Bridgerton is back with the second half of Season 3 - the stakes are raised, the drama comes thick and fast and the writers cram in several plotlines to take viewers on a ride through the Bridger-verse. Let’s dive right in!
Before the mid-season break, we left Colin and Penelope (this season’s lovers) in a carriage having declared their love for each other and a whole lot more. So, we feel right at home picking up where we left off with the couple entering the Bridgerton’s drawing room and Colin announcing, ‘We are engaged!’ in a slightly over the top slo mo production choice.
Despite this engagement coming out of the blue, nobody seems particularly surprised at the news and it is really touching to see Penelope embraced by the whole Bridgerton clan and her emotional reaction to being accepted into what is the perfect family in her eyes.
There is one fly in the ointment though and that is Eloise who tells Penelope when they’re alone together that until Colin knows, ‘the real you he cannot possibly love you,’ and gives her an ultimatum that Pen must tell Colin that she is Lady Whistledown otherwise she will.
It is the essential question of this half of the season. Can Penelope keep her identity as Lady Whistledown a secret from the love of her life? And if she can maintain her double life, should she? And how will Colin react if and when he does find out? Will she be able to keep her writing career that has given her so much intellectual and financial freedom and the confidence to grow as a young woman and the man she loves? Not with Eloise determined to unmask her, as well as the Queen hot on the heels of Lady Whistledown.
Later, Colin tells Penelope that Eloise will come around and ‘all will be well’ but one cannot help but wonder how an earth he knows, as up until now he has been happy to accept the major fracture in Eloise and Pen’s friendship without much interest in finding out the reason for it!
The following morning Whistledown is delivered to the Ton, announcing the engagement. A disgustingly happy Anthony and Kate have returned from their trip and Kate is pregnant (it’s so nice to see Anthony happy after spending most of Seasons 1 and 2 with a permanent frown on his face). Meanwhile, Cressida is having to face the reality of being betrothed to a man old enough to be her grandfather.
At the Featherington’s, Lady F has mixed feelings at the prospect of one of her daughters being married to a Bridgerton and wonders if it might have been better to stick with Lord Debling who was secure and dependable and more on Pen’s level. Lady F asks Penelope if Colin has told her that he loves her? When Penelope admits that he hasn’t she suggests that Penelope might have entrapped him and that he is only with her out of duty. However, at that moment Colin turns up and defends Pen:
‘I proposed to her out of love nothing less. If you were not so narrowly concerned over your own standing you might see that Penelope is the most eligible among you.’
This speech deserves an armchair cheer. It is Pen’s moment to see him publicly declare his love for her and I am here for it. Finally, she can banish any self doubt born from years of being told by her family and society that she would end up a spinster and believe in her value as a woman.
So then it is no surprise that the writers have the pair immediately visiting their future marital home to measure up curtains, pick out paint colours, try out the chaise longue for size, that sort of thing. Pen is still blown away that Colin defended her in front of her mother and while it comes completely naturally to him, he realises that she needs reassurance from him of her beauty. Readers of the books will be alert to this as the ‘mirror scene’ and the TV show doesn’t disappoint. Colin stands Penelope in front of the mirror to show her how beautiful she is and begins to undress her before the pair move over to the chaise longue.
There is a more intimate feeling to this scene than the carriage scene, which was all giving in to the passion of the moment. Colin and Penelope are aware they are at the point of no return, if they cross this line in Regency England then there is no going back, they will have to marry. This knowledge gives the scene more importance both for the couple and the viewer. They are really doing this and for life. While there is a certain amount of awkwardness to it, this is true to the characters and their stories. After all they were childhood friends five minutes ago, so it’s little wonder there are giggles and asides, nervousness and checking in on each other’s feelings. Most of all though Nicola Coughlan looks like a Botticelli painting with her glossy red hair. The actress has had to deal with some pretty unpleasant questioning about the nudity in the show while on the publicity trail and she has handled it brilliantly. Perhaps, her best clap back on the subject is how amazing she looks here.
At the same time the Queen has had chance to digest Lady Whistledown’s latest issue and declares that she is losing her touch. Because our Pen is happy and in love, it was light on barbs and therefore, the Queen surmises, Lady W is weak. She decides to strike, offering a £5000 reward to anyone who can reveal Whistledown’s identity. When Colin and Penelope hear the news, Colin says:
‘Finally the woman will get the consequences she deserves.’
Not realising what those consequences mean for his fiancee.
Meanwhile Cressida is also interested in the reward and sees it as a way to escape her impending arranged marriage. Could £5000 be enough to pay for a grand tour of Europe?
To celebrate Colin and Penelope’s engagement, Kate and Anthony host a party at Bridgerton House. Here is where the stakes rise as Eloise confronts Penelope and tells her that now a reward has been offered for Whistledown’s identity that Penelope is bound to be discovered. Pen needs to tell Colin before she is found out and if she doesn’t before midnight then Eloise will do it herself, setting in motion rising tension that builds throughout the evening.
You have to feel for Penelope who has been waiting her whole life for this moment, only for her secret life (the life that made her normal one bearable for so many years) to ruin it. And for her former friend to be the one who is forcing her hand. But Eloise doesn’t care. She is hurting from the fact that Penelope has kept not only the Whistledown secret from her but also her love for Colin and is questioning whether the two were ever really friends. Or was Pen just using Eloise to get closer to Colin? I think we all know the answer to that is no but Eloise can’t see past her rage and makes a pointed toast to the happy couple:
‘Here’s to knowing each other completely before the clock runs out — the clock of life, of course. It ticks for us all! To your good health!’
Subtle right?
The pressure is getting too much for Penelope when speculation about Whistledown reaches fever pitch at the party. As the clock begins to strike midnight, Kate and Anthony announce they are expecting, Penelope panics as Colin asks her if she is having doubts about their relationship and Eloise steps in to tell her brother the truth. But there is one voice that cuts through them all.
‘I have an announcement,’ says Cressida, who has been listening all night to the whispers about the power Lady Whistledown holds. Penelope thinks she is about to be exposed but Cressida instead announces that she is Lady W and ‘I can do whatever I want.’
And at that Penelope promptly faints.
What did you think of episode 5? Will Cressida get away with it? Did the ‘mirror scene’ live up to expectations? Have I completely forgotten about Francesca and Kilmartin? No, more on them in the next issue!