Netflix's Bridgerton

That show your mom and period-romance loving friends watched during the extremely liminal 2020 holiday season is back for season 2, baby!

Season one trailer:

Season two teaser:

Full season 2 trailer.

As someone who read the books first, I am quite excited that they're going so hard on the Pall Mall scene

It's also nice to finally see Newton in action. On the whole I'm much more excited for this season than season one, but that's probably because The Viscount Who Loved Me is just a much better book than The Duke and I XD

EDIT: As some eagle eyed viewers have pointed out there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene of the Sharmas performing a haldi ceremony, which is a nice touch of non-western culture for the show.

Edited by Sisi on Mar 10th 2022 at 10:22:48 AM

This is just my perception based off what I've heard,and yes my mother has read the first book and watched the show too

...Basically yeah, but more nekked people. And a lot more sex XD

But on the whole, fairly accurate

5.5/8 episodes into season two. It's too much, I had to pause and take a walk

Ha. I made the mistake of binging the whole show in two days. Now I'm just a pile of emotional goo XD

But damn...this has to be the single best slow burn I've ever seen on screen in recent memory. The things these people can do with heavy breathing and whispering and no personal space

I mean say what you will about the show, but Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey knocked it out of the park!

Edited by Sisi on Mar 26th 2022 at 12:11:42 PM

I don't know how much of s1 was just the fantastic timing of its release (pandemic Christmas break), but I felt the previous season was a lot more focused in its storytelling and thus the better watch. This one kind of felt like it lost the plot in the back half, I couldn't bear the Featherington jewel plot thread any longer and went "thank GOD" by the time it tied up. The other siblings' plots were kind of ehh as well — I try really hard to have sympathy for fictional teenage girls as someone who used to be one myself but Eloise's storyline got on my nerves by the end as well. Her blowup with Penelope, a really ferociously-acted scene, almost made it worth it, but not quite.

Paired with the ~forbidden love~ part of Kate/Anthony's relationship being amped up, it felt like they were on the backburner until the last half hour.

Simone and Jonathan are great though. I was wondering how they were gonna make me root for Anthony as a lead, but I was invested by that Dance of Romance they had in the fourth episode. (And then it kinda goes off the rails after that.)

Edited by Synchronicity on Mar 26th 2022 at 12:20:22 PM

Dunno, I kinda like this season better than the first, though I may be biased as the book is my favourite of the Bridgerton series where the Duke and I is just kinda meh for me. If I had one issue it's that they rushed the happy ending just a bit for my taste wanted more happy Kate and Anthony.

Yes there were lotsa subplots going, but I feel like that's because they were using the season to setup three books in one go which was maybe a bit much.

Just finished season 2 and I'm left with a lot of feelings and a few questions.

Feelings:

• Really happy how they handled Edwina finding out, and all the "was I really that blind?!" takes were hilarious.
• The queen really needs a hobby outside of destroying / blackmailing Lady Whistledown, though the scene with her and Lady Danbury where she not-so-subtly says as much was fun. Given she's the queen and doesn't owe anyone any explanations, I'd forgive the show if it never shows up, but I wonder if she won't somehow apologize to Eloise for essentially threatening to destroy her family for a misunderstanding— though, I suppose the Whistledown expose of her as a political radical probably cancels that out.
• Much as I empathize and she's one of my favorites, Penelope done goofed with how she managed saving Eloise. While I think it probably was more likely to work than coming clean with the queen, I think she should have told Eloise with her secret, and given her the option of A. or B. That said, I still wanted her to be a bit more vocal fighting back at the big breakup scene. Yeah, most of what she did last season was at best questionable, but she could have counter-argued that what she did was to protect Colin (would Eloise have wanted the marriage to go forward?), and that like how she did it or not, she did save Eloise's entire family from a mistake she herself made all while she was warning her about it.
• Random observation: The fake jewels were glass?!? That cake loving jeweler is just the worst at his job.

Questions:

• Will Eloise expose Penelope Featherington as Lady Whistledown? She certainly has enough motive to, but I wonder if she's not still feeling enough lingering positive feelings to hold off? It would make for a neat dynamic where she threatens Whistledown in her public persona, but I also can't imagine Whistledown would sit still without creating a better set of obfuscations to misdirect everyone, and (sadly) make Eloise seem desperate to divert away from her own scandals if she decides to go public without overwhelming solid evidence.
• What will Penelope Featherington do with all that money, anyway? Options would be limited, but I don't imagine she'd use it to pay her own dowry.

Edited by Earnest on Mar 30th 2022 at 4:33:58 AM

^

• Penelope and Eloise have been pretty bad friends to each other all season; in addition to what you already mentioned Eloise has a big Not Like Other Girls complex and assumes Penelope feels exactly the same as her. Though if you ask me they should just go full Regency Will/Hannibal
• I don't read the books but it seems like Penelope embraces spinsterhood for a few years before eventually marrying Colin, so presumably that's how she supports herself?

(Side note: my new pet project is now beefing up the recap page, chip in if you'd like!)

I'd be down for that, minus the cannibalism. ("Why hello, Eloise" even sounds eerily like "Why hello, Clarice")

It's nice to see she "gets the guy" in the end at least in the books, while Colin is definitely not my pick for her ATM. Hmm. What is it with Bridgerton men and saying really damaging things about women in easily overheard environments?

Gossiping in very eavesdroppable public venues was how trash got exposed in the olden days, you see. Now misogynists just out themselves on social media.

yeah, that scene is a holdover from the books. Colin was always dense as a brick and I that stayed consistent in adaptation

Honestly, I'm more worried about Eloise's season because it kinda requires some...Fridging, unfortunately. I'd explain more, but spoilers and everything XD

Edited by Sisi on Apr 4th 2022 at 4:33:36 AM

That burn is still searing even a year later.

I'm probably going to start watching the prequel series for Queen Charlotte, and thought I'd share a podcast episode about the historical Queen that came out at the same time.

I've managed to keep clear of spoilers so far, fingers crossed.

Edited by Earnest on May 4th 2023 at 11:19:51 AM

I hope they don’t ship Eloise with anyone (definitely not any guy), her desire to be single and have a career is valid.

...I have some bad news about her book love interest lol

Anywho, Happy season 3 part 1 y'all!

I love that we got the carriage scene that was cute and smexy

Though I do wish that they'd hurry up setup Benedict's storyline already lol. He can't keep just boning every random chick he meets.

Edited by Sisi on May 16th 2024 at 5:16:35 AM

Sorry double post

Edited by Sisi on May 16th 2024 at 5:11:37 AM

Echoing 'being tired of Benedict just having a different fling this season' (at least last season it was tied up with his Spare to the Throne anxiety and art school, this time it just seems like whatever), though someone pointed out that which might mean he's never going for the debutante type and down to hang with the working class, which might hopefully means he's poised for the Cinderella Plot / Uptown Girl romance of his book.

I think Netflix's two part release strategy is the worst of both worlds, but this season seems to take a hit in particular because of it; Bridgerton is the type of show that's best consumed as a breezy fever dream, lmao. Cutting it abruptly feels off and may also be why I'm seeing a lot more divisiveness towards the characters' actions?