Dearest Gentle Reader,
A cliché, but one cannot begin a review of Bridgerton without those three words. Bridgerton is a romance series, I would say one with some YA leanings since the whole nature of the marriage mart as introduced in season one people coming out into society. That is a very YA concept. Not to mention in more than one Bridgerton story, characters have sought out or been given sex education. The books the series is based on have a loyal following, and as is the case when adapting projects with a following, things that have veered from the books have often been met with skepticism or outright anger. But, I’m glad the showrunners (Chris Van Dusen for seasons 1 and 2, Jess Brownell for season 3, and Shonda Rhimes for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) and their writers on the series have not been afraid to take big creative swings, allowing us to get to know the characters of the Ton and not just the central couple of each season. This has always been a strength of Shondaland shows, back to her first and still ongoing Grey’s Anatomy, the ensemble storytelling.
The third season was a beast in storytelling as it brought to conclusion the long-running cat-and-mouse game between Queen Charlotte (played by Golda Rosheuvel) and Lady Whistledown aka Penelope Featherington (played by Nicola Coughlan) and brought Colin Bridgerton (played by Luke Newton) and Penelope from friends to lovers/married. This season also introduced part of Francesca’s storyline, and, based on what has been shown, it will differ greatly from the books when it concludes.
Season three was the first season that felt like it needed more breath, an extra episode or two, to say everything it wanted to say. Every season, to some of the audience’s chagrin, they lose previous season cast members, and, while it seems easier to write off some of them than others (Daphne and Simon were easy because they don’t live in London, while Kate and Anthony going to India feels more contrived to disappear their characters going forwards), it is necessary with an already large cast and new characters introduced each season. I’m glad we got to see Kate and Anthony again, though, I almost wish that if they were going to have them go off to India, they had them go there for their honeymoon and had that be where they were all season and then had them send a letter about not returning until it was safe to travel because she was with child so their story time could have been used for the other threads in this already full season.
That said, I loved that the season which was marketed as the Polin (ship named for Penelope and Colin) season also moved the plot forward with Francesca. I think it’s setting us up for the future of the series and its potential to continue to balance more than one romance. Everyone is theorizing about which book/romance season 4 will follow, mostly debating between Benedict (who has been skipped so far) and Eloise with most arriving at Benedict because of his and Eloise’s final conversation together which sets the stage for his romance, however, with Eloise going to Scotland with her very quiet sister and brother-in-law, it is likely to kick-off whatever the TV-series version of her journey will be too. Not to mention Francesca still has more of her story to play out. That is a lot of story, and if they choose to cover it all in season 4 they have cleared out a lot of characters to do so, but I will still wish they would get a few more episodes a season to cover it.
Seasons 1-3 of Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story are available on Netflix.
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