Lady Whistledown and the writer behind her have officially returned for the second half on Penelope and Colin’s season. Now it’s time for this writer to do one of her favorite things and highlight her favorite moments of the final four episodes of the season.
Warning: Article contains spoilers for all of Season Three of Bridgerton and may contain spoilers for Francesca’s book When He Was Wicked and minor spoilers for Benedict’s book An Offer from a Gentleman.
The Mirror Scene
Fans wanting their share of steaming scenes will be glad to see the inclusion of the Mirror Scene in these four episodes. Nicola Couglan, the actress who portrays Penelope has also discussed choices she made with the intimacy coordinator because she was pushing back against body shamers.
The Lady Whistledown Drama and Reveal. One of the biggest challenges for Penelope as Lady Whistledown in the series versus the book is that in the book, she was simply fun and gossipy. In the show, she has made life changing moves that have impacted the lives of others, and not always in positive ways. In the show Whistledown ran Nigel Berbrook out of town (to be fair, we cheered for that one). She also outed Marina’s pregnancy (which could have been very dangerous for Marina and the babies had Sir Philip had not stepped in to marry her). The reveal of Eloise’s activities could have ruined her and taken her sister’s prospects down with her (think the worry over Lydia Bennet’s actions in Pride and Prejudice). The bottom line is this Whistledown had shaken up lives and created enemies and Penelope’s secret started to have consequences for those she cared about.
I like that her reveal included why she did it. As a very young debutante not ready to be out on the marriage mart, she felt so powerless between the expectations of society, her force of nature mother’s ambitions, and the cruelty of her older sisters. Whistledown was power, but it was power she didn’t always wield responsibly. Her open apology and promise to be more responsible with her words was a great moment. I do believe she may end up taking up the Whistledown narration as well and while the legendary Julie Andrews will be missed, it works as a transition.
Fun note, I had wondered if Penelope might pass off the baton of Whistledown to someone else so that they could take their moment of power after Penelope found hers. At one point, I actually wondered if Cressida might become the new Whistledown under those circumstances. In the end, Penelope kept the title and I think it worked out quite well.
Cressida Cowper as a sympathetic villain. I really like that Cressida was set up as a more multi-dimensional villain than she was even in the books. Through her original olive tree branch of friendship to Eloise to seeing how awful her father is (as well as how willing he is to marry her to someone old enough to be her grandparent), we kind of get why she was so awful to everyone. The fact her mother emphasizes to her that other women are competition and threats to her didn’t help either.
Being familiar with the books, I was about to lose it when I correctly suspected Cressida would claim to be Whistledown for the reward money. Her next steps trying to steal the title were bonkers (I kept wondering if the decent Whistledown she produced was actually previous lines Frankensteined together to sound right). Trying to make infidelity accusations against Violet Bridgerton was just a big “no,” however. Whistledown reported the truth, not baseless and life ruining lies.
The absolute audacity of how she kept increasing her blackmail amount started throwing her more into villain territory. She just wasn’t smart enough to know what she could and couldn’t get away with. For the record, 5000 pounds is close to half a million dollars today. By her last demand, she was trying to extract the equivalent of nearly two million dollars today from Penelope.
Her ending is ambiguous, but does open a door for her return later.
Eloise and Penelope reuniting. Eloise went from still furious with her to trying to help her out when things got truly crazy and a number of people noted how hard she cried during the wedding. I feel for Eloise. Everyone is pairing off and she feels iced out of a life step she’s not into taking right now. Eloise is still trying to figure out how to exist in the world she was born into while being true to herself while the best friend who seemed as equally insecure found her place first (and with her brother no less). I’m very curious to see how the writers are going to bring her to the events of her book given the changes they’ve made. I’m extra excited to see how her time in Scotland might impact her too.
Francesca and John. Who doesn’t absolutely adore these two introverts that just want to enjoy themselves and each other out of all of the crazy drama that’s the London social season. Of course, I can’t help but to also feel very gutted knowing what John’s fate will be in such a short period of time. Francesca’s book is a big favorite among fans, and the loss of John is going to dig that knife in a lot deeper now that we got to spend time with him and get properly invested in them as a couple.
Lady Danbury and Her Brother. The complicated background of Agatha Danbury continues to peel back layers like an onion. What her and Marcus’s father put them through was absolutely awful and I’m glad that she and Marcus were able to patch some of that up. I’m also a big fan of Marcus’s interest in Violet. Romance isn’t just for the young debutantes after all, I really hope we get to watch that relationship develop more.
I also love that she figured out who Whistledown was but kept it to herself.
Gregory Bridgerton trying to be included. You have to feel for Gregory, who is so much younger than his three brothers and clearly longs to belong but is still young enough that he gets left out of most of their bonding activities. While Hyacinth treats him like “the family pet,” because you know, siblings, I love how Kate givers him that validation by giving him a job as a man of the house. Kate is just so good for that family.
Two Bridgerton siblings are revealed as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Fans of the show were promised that Bridgerton was not going to be limited to just straight characters and that promise is not being limited to side characters. Jess Brownell, the current showrunner, specifically wants a chance to tell stories that include a happily ever after and queer joy, a combination that doesn’t often exist in period pieces. You can see more of her words as well as her blessing from Julia Quinn on these choices here.
Benedict was one of the characters that viewers were far less surprised to see having this awakening as there had been hints that he might not be straight since the first season. Lady Arnold helped him to realize that he might not be attracted to just women, and he’s clearly feeling like he has some exploring of his own identity to do. This definitely leaves fans curious where his own story may take him especially as a very significant to his story masquerade ball was referenced.
Francesca’s story will also have a major change as Michael has been changed to Michaela. Clearly this will create changes in Francesca’s story, but to be fair the other stories have all had their own changes too. In the interview with Jess Brownell linked above, she discusses how as a queer woman, she identified with Francesca’s book and how Francesca felt different but didn’t know why. I look forward to seeing both Bridgerton siblings have their seasons whenever they get their turn.
The new Lord Featherington. Not the biggest surprise that Penelope ended up having the son that would be allowed to claim the Featherington title and is was nice to see Portia and Violet come to some mutual middle ground. A number of fans also noticed that that last scene kiss was in front of the same window Penelope used to stare at Bridgerton House from across several seasons. Colin seems to be finding his own as a writer, and the book being taken from Gregory with a “are old enough for that yet?” is peak sibling behavior.
Now if they’ll just announce which Bridgerton sibling the next season will revolve around, I’ll be a happy reader/watcher.
