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Well, I won't say that Bridgerton is dead to me, but I am going to have to watch this with some very large grains of salt. Quite possibly entire salt licks.
I think the decision to skip to Colin/Pen's story is a mistake. But then I think that Eloise finding out about Pen so soon was a mistake, too. I think billing Edwina as a major character in Season 2 was a mistake. And I think that not showcasing Kate and Anthony's relationship is a significant failure in the writers' capabilities/sense of timing.
So.
One. The Lady Whistledown framing and identity is huge in both the books and the show; in book canon, Penelope does LW for nearly 10 years before Colin finds her out. In show canon, at the end of her 2nd year as LW, Eloise has already found Pen out. And, wow, at most Pen is, like 20 years old. Publically revealing Pen as Lady W at this point denies a whole heap of Pen's cleverness and cunning and wit - all the things which both endeared her to the ton while also frustrating them.
That's the beauty of LW in the books: that this girl whom nobody noticed was witty and sharp and observant and intelligent, and nobody cottoned on. It raised Pen from the seemingly miserable character that she was ('fat', wallflower, spinster, the ugly girlfriend) to the gossip columnist whom everyone hated/loved/admired/disdained. They might have ignored Penelope Featherington, but they couldn't ignore Lady Whistledown, and in the end, that's Pen's "revenge" and the righting of the wrongs against her.
Two. Pen and Colin have a bit of growing up to do. Pen is 20 (at best, probably closer to 19), Colin is 21. Unless we're doing a time jump of a couple of years - at which point, they're going to have to explain what's happened between Pen and Eloise during that time because "they just didn't talk for 2 years" isn't going to cut the mustard.
But at the end of S2, Pen is still a 20 year old poison pen columnist - using her power to tug the ton this way and that. Colin is in his 'I know everything at age 21' stage: young and kind enough (for a young man of privilege) but not yet quite worthy of an HEA.
Between them lies not only Lady Whistledown, but Marina and her pregnancy and her fate, Pen's cousin allegedly running off with Colin's money (but it was actually her mother), and now Eloise...
That's a lot to get through in 8 episodes.
Three. Benedict is more than ready for love/romance, and something to adjust his aim from the rootless life of a Second Son that he's been living. The timing is right for him to meet Sophie, fall in love, learn and grow into the man he needs to be - and for us to meet Sophie and discover the other side of the ton - possibly a harder, crueller side than Kate experienced: not just not-nobly-born, but also bastard-born, out of wedlock.
Really, it's about pacing, and I feel that Bridgerton's sense of pacing is off - and my confidence for Season Three is certainly not boosted by the way Season Two played out.
--
Again, maybe it's a Kardashiland vs Romancelandia thing? But I'd have played the beats out differently:
Virtual Seasons
The one change to S2 would be: at the end of S2, Eloise is still in the dark about Pen/Lady W. She still doesn't understand how Pen enjoys the observation (rather than the doing) but she accepts that her friend is different to her.
Then S3 is be about Benedict's search for Sophie (whom he met at the night of the Featherington Ball S2), Sophie's relationship to her family, the power differential for a young woman cast off by her family and with nowhere to go (echo Lady Featherington's words to Marina in S1), along with showing Benedict with his heroic streak and Eloise with her feminist streak.
There'd be stuff about Lady Whistledown and Penelope realising that her mother might have bilked Colin and other gentlemen out of their money, about Benedict and his art and what it is to be a second son, and Eloise and her curiosity about women's rights and her involvement with Theo.
Over the course of the season, Benedict and Sophie fall in love, the stepmama provides the division, and Benedict and the Bridgertons end up coming to the rescue.
At some point, have Eloise question why she has to find some nobleman when Kate and Sophie aren't, and then something happens in her relationship to Theo that means they can't be together because of Reasons. Colin learns of Marina's descent and death and is furious at Lady W for trapping Marina into that situation.
This means that at the end of S3, Benedict and Sophie have their happily ever after, while Eloise is wondering What Is Her Life, Even? And Pen is wondering the same thing as she contemplates her family, even with Lady W, and all the more as Colin mourns and possibly swears revenge against Lady W. Then we're ready to move into S4 with three of the four next season's romantic leads feeling drear and blear, and the Lady W identity ready to blow.
S4 would then be the parallels of Pen/Colin and Eloise/Philip, with Pen and Eloise friendship but with the secret of Lady Whistledown lying between them (unbeknownst to Eloise), and Colin and Philip friendship (and perhaps mourning with each other) but with the secret of their relationship to Marina between them (unbeknownst to Philip).
Having everyone unaware of the Whistledown identity, and Colin furious at her, means there's a potential conflict when he starts falling in love with Pen and then discovers she's LW. And having Eloise realise that Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough would connect her with Philip, who thought that honour was enough to hold a marriage together and then realised it wasn't - at least, not for Marina.
Much better potential than the corner I feel like they've written themselves into.
Now if only I could find some authors willing and capable of writing this with me! I'd definitely do a Virtual Season Three and Virtual Season Four...
I think the decision to skip to Colin/Pen's story is a mistake. But then I think that Eloise finding out about Pen so soon was a mistake, too. I think billing Edwina as a major character in Season 2 was a mistake. And I think that not showcasing Kate and Anthony's relationship is a significant failure in the writers' capabilities/sense of timing.
So.
One. The Lady Whistledown framing and identity is huge in both the books and the show; in book canon, Penelope does LW for nearly 10 years before Colin finds her out. In show canon, at the end of her 2nd year as LW, Eloise has already found Pen out. And, wow, at most Pen is, like 20 years old. Publically revealing Pen as Lady W at this point denies a whole heap of Pen's cleverness and cunning and wit - all the things which both endeared her to the ton while also frustrating them.
That's the beauty of LW in the books: that this girl whom nobody noticed was witty and sharp and observant and intelligent, and nobody cottoned on. It raised Pen from the seemingly miserable character that she was ('fat', wallflower, spinster, the ugly girlfriend) to the gossip columnist whom everyone hated/loved/admired/disdained. They might have ignored Penelope Featherington, but they couldn't ignore Lady Whistledown, and in the end, that's Pen's "revenge" and the righting of the wrongs against her.
Two. Pen and Colin have a bit of growing up to do. Pen is 20 (at best, probably closer to 19), Colin is 21. Unless we're doing a time jump of a couple of years - at which point, they're going to have to explain what's happened between Pen and Eloise during that time because "they just didn't talk for 2 years" isn't going to cut the mustard.
But at the end of S2, Pen is still a 20 year old poison pen columnist - using her power to tug the ton this way and that. Colin is in his 'I know everything at age 21' stage: young and kind enough (for a young man of privilege) but not yet quite worthy of an HEA.
Between them lies not only Lady Whistledown, but Marina and her pregnancy and her fate, Pen's cousin allegedly running off with Colin's money (but it was actually her mother), and now Eloise...
That's a lot to get through in 8 episodes.
Three. Benedict is more than ready for love/romance, and something to adjust his aim from the rootless life of a Second Son that he's been living. The timing is right for him to meet Sophie, fall in love, learn and grow into the man he needs to be - and for us to meet Sophie and discover the other side of the ton - possibly a harder, crueller side than Kate experienced: not just not-nobly-born, but also bastard-born, out of wedlock.
Really, it's about pacing, and I feel that Bridgerton's sense of pacing is off - and my confidence for Season Three is certainly not boosted by the way Season Two played out.
--
Again, maybe it's a Kardashiland vs Romancelandia thing? But I'd have played the beats out differently:
Virtual Seasons
The one change to S2 would be: at the end of S2, Eloise is still in the dark about Pen/Lady W. She still doesn't understand how Pen enjoys the observation (rather than the doing) but she accepts that her friend is different to her.
Then S3 is be about Benedict's search for Sophie (whom he met at the night of the Featherington Ball S2), Sophie's relationship to her family, the power differential for a young woman cast off by her family and with nowhere to go (echo Lady Featherington's words to Marina in S1), along with showing Benedict with his heroic streak and Eloise with her feminist streak.
There'd be stuff about Lady Whistledown and Penelope realising that her mother might have bilked Colin and other gentlemen out of their money, about Benedict and his art and what it is to be a second son, and Eloise and her curiosity about women's rights and her involvement with Theo.
Over the course of the season, Benedict and Sophie fall in love, the stepmama provides the division, and Benedict and the Bridgertons end up coming to the rescue.
At some point, have Eloise question why she has to find some nobleman when Kate and Sophie aren't, and then something happens in her relationship to Theo that means they can't be together because of Reasons. Colin learns of Marina's descent and death and is furious at Lady W for trapping Marina into that situation.
This means that at the end of S3, Benedict and Sophie have their happily ever after, while Eloise is wondering What Is Her Life, Even? And Pen is wondering the same thing as she contemplates her family, even with Lady W, and all the more as Colin mourns and possibly swears revenge against Lady W. Then we're ready to move into S4 with three of the four next season's romantic leads feeling drear and blear, and the Lady W identity ready to blow.
S4 would then be the parallels of Pen/Colin and Eloise/Philip, with Pen and Eloise friendship but with the secret of Lady Whistledown lying between them (unbeknownst to Eloise), and Colin and Philip friendship (and perhaps mourning with each other) but with the secret of their relationship to Marina between them (unbeknownst to Philip).
Having everyone unaware of the Whistledown identity, and Colin furious at her, means there's a potential conflict when he starts falling in love with Pen and then discovers she's LW. And having Eloise realise that Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough would connect her with Philip, who thought that honour was enough to hold a marriage together and then realised it wasn't - at least, not for Marina.
Much better potential than the corner I feel like they've written themselves into.
Now if only I could find some authors willing and capable of writing this with me! I'd definitely do a Virtual Season Three and Virtual Season Four...
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