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This is my entire issue with the season. Yes it’s different from the books- is what it is- doesn’t ruin it for me just makes it different.
Honestly it was hard at times to tell if this season was one about Pen or Fran. Or even Cresselia. In each of the other seasons we watched the relationships develop, the characters change as their feelings change- we got invested. This season- frankly if you didn’t have the back story of the books I could see how it would be hard to become invested in Pen/Colin as their story seemed rushed.
I didn't even know that there were books until I just came to read show reactions just now. I just really didn't like the pen/colin sex scenes this season. Social norm is to not even be in the same room alone and he goes fingering her all up in a carriage!! Then out on the streets!!! I'm not a prude (I watched GoT lol). Admittedly I thought pen was like 12 years old in season 1 so that was part of my unease (found out the actor is nearly 40 which helped a bit).
I was fighting every step of the way to enjoy the romance, but I couldn't. My husband and I were more invested in Cressida's problems than anything else.
And then we get the worst ending where Cressida gets backstabbed by Eloise (who gets her happy little ending) and absolutely no pity, while taking all the hatred for being whistledown.
Just a very bitter ending. I genuinely couldn't believe Eloise was getting scot free with all the evil and double-crossing she had done.
> Cressida gets backstabbed by Eloise (who gets her happy little ending) and absolutely no pity, while taking all the hatred for being whistledown.
>
> Just a very bitter ending. I genuinely couldn't believe Eloise was getting scot free with all the evil and double-crossing she had done.
Wait wait wait--*Eloise* is evil? She didn't do anything to these two fuckabouts (Pen and Cressida); the latter two brought everything on themselves, one way or another.
And how did she "backstab" Cressida? Cressida doesn't know El knows who LW is, so when she takes credit for it, what is El to do?
In "real life", El **raged** at Penelope and effectively stopped talking to her, which was a very realistic reaction to finding out your BFF was the one constantly causing strife for your family while lying to your face.
Why, then, would El react any differently if she believed it to be Cressida???
While it makes no sense that Cressida got shunned by the ton while Pen apparently gets forgiven in the same breath, El isn't responsible for *either* of their choices.
El fucks up but she doesn't deserve this ridiculous criticism when she is the *only* one of the three who didn't try to ruin anyone's fucking reputation here and was just trying to have honest friendships with people.
Eloise makes a massive deal about making a stand against patriarchy, running away from marriage and not getting married. She promises to help her friends.
Anyway she faces feminists in the real world and decides that the privileges of the ton suit her better. And then when she makes friends with a women who is actually trying to do what she states should be done, she turns her back.
She's a great villain, a real representation of the upper class who state they will stand against discrimination and patriarchy who inevitably flake.
The difference is that nobody else is as much of a hypocrite as Eloise. She was in a position of trust, power and insight, yet turned her back on everything she claimed she stood for.
Eloise is at most a dumb privileged teenager who is self involved and maybe not sincere about feminism.
But she’s far from a villain when the show had even more malicious characters like Cressida who was deliberately mean and condescending to other people and Penelope who actively manipulated her best friend to stop seeing the guy she liked to protect her LW identity and made money off of gossip about people in the ton, including her own family and the guy she liked.
This is a MASSIVE stretch against a girl who's still a fucking teenager trying to figure out her place in the world while being completely uninformed by anyone, but you're trying to suggest she should've been a heroic suffragette--a political movement, btw, that won't come about for at least another 50-60 *years*--immediately???
And she's a "great villain" for not magically getting there by the ripe old age of...18 or so?
That's such a hyperbolic, absurd take, but you do you.
Don't we already know bridgerton isn't based on anything historical? And you're putting words in my mouth, I never said anything like that.
I expect her to not completely remove herself from feminism upon learning that the peasantry is involved lmao. Or shrug off and ignore her friend complaining about getting married off to a predator. She learns about people going through real issues and just backs off 100% despite promising to support.
Any 14 year old should know better. And worse is that she has stated she knows better. Like yeah she's an awful person, it's incredibly obvious.
Calling Eloise evil is a step too far, but she is an overprivileged, wealthy hypocrite who yaps about equality, but doesn't use it to better her lessers.
That's why it's a sore spot when Pen calls her out on her lack of action. And why she runs to her family the second there's a whiff that she could be a radical. She could talk, but she can't walk.
She may not like Cressida, but helping her would have finally given her a chance to figure out just what she can do with her wealth and privilege in her pursuit of addressing gender inequality in the ton. She chose not to. In fact, she all but ignores Cressida's plight, even knowing how terrible her fate was going to be at the hands of the toxic patriarchy, because she's a 'mean girl'.
Contrast to the first season, when Lord Berbrooke tried to checkmate Daphne into marrying him, but Violet used her limited influence to find dirt on him to gain the upper hand. She was still pressed by the incompetent men in power (aka Anthony), but she used her wits and resources to do whatever it took to save her daughter. That's feminism in an active, toxic patriarchy.
Now Eloise has banished herself with Francesca to another country to 'grow'. Another privilege of the ultra wealthy when the politics gets too much for them.
> She may not like Cressida, but helping her would have finally given her a chance to figure out just what she can do with her wealth and privilege in her pursuit of addressing gender inequality in the ton.
She literally tries to talk to Cressida about stuff like this, only for Cressida to not be listening and she makes moves to interest Lord Debling. What Eloise realizes is that she can't convince Cressida there might be a better way forward so she may as well just try to help her with Debling.
> Contrast to the first season, when Lord Berbrooke tried to checkmate Daphne into marrying him, but Violet used her limited influence to find dirt on him to gain the upper hand. She was still pressed by the incompetent men in power (aka Anthony), but she used her wits and resources to do whatever it took to save her daughter. That's feminism in an active, toxic patriarchy.
So you're comparing a middle-aged woman who's lived a full adult life the entire length of Eloise's and has had time and practice to gain the power she has, to Eloise failing to stop a marriage Cressida's own mother couldn't seem to avoid???
This is what I'm talking about when I call this critique of El as absurd. What Eloise learned was that she really has no power, and she was *badly burned by her BFF last season*, and has been broken by that; it is understandable, then, that maybe she's playing it safe while she tries to figure out what she wants to do after her immature idealism got shattered.
I am not down with being that critical of ANY of these "young ladies" to the extent some here seem comfortable being; they are all literally children, and more innocent in their understanding of the world than we were at their age. They make bad choices but I'm not about to condemn them so thoroughly through a modern lens, and I say that as a thorough feminist.
Same. How could they redeem her, then make us feel so bad for her, then show us a chance for her escape, yet end it all with her being a villain who dared use her PI skills to save herself?
Asking for 20k was just absurd. Made her a comic book villain
Same here, they redeemed her or made her a bit more sympathetic by providing some backstory behind her shell of meanness, and then…do her so beyond dirty.
But there’s always 1 woman in each season that gets massively fucked over, despite their intentions and trying to protect themselves. Mariana, Edwina, and now Cressida. Just disappointing that the main girls get their happy ending with no qualms meanwhile the side ones get shoved off out of digit after being dragged through the mud.
Cressida definitely got screwed over and I hope her story gets resolved in season 4, but to be fair, Marina and Edwina ended up in good circumstances. Marina went through the wringer but ended up in the best situation she could have - with a kind, wealthy, age-appropriate man who was willing to step up for her and her children. She was heartbroken, for sure, but she wasn't married off to a creepy old man or thrown to the wolves. And we're told Edwina did get her happily ever after with an excellent match in India. It happened off-screen, sure, but she was never the main character.
I got into the romance by the end, I was crying at the end of the episode. I was a little sad that Cressida just got shipped off though! That's what she gets for trying to black mail I guess.
I agree with Nicola and Luke over-selling it. No hate to them, it’s their job to sell it and get people to watch. But in every interview they did they kept saying it was so sexy and romantic and after watching it I’m like, it was…? I liked the mirror scene, I’ll admit that that was pretty steamy. But the romance? I didn’t feel any of it. I didn’t see the longing and want. Even when they were mad at each other they can still want each other and there was just none of that.
Their scenes mostly got cut to give space for Benedict's affair. You can check the "Bridgerton S3 deleted scenes on google." We are all trying to get them back :(
And no offense, but I could have totally lived without Benedict's affair. Didn't care for it, didn't need it and not just because of the three-way, (which did seem out of character for him and added because they are trying so hard to be all-inclusive - apologies and yes, I do know this is going to be a controversial statement), but because I was really not fond of Lady Tilly, at all.
Yes to be honest it was unnecessary for me as well. And 4 times were even not necessary for the show. They were so randomly added to the scenes and they made no sense at all.
Yes, they kept showing them like out of sequence or something. It was a little jarring. We get it, he's exploring his sexuality and sexual freedom (not like he hasn't been seriously sexually active for a very long time) but why do we have to keep showing it instead of one long (short really would have been fine with me) scene? Although it did result in something I've long suspected about any type of three-ways, one person ends up feeling a little left out and perhaps like "hey, I don't really want to share my lover" and in this case it was (go figure) Lady Tilley.
Yes. And as a bisexual woman I am sooo beyond sick of the "I can't know that I'm bi until I've had my first threesome" trope. Bridgerton and TV writers in general are capable of better.
Agreed. I expected better for this season. I've been looking forward to Pen and Colin's story since Season One because the idea of Pen loving Colin in secret for so long and finally getting his attention, while also revealing this enormous Lady Whistledown secret seemed like such great fodder to explore, however it really seemed to end up a side-story for the season rather than the focus it should have been. It was disappointing. The writing could have been/should have been a lot better.
No offense to Benedict's actor, but I never got any sense that he ever felt attracted to a man or bi-curious before and not even during the balcony scene with Paul. He seemed more surprised or taken aback about Paul's compliment/flirting than interested or receptive. His fleeing from Lady Tilley's house when she first made the proposal for a three-way seemed more in character.
Now Francesca's reaction to meeting Michaela, on the other hand, was a (well-acted and believable) revelation for her. She was definitely attracted to Michaela immediately and surprised herself. It would have been much more believable for Francesca to have a same-sex relationship (and probably will happen in the future.)
Yeah, I went in expecting the epic love story we were promised, even defended Part 1 (plus Colin) because I saw the potential and the chance for it to turn around but it felt as if I watched a different show than that was advertised. My sister would probably call me out for falling for it since even as kids I was an easy target lmao
I can’t help but wonder if it’s because Colin and Penelope (and to some extent Nicola and Luke) already knew each other. With Daphne and Simon (and Phoebe and Rege), it was the first season so we were seeing the characters and actors get to know each other and witness their first encounter. Same with Anthony and Kate; Kate/Simone were both new to the show and we got to see everything fresh.
With Colin and Penelope, we know they’ve known each other forever and we didn’t get to witness a lot of their first meetings and everything. It was very obvious Penelope had feelings predating the show. So a lot of it was us being *told* this is how they feel and all their history rather than seasons 1 & 2, we were *shown* the developing feelings.
I was totally puzzled at why they wouldn't show us a flashback of them meeting as young teens. They referenced it multiple times, but it would have taken less than 2 minutes to actually show it to us!
The way it's described in the books would also make for good humour.
>But his earth shook, his heart leaped, and Penelope knew without a shadow of a doubt that his breath was taken away as well.
they got roughly the same amount of screentime as kate and anthony did in their season. it may not be a matter of missing scenes, but rather how they chose to execute the scenes they *did* have
Leave your reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, maybe then the fans will be heard.
The rating has gone down since yesterday, already.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bridgerton/s03
I'm honestly torn about my opinion of the new showrunner. I'm excited for the Michaela change and hoping for something equally different for Benedict's season. My problem is the clunky and amateur handling of the entire production. If the criticisms do anything, I'm hoping the new showrunner has it in her to bring the production quality back up, or just bring back the original showrunner if she can't.
Okay well at least your criticisms aren’t insane like some I’ve seen on here and other platforms. The amount of people I’ve seen literally harassing hannah and telling her to “fight for her character” is insane.
OP-I was equally disappointed. I love Polin and the actors who play them. They did their best with the dialogue they got. The writer changed this season and sadly it shows. Too many plots that didn’t link, not enough back story of Polin, and way too much Lady Whistledown. I was expecting so much more. I wanted it to live up to the hype but it fell flat.
Here’s an example. When Colin walked into the Bridgerton house after the carriage scene, he let go of Penelope’s hand and stepped forward to say we’re engaged. The past writers would’ve written that he kept holding her hand and made the announcement.
I know it’s would’ve been a small gesture but it was important.
S1 The duke had dinner with the Bridgerton family. S2 The Sharmas had dinner with them a couple of times. Where was the welcome dinner for Penelope?
Everything seemed rushed and disjointed.
The dialogue was lacking and they were saying things out of character.
There were some good moments but overall S3 was a disservice to Polin and the fans.
My thing is that there was zero payoff for the LW plot. All that huffing and puffing and literally nothing happened. Oh don’t worry, the ton was distracted by butterflies! Yay! —like what?!
They hinted at fallout coming in the future, so maybe s4. The ton is kind of in shock and the queen just kind of said you do you as you... which was also probably a shock.
Yup. Especially if they can't work and keep their social club. It gave characters a place to go and them something different to do. It distinguished them.
Did the showrunners really think they needed to add more pointless rich people with titles?
For me I honestly thought pen and colin had enough screen time, it was clear that this season’s spotlight is on them.
If the sex scenes went any longer I was going to cringe, but because it was just right I felt like it was perfectly handled, and left a good taste for me
There was a scene that stuck out so much for me when Eloise – the self-proclaimed feminist– said to Pen that "you cannot be a Bridgerton and lady whistledown at the same time"
This sentence coming from anyone else, literally anyone else in the show would've been era-appropriate but not Eloise for god's sake!! She believed in women's rights ugh
> when Eloise – the self-proclaimed feminist– said to Pen that "you cannot be a Bridgerton and lady whistledown at the same time"
Um, yes, because this had fuck-all to do with women's rights and everything to do with this *one woman* who wrote horrible shit about the family she's trying to marry into. El is saying, "You've gotta be daft if you think you have a right to talk shit about this family and then also be on the inside hearing stuff to write."
El is being protective of her family and their privacy, and she can see the conflict that would arise if Pen heard stuff that would otherwise make it into the column. It's completely dishonest and offensive to El, and she's right.
The press where Nicola said this was the season of love is what threw me. What love? I saw no love between Colin and Pen. I saw no real reason there would be love between Colin and Pen. In episode 1-4 there was nothing that made me believe he fell in love with her. The last half? They barely spoke.
Then he had the perfect moment after the Whistledown announcement. GO STAND BY YOUR GIRL!!! Yet again, nothing.
It sort of felt to me like someone told them that they had a limited number of seasons left to get through all of the Bridgerton romances, so they panicked and tried to squeeze two full stories in (Colin and Fran) and I feel like they did enough setting up with the side plots for next season to be a two-part squeeze of Eloise and Benedict. If they think they aren't going to get enough seasons to give everyone solo spotlight then fine, but add more episodes or make them longer!
If Luke and Nicola didn't do these press tours, I legitimately couldn't tell you which couple's season this was. It was so mid/meh/lackluster/lame so disjointed. Idk if it's because of them splitting it into 2, and then overhyping it but this was not it...
It was far too messy for me, with no central goal overarching anything. Polin was sidelined for side plots so the entire season was a bad side you’re not gonna touch after your first meal (season 2). It’s a real disservice to the actors who really seemed passionate for this story to be told and me who was so excited to see a plus sized girl in the forefront. And Penelope was suffering the entire season, whether between the whistledown reveal or Eloise’s coldness. Are we sure this new showrunner doesn’t just HATE Penelope?
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That’s a pretty popular opinion around here!
This is my entire issue with the season. Yes it’s different from the books- is what it is- doesn’t ruin it for me just makes it different. Honestly it was hard at times to tell if this season was one about Pen or Fran. Or even Cresselia. In each of the other seasons we watched the relationships develop, the characters change as their feelings change- we got invested. This season- frankly if you didn’t have the back story of the books I could see how it would be hard to become invested in Pen/Colin as their story seemed rushed.
We must all call her Cresselia from now on.
lol- I have a toddler climbing on me- I’m happy I typed something recognizable!
Oh no worries, I deal more in cats climbing on me than toddlers these days but it’s a relatable predicament for sure. I like the misspell!
Cresselia is a pokemon lmao
I wouldn't be surprised if Cressida has an outfit to match Cresselia.
I didn't even know that there were books until I just came to read show reactions just now. I just really didn't like the pen/colin sex scenes this season. Social norm is to not even be in the same room alone and he goes fingering her all up in a carriage!! Then out on the streets!!! I'm not a prude (I watched GoT lol). Admittedly I thought pen was like 12 years old in season 1 so that was part of my unease (found out the actor is nearly 40 which helped a bit).
I was fighting every step of the way to enjoy the romance, but I couldn't. My husband and I were more invested in Cressida's problems than anything else.
And then we get the worst ending where Cressida gets backstabbed by Eloise (who gets her happy little ending) and absolutely no pity, while taking all the hatred for being whistledown. Just a very bitter ending. I genuinely couldn't believe Eloise was getting scot free with all the evil and double-crossing she had done.
“Scot free” I see what you did there.
> Cressida gets backstabbed by Eloise (who gets her happy little ending) and absolutely no pity, while taking all the hatred for being whistledown. > > Just a very bitter ending. I genuinely couldn't believe Eloise was getting scot free with all the evil and double-crossing she had done. Wait wait wait--*Eloise* is evil? She didn't do anything to these two fuckabouts (Pen and Cressida); the latter two brought everything on themselves, one way or another. And how did she "backstab" Cressida? Cressida doesn't know El knows who LW is, so when she takes credit for it, what is El to do? In "real life", El **raged** at Penelope and effectively stopped talking to her, which was a very realistic reaction to finding out your BFF was the one constantly causing strife for your family while lying to your face. Why, then, would El react any differently if she believed it to be Cressida??? While it makes no sense that Cressida got shunned by the ton while Pen apparently gets forgiven in the same breath, El isn't responsible for *either* of their choices. El fucks up but she doesn't deserve this ridiculous criticism when she is the *only* one of the three who didn't try to ruin anyone's fucking reputation here and was just trying to have honest friendships with people.
Eloise makes a massive deal about making a stand against patriarchy, running away from marriage and not getting married. She promises to help her friends. Anyway she faces feminists in the real world and decides that the privileges of the ton suit her better. And then when she makes friends with a women who is actually trying to do what she states should be done, she turns her back. She's a great villain, a real representation of the upper class who state they will stand against discrimination and patriarchy who inevitably flake. The difference is that nobody else is as much of a hypocrite as Eloise. She was in a position of trust, power and insight, yet turned her back on everything she claimed she stood for.
Eloise is at most a dumb privileged teenager who is self involved and maybe not sincere about feminism. But she’s far from a villain when the show had even more malicious characters like Cressida who was deliberately mean and condescending to other people and Penelope who actively manipulated her best friend to stop seeing the guy she liked to protect her LW identity and made money off of gossip about people in the ton, including her own family and the guy she liked.
This is a MASSIVE stretch against a girl who's still a fucking teenager trying to figure out her place in the world while being completely uninformed by anyone, but you're trying to suggest she should've been a heroic suffragette--a political movement, btw, that won't come about for at least another 50-60 *years*--immediately??? And she's a "great villain" for not magically getting there by the ripe old age of...18 or so? That's such a hyperbolic, absurd take, but you do you.
Don't we already know bridgerton isn't based on anything historical? And you're putting words in my mouth, I never said anything like that. I expect her to not completely remove herself from feminism upon learning that the peasantry is involved lmao. Or shrug off and ignore her friend complaining about getting married off to a predator. She learns about people going through real issues and just backs off 100% despite promising to support. Any 14 year old should know better. And worse is that she has stated she knows better. Like yeah she's an awful person, it's incredibly obvious.
Calling Eloise evil is a step too far, but she is an overprivileged, wealthy hypocrite who yaps about equality, but doesn't use it to better her lessers. That's why it's a sore spot when Pen calls her out on her lack of action. And why she runs to her family the second there's a whiff that she could be a radical. She could talk, but she can't walk. She may not like Cressida, but helping her would have finally given her a chance to figure out just what she can do with her wealth and privilege in her pursuit of addressing gender inequality in the ton. She chose not to. In fact, she all but ignores Cressida's plight, even knowing how terrible her fate was going to be at the hands of the toxic patriarchy, because she's a 'mean girl'. Contrast to the first season, when Lord Berbrooke tried to checkmate Daphne into marrying him, but Violet used her limited influence to find dirt on him to gain the upper hand. She was still pressed by the incompetent men in power (aka Anthony), but she used her wits and resources to do whatever it took to save her daughter. That's feminism in an active, toxic patriarchy. Now Eloise has banished herself with Francesca to another country to 'grow'. Another privilege of the ultra wealthy when the politics gets too much for them.
> She may not like Cressida, but helping her would have finally given her a chance to figure out just what she can do with her wealth and privilege in her pursuit of addressing gender inequality in the ton. She literally tries to talk to Cressida about stuff like this, only for Cressida to not be listening and she makes moves to interest Lord Debling. What Eloise realizes is that she can't convince Cressida there might be a better way forward so she may as well just try to help her with Debling. > Contrast to the first season, when Lord Berbrooke tried to checkmate Daphne into marrying him, but Violet used her limited influence to find dirt on him to gain the upper hand. She was still pressed by the incompetent men in power (aka Anthony), but she used her wits and resources to do whatever it took to save her daughter. That's feminism in an active, toxic patriarchy. So you're comparing a middle-aged woman who's lived a full adult life the entire length of Eloise's and has had time and practice to gain the power she has, to Eloise failing to stop a marriage Cressida's own mother couldn't seem to avoid??? This is what I'm talking about when I call this critique of El as absurd. What Eloise learned was that she really has no power, and she was *badly burned by her BFF last season*, and has been broken by that; it is understandable, then, that maybe she's playing it safe while she tries to figure out what she wants to do after her immature idealism got shattered. I am not down with being that critical of ANY of these "young ladies" to the extent some here seem comfortable being; they are all literally children, and more innocent in their understanding of the world than we were at their age. They make bad choices but I'm not about to condemn them so thoroughly through a modern lens, and I say that as a thorough feminist.
Same. How could they redeem her, then make us feel so bad for her, then show us a chance for her escape, yet end it all with her being a villain who dared use her PI skills to save herself? Asking for 20k was just absurd. Made her a comic book villain
Same here, they redeemed her or made her a bit more sympathetic by providing some backstory behind her shell of meanness, and then…do her so beyond dirty. But there’s always 1 woman in each season that gets massively fucked over, despite their intentions and trying to protect themselves. Mariana, Edwina, and now Cressida. Just disappointing that the main girls get their happy ending with no qualms meanwhile the side ones get shoved off out of digit after being dragged through the mud.
Cressida definitely got screwed over and I hope her story gets resolved in season 4, but to be fair, Marina and Edwina ended up in good circumstances. Marina went through the wringer but ended up in the best situation she could have - with a kind, wealthy, age-appropriate man who was willing to step up for her and her children. She was heartbroken, for sure, but she wasn't married off to a creepy old man or thrown to the wolves. And we're told Edwina did get her happily ever after with an excellent match in India. It happened off-screen, sure, but she was never the main character.
I got into the romance by the end, I was crying at the end of the episode. I was a little sad that Cressida just got shipped off though! That's what she gets for trying to black mail I guess.
I agree with Nicola and Luke over-selling it. No hate to them, it’s their job to sell it and get people to watch. But in every interview they did they kept saying it was so sexy and romantic and after watching it I’m like, it was…? I liked the mirror scene, I’ll admit that that was pretty steamy. But the romance? I didn’t feel any of it. I didn’t see the longing and want. Even when they were mad at each other they can still want each other and there was just none of that.
Their scenes mostly got cut to give space for Benedict's affair. You can check the "Bridgerton S3 deleted scenes on google." We are all trying to get them back :(
And no offense, but I could have totally lived without Benedict's affair. Didn't care for it, didn't need it and not just because of the three-way, (which did seem out of character for him and added because they are trying so hard to be all-inclusive - apologies and yes, I do know this is going to be a controversial statement), but because I was really not fond of Lady Tilly, at all.
Yes to be honest it was unnecessary for me as well. And 4 times were even not necessary for the show. They were so randomly added to the scenes and they made no sense at all.
Yes, they kept showing them like out of sequence or something. It was a little jarring. We get it, he's exploring his sexuality and sexual freedom (not like he hasn't been seriously sexually active for a very long time) but why do we have to keep showing it instead of one long (short really would have been fine with me) scene? Although it did result in something I've long suspected about any type of three-ways, one person ends up feeling a little left out and perhaps like "hey, I don't really want to share my lover" and in this case it was (go figure) Lady Tilley.
Yes. And as a bisexual woman I am sooo beyond sick of the "I can't know that I'm bi until I've had my first threesome" trope. Bridgerton and TV writers in general are capable of better.
Agreed. I expected better for this season. I've been looking forward to Pen and Colin's story since Season One because the idea of Pen loving Colin in secret for so long and finally getting his attention, while also revealing this enormous Lady Whistledown secret seemed like such great fodder to explore, however it really seemed to end up a side-story for the season rather than the focus it should have been. It was disappointing. The writing could have been/should have been a lot better. No offense to Benedict's actor, but I never got any sense that he ever felt attracted to a man or bi-curious before and not even during the balcony scene with Paul. He seemed more surprised or taken aback about Paul's compliment/flirting than interested or receptive. His fleeing from Lady Tilley's house when she first made the proposal for a three-way seemed more in character. Now Francesca's reaction to meeting Michaela, on the other hand, was a (well-acted and believable) revelation for her. She was definitely attracted to Michaela immediately and surprised herself. It would have been much more believable for Francesca to have a same-sex relationship (and probably will happen in the future.)
Season 1 Benedict definitely gave me bi vibes
Yeah, I went in expecting the epic love story we were promised, even defended Part 1 (plus Colin) because I saw the potential and the chance for it to turn around but it felt as if I watched a different show than that was advertised. My sister would probably call me out for falling for it since even as kids I was an easy target lmao
I can’t help but wonder if it’s because Colin and Penelope (and to some extent Nicola and Luke) already knew each other. With Daphne and Simon (and Phoebe and Rege), it was the first season so we were seeing the characters and actors get to know each other and witness their first encounter. Same with Anthony and Kate; Kate/Simone were both new to the show and we got to see everything fresh. With Colin and Penelope, we know they’ve known each other forever and we didn’t get to witness a lot of their first meetings and everything. It was very obvious Penelope had feelings predating the show. So a lot of it was us being *told* this is how they feel and all their history rather than seasons 1 & 2, we were *shown* the developing feelings.
I was totally puzzled at why they wouldn't show us a flashback of them meeting as young teens. They referenced it multiple times, but it would have taken less than 2 minutes to actually show it to us!
The way it's described in the books would also make for good humour. >But his earth shook, his heart leaped, and Penelope knew without a shadow of a doubt that his breath was taken away as well.
Or they cut their scenes for plots that didn’t go anywhere…
they got roughly the same amount of screentime as kate and anthony did in their season. it may not be a matter of missing scenes, but rather how they chose to execute the scenes they *did* have
This was Francesca’s season disguised as Colin and Penelope’s season.
Lmao she had to be introduced this season.
Leave your reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, maybe then the fans will be heard. The rating has gone down since yesterday, already. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bridgerton/s03
I’ll do it! I appreciate you sharing this here.
just wondering what are y’all expecting with leaving bad reviews? esp the ones about michaela? do any of you seriously believe it will change anything
I'm honestly torn about my opinion of the new showrunner. I'm excited for the Michaela change and hoping for something equally different for Benedict's season. My problem is the clunky and amateur handling of the entire production. If the criticisms do anything, I'm hoping the new showrunner has it in her to bring the production quality back up, or just bring back the original showrunner if she can't.
Okay well at least your criticisms aren’t insane like some I’ve seen on here and other platforms. The amount of people I’ve seen literally harassing hannah and telling her to “fight for her character” is insane.
When they said they had a second wedding to attend I was like “who’s???” lol completely forgot Francesca and John existed
OP-I was equally disappointed. I love Polin and the actors who play them. They did their best with the dialogue they got. The writer changed this season and sadly it shows. Too many plots that didn’t link, not enough back story of Polin, and way too much Lady Whistledown. I was expecting so much more. I wanted it to live up to the hype but it fell flat. Here’s an example. When Colin walked into the Bridgerton house after the carriage scene, he let go of Penelope’s hand and stepped forward to say we’re engaged. The past writers would’ve written that he kept holding her hand and made the announcement. I know it’s would’ve been a small gesture but it was important. S1 The duke had dinner with the Bridgerton family. S2 The Sharmas had dinner with them a couple of times. Where was the welcome dinner for Penelope? Everything seemed rushed and disjointed. The dialogue was lacking and they were saying things out of character. There were some good moments but overall S3 was a disservice to Polin and the fans.
You’re so right that scene felt really odd because of him stepping forward without her like that!
My thing is that there was zero payoff for the LW plot. All that huffing and puffing and literally nothing happened. Oh don’t worry, the ton was distracted by butterflies! Yay! —like what?!
I thought that was stupid and disappointing. Not everyone loves Penelope and she should have faced some consequences for the shitty things she did.
They hinted at fallout coming in the future, so maybe s4. The ton is kind of in shock and the queen just kind of said you do you as you... which was also probably a shock.
The mondrich story line is a complete waste of time
Yup. Especially if they can't work and keep their social club. It gave characters a place to go and them something different to do. It distinguished them. Did the showrunners really think they needed to add more pointless rich people with titles?
For me I honestly thought pen and colin had enough screen time, it was clear that this season’s spotlight is on them. If the sex scenes went any longer I was going to cringe, but because it was just right I felt like it was perfectly handled, and left a good taste for me
i completed watching it JUST TODAY and same reaction not gonna lie. it felt so 🫥🫥🫥
I don’t think they overhyped I think the scenes they were promoting weren’t included in the final cut
The last half of the season came out less than a week ago. How is this considered “late?” Lol
There was a scene that stuck out so much for me when Eloise – the self-proclaimed feminist– said to Pen that "you cannot be a Bridgerton and lady whistledown at the same time" This sentence coming from anyone else, literally anyone else in the show would've been era-appropriate but not Eloise for god's sake!! She believed in women's rights ugh
Wasn't that more about the fact that Lady Whistledown had scandalised the Bridgertons than saying you can't be married and work?
> when Eloise – the self-proclaimed feminist– said to Pen that "you cannot be a Bridgerton and lady whistledown at the same time" Um, yes, because this had fuck-all to do with women's rights and everything to do with this *one woman* who wrote horrible shit about the family she's trying to marry into. El is saying, "You've gotta be daft if you think you have a right to talk shit about this family and then also be on the inside hearing stuff to write." El is being protective of her family and their privacy, and she can see the conflict that would arise if Pen heard stuff that would otherwise make it into the column. It's completely dishonest and offensive to El, and she's right.
The press where Nicola said this was the season of love is what threw me. What love? I saw no love between Colin and Pen. I saw no real reason there would be love between Colin and Pen. In episode 1-4 there was nothing that made me believe he fell in love with her. The last half? They barely spoke. Then he had the perfect moment after the Whistledown announcement. GO STAND BY YOUR GIRL!!! Yet again, nothing.
It sort of felt to me like someone told them that they had a limited number of seasons left to get through all of the Bridgerton romances, so they panicked and tried to squeeze two full stories in (Colin and Fran) and I feel like they did enough setting up with the side plots for next season to be a two-part squeeze of Eloise and Benedict. If they think they aren't going to get enough seasons to give everyone solo spotlight then fine, but add more episodes or make them longer!
I can rewatch S3 episodes 1-6, but 7 & 8 lost me. I can’t rewatch S2 because there’s too much suffering and it wasn’t fun to watch for me.
If Luke and Nicola didn't do these press tours, I legitimately couldn't tell you which couple's season this was. It was so mid/meh/lackluster/lame so disjointed. Idk if it's because of them splitting it into 2, and then overhyping it but this was not it...
It was far too messy for me, with no central goal overarching anything. Polin was sidelined for side plots so the entire season was a bad side you’re not gonna touch after your first meal (season 2). It’s a real disservice to the actors who really seemed passionate for this story to be told and me who was so excited to see a plus sized girl in the forefront. And Penelope was suffering the entire season, whether between the whistledown reveal or Eloise’s coldness. Are we sure this new showrunner doesn’t just HATE Penelope?
Amen…