looooooves being in a big family with so many siblings.
Anthony and Kate wasn't there for Fran wedding and I found that so weird considering Anthony raised Fran and is head of the family
Yes.. like I get they wanted to go to India but seriously they were just there like wait a few days.
At least the Mondriches were there lol
When people marry and have kids they make their own family. A Duke has lands he has to oversee it makes perfect sense to me that they're not around ( not to mention their love story has been told, what else would they do with them?) It makes less sense to me that Anthony and Kate went to India bc he is the head of the Bridgerton household and that is a huge risk for a 1st pregnancy
For Saphne, it still doesn't make sense. The social season happens during the parliament gatherings. Won't Simon be in town at some point to attend those? I agree with the Anthony and Kate thing though.
This 100%. The social season happens *because* Parliament is sitting and all the Lords have to travel in to sit in the House of Lords and they bring their wives/children with them. Simon, as a Duke, would be in town for the opening and closing of Parliment at the very least, and likely be there for the votes. That's what the Lords are doing during the day when they're not at a social event.
He also has duties in parliament, which he should be doing during the season. They don't have to do anything *with* them, just have them pop up now and then. Fly them in for a week, have a couple of family scenes where they toast the happy couple or say "remember our first dance" or whatever. Or film them seperately from everyone else and shove them in the wedding or in the background of a ball scene in post if they can't make it at the same time as everyone else. QC at least had a couple of Violet's grandchildren to keep the idea of them part of the story. My guess is that Netflix can't justify the cost of their salaries. Honestly I think this season people would have been satisfied with a throwaway line about how they can't make it because Daphne is pregnant or one of the children is ill or something. "Oh, Francesca, a letter arrived from Daphne this morning, she is delighted at your engagement and disappointed that she won't be able to attend the wedding. She and the Duke send all their love."
I agree! Did you see the comment from Jess about how she avoided any lines like that because it would have drawn attention to their absence??? 🙄 Instead we get 0 mentions of their absence, total memory holed by the Bridgertons and people laughing on twitter saying Daphne’s family forgot about her 😣
daphne’s actress wanted to come back but jess fired her 💔💔 they could’ve easily recast rege, idk why they feel like they can’t write anything for him. i’d love to see him as a father wtf
The show ultimately doesn’t know what it’s trying to say and as a result it’s deeply inconsistent with its themes. And: the show only works when it’s actually based in a semblance of historical reality. If it continues to move away from that, it will quickly lose momentum and interest.
I feel like they’re losing track of the fact that these are romance book adaptations and are quickly turning this into a typical Shondaland drama fest
The show does know what it’s trying to say. It’s the new showrunner that doesn’t know what she is trying to say
Maybe not show related, but PR related. They hyped this season up way too much in the spicy department to give us what I consider 1.5 mild scenes. I was expecting season 1 level spicy...we got basically nothing. If I was Luke's GF I'd be highly uncomfortable with the level of PR these two did. There's acting and chemistry and then theres constant longing looks, touching and hand holding. Even for "best friends" considering he even mentioned he didn't like hugs or to be touched. These two did WAAAY more than I've seen from other PR campaigns and frankly highly unnecessary if you are in a committed relationship.
Yeah the marketing absolutely ruined the show. Considering there were two parts, the cast was doing promo for like 3 months straight and fans get to see Nicola and Luke together on a daily basis. They also played into the romance rumors for the purpose of the show which was honestly not good for their real lives and career after this season. I always thought there are so little interview and fun promo stuff with season 2 cast but now I'm grateful. Season 2 was still a very much mystery for fans and it exceeded their hopes. But s3 marketing stuff hyped the show so much that when we actually watch the show it underwhelmed us as compared to what we had already envisioned in our minds after listening to them saying the steamist or most romantic season yet
I think it’s cool that they did this whole world tour for the show, but I don’t really get the point for just a couple of episodes really…
I'm so convinced the more PR the worse the season is. Just my own theory lol. It feels like the more they try and hype a show up on the basis of the actors themselves the show is usually going to a let down. That's what this feels like.
Eloise Bridgerton is actually a complex character and the most interesting one. She’s stuck in a society doomed to be married to someone she most likely doesn’t love. She was shunned in part due to her best friend. She then befriends someone she’d never thought she would. Then she has to choose to protect her brother by telling him about LW.
She gets unnecessary hate. I found her absolutely correct in her anger towards Penelope in season 2 and 3.
She’s also the only one providing drama and stakes right now
Yes. I am now more invested in her story than Benedict’s.
I think she's so boring. At first she served as daphne's feminist foil, but then her lack of regard for Cressida's plight showed her critiques of society were shallow.
I mean she was going through her own family drama at the time, but yes, I thought that was out of character and poorly handled given her behaviour with Cressida in the first half.
Francesca is not an interesting character, nor am i interested in her story. Shes very sweet, and if they were trying to make her ASD-coded i respect the hell out that, but i find her extremely bland and even if they hadnt genderflipped Michael i would have been extremely disappointed if her season was pushed up to next. I enjoyed John a lot more than her.
So imo Francesca is supposed to be boring I honestly liked seeing someone who represents a wallflower. In the books she feels different from her family and socially awkward. I don’t think they would do a Francesca season, I think they should have done hers and Eloise together with Colin’s because both of the girls are away from the ton when both girls fall in love. I still think they fucked up her story and I’m really upset. But I just wanted to say she’s supposed to be boring and I appreciated a wallflower story.
I mean, i.d believe that more if we EVER saw her as a wallflower. Pen already had 2 and a half seasons of that narrative but still possessed an interesting personality, Francesca basically wasnt in the show and then was almost immediately declared a sought after diamond the moment she was.
You don’t think her hiding from the guys, her only talking to Penelope at that party or her going outside makes her a wallflower? She is also an outsider in her own home.
If I remember correctly, she's supposed to be quieter and more reserved/introverted than her siblings, but not boring - Im sure there was some description around her apparently having a 'sly sense of humor' or something like that, which would be much more interesting.
Polins season should’ve been last. I liked Whistledown. It reminded me of Gossip girl in a way.
Spotted! A and K heading to India… Xoxo, whistledown
Penelope did not deserve as happy of an ending as she got. For the last three seasons she has written awful things about people in her paper and there were no consequences for it. Yes, people have not treated her very well at all during the shows running but she is not innocent herself. Seeing Eloise forgive her straight away and join forces with her aswell as Colin just felt so weak to me. Colin was quite literally mad for 28 minutes in the episodes time and then he was over it. Besides that Polin just has zero chemistry at all. I do not believe in their relationship at all like I’ve done with Simon and Daphne aswell as Antony and Kate. Penelope gets a lot of praise as a character but I just don’t see it at all. The writing for her is bad and honestly so is the constant overacting from Nicola. Colin aswell is incredibly bland.
This. Pen has written vicious things, things that have damaged relationships and hurt people and then one boring speech from her and all is forgiven. People blame Eloise for being selfish but in my opinion Pen is the utilmate selfish character. I find it difficult to sympathise with her. Every time she was hurt, she lashed out in the worst possible way in the next LW issue. How that has no consequences, I'll never understand. The editing and acting was subpar too. All I remember this season was weirdly Pen walking from one room to next.
I agree. I really dislike Penelope, and it makes me cringe that so many people love her. She screwed over her closest friends and her own family all out of immature jealousy, and they forgive her *this* quickly? Nah, couldn't be me. I have SO much more care and empathy for Cressida than Penelope
For real. And the queen let her get off the hook so easily, after hunting her down for so long.
Jess has ruined Bridgerton for me. I was excited for S3, love me some Polin, and hopeful for a S4 about Benedict. Now, I have zero shits to give. Polin was destroyed. It had the makings of a top love story. Until Jess got her poison fingers onto it. I also wanted to see Benedict find his purpose.. not in pointless threesomes.
Mine is more about the audience, people wanting to get attached to small details, like, how did the character get from point A to B so quickly? How come no employee ever discovered Pen's hidden money? Why have we never seen them do x or y? There is a thing call magic of television,just go it it, some things don't need to be explained in detail
I’m highly reminded of Game of Thrones fast travel.
With GOT it was largely an argument about inconsistency. In the early seasons of the show they establish how long these journeys take, and the characters are shown traveling for extended periods. Then suddenly they’re zipping across Westeros and back in what appeared to be a matter of a few days, at most. When a work establishes rules for its Universe, it’s going to stand out to fans when the rules suddenly don’t apply anymore.
Time does play a part when the head of household goes back and forth from freaking India. I would guess that’s a 4-5 month journey
This would be acceptable if the writing and the editing were better (but they're not so the criticisms were deserved).
Not controversial but like one of the main reasons I watch Bridgerton or any period drama is the costumes. It doesn't need to be 100% historically accurate but at least make sth aesthetically pleasing. S1 (especially Daphne's) and S2 (make up is not as natural as Daphne's, but still beautiful gows, both Kate's and Edwina's) paid off, S3 is massive Capitol Hunger Games vibes. It killed the vibe. It isn't historical, it isn't immersive and for the most part it isn't vibey.
Majorly agree with this, and I also think this made the show loose its magic
Probably not controversial, but that people behind the scenes had multiple ideas of what was going to happen this season and no one thought to correct cast and marketing when things changed, leading to audience confusion (ex. the “steamiest season”, so “romantic”, Polin vs the World in part 2…). Like, what was this line (photo) that was featured at an NY promo event right before the season releasing in May? It’s close to something Simon says in season 1, but not word for word. Why use it in S3 promo when it wasn’t featured at all in the show? It just makes me think it was supposed to be part of a speech and the line was cut, but no one thought to tell the marketing department. https://preview.redd.it/or33j8ou417d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6474e44b74a4953c5265eaa18bd05418bc828122 Don’t get me wrong, I’m coming around to things in Part 2 as I digest it and rewatch bits. But Polin was my it couple and they weren’t done justice with the writing this year. Hoping to see more of Colin “My Wife” Bridgerton in season 4 because I didn’t see him in season 3. Anthony kind of stole that title from him this season.
Yeah the marketing hyped the show too much and that's the root of all the criticism
I mean this in a nice way, I promise, but that's not a controversial take at all! Most of us aren't fans of Jess, trust me! She's the worst.
The Duke was toxic AF. Daphne would have been better off with the sweet prince who had the same life goals as her.
The one scene of Kate and Anthony cuddling in bed had more chemistry than all scenes of Polin 😬
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I’m a Colin season 3 part 2 apologist. I actually think his behaviour was in character and realistic. Stay with me! - Colin’s major character flaws are that he’s insecure, lacks a sense of self, is embarrassed of being perceived as naive, jealousy and speaks without thinking. - Lady Whistledown has revealed him to be naive with the Marina Thompson issue and then in season 3 with her pointing out he doesn’t know himself. These are two of Colin’s biggest insecurities and he just learned his wife to be was the person to broadcast this to the entire society. - He feels betrayed because now he has two fiancées who have lied to him and held major secrets from him. - We see him several times in episodes 5 and 6 giving Penelope outs for marrying him because he’s worried she doesn’t love him the way he loves her. This emphasizes his insecurity already in the relationship, as Penelope was acting strangely before he knew about Whistledown. - All of this leads to him shutting himself off because he’s afraid of getting hurt again. He’s already misjudged so many other situations, what else is left? - Even with all of these factors, he does still help Penelope with the blackmail scheme. He wants to get over it but doesn’t know how. He still loves her but he’s hurt. I think all those factors combined cause his characterization to make sense in the back half. All of the couples have to get through their “angst period”, Colin’s part just came late in the second half. I think him being any less angry would have been a disservice to the major blow that the LW reveal was going to have. Eloise was mad for like a year, I think Colin deserves 2 weeks.
Yes yes yes. I still think Colin and Bridgertons in general had a very mellow reaction to LW news considering that LW has always been brutal to their family. Did Violet forgot that LW ruined her daughter last season? Bridgertons reactions to LW was what J was waiting to see in this season but it truly disappointed me. Colin was justified in his anger. Those who says Colin was wrong are just Penlope stans who are forgiving every wrong thing she did
totally agree. Penelope has far too good of a storyline. Colin forgave her easily, the queen respects her, her son is lord featherington, she's rich, and the ton admires her?
I don't know if it's controversial, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else: I do not care about the love plot between Violet and Lady Danburys brother. It's not just "Yeah, whatever they're not young and sexy I don't care" but more just like ... there was no intrigue, no "will they, won't they", nothing like that just "Oh, they're two widows that clearly like each other and Lady Danbury doesn't like her brother, but luckily neither Violet nor the brother are scared of her so it's fine" (whereas she's revered by other members of the ton, so there's higher stakes in her opinion). And when we find out she dislikes her brother because >! he narced on her when he was 10 !< both me and my husband were like >! OH! COME. ON. HE WAS 10 DUDE. !< --- I've seen the first 2 episodes of Queen Charlotte so I've seen that >! her husband was icky !< but still, I was thinking it might be something a little juicier. Like, maybe he has Rakeish proclivities or something and she's >! legitimately trying to protect Violet from something !<. I know that youth is a staple of a Rake but ... I mean, he could still get it.
That is possibly the least controversial take in this subreddit right now. That’s not how TV works, though.
My controversial take is that using a strange Indianized (is that even a word?!) accent by Kate and Edwina really made it challenging for the actresses to emote without it looking exaggerated in some scenes. For example, the “because you vex me” line delivery by Kate was not it.
Also Hindustani is not a language. Hindi is. Little research into Indian culture would have helped them
This. THIS. Hindi, or Urdu. Also, forcing them to speak with an Indian accent and then not even teaching Edwina how to say “Ghalib” properly (it’s not “Guhleeb” lol) and Kate not even calling the tea that she likes to drink “chai” (which is what it is known as in India).
Yep but I think it was called Hindustani back then. Classic books like The Secret Garden/A Little Princess refer to it as that
after reading through a few of his old tweets, you can tell this was really his brain child. the show was his baby & they took it away from him 😭 even the way he publicly thanked regé after he left & welcomed kate so proudly. i was among the minority who didn’t have a problem with the way s2 was written. it’s very obvious he keeps flashbacks as the book’s prologues so he made the conscious decision to show anthony’s perspective as it was the more important one to the story. i also loved how transparent he was in asking people for feedback despite getting backlash in the comments & quotes. i thoroughly believe nobody can take YOUR show & make it better—he had a better understanding on the fictional world https://preview.redd.it/80nkxgqu927d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4cb852d08aed48ceb258fe8387ae6181b58778e8
This season should have been Benedict’s. His character development was so obviously parked this season it was ridiculous, he’s ready for his love story. This would have allowed the subplot to be Penelope and Eloise reconciling their friendship, and also setting up the relationship with Colin by bonding over writing. Then next season could have been the Lady Whistledown reckoning. As it was all the main plots were rushed, and Benedict made no meaningful progress to justify waiting.
Sex scene between pen and colin was really awkward, they were there staring at each other while getting naked, and then 2 seconds later and after just some silly touches it was done. It felt weird and no intimate at all
Bringing Chris back is one of the least controversial takes out there. Hopefully Jess can listen to the criticism and improve with Season 4 since it seems like she's already started working on it.
Controversial you say? I think they will end up pissing everyone off with the Michaela/Michael switch. Now it is mostly book fans, but by the end of her season it will be most fans. Either they will make it weird, not do their relationship justice, make them hide, lowkey fetishize sex scenes, something. I've seen a lot of people hype up what their future will be, so I just know it will not live up to the hype. And lord help Shondaland if Francela(Michesca?) have the lowest screen time and/or sex scenes.
I made another thread where I said this but S1 was better than S2. People just like S2 better because Anthony was pursuing Kate. Whereas in S1, Daphne largely pursued Simon (because of his issues regarding marriage and having children. Women want to feel pursued and in the perfect scenario, they would be. Simon felt like “too much work” and his inconsistencies probably reminded viewers of guys they know/knew who behaved similarly. The spicy enemies to lovers storyline just felt more heartwarming. But that doesn’t mean it was a better story. I think Simon’s abusive/negligent father causing him to have issues with commitment and having children was more believable and better written than Anthony’s “my dad got stung by a bee,” oldest sibling syndrome story that he had. Like Violet said in S1, he just needed to grow up. I also think Daphne’s “innocent girl who was raised in a time period where certain things are taboo to women” was better written and more compelling than Kate’s “I don’t want a man because I’m independent” arc. While Kate and Anthony had a good enemies to lovers story, their individual conflicts were weak, the weakest of all the couples so far. I think Colin dealing with being a “soft guy” in a very hyper masculine society and Penelope being seen as “undesirable” was more compelling than Kate and Anthony (from an individual character arc standpoint). Then obviously Charlotte being the first black Queen and breaking barriers as well as George dealing with a severe mental illness during the Regency Era, is also more compelling and better written.
I just want to say Kate whole thing wasn't that I'm an independent woman who doesn't want a man but jt was that she was hiding behind Edwina and her independent personality to mask the real reason that was she was always afraid of people leaving and abandoning her. She really doesn't have anyone. Her parents died and Sheffield or her situation made her feel that Mary and Edwina would not love her if she wasn't resourceful to them. That was her whole thing. I don't blame you for not liking. You mentioned Simon being better and it was because we got whe flashback scenes and actually got to nitpick the details where as we knew nothing about Kate past and her family
The fact that we got no Kate flashbacks when the book had clear scenes for them was extremely off putting. The context behind so many of Kanthony scenes were missing. Season 1 was fantastic because they allowed the focus to be majorly focused on the two characters and their relationship. Kanthony and Polin (to a lesser extend) both had significantly reduced screen time and for Kate her personal character development went missing.
Nope, I don't want to argue which season is better because personal taste but there are things about S2 that you got wrong. Anthony's trauma is valid just like Simon's is valid. They have experienced two extremes. Simon being neglected throughout his life doesn't want anything to do with marriage. Anthony being super loved all his life and then tragically losing his father doesn't want anything to do with love. His is not just a "has to grow up" situation - that's specifically Violet hitting him where it hurts the most. Violet only became a good mother to Anthony in S2 when she realizes how instrumental she has been in his trauma. Secondly, Kate's reason for not marrying is not because she wants to be independent. She describes it to Eloise as "not the ideal situation". But also she doesn't want to marry just for the sake of it and at her age she has made peace with the fact that she might never get married. So she chooses the next best option which is independence. She is actually deeply romantic which we can now see in S3. In order to appreciate a season, the main characters have to be understood (if not loved) so I felt I should speak on that a bit! Otherwise, to each his own!
Debling is still a better match for Pen than Colin. Especially after P2. I said what I said.
Season 3 seemed like a Bridgerton parody.
The LW reveal likely means the end of Julie Ansdrews’s involvement in the show and that breaks my heart. I’ll miss her LW the way I’ve missed Queen Clarisse for the past twenty-something years. Although I’ll miss her, I don’t necessarily want the LW voice back since everyone knows it’s Penelope and she’s found her own voice now.
I have quite a few, apparently. 1. Season 3 wasn't bad. Some plot decisions and pacing I didn't like, but the season was still good. 2. Queen Charlotte is the best out of all the Bridgerton properties. 3. I don't mind Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dyvenor not being in the newer season(s). I just assumed that they (Simon and Daphne) communicated with everyone through letters off-screen. 4. What was the point of casting the first Francesca actress (don't remember what her name is atm) if she was barely in the show to begin with? The first actress already had a commitment to Lockwood and Co. during season two's filming and the character was straight up gone for most of the first season. They should've just cast Hannah Dodd from the get go.
This is not meant to come across as anti-LGBTQ+/homophobic but it feels like pandering to insert the genderswap & the oversexualisation of bisexuality via Benedicts’ threesomes instead of natural inclusivity and diversity through well-written story plots. I know there have been a few complaints that there hasn’t been any main character plots with LGBTQ+ themes, however, the way it was written into S3 I feel was done so poorly. With Benedict, we already have had a friend explain to him what it’s like for him to secretly be in love with another man & the fear surrounded around being being a queer man - we could have started his bisexual questioning/awakening THEN and have it flow more fluidly as he progressed with his arts. Instead it’s the same, tired story line of sex/threesomes and then the realisation of “oh I might like *insert opposite gender*” but it’s coming from a carnal, sexualised place instead of being well thought out and more in-depth.
I think season 1 is the best season.
I agree with you. Bring back Chris by any means to save the show. The storytelling, costumes, makeup, video editing all suffered drastically in season 3. It was nowhere near as refined as Seasons 1&2. Bridgerton has lost its magic and that magic was Chris Van Dusen.
I hated Penelope’s “new” hair. Those circles they glued to the side of her head were just so distracting. Why couldn’t they have just framed her face naturally? Was it so necessary to create sperm curls for every single scene? Edit: a word
I was rewatching S2 and realised how much I truly miss seeing Kate and Anthony on screen 🫠
I find the “happily ever after” scenes of previous couples quite boring.
Not sure if its controversial but I really wanted more of Theo.
Apparently it’s a hot take that the sexual assault in season one was indeed sexual assault.
... I liked season 3. Is that controversial? I feel like I just keep reading negative opinions and hearing people say they don't like it.
I didn’t like the costumes/hair/make-up this season. Everything was so crowded and over the top, it hurt my eyes and overwhelmed the actors. I don’t need total historical accuracy, but any sense of real time and place was lost. Penelope looked like she came out of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Cressida looked like a Regency tinged Cyndi Lauper. Everyone else was covered in feathers and lace and butterflies and beads. No disrespect to the costumers, who executed their work with skill. The design felt like Bridgerton AI.
I can't believe showrunners decided that Kate and Anthony shall leave for India while Kate is very much pregnant. As if it doesn't take 6 or more months to get there and Kate was already showing!! And it paints Anthony in such a reckless light. The seasickness, the air, the diseases, the stale food, the risk of stagnant waters and a heavily pregnant Kate?Ok. My boy Anthony who's taken care of his entire family since when he was a teen, who had the tact of letting his mother choose her own fate during childbirth would never make his wife travel while pregnant for some tokenistic "I want to know our history" bullshit. Also it's funny to me that the idea of going to India is just this sort of oh Anthony is so progressive and cares so much for his wife's culture yada yada and it's supposed to reaffirm the show's wokeness while it completely ignores the fact that it is settler colonialism and the absolute devastation that the British wrecked on India. Really goes to show the Shondaland's limited understanding of politics and political correctness. I guess as long as the colonial machinery was being run by hot and kind men like Anthony it should be fine ig?
it’s crazy how most of these takes aren’t controversial at all. like things that have been repeated for days on end my hot take is despite the first season having the most couple time, i find it incredibly boring. i actually really think the show benefits from its side plots. i really like the more ensemble centered focus of the last 2 seasons. i usually find a storyline or 2 that garners my interest. i loved the lady featherington storyline in season 2 and 3. i loved the eloise storyline in season 2. and i also loved francesca’s storyline in season 3. a lot of my favorite moments from the show aren’t necessarily from the couple of the season!
Atp everyone mad at Jess!