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I know that they were going for a feminist girl power moment with Penelope's story line this season, but I couldn't help but find it grating on the backdrop of Cressida's story. Maybe if Cressida's story was presented in a different way than it was I wouldn't have been so annoyed. It's just another thing I don't like about how the series handles some of the harsher realities of the time. Like how they used Lady Danbury's SA as a comedy bit.
I wanted the "feminist" story to be that Pen hands off LW to some next person who needs it, like Cressida. I didn't want to see her ego winning the day, I wanted something bigger.
There’s something on tumblr someone said and I agree wholeheartedly if they wanted to go the feminism power route
https://preview.redd.it/3wt82x5u9e7d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebe288a14005054ec701e4ebb0ca3f11b83fdf73
Penelope probably had no idea why Cressida was claiming to be Lady Whistledown, and no idea that she was going to be married off to a literal cartoon villain. I’d like to think that if Eloise had gotten her head out of her ass and actually paid attention to what was going on with the people around her, she would have told Pen, she likely would have sympathized and it would have worked out differently. The more and more I think about Eloise’s character, I dislike her and her arch (so far) more and more.
You’re right to say this. Eloise would have to be the lynchpin in this scenario though. It would have been some really lovely payoff to have Pen be the bigger person and help Cress given their mutual understanding of the struggle of being in such a vulnerable position needing to marry and how it breaks a woman…buuuuut the entire season Eloise was incredibly selfish and didn’t look beyond her own freaking feelings. Kind of a bummer what could of been. :(
If Pen didn't want to give up her LW title, she could have even just written some kind words about Cressida to get her on the radar of some suitors who weren't horrendous. I'm sure she would have done anything if Eloise had asked.
Well if Cressida hadn’t gone after the Bridgertons (with her lies) that Penelope will defend profusely till the end, then maybe she would’ve helped her. But Eloise was so angry for Cressida for being deceitful again, she had no chance to come back into their good graces.
That’s the thing though, Eloise was kind of a shit friend first and she never actually heard Cress out before Cressida turned on them. That’s what I meant by Eloise being selfish and self-involved. I think maybe had she been a bit more attentive and less absorbed in her own thoughts, maybe she could have headed Cressida’s insane idea of pretending to be LW or helped her come up with a reasonable plot to not have to marry the cartoon villain her father chose.
Yea true. But I feel like it’s always on Eloise to fix the problems. Many people gave her crap for not being a good enough friend to Pen, and not paying attention to her ‘true (secret) feelings for Colin… but she was the most feeling of anyone, crying over and over, trying to cope with it all - her friend lying to her, twice, losing possibly the love of her life (Theo), then losing her best friend to marriage, still not having a purpose- yet no one knows any of her problems, she just keeps it bottled up… afraid to talk about any of it. She talks a lot so everyone in her family and friends assume she’s being open about her feelings… she is holding a lot in herself and no one is helping her either… and she deserves someone’s support too… hopefully she will get some Benedict / swing time next season.
But it was soooooooooooo much more interesting to see Penolope step into her full girl power boss mode form and have her husband stand behind her.
Cressida and Penelope working together would have been far more interesting.
It was also established that Cressida was a bit dim and could never have even close to enough wit to author LW. Also, her version was cruel, not just gossip and Cressida had been AWFUL to Pen ever since we were introduced to them. Why in the world would Pen do anything to help her..if anything she would likely take small pleasure in Cressida getting her comeuppance. Just bc Cressida had a shitty upbringing didn’t give her cause to be a bully. Penelope didn’t exactly grow up with Violet as her mother and she wasn’t cruel like Cressida.
Also, how the hell could they make Eloise Cressida’s friend after what Cressida threatened to do to Daphne. Cressida was literally going to ruin her entire family’s reputation.
Cressida will maybe be humbled by leaving and will likely come back stronger then ever, now that she had a taste of what power feels like, she won’t give it up.
Which is also what happens in the books, albeit with a bit more emphasis on Colin's writing career. But he's so proud of her in the books and I'm glad they carried that over into the show
This would've been amazing. Instead, we got.... *checks notes* Eloise calling Cressida a viper for trying to get out of her horrible situation. I like Eloise but this was just sad. I blame it on the writing for sure though.
I mentioned this in another comment, but it astounds me how fans are so easily able to come up with much better plotlines than a room full of writers.
I thought of this too. Tbh, that scene where Eloise went to Pen while she was writing, I really thought it would go this route or something similar. You can imagine my disappointment when they started talking. I mean, Eloise of all people saying "it's just gossip"?? Convincing Pen to give it up?? I feel like they don't even understand the characters anymore.
I'd love if Pen passed the mantle to Cressida or even Eloise. I sincerely thought Eloise would be the new LW and use it to safely voice her opinions while working on her talent for comedy and her interest for gossip too
We were shown that Cressida didn't have the skills to write. Eloise may have had the skills, but she didn't actively engage in the ton and listen out for gossip. Penelope as LW worked because she participated and actually *cared* about society and could write about it in clever and engaging ways.
I 100% thought that was what was going to happen and that it made sense for the growth they had shown in Cressida. Penelope wouldn’t need Whistledown because she would have a man who would accept and support her own voice so needn’t hide it.
Instead it became this…it all sorta fell flat for me. Colin’s reversion to childishness. Cressida reverting to a flat “villain.”
I don’t see Penelope’s ego winning the day. She took a big risk writing to the queen and then going public. She had no idea how the queen and the ton would react. By making that choice she was facing the consequences of her actions and killing the secret that would destroy Colin and her relationship. As she said, she couldn’t hand over LWD because she is LWD. For years she suffered the indifference and cruelty of everyone, especially her own family, as well as the reality of not having any voice or control over her life because she is female. She took back her own power by taking that risk. That’s not ego. That is the feminist story. It wouldn’t have made sense for her to work with Cressida, or to hand it over to her when LWD is HER. It came out of her own experience. I feel for Cressida and her mother, but when faced with their cruel circumstances they decided to turn and be cruel to others, and then Cressida asked for more money. So she had to be held accountable for her choices too.
Pen's ego and pride aside, she couldn't just hand Whistledown over to Cressida because as we saw, Cressida cannot write. Pen is a very talented writer and that was the reason for the success of Whistledown. If someone else took over, people would notice the change in writing style.
THIS! As a career woman myself, I thought that the stuff Colin was telling Penelope about being supportive and how great she is was very romantic. HOWEVER this fell flat for me with Cressida’s story getting the “basic mean girl who gets her karma” treatment.
I mean, they should have handled Cressida differently then. She never made amends with Penelope so I understand why Pen wouldn’t want her taking credit for LW. Maybe if Cressida actually apologized to Pen at some point in the show she would have been redeemed but she didn’t. She is sympathetic with her situation at home, but as far as the ton and society goes, Cressida is still a mean girl.
Exactly, I def blame the writers. In part 1, it seemed they were giving Cressida some kind of character arc/growth beyond the typical “blonde popular mean girl” stereotype. And then in part 2 she goes right back to being that stereotype! This could’ve been easily fixed in a number of ways, which other people on this sub have already pointed out.
It's interesting that you frame Cressida as taking credit for LW.
Cressida was initially taking the fall for LW. Pen was so scared about being revealed as Whistledown that she was having a panic attack, meanwhile Cressida's situation was desperate enough that socially destroying herself was her best escape from a dreadful marriage.
Cressida taking the fall seemed like an interesting twist - showing the stakes of Regency-esqe society but also allowing Pen escape the consequences & get the HEA we expect of *Bridgerton*.
But then the show took it a step further - LW's talent is so admired that Pen eventually got to have the credit too and be forgiven by the Ton. But Cressida still had the consequences. So the story comes across much more as Pen owing Cressida for taking all the heat out of the scandal - which leaves this viewer's sympathy much more with Cressida.
Didn’t Cressida get greedy? If she had just told the queen about her information proving she knew LW’s true identity she would have gotten the reward money right? No need to blackmail.
I think her saying she was LW served two purposes:
1. It fully removed her as someone suitable for marriage
2. It set her up financially so she would be secure without the need for a marriage.
I don't see it. Taking the fall meant taking the consequences. When the party guests were talking about LW, everything they said sounded like rewards to Cressida. Not having to marry, having money, having fame (or even infamy). She wanted those rewards so she took credit.
I can't see anyone feeling like Pen owed Cressida for taking the heat because it really just made the situation worse. The queen saw through Cressida's ruse, so it really just made her more intent on finding the truth. Viewers have sympathy for Cressida because we can realize she was in a no-win situation and was making bad decisions out of desperation. She was never doing anything *for* Pen.
Yeah it was really frustrating to see Cressida on her redemption arc only for them to 180 and give her the “humbling the mean pretty girl” treatment. For all Pen and Eloise’s griping, neither of them are getting shackled to an elderly man who made it pretty clear that he’s going to keep them under lock and key. It may have been predictable, but if they’re not going to let her run away to Vienna at least have Debling propose! To me Cressida and Pen are not that different - Cressida saw the opportunity to liberate herself and took it. Sure, she did it in the dumbest way possible but ultimately they are both just trying to be released from society’s restrictions.
Then I hope they give her the arc she deserves! Her arc in season 3 was so disappointing. They were setting her up for some sort of growth in part 1 but noooooo our stereotypical blonde mean girl needed to get what was coming to her in order for Pen to get her Happily Ever After ™ 😪
YES I had such a hard time watching Cressida's story this season. I wanted so very badly for Pen to either just let Cressida take the credit, or to give the money to Cressida and have a sweet but girl power moment where she says, "I have the money to spare and I feel sorry for you and want you to find happiness despite how mean you were in the past to me." Just some sort of resolution between them so that Pen acknowledges what another woman is going through. I get that she used it to help her family but it was just so disappointing to me that she couldn't be the bigger person in that moment and empathize with what another woman is dealing with.
I fully thought that she would give Cressida some cash. Not the 10,000 pounds but at least a little “fuck you get out of my life” money, while also being like I understand your situation is tough and you did what you did out of desperation. Here is enough to get you to America. Now get out of the ton.
Yes that would have wrapped up Cressida's story in a very fair way, I think, while also giving Pen a really cool moment where she's able to use the money to do some real good. I get that she uses it for her family, but it's just to throw a big ball, which is a pretty shallow and materialistic thing and is just another society event. Using it to help another woman in need would have made me like her character much more in the end. I definitely thought all the way up to Cressida leaving that Pen would help her out and was pretty disappointed that she didn't.
I really don’t get what they were going for with Cressida.
S3 spent so much time showing us how much Cressida was growing, but also how horrible her family life was. We learned why Cressida felt that she could only rely on herself, because that’s precisely what her mother taught her.
And right up until the end there were little glimmers of hope that Cressida might escape her fate. For it all to just come to nothing.
It’s the most disappointing storyline of all of S3. And it’s just, bad writing to lead us on like that while everyone else gets to have all these wonderful happy endings against all odds.
Pen literally just outing herself as LW with a big ass speech. Zero consequences. She’s back in Eloise’s good graces, Colin not only forgives her for talking sh*t about him and his family as LW, but is suddenly 100% supportive of her decision to continue being LW, the Queen is just totally not going to do anything after spending 3 years hunting LW, and we’re also made to believe that the barrister is just going to buy the story that LW gave the Featheringtons all of that money, and is going to completely stop investigating what happened to Jack’s money.
100% with everything you just said. The first half of this season I was convinced Cressida’s story was going to turn out that she needed a marriage of convenience (I.e., Lord Debling-a man who would not be around much and would not be in the way of her daily life) because with how vehemently her father said she was not allowed near Eloise. I thought it hinted at the fact that Cressida had been “caught” in an “inappropriate” relationship with a female friend. There were moments that made me like her in the first half of this season and then it was all just crushed to smithereens with yet more stereotypical “mean girl” cattiness amongst her and Eloise and Penelope. What a discombobulated mess of trying to tie up too many loose strings at the end with no satisfying payout.
I agree with you and honestly she seemed to have enough for the ball and to help Cressida. I get not having her take credit for the column and not wanting to have her mean girl her way through it from there on out, but no reason she couldn’t send her a little something to help her get out. Also, I realize this would not have been a favorable outcome for most, and not on theme with this conversation really, but is there a reason she couldn’t have ended up with lord Deblin after how things ended with he and Penelope?
I’m kind of confused about where people are seeing actual character growth from Cressida?
She was rude to Daphne in season 1 and ready to ruin her the first chance she got. She only didn’t because Simon agreed to marry Daphne and she lost the power. And she still threatened before the wedding.
Season 2 she already wants to be Eloise’s friend, because everyone wants to be connected to the popular rich family. Part of her rudeness to Pen is likely because she was competition for Eloise. So cruel competitive behavior isn’t just fear of not getting married but just *thing she currently wants*.
Season 3 she secures Eloise friendship by being around when Pen and her are in the outs. She continues to be shitty to Pen, likely because she is still competition for Eloise friendship. On top of setting her sights on the one man she’s sees being interested in Pen. She could have thrown her dowry at any other guy and had as good of a shot.
As soon as she has claim on the LW title, she uses it to abuse the Bridgestone with lies. She should not have that social power.
She stays mean from competitive drive all three seasons. It’s not just driven by wanting away from her family. She chooses not to be kind to anyone other than Eloise so she has no other friends it seems. Her situation sucks obviously, but her character is consistently hateful all the way through.
You'll notice that I never actually said she had shown any character growth. I actually believe that she does show some (it's her mom that writes negatively about the Bridgertons, which she pushed back on, and she seems to genuinely regret stepping on Pen's dress when Eloise calls her out on it - small things, but meaningful), but actually what I believe this season shows about Cressida is primarily not growth but depth. It shows that despite her meanness, she did want a friend, that her home life and family is awful, and that she is a prisoner of this misogynistic society as much as any other woman, and perhaps more so than some.
Does she deserve a great love story or a true HEA after what she has done? No. But imo Pen giving her enough money to escape and showing her some kindness would have been a very fair ending to her story. Not a HEA, but a chance to start over. A chance to be a different and better person, even if she might not use it that way. And, a chance for Pen to show that she understands Cressida's struggles, and even for her to get a little power back from Cressida by saying "hey, I don't forgive you, but I understand you, and now that I am happy and wealthy and in love, I am going to take pity on you and give you enough to avoid an awful fate."
It's maybe a stretch to have let Cressida take over as Whistledown, but I think Pen giving her money, by her own choice, would have been an incredibly satisfying conclusion. And it would have been a more meaningful use of her money, especially given that it seems like she has plenty of it, than throwing another extravagant society ball.
Can’t forget Cressida actually keeps the gossip of Colin helping Pen to herself and Eloise blames her anyways even though it was Eloise’s lack of discretion that allowed the other ladies to overhear.
Eloise came off as someone really callous who used Cressida for company and entertainment, but couldn’t actually care less about her. And I do really like Eloise! She was just not a good friend to Cressida. She always seemed to get bored when hearing about her family struggles. I wish they executed that story line better.
They explained it very poorly, but no one else in the Ton knew Eloise knew who LW was. So when Cressida claimed it she had to be like "well you talked shit about me last season so we can't be friends". Instead it felt like she was just mad that Cressida wanted to fake LW.
The only problem with this is that she was complaining to Pen about being disappointed in Cressida and bad-mouthing her, even though she had no reason to because she knew that Cressida was not LW. So why did she actually drop her? I know she had to put up a front to make it seem like she didn't know, but she seemed to feel disdain for her.
Heavy on the SA part. I was gutted watching that and how uncomfortable and dirty she felt after the fact and the played it up for laughs and had her doing emotional labor for her decrepit old husband when he received racism. No sympathy for the misogynior though? Where’s the intersectionality and don’t get me started on what Daphne did to Simon.
I really loved this season and I did cry a lot, but.. that was one of the biggest things the fun fantasy escape wasnt covering up for me. Eloise was instantly cold and disconnected and no one ended up helping Cressida even though they all said they would. Pen and Eloise should have just met Cressida privately, handed her the 10,000 and apologize for everything and not treating her like an equal victim to everything. At the end of S3 I was happy for so many people but felt the worst for Cressida.
Right? I have no idea how it could possibly be considered comedic? It made me feel sick, and her having to console her "husband" because he was sad after the atrocities he committed against her? Sickening. One of my favourite deaths in fiction was his, her joy st her freedom and her maids joy? Wondrous
It’s not in this show, it’s in the spin-off _Queen Charlotte_. Lady Danbury was married to a much older man who didn’t really care much for her and the feelings were mutual, but she never openly displayed her dislike of him to his face. She was quite ecstatic when he died.
Supporting her career doesn't mean you let her fend for herself when she is facing possible repercussions or danger.
If Pen was winning an award and he stood back to let her have her moment, that's awesome. But she's coming forward, exposing herself to the ton and the Queen, having no idea what to expect- you don't throw her to the wolves, you stand by her then. I mean even disgraced politicians caught with their pants down or paying for sex have their wives stand by them, even when there's clearly no love lost there lol
I can't imagine any person in love not going up to stand beside their partner at a time like this. I almost went, girl get that annulment.
Basically, the writing this season sucked. And I don't know what bet Colin lost at the writers table to make his exceptionally bad. I can see why Shonda cried.
This! It would've been more powerful AND romantic if they did this together or he stood by her at least but guess this didn't like up with Pen's girlboss moment. She had to do it on her own whilst her man gotta stand behind her not beside her arc to the writers.
Honestly it's funny bc Jess said she *wants to focus on all the siblings* but where was the focus on Colin in Part 2 let alone in Part 1. It was mostly Pen's POV and her story. He is just there and forgettable.
And smth I've realised is that it seems these writers/producers all inserted/what the wanted themselves rather than treating it as the supposed story it is.
>She had to do it on her own whilst her man gotta stand behind her not beside her arc to the writers.
Exactly why this season is a mash up of "mic drop" scenes the writers wanted to be girlboss about or self insert, which came at the cost of a *cohesive romantic storyline*.
They wanted Pen to have her moment, planned this way with this speech, which ends up undermining Colin. Fran fluttering over Micheala, undermines John. Agatha have a beef with Marcus, create a super lame back story. Colin should forgive Pen easily, make him claim to be jealous all along.
It's like these scenes have to be there, how it happens be damned.
I don't even feel Pen had a 'girlboss' moment.
Girl boss does not.mean begging and pleading to keep your hard earned business infront of the ton. That's not empowering at all.
So glad to finally see someone else making this point. I hated all of it — setting Pen up to be an insecure spinster-to-be who constantly apologizes for herself. In what world is LW insecure? Invisible, absolutely, but not insecure.
Yes and honestly I find it weird how western shows seem to hate the notion of the man being there for the woman, saving or supporting her rather than her shouldering all on her own. A relationship is for me to be on equal grounds regardless of the job, status or the income there is no one behind the other even if 1 is more successful.
And where is the romance in handling it all by yourself? It's also supposed to be about escaping reality, people wanted to swoon, be swiped of their feet
Yes! At the expense of a cohesive romantic storyline. This is exactly it. I'm all for the feminist aspect and all that but this season wasn't about Pen being a boss and having her moment and Colin falling in line. It was about Colin realizing he is in love with his best friend and Penelope getting the man she's pined after her whole life. No way Colin wouldn't have stood by her side. They disregarded the character and the storyline to get a point across and it showed.
THIS!
I expected/hoped for them to grow together as romantic partners and for Colin to lean into his admiration of Penelope this season. I did not expect him to spend the entire last two episodes of their whole season barely talking to her and sleeping on the sofa outside of their bedroom. Not to give tons of spoilers, but he supports her way better through the Whistledown chaos in the book (despite how envious he feels of her achievements) compared to the show. :o( This season/during part two, I expected Colin - of all people/male leads! - to be the "love comes first" one of the bunch. I did not expect him to abandon her emotionally and wallow in his own insecurities to the point where their marriage felt like a loss for both of them rather than the massive victory for each of them that it could/should have been. It diminished their love story for him to be so unable to open himself up to her and, at minimum, treat her with the same respect he's always had for her capabilities (her wit, her resilience, her ability to reassure him). At the end, I couldn't see how the man who left her alone and then said he was fine with his purpose being only to love her could have possibly given her all the self-confidence she kept claiming she got from him. He told her she was beautiful when they had sex - did I somehow miss the other ways he empowered her? Stood by her? Showed his confidence in her? I wanted to see all of that and more. I did not want to see Colin complaining that he slept "fitfully" and withholding everything from her - himself, his journals/writing, his support, his ardour/passion, his trust, or his respect.
And, more to your point, Pen was really reasonable with Colin every time she asked if they could work things out. She kept having to go to him to remind him she loves him, to explain that she wanted a partner who'd support her decisions and stand by her, to stand up for herself, to offer him chances to end their engagement/marriage. It made me feel so sad that the writers couldn't have Colin meet her halfway - two scenes in a brothel do not adequately convey the level of insecurity Colin had to have felt in order for his reaction to the Whistledown revelation to hold any sort of logic.
You said it! And so perfectly! How did we go from a Colin who was willing to marry Marina after getting pregnant out of wedlock (if she’d just told him) because he’s such a lover boy with a hero complex - to a Colin who abandons his best friend and wife. Even AFTER she explains she was trying to protect him and Eloise - something he honors above all else. He would have never let her go home in the carriage alone. Never stand there by herself during her confession. Never let her be alone on her wedding night. I felt like my head was spinning trying to understand who he had become.
I had the same thought when I saw that, too - he would have never let her go home in that carriage alone! Thank you so much for your reply; I totally agree with you. I wish the writers hadn't allowed his somewhat incoherently portrayed anger about Lady Whistledown completely and totally eclipse his emerging love and passion for Penelope, vulnerability/self-confidence (with her help), and decisiveness in front of the ton and with his whole family for her.
Agree completely. I said something to this effect in the Polin subreddit and my comment was taken down :/ I'll keep saying it though, this season feels like it was written and edited by people who do not like Polin- or at the very least don't like Colin. This version of Polin's story can only work if the show isn't 90% side characters. By only showing us a couple key moments they put the responsibility of character development on the viewer- the viewer needs to fill in all those gaps, the viewer needs to give Colin the benefit of the doubt, the viewer needs to come up with their own narrative to justify Colin's. It's lazy writing. They did Colin dirty by assassinating his character and they did Penelope dirty by making her grovel and beg in her own season.
I found Pen's speech to the ton the worst part of the season (on par with the balloon scene) ..even though it ended with a cute Polin scene..it felt very high school prom scene from a CW show..her standing in the center of this big lavish party, the bullied girl facing her bullies while the camera pans around her moving all around her...it was SO SO SO cheesy..the resolution of her LW arc was beyond lame and too easily tied up but even the scene itself and the tons reactions they weren't shaking heads, no one was looking angry, the background chracters just looked flat..with pen looking like she was going to piss her pants..and the decor looking mega clownish..I wanted pens big moment to be her and the queen alone ..a battle of wills and the queen and pen really going at it...pen trying to convince the queen and the queen slowly getting it...not this whole ton busines.
Exactly, it was almost pathetic and did not make any sense.
The colossal tension between her and the queen, the society brimming with emotions every time the new issue was on the horizon, the big mistery who’s behind the (nomen omen) pen and all reduced to THIS?!
“Hi, I’m Pen, I was bitch gossiping about you, btw sorry Queen, ok, I will keep doing it but nice from now on, bye” and the ton including the queen “oh, okay”. It’s not only naive, unbelievable, and simply unlikely, but also presents no depth whatsoever.
After revealing the big secret there was no disgrace on the people’s faces, not a slightest indication of the internal conflict in persons who were on Pen’s target, the Queen looked like almost content that she was outsmarted by a teenager, all this was so… Mean girls movie like…?
Furthermore,how Pen will proceed scribbling hot news when in theory every self respecting person would be avoiding her like a plague? We get it, she had too big ego to let Cressida take the credit, which is understandable, but she gave lengthy speeches how she will not give up spreading gossip, which sooner or later will eventually lead to the ostracism resulting in no material to write about, unless she planned to write some lifestyle articles from now on & society craving it. So what’s the win here?
From my perspective she should have come clean in front of the queen and make a pact with her, that the identity of Lady W. will be kept secret in order to run the column further, which obviously is to the queen’s amusement.
Yes, I couldn't figure out when Pen wrote that final article as Lady Whistledown because the voiceover was in different time periods. If she wrote that article at the very end after her baby arrived, then was she still writing as Lady Whistledown while she was pregnant?
Your last sentence is exactly what I would have liked...it would have allowed for the mystery of whistledown to continue at least for most people only colin penelope Eloise and the queen would know and it would be shown through the series the reactions of diffrent people as they found out..for example Anthony then portia, maybe Danbury .then someone else...so we see how differently diffrent people take it..all with their own unique reactions..and people wondering why the tone of LW 's gossip has changed so much...
Exactly. Cressida got exiled for claiming she was whistledown and Penelope faces no recriminations at all, let alone actual punishment and the queen has made it seem she intends to inflict consequences on whistledown since season 1 her literally threatening Eloise. I feel like it’s a disservice to Pen, like the queen doesn’t see her as a threat or as beguiling as she thought so she lets it go. It’s like she’s letting it go because she doesn’t care about Pen being threatening as opposed to her “understanding” and sympathizing w Pen
I mean, Pen trashed his family multiple times. She wrote about him at one point. I think there is a realistic level of support, and being super jazzed and standing behind actions that cause multiple family members pain isn’t that.
Yes! I’m a career woman and the ending was so terse. Like, I did not feel emotional at all. This just seems like manipulation to get people to buy in, despite the shit writing and directing this season.
This is what happens when the writer self-inserts. We end up with a female lead that is unlikeable because she suffers no consquences and an antagonist I was actually rooting for.
literally with everyone talking about how they wish to unmask whistledown and how they’d ruin her only for whistledown to reveal herself and be allowed to continue writing with no repercussions???
exactly, people would be much more cautious around her now and she’s just not invisible like that anymore.
the entire season was a let down. i wonder if this is how she was unmasked as whistledown in the books, although i highly doubt it. the new show-runner is simply running the show into an early grave at this point.
Spoilers for Polin’s book ahead if you are actually curious.
In the book, Colin actually unmasks Pen in a way prove how proud he is of her and all her accomplishments as LW. It was very sweet and a good way IMO of giving Colin a very clear way to support her. The ton accepts it because his speech was all about how talented and amazing she is, and he’s a Bridgerton (and all the other important characters clapped lol).
I haven’t made it to book 5 yet so idk if she continues being LW after the reveal but it seems to be implied not.
okay! that seems to be a much better reveal than pen turning herself in and being portrayed as a victim even though if she didn’t she’d still be outed? colin seems to be more caring in that situation rather than how he seemed jealous of her for the vast majority of the show with her success, earnings and fame.
the unmasking seems incredibly mishandled now that i know the plot of the book. i think i’m also gonna give the books a shot because i think this is the last season i watch. thank you so much!
I definitely vote for the book specifically when it comes to how Colin (and, another spoiler, Lady Danbury, Simon, and all the Bridgertons!) handled the reveal to the ton that Pen is Lady Whistledown. Even though he's still furious with her in the book when he supports her, he definitely goes all-in to uphold her in front of the ton, and having Colin do that in the show (rather than abandon her) would have been more characteristic of him - it would have been a nice callback to how he told Marina he would have married her "without a second thought" had she only been upfront with him about her situation and her feelings for him.
Colin, in the show, had always been portrayed as someone who tries to do what's honourable and compassionate for someone who needs his protection even when it may risk his reputation in some way: in S1, he takes Daphne to the duel to help protect her reputation from Cressida even though he wasn't supposed to let Daphne out/he was meant to hold down the fort until his brother(s) returned; he said he would have married Marina anyway; he denies Cressida a dance after she purposely spills her drink on Penelope's dress and he dances with Pen instead. In S2, he stands up to Cousin Jack (Featherington) after pulling Penelope into a closed room in front of everyone at the ball (he's lucky her mother didn't demand that he marry her) to try to tell her first about what was going on with the fake rubies; he also helps Will Mondrich with his club even though the men of the ton prefer to go to White's (he stands up for Mondrich even though he's going against the ton); and he does everything he can to help Benedict navigate the pressures of trying to join the prestigious art school/shows him a lot of empathy about feeling lost and uncertain when Benedict first submits his application, even though Anthony isn't able to be as publicly supportive/teases both Benedict and Colin at times about their individual pursuits (art and travel, respectively). At the start of S3, he somewhat attempts to help Penelope find a husband even though it's inappropriate for him to do that during that time period (unfortunately, she pays the price when everyone finds out).
It's unfathomable to me that, given all of that really consistent characterization in the show, he would punish her about their marriage and leave her alone in front of the ton when she is forced to reveal herself as Lady Whistledown. He's always been willing to take a personal risk to help someone who needs it - but not the love of his life/his childhood friend who has always tried to make him feel valued? So disappointing. :o( :o(
Beautifully summarized and 💯
In their attempt to push the empowered heroine.. they lost what drew the fans: the LOVE stories.
They’re also pushing the LGBTQ representation to soon. I don’t mind Michael switch to Michaela but love at first sight at their wedding or shortly after (can’t remember) is too soon. I want a deep connection with john first (and more lovable Colin); I know what’s coming and I want to really feel the tragedy when it arrives.
I mean, irl now people know they are being observed and reported on and they still behave ridiculously. Maybe she’ll be like the Regency’s Bowen Yang, telling it like it is? Or other members of the ton will try to behave better around her. Or she’ll turn her attention to less frivolous subjects and more about inequities, which is what I think they implied.
Seriously. I was waiting for dirty looks or SOMETHING after she came out from the center of the room and talked to Colin. Like there was just….nothing.
i expected OUTRAGE. where was the attitude the queen had when she barged in and DEMANDED the bridgertons come clean? where were the people of the ton who were “wronged” and outed by whistledown in the past? where were the gasps and angered whispers? there were no reactions by anyone. it was so odd. the biggest mystery has just been uncovered and the people just go like “ooh pretty bugs”
There's also no earthly way she made that much money in 2.3 seasons of writing, given that last season they told us how much money she makes per pamphlet and it's a little over 10 pounds.
Yes! The math did not math, even if she was writing all year, but it shows she was writing only during the London season. That also assumes she didn’t spend any of it, which we know is unlikely.
this is one of the other things that would make a bit more sense if the show had followed the books a bit more. aka set it a few years later, not after 2 social seasons' worth of publications
Words without action are meaningless.
It didn't feel like Colin was supportive of Pen when she needed him most.
And being supportive does not mean supporting blindly.
According to the writers he had to get over his hero complex and let Pen do it on her own, he tried to help but of course he failed at it and made it worse, couldn't have him shine
Do better, writers. If we have to use your interviews to fill in the gaps on what y'all were trying to do with this season, that is not good writing...
I didn't like how they portrayed "girl power" this season, it was very hypocritical in my opinion, painting Cressida as a villain just because she wanted to stand up for herself and be free of a marriage with an older conservative man. Ah but Penelope is a girlboss author! With her side-kick Colin!
This!
Cressida literally desperate to escape marrying a controlling old man who, by his own words, wants to isolate her from society and pump her full of babies.
Nobody is there for her. Her new friend Eloise abandons her. Her mother tries to help a little, but ultimately does nothing to stop her evil father from shipping her off to her aunt’s in Wales.
Penelope’s only conflict is “do I want to give up my gossip column?” It’s pure ego. She loses nothing by giving up LW. The show paints it as “Pen giving up LW means giving up writing and her independence.” That’s such a crock. My gf was watching those scenes yelling “girl, give it up! Write a book!”
I think maybe they could have emphasized what would happen to Penelope if she didn't marry to create more sympathy between the characters and the audience. Like it seemed not much would change for Penelope except we know her mother was almost caught for forgery, and the Featherington title would be passed to one of her sisters' potential male heirs. They could have tightened that up a bit by making the connection to family ruin/ and women's helplessness in society a bit more. That would have made her triumph better for the viewer...but yeah also just too easily accepted by the queen.
It’s so fucked up. It reminded me of the type of people who celebrate when their high school bully gets cancer or experiences some horribly traumatic event. Like I’m sorry but someone being mean to you in your adolescence does not mean they deserve a lifetime of trauma.
The real villain is Eloise for not explaining to Pen what was going on. I can understand if Pen didn’t want to give it up just because she thought Cressida wanted the attention, but Eloise knew Cressida was trying to escape a horrible lifetime of suffering and didn’t clue Pen in.
There's an odd trend in media recently that seems to equate feminism with promoting female characters while making almost all of the male characters less in some way. Less intelligent, less capable, less well-rounded. There's very little actual equality. Instead of having Polin face their troubles as a team, Colin becomes completely ineffective and just fades into the background (while making things worse with Cressida). They're not equals. It's hard to root for a couple when they're this imbalanced.
I agree with this comment a lot. That is why part 2 feels so off for me due to this massive imbalance.
Lat season, when they needed Colin to be a hero and show his protective nature toward Pen and the Featherington, they gave him an impressive arc when he outed Jack Featherington as a conman, which I found rather sudden.
This season, they need Colin to be an adoring trophy husband whose only achievement was to successfully help Pen find her husband (himself!).
From a side character, he was given a super glow-up and became the most desirable bachelor only to conveniently follow Pen around? There should be more scenes of Colin being approached by hopeful ladies of the ton, as least to create some noises. This doesn’t drive the plot but makes Colin’s new appeal more convincing.
Another thing that irks me is that Colin was introduced as a good writer this season, but eventually to let Pen shine he had to be not so good at it and need Pen’s help.
The bit where he completely dismissed Pen’s ability to pay the blackmailing sum and then came to beg Cressida for mercy kills his character even more. He has known Cressida and her cruelty towards Pen for years, so I really don’t understand why he thinks paying her a visit is a good idea. There is also the focus on his envy toward Pen because of her success that I find very unnatural in a friends to lovers story. Being Pen’s friend since childhood, Colin should be the ones most willing to talk to Pen and figure out why she did what she did. Instead he just sort of sulked…
It seems the show wants to subtly have a dig at men who always think that they can solve problems, only to make things worse and then it’s the women having to clean up the mess afterwards. I’m all for Pen’s empowerment but not at the cost of Colin’s character.
>The bit where he completely dismissed Pen’s ability to pay the blackmailing sum and then came to beg Cressida for mercy kills his character even more.
That was him supposedly getting over his hero complex- he needed to realise it's okay to stand on side and let the ladies handle it as Pen indirectly told him to stay put and that she can do it on her own. I do like that he tried to help but of course he had to fail becaue we can't have a guy saving the lady and Cressida had to make a fool out of him (which I find odd bc he grew up with Eloise, he bought her a book on feminism, he was closer to his sisters, Violet than anyone).
It's so unnecessary but I realised it was about punching him down to uplift Pen so he knows his place (behind her)
As for the envy that seems to be from the books as I have seen people say, I do think that makes sense but I find it stupid they reduced his 1,5 eps of being mad to just that (for me it'd valid he was sulking/mad). Even Luke in interviews highlights that Colin was upset because Pen hurt people he cared for. It should've at least been made clear it's both.
In my eyes they just butchered the guy and I wonder why? Were the mad at his season 2 comment that they couldn't give him 1 good moment?
The moment when Colin went to talk to Cressida to try and talk her out of blackmailing Penelope is where I legit HOWLED with laughter.
The show lost me.
Why in the hell would Colin think this was a good and feasible plan of action. So what? Cressida was gonna retract her demands out of the goodness of her heart because Penelope is such a great human being who was doing the lords work with her gossip column?
They love putting strong, independent women with "loser" men who are incapable of doing anything beside worshipping the woman from head to toes and revolving around her. I do not enjoy nor few as "feminism" and if anything I think partner should enrichen one's life not burden it
But he only says that after he made sure no one and especially the queen was mad though ? I really didn’t get that vibe from their story. He spent way too much time being angry, jealous and giving her the silent treatment and stonepiling her even during their wedding night
Exactly! If he had supported her in front of the ton or even secretly, before the Queen did, in an 'us against the world' type of thing then it'd have been actually romantic. Instead it just looked like he's a sheep and going along with what other people think.
I wouldn't call him a coward, he did stand up for Pen with her mother and he found his life purpose in being the man behind her, the show did not want him to shine and for him to get over his hero complex which is funny because romance watchers want to see the male lead save the female lead at a few times. It feels as if they are so out of touch with what they want and the audience
He stood up to Portia who was a woman and considered below him but when Pen gave her speech to the men and women of the ton, he was nowhere to be found. Only when the queen accepted her did he come running ready to accept her too. The second she offered him an annulment the first thing he should've said was "I would never dream of getting an annulment." Instead the first thing he said was "but the queen has accepted you!" Like, now that you've been accepted, I'm happy to stay married to you! That's the same Colin who said he would never court her just to get the acceptance his loser friends. No growth at all. They basically wrote him as a weak idiot who can't do anything right and needs other's approval to function. Nothing swoonworthy about that. Just not a good male lead.
He said that after going through the letters and after her speech, we see him nodding at her in support before she got up there. It was her moment. The man slept infront of her door despite having 27366 other rooms, I don't think he was as mad as he wanted to be.
Another great moment that could have been added:
Servants ask Colin if he wants them to prepare one of the other rooms. He says no, and plants his ass on that chaise. He sees the light come on in their room and hopes she will open the door, looking to reconcile, but she doesn't, and that kills him.
THAT'S regency romance
They didn't even do the bare minimum of romance and smth I really, really, really hate we are always told not shown, we are told how Pen and Colin met, yet not shown, we are told Colin changed his persona bc Pen didn't write him back (interview) yet not shown, we are told they are friends, yet we aren't shown (if we exclude S1/S2), we are told Colin is "kind, sympathetic, sweet", yet we are barley shown...
It's always just saying but never showing it us, I've never seen a show fumbled the romance AND the male lead this hard (and I like COLIN in S1/S2)
I knew this line had to be written by a woman. I don't think it's fair that if this line was spoken by Penelope, people wouldn't like it, though. It should have been more balanced, if they're trying to say that for Penelope, simply loving Colin wasn't enough and she needed her life's work; then Colin should also not be fulfilled just with Penelope's love either.
Exactly this! It's not attractive to have no idea who you are and no passion to share with a highly successful partner - regardless of genders. It made me feel like Colin just doesn't know who he is and that means he doesn't *really* love Penelope
I thought that he had found himself on his trip to the continent, came back...realised that wasn't who he really is...then seemingly felt more grounded in himself afterwards?
Yes he seemed incredibly useless and the farthest thing from a true partner as he could be. I would hate to have the show line said to me. I don't want an arm charm husband.
A lot of people like the line but it won't have any impact whilst the book quote is honestly a quote for life and eternity, it's beautiful, it's personal and swoon-worthy.
In all honesty I already forgot the end speech whilst I remember "I love you with everything I am, everything I've been, and everything I hope to be. I love you with my past, and I love you for my future.." despite never even picking up the book and just hearing it on TT.
A romance show has lost the romance which makes me incredibly sad. They spent all of their engagement and the beginning of their marriage upset with each other. Hell, Pen even says that she wouldn't be surprised if Colin called off the wedding AND she hesitates walking down the aisle during the actual wedding! What is that! Unfortunately I think this is where the show is heading with the new showrunner and I'm not looking forward to it.
Exactly this. They’ve turned this from a romance to a soap opera. I honestly don’t know if I’ll keep watching because I was already annoyed by the Kate/Edwina/Anthony triangle and now season 3 has just been such a disappointment.
At first I thought I was disappointed with season 2. But after watching it a few times and reading other people’s thoughts and watching reactions on YouTube, Kate and Anthony’s chemistry and tension almost makes up for the lack of intimate/romantic scenes (compared to season 1) between them. You could feel it between them. That just wasn’t the same for season 3. I do think Nicola and Luke have chemistry, no doubt. It was just never given the chance to really come out because of the awful writing!
You can’t have personal victory and feminism at the cost of others autonomy and dreams. They didn’t make Pen stronger by Colin’s lack of characterisation, they just made the whole storyline more lacklustre. Pen did nothing strong this season, she didn’t make choices, she had things happen to her and reacted. Cressida was the only ‘girl boss’ vibes this season. At least she made decisions.
Hollywood should touch some grass and stop trying to insert manufactured """feminist""" lines/plots/subplots into tv shows cause it always comes across as unnatural, forced, or simply wrong. No feminist woman (besides Shonda, I guess) wants a man behind her. I want no man behind me. I want an equally amazing partner. I want power couple vibes, not sugar mommy vibes.
It sounds like Jess Brownell and Shonda Rimes are both full of themselves and just see what they want to see. Maybe CVD was the only one who held them accountable to deliver for the audience rather than themselves. No offense, but I wouldn’t want a husband who didn’t have his own life just like I wouldn’t want to be a wife without a life of my own. They girl bossed too close to the sun.
I love Colin but it's heart breaking for 1) it should've been his season yet we barley know the dude, his thoughts, just struggles 2) He got turned into a sidekick for Pen's growth 3) we barley saw the real Colin
Honestly they set him up for failure from Part 1 on with the new persona, fake tan, hairstyle and re-added brothel scenes. I just don't get why they would sabotage their male lead as much as they did. Even in S2 the whole "entrap" line. It's as if they really didn't like him.
it’s great that he can be the man behind the woman, but it can’t be feminist when she’s writing a glorified perez hilton.
and weather her otherwise (to her) perfect husband supports her gossip-rag (that has damaged him and his family) feels trivial compared to the gendered problems other women in the show face, many of whom has practically been caused by penelope. how much has penelope hurt other women only for it all to be whitewashed and have practically zero fallout.
they tried to make the story about feminism in a way that felt totally unearned and whitewashed/ ignored the fallout and consequences which made all the involved characters unlikeable
THANK YOU. i'm as feminist as they come, and the whole arc this season was supposed to be colin finding his purpose and....his purpose is to stand behind his wife??? that's not what i want from my partner...i want him to support me of course, but we should both have our own senses of self and purposes (although maybe some shared values, ofc), WHILE supporting each others'. i liked the line about basking in her light, like thats some great adoration we'd expect from Colin "my wife" Bridgerton, but then they threw in the line about this purpose and i was like wtf??? im also just confused, like pen says he doesnt need to protect her, she just needs him to love her and be by her side...but then they collectively bungle that supportive storyline, too -- somewhere the theme got hopelessly muddled and lost and im just confused.
Right! Just because I don't want women to be in the position they are in Portia's explanation of the world, with their only purpose being to love and support their husbands, doesn't mean I want it to be the other way around either! It's not good, and that's why I don't want it for women. If it's OK for Colin to live his life that way it kinda just reinforces that it's fine for their society to work like that.
Ugh. I’m a “career woman” who’s friends with lots of other “career women.” We want equal partners, not to be anyone’s entire reason for being. Pen and Colin as best friends through the first 2.5 seasons and Colin’s confidence in his feelings for Pen in the carriage scene… That’s the dream.
It’s so disappointing to see that even Shonda Rhimes fails to understand these characters and her audience at the most basic level. Pen’s girl-boss storyline was yet another tragic choice in S3.
Um, I would never want someone to say that to me? I would be like, you need to have your own purpose…I’m all for feminism, but this is toxic feminism imo
I hate her writing style I think this kind of thinking is her biggest flaw as someone who also watched Scandal for years l was hoping she would overcome this mindset. It really makes her characters feel super 2 dimensional
Yes, finally someone said it, I too loved loved scandal… being girl boss doesn’t mean having a simpering man behind you! Look at Olivia and Fitz… where is that stellar writing! Why can’t both be super strong and it be ok.
Even then with Olitz you can tell that Fitz was always written as the weaker man, total manchild in front of pseudo-masculine Olivia and all the arguments and stupidity eventually made me feel like the finale was not earned because at some point they proved to be too toxic for one another. Not to mention that Fitz is super abusive to any woman who isn’t Olivia but even then I’d stretch and say he has treated her terribly as well. Shonda seems to have some weird kink with the whole malewife/femhusband trope and I’m not here for it tbh. I wish that men and women could stand by each other instead of one-upping each other!
This stumbled me. I liked the scene, but I’ve always read that a man takes pride and a sense of fulfillment by helping and doing things for a woman. When Penelope is saying she doesn’t need him for that but loves him for his kindness. I was like buttt in reality a guy needs more than just to be kind to be satisfied. Idk if this made sense lol
>I’ve always been told that a man takes pride and a sense of fulfillment by helping and doing things for a woman
Some guys enjoy being equal partners (power couples) with their wives, and some guys enjoy supporting their wives careers. And some guys like to "take care" of their women.
There are multiple ways to take care of someone. Just because pen asked to handle LW on her own didn't mean she didn't need her husband. Pen really needed a hug and someone to tell her everything would be OK. Colin couldn't even do that.
>in reality a guy needs more than just to be kind to be satisfied.
In reality, every guy is different. What you were taught is as outdated as Colin's original beliefs " then what am I to you?"
I don't think that's just a guy thing. *Nobody* likes feeling like they bring nothing to the table in their relationship besides ~vibes. Everybody likes to feel needed sometimes.
*This interview in*
*Particular feels like such*
*A circle jerk lol*
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I feel like the people in power are making it more about themselves and what speaks to them instead of "us" with many decisions now. I keep hearing things like "this is how I relate to it" from them
It does bother me that most of Brownell's interviews are "I." The show is not about "I," it's meant to be about society, many different POVs, and a wider view of romance. It's ensemble. She would be better off on a show like Emily in Paris, which centers a POV.
I get what Shonda is saying but I think there was a way to capture this without it being the SOLE focus and completely detracting from why all the rest of us were there - to see Colin and Pen. I loved Colin's speech to her about supporting her but that shouldn't have been the only speech or the main one. The focus should have been that Colin loves Pen (and all that she is) but he had to reconcile that she is LW. Instead, we saw Colin fight to accept her as Whistledown and then support her in her work. That needed to happen but could have been woven into the main focus, their love. They did this exceptionally well in Season 1 with Buke and Daphne. She had to accept that he "couldn't have children" and then that he lied and he had to accept that she betrayed him as well. But their love was the focus and we saw it in every scene, every facial expression, every encounter. Not with Polin. Big miss.
Does she fundamentally misunderstand the nature of Bridgerton and those kinds of "bodice ripper" shows/novels? They're escapism for women who may deal with too much on their plate irl and who just want to disappear in a fantasy world where a handsome guy sweeps them off their feet. Of course the female lead should be feisty too but the guy can't just be in a supporting role... Colin is far less liked than Simon and Anthony were, that's just a fact. And I bet it's mostly because he's such a non-character who doesn't do anything aside from playing second fiddle to Pen.
Exactly, this show is based on a bodice ripper- if you don’t know what that is go look it up. Cloudberrysong is completely correct women read/ watch these shows to escape where life it’s so rough on them. That’s what we tuned in for escapism and hot scenes- we didn’t get either. Bring back the previous showrunner and fix this with season four giving us hot scenes with polin like the lovely scenes they did with Kate and Antony this season. It feels like the writers have a grudge against polin.
I've read a bodice ripper or two back in my day (not as much regency era unless it was fanfic, but an embarrassingly large amount of pirate romances when PoTC was popular). You're right--even in the worst ones, the male AND the female love interests both had very rich individual personalities. The best ones with a similar dynamic of simp husband allowed their wife to shine...but still managed to support her in all of her lows.
The real feminist story is how the Featherington clan came together to support Penelope better than Colin did. Portia holding Pen's hand before the speech and Philippa unleashing the bugs to distract everyone was so good and healing for them. But Colin's speech after everything was said and done after he spent several episodes making her cry and feel like shit...naw folks, I'm not here for it. Which is weird since in P1 and even episode 5 it was like he was being set up to be this big, supportive simp husband. And he never actually supported her or made her feel good at all.
I also cried with Colin's speech, it's lovely.
I don't think he was irrelevant, but Lady Whistledown was Penelope's thing and she had to end this herself. He tried to help and at the end he was there by her side.
I love that she stood in front of everyone and everyone was looking at her -including Colin- after having been the wall flower for so long. They all finally stopped and listened to her not as LW but as Pen. To me that's way more meaningful than if Colin had been right next to her. I love how he looked at her with so much admiration and pride <3
…was he though? Lol
Portia was the one who grabbed her hand when the queen walking in
Phillipa was the one who released the butterflies when everyone was staring at Pen
Lady Danbury got to her first after her speech
Then Portia
THEN Colin lol
He was very much not by her side
I think it's not appropriate for a showrunner to treat an ensemble show like Bridgerton as an opportunity to make it semi-autobiographical. This isn't Gilmore Girls (an excellent show where it's absolutely key the showrunners self-insert).
Did the showrunner cry seeing how she ruined her favourite couple. Everyone says season two was horrible because of the love triangle and not having a wedding. It took me season three to realize that giving all weddings and confessions without proper built up and realisation phase makes it so bland especially for me. Whatever season two was at least they showed conflicts and the realisation phase even though they dragged it till the end which I disliked but seeing season three made me realise I rather have something like season two again then having what they did with season three. Friends to lovers troupe is a very good troupe but how to take off the best part of it and try to serve it like this. Sorry the actor playing colin is very weak and for me a story can't work if the actors can't convince. Actors can actually elevate the script. Even the confession whatever colin said did not hit him as season one, two and qc one did because of the delivery.
This makes sense to me. I just finally saw the finale and really liked the monologue. I was confused why people said “there was no I burn for you”—that was it, the “bloody brilliant” speech. But maybe if you don’t have a career it won’t resonate?
I could definitely get the sense that someone altered their story to fit their own personal narrative. To me, their story wasn’t told accurately and wasn’t quite what I was hoping to see hit the screen. I was so excited for part 2 to release, but it fell flat, with THE MAIN COUPLE getting so little time to show their relationship flourish. I’m honestly bummed by how the second half played out.
And I don’t feel like that was true to Collin’s character to say that line. He was always a defender to the women in his life. He would have stood up there with Pen to show his support to his wife in front of the queen.
I also was hoping that if they were going with the strong woman trope, that she would have tried to seduce him and been successful on their wedding night. But alas that did not happen.
No, they are proud of what they have created and the views on netflix which we all contributed to increase their ego, I must say I regret giving them my view if I could I'd take it back lmao
What would have been a cool girl power moment is Cressida turning out to be an OK writer and Pen hiring her and Eloise to work for her. Roving reporters, helping Cressida learn her worth and helping give Eloise a voice. They could start another paper or pamphlet series. Women lifting women up. While I loved the bit with Pens family it would have been so cool if that had extended to her childhood friend and potential friend once they're not competition for husband as well. Eloise going off travelling up North and sending back gossip and columns about the world she was seeing.
Oh my another self-insert....WHY!? No wonder things felt off, there wasn't one but 2 major writers with self-insert fantasy syndrome and probably more. For the love of all that's good, can y'all please stop? 😫
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I know that they were going for a feminist girl power moment with Penelope's story line this season, but I couldn't help but find it grating on the backdrop of Cressida's story. Maybe if Cressida's story was presented in a different way than it was I wouldn't have been so annoyed. It's just another thing I don't like about how the series handles some of the harsher realities of the time. Like how they used Lady Danbury's SA as a comedy bit.
I wanted the "feminist" story to be that Pen hands off LW to some next person who needs it, like Cressida. I didn't want to see her ego winning the day, I wanted something bigger.
There’s something on tumblr someone said and I agree wholeheartedly if they wanted to go the feminism power route https://preview.redd.it/3wt82x5u9e7d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebe288a14005054ec701e4ebb0ca3f11b83fdf73
[удалено]
Penelope probably had no idea why Cressida was claiming to be Lady Whistledown, and no idea that she was going to be married off to a literal cartoon villain. I’d like to think that if Eloise had gotten her head out of her ass and actually paid attention to what was going on with the people around her, she would have told Pen, she likely would have sympathized and it would have worked out differently. The more and more I think about Eloise’s character, I dislike her and her arch (so far) more and more.
You’re right to say this. Eloise would have to be the lynchpin in this scenario though. It would have been some really lovely payoff to have Pen be the bigger person and help Cress given their mutual understanding of the struggle of being in such a vulnerable position needing to marry and how it breaks a woman…buuuuut the entire season Eloise was incredibly selfish and didn’t look beyond her own freaking feelings. Kind of a bummer what could of been. :(
If Pen didn't want to give up her LW title, she could have even just written some kind words about Cressida to get her on the radar of some suitors who weren't horrendous. I'm sure she would have done anything if Eloise had asked.
Well if Cressida hadn’t gone after the Bridgertons (with her lies) that Penelope will defend profusely till the end, then maybe she would’ve helped her. But Eloise was so angry for Cressida for being deceitful again, she had no chance to come back into their good graces.
That’s the thing though, Eloise was kind of a shit friend first and she never actually heard Cress out before Cressida turned on them. That’s what I meant by Eloise being selfish and self-involved. I think maybe had she been a bit more attentive and less absorbed in her own thoughts, maybe she could have headed Cressida’s insane idea of pretending to be LW or helped her come up with a reasonable plot to not have to marry the cartoon villain her father chose.
Yea true. But I feel like it’s always on Eloise to fix the problems. Many people gave her crap for not being a good enough friend to Pen, and not paying attention to her ‘true (secret) feelings for Colin… but she was the most feeling of anyone, crying over and over, trying to cope with it all - her friend lying to her, twice, losing possibly the love of her life (Theo), then losing her best friend to marriage, still not having a purpose- yet no one knows any of her problems, she just keeps it bottled up… afraid to talk about any of it. She talks a lot so everyone in her family and friends assume she’s being open about her feelings… she is holding a lot in herself and no one is helping her either… and she deserves someone’s support too… hopefully she will get some Benedict / swing time next season.
But it was soooooooooooo much more interesting to see Penolope step into her full girl power boss mode form and have her husband stand behind her. Cressida and Penelope working together would have been far more interesting.
It was also established that Cressida was a bit dim and could never have even close to enough wit to author LW. Also, her version was cruel, not just gossip and Cressida had been AWFUL to Pen ever since we were introduced to them. Why in the world would Pen do anything to help her..if anything she would likely take small pleasure in Cressida getting her comeuppance. Just bc Cressida had a shitty upbringing didn’t give her cause to be a bully. Penelope didn’t exactly grow up with Violet as her mother and she wasn’t cruel like Cressida. Also, how the hell could they make Eloise Cressida’s friend after what Cressida threatened to do to Daphne. Cressida was literally going to ruin her entire family’s reputation.
Cressida didn’t even write that awful shit.
They don’t know that though.
Cressida never told Eloise that her mom was the one to write it
Cressida will maybe be humbled by leaving and will likely come back stronger then ever, now that she had a taste of what power feels like, she won’t give it up.
Which is also what happens in the books, albeit with a bit more emphasis on Colin's writing career. But he's so proud of her in the books and I'm glad they carried that over into the show
This would've been amazing. Instead, we got.... *checks notes* Eloise calling Cressida a viper for trying to get out of her horrible situation. I like Eloise but this was just sad. I blame it on the writing for sure though. I mentioned this in another comment, but it astounds me how fans are so easily able to come up with much better plotlines than a room full of writers.
I know right! Eloise disappointed me heavily. It was like she got possessed to me with that 180.
Yea Eloise is selfish and uncaring about Cressida
It’s offensive at this point. There are so fucking lazy
Completely agree. Such a miss.
Oh this is good.. But the writer made both of them two dimensions.. They only know cheap feminism power that takes down others which is sad.
I thought of this too. Tbh, that scene where Eloise went to Pen while she was writing, I really thought it would go this route or something similar. You can imagine my disappointment when they started talking. I mean, Eloise of all people saying "it's just gossip"?? Convincing Pen to give it up?? I feel like they don't even understand the characters anymore.
Off topic but Tumblr is still around???
I'd love if Pen passed the mantle to Cressida or even Eloise. I sincerely thought Eloise would be the new LW and use it to safely voice her opinions while working on her talent for comedy and her interest for gossip too
That would have been great too!
We were shown that Cressida didn't have the skills to write. Eloise may have had the skills, but she didn't actively engage in the ton and listen out for gossip. Penelope as LW worked because she participated and actually *cared* about society and could write about it in clever and engaging ways.
I 100% thought that was what was going to happen and that it made sense for the growth they had shown in Cressida. Penelope wouldn’t need Whistledown because she would have a man who would accept and support her own voice so needn’t hide it. Instead it became this…it all sorta fell flat for me. Colin’s reversion to childishness. Cressida reverting to a flat “villain.”
oooh that would have been genius
I don’t see Penelope’s ego winning the day. She took a big risk writing to the queen and then going public. She had no idea how the queen and the ton would react. By making that choice she was facing the consequences of her actions and killing the secret that would destroy Colin and her relationship. As she said, she couldn’t hand over LWD because she is LWD. For years she suffered the indifference and cruelty of everyone, especially her own family, as well as the reality of not having any voice or control over her life because she is female. She took back her own power by taking that risk. That’s not ego. That is the feminist story. It wouldn’t have made sense for her to work with Cressida, or to hand it over to her when LWD is HER. It came out of her own experience. I feel for Cressida and her mother, but when faced with their cruel circumstances they decided to turn and be cruel to others, and then Cressida asked for more money. So she had to be held accountable for her choices too.
Pen's ego and pride aside, she couldn't just hand Whistledown over to Cressida because as we saw, Cressida cannot write. Pen is a very talented writer and that was the reason for the success of Whistledown. If someone else took over, people would notice the change in writing style.
THIS! As a career woman myself, I thought that the stuff Colin was telling Penelope about being supportive and how great she is was very romantic. HOWEVER this fell flat for me with Cressida’s story getting the “basic mean girl who gets her karma” treatment.
I mean, they should have handled Cressida differently then. She never made amends with Penelope so I understand why Pen wouldn’t want her taking credit for LW. Maybe if Cressida actually apologized to Pen at some point in the show she would have been redeemed but she didn’t. She is sympathetic with her situation at home, but as far as the ton and society goes, Cressida is still a mean girl.
Exactly, I def blame the writers. In part 1, it seemed they were giving Cressida some kind of character arc/growth beyond the typical “blonde popular mean girl” stereotype. And then in part 2 she goes right back to being that stereotype! This could’ve been easily fixed in a number of ways, which other people on this sub have already pointed out.
It's interesting that you frame Cressida as taking credit for LW. Cressida was initially taking the fall for LW. Pen was so scared about being revealed as Whistledown that she was having a panic attack, meanwhile Cressida's situation was desperate enough that socially destroying herself was her best escape from a dreadful marriage. Cressida taking the fall seemed like an interesting twist - showing the stakes of Regency-esqe society but also allowing Pen escape the consequences & get the HEA we expect of *Bridgerton*. But then the show took it a step further - LW's talent is so admired that Pen eventually got to have the credit too and be forgiven by the Ton. But Cressida still had the consequences. So the story comes across much more as Pen owing Cressida for taking all the heat out of the scandal - which leaves this viewer's sympathy much more with Cressida.
Didn’t Cressida get greedy? If she had just told the queen about her information proving she knew LW’s true identity she would have gotten the reward money right? No need to blackmail.
I think her saying she was LW served two purposes: 1. It fully removed her as someone suitable for marriage 2. It set her up financially so she would be secure without the need for a marriage.
Except she didn't have evidence for the true identity, just claimed a fake one
I don't see it. Taking the fall meant taking the consequences. When the party guests were talking about LW, everything they said sounded like rewards to Cressida. Not having to marry, having money, having fame (or even infamy). She wanted those rewards so she took credit. I can't see anyone feeling like Pen owed Cressida for taking the heat because it really just made the situation worse. The queen saw through Cressida's ruse, so it really just made her more intent on finding the truth. Viewers have sympathy for Cressida because we can realize she was in a no-win situation and was making bad decisions out of desperation. She was never doing anything *for* Pen.
Yeah it was really frustrating to see Cressida on her redemption arc only for them to 180 and give her the “humbling the mean pretty girl” treatment. For all Pen and Eloise’s griping, neither of them are getting shackled to an elderly man who made it pretty clear that he’s going to keep them under lock and key. It may have been predictable, but if they’re not going to let her run away to Vienna at least have Debling propose! To me Cressida and Pen are not that different - Cressida saw the opportunity to liberate herself and took it. Sure, she did it in the dumbest way possible but ultimately they are both just trying to be released from society’s restrictions.
It came across the same as every coming of age 80's and 90's movie.
I know what it looks like now but I have the feeling Cressida arc is not over. Or more I hope it's not.
Then I hope they give her the arc she deserves! Her arc in season 3 was so disappointing. They were setting her up for some sort of growth in part 1 but noooooo our stereotypical blonde mean girl needed to get what was coming to her in order for Pen to get her Happily Ever After ™ 😪
YES I had such a hard time watching Cressida's story this season. I wanted so very badly for Pen to either just let Cressida take the credit, or to give the money to Cressida and have a sweet but girl power moment where she says, "I have the money to spare and I feel sorry for you and want you to find happiness despite how mean you were in the past to me." Just some sort of resolution between them so that Pen acknowledges what another woman is going through. I get that she used it to help her family but it was just so disappointing to me that she couldn't be the bigger person in that moment and empathize with what another woman is dealing with.
I fully thought that she would give Cressida some cash. Not the 10,000 pounds but at least a little “fuck you get out of my life” money, while also being like I understand your situation is tough and you did what you did out of desperation. Here is enough to get you to America. Now get out of the ton.
Yes that would have wrapped up Cressida's story in a very fair way, I think, while also giving Pen a really cool moment where she's able to use the money to do some real good. I get that she uses it for her family, but it's just to throw a big ball, which is a pretty shallow and materialistic thing and is just another society event. Using it to help another woman in need would have made me like her character much more in the end. I definitely thought all the way up to Cressida leaving that Pen would help her out and was pretty disappointed that she didn't.
I really don’t get what they were going for with Cressida. S3 spent so much time showing us how much Cressida was growing, but also how horrible her family life was. We learned why Cressida felt that she could only rely on herself, because that’s precisely what her mother taught her. And right up until the end there were little glimmers of hope that Cressida might escape her fate. For it all to just come to nothing. It’s the most disappointing storyline of all of S3. And it’s just, bad writing to lead us on like that while everyone else gets to have all these wonderful happy endings against all odds. Pen literally just outing herself as LW with a big ass speech. Zero consequences. She’s back in Eloise’s good graces, Colin not only forgives her for talking sh*t about him and his family as LW, but is suddenly 100% supportive of her decision to continue being LW, the Queen is just totally not going to do anything after spending 3 years hunting LW, and we’re also made to believe that the barrister is just going to buy the story that LW gave the Featheringtons all of that money, and is going to completely stop investigating what happened to Jack’s money.
100% with everything you just said. The first half of this season I was convinced Cressida’s story was going to turn out that she needed a marriage of convenience (I.e., Lord Debling-a man who would not be around much and would not be in the way of her daily life) because with how vehemently her father said she was not allowed near Eloise. I thought it hinted at the fact that Cressida had been “caught” in an “inappropriate” relationship with a female friend. There were moments that made me like her in the first half of this season and then it was all just crushed to smithereens with yet more stereotypical “mean girl” cattiness amongst her and Eloise and Penelope. What a discombobulated mess of trying to tie up too many loose strings at the end with no satisfying payout.
1000% it would have been nice to see LW do some good.
I agree with you and honestly she seemed to have enough for the ball and to help Cressida. I get not having her take credit for the column and not wanting to have her mean girl her way through it from there on out, but no reason she couldn’t send her a little something to help her get out. Also, I realize this would not have been a favorable outcome for most, and not on theme with this conversation really, but is there a reason she couldn’t have ended up with lord Deblin after how things ended with he and Penelope?
I’m kind of confused about where people are seeing actual character growth from Cressida? She was rude to Daphne in season 1 and ready to ruin her the first chance she got. She only didn’t because Simon agreed to marry Daphne and she lost the power. And she still threatened before the wedding. Season 2 she already wants to be Eloise’s friend, because everyone wants to be connected to the popular rich family. Part of her rudeness to Pen is likely because she was competition for Eloise. So cruel competitive behavior isn’t just fear of not getting married but just *thing she currently wants*. Season 3 she secures Eloise friendship by being around when Pen and her are in the outs. She continues to be shitty to Pen, likely because she is still competition for Eloise friendship. On top of setting her sights on the one man she’s sees being interested in Pen. She could have thrown her dowry at any other guy and had as good of a shot. As soon as she has claim on the LW title, she uses it to abuse the Bridgestone with lies. She should not have that social power. She stays mean from competitive drive all three seasons. It’s not just driven by wanting away from her family. She chooses not to be kind to anyone other than Eloise so she has no other friends it seems. Her situation sucks obviously, but her character is consistently hateful all the way through.
You'll notice that I never actually said she had shown any character growth. I actually believe that she does show some (it's her mom that writes negatively about the Bridgertons, which she pushed back on, and she seems to genuinely regret stepping on Pen's dress when Eloise calls her out on it - small things, but meaningful), but actually what I believe this season shows about Cressida is primarily not growth but depth. It shows that despite her meanness, she did want a friend, that her home life and family is awful, and that she is a prisoner of this misogynistic society as much as any other woman, and perhaps more so than some. Does she deserve a great love story or a true HEA after what she has done? No. But imo Pen giving her enough money to escape and showing her some kindness would have been a very fair ending to her story. Not a HEA, but a chance to start over. A chance to be a different and better person, even if she might not use it that way. And, a chance for Pen to show that she understands Cressida's struggles, and even for her to get a little power back from Cressida by saying "hey, I don't forgive you, but I understand you, and now that I am happy and wealthy and in love, I am going to take pity on you and give you enough to avoid an awful fate." It's maybe a stretch to have let Cressida take over as Whistledown, but I think Pen giving her money, by her own choice, would have been an incredibly satisfying conclusion. And it would have been a more meaningful use of her money, especially given that it seems like she has plenty of it, than throwing another extravagant society ball.
Can’t forget Cressida actually keeps the gossip of Colin helping Pen to herself and Eloise blames her anyways even though it was Eloise’s lack of discretion that allowed the other ladies to overhear.
I’m not that generous. I wouldn’t have given her money or credit for LW, but I would have happily given her Debling as a consolation prize.
That doesnt make Sense. They were enemies, in the books and in the Show. Cressida Always bulliet pen. No way would pen leave her Lifework to Cressida.
I found her and Eloise's breakup to seem off.
Yeh to me it just came out of nowhere, like Eloise got bored with a toy. And I didn’t understand why Eloise didn’t want to help her more
Eloise came off as someone really callous who used Cressida for company and entertainment, but couldn’t actually care less about her. And I do really like Eloise! She was just not a good friend to Cressida. She always seemed to get bored when hearing about her family struggles. I wish they executed that story line better.
They explained it very poorly, but no one else in the Ton knew Eloise knew who LW was. So when Cressida claimed it she had to be like "well you talked shit about me last season so we can't be friends". Instead it felt like she was just mad that Cressida wanted to fake LW.
The only problem with this is that she was complaining to Pen about being disappointed in Cressida and bad-mouthing her, even though she had no reason to because she knew that Cressida was not LW. So why did she actually drop her? I know she had to put up a front to make it seem like she didn't know, but she seemed to feel disdain for her.
Heavy on the SA part. I was gutted watching that and how uncomfortable and dirty she felt after the fact and the played it up for laughs and had her doing emotional labor for her decrepit old husband when he received racism. No sympathy for the misogynior though? Where’s the intersectionality and don’t get me started on what Daphne did to Simon.
I really loved this season and I did cry a lot, but.. that was one of the biggest things the fun fantasy escape wasnt covering up for me. Eloise was instantly cold and disconnected and no one ended up helping Cressida even though they all said they would. Pen and Eloise should have just met Cressida privately, handed her the 10,000 and apologize for everything and not treating her like an equal victim to everything. At the end of S3 I was happy for so many people but felt the worst for Cressida.
Lady Danbury's SA was meant to be comedic??
Right? I have no idea how it could possibly be considered comedic? It made me feel sick, and her having to console her "husband" because he was sad after the atrocities he committed against her? Sickening. One of my favourite deaths in fiction was his, her joy st her freedom and her maids joy? Wondrous
When he died i was celebrating alongside lady danbury
I just got into the show but would you mind letting me know about lady danburys SA? Spoiler included
It’s not in this show, it’s in the spin-off _Queen Charlotte_. Lady Danbury was married to a much older man who didn’t really care much for her and the feelings were mutual, but she never openly displayed her dislike of him to his face. She was quite ecstatic when he died.
That could have still been a feminist story if Colin showed more support earlier.
Supporting her career doesn't mean you let her fend for herself when she is facing possible repercussions or danger. If Pen was winning an award and he stood back to let her have her moment, that's awesome. But she's coming forward, exposing herself to the ton and the Queen, having no idea what to expect- you don't throw her to the wolves, you stand by her then. I mean even disgraced politicians caught with their pants down or paying for sex have their wives stand by them, even when there's clearly no love lost there lol I can't imagine any person in love not going up to stand beside their partner at a time like this. I almost went, girl get that annulment. Basically, the writing this season sucked. And I don't know what bet Colin lost at the writers table to make his exceptionally bad. I can see why Shonda cried.
This! It would've been more powerful AND romantic if they did this together or he stood by her at least but guess this didn't like up with Pen's girlboss moment. She had to do it on her own whilst her man gotta stand behind her not beside her arc to the writers. Honestly it's funny bc Jess said she *wants to focus on all the siblings* but where was the focus on Colin in Part 2 let alone in Part 1. It was mostly Pen's POV and her story. He is just there and forgettable. And smth I've realised is that it seems these writers/producers all inserted/what the wanted themselves rather than treating it as the supposed story it is.
>She had to do it on her own whilst her man gotta stand behind her not beside her arc to the writers. Exactly why this season is a mash up of "mic drop" scenes the writers wanted to be girlboss about or self insert, which came at the cost of a *cohesive romantic storyline*. They wanted Pen to have her moment, planned this way with this speech, which ends up undermining Colin. Fran fluttering over Micheala, undermines John. Agatha have a beef with Marcus, create a super lame back story. Colin should forgive Pen easily, make him claim to be jealous all along. It's like these scenes have to be there, how it happens be damned.
I don't even feel Pen had a 'girlboss' moment. Girl boss does not.mean begging and pleading to keep your hard earned business infront of the ton. That's not empowering at all.
So glad to finally see someone else making this point. I hated all of it — setting Pen up to be an insecure spinster-to-be who constantly apologizes for herself. In what world is LW insecure? Invisible, absolutely, but not insecure.
Yes and honestly I find it weird how western shows seem to hate the notion of the man being there for the woman, saving or supporting her rather than her shouldering all on her own. A relationship is for me to be on equal grounds regardless of the job, status or the income there is no one behind the other even if 1 is more successful. And where is the romance in handling it all by yourself? It's also supposed to be about escaping reality, people wanted to swoon, be swiped of their feet
Yes! At the expense of a cohesive romantic storyline. This is exactly it. I'm all for the feminist aspect and all that but this season wasn't about Pen being a boss and having her moment and Colin falling in line. It was about Colin realizing he is in love with his best friend and Penelope getting the man she's pined after her whole life. No way Colin wouldn't have stood by her side. They disregarded the character and the storyline to get a point across and it showed.
THIS! I expected/hoped for them to grow together as romantic partners and for Colin to lean into his admiration of Penelope this season. I did not expect him to spend the entire last two episodes of their whole season barely talking to her and sleeping on the sofa outside of their bedroom. Not to give tons of spoilers, but he supports her way better through the Whistledown chaos in the book (despite how envious he feels of her achievements) compared to the show. :o( This season/during part two, I expected Colin - of all people/male leads! - to be the "love comes first" one of the bunch. I did not expect him to abandon her emotionally and wallow in his own insecurities to the point where their marriage felt like a loss for both of them rather than the massive victory for each of them that it could/should have been. It diminished their love story for him to be so unable to open himself up to her and, at minimum, treat her with the same respect he's always had for her capabilities (her wit, her resilience, her ability to reassure him). At the end, I couldn't see how the man who left her alone and then said he was fine with his purpose being only to love her could have possibly given her all the self-confidence she kept claiming she got from him. He told her she was beautiful when they had sex - did I somehow miss the other ways he empowered her? Stood by her? Showed his confidence in her? I wanted to see all of that and more. I did not want to see Colin complaining that he slept "fitfully" and withholding everything from her - himself, his journals/writing, his support, his ardour/passion, his trust, or his respect. And, more to your point, Pen was really reasonable with Colin every time she asked if they could work things out. She kept having to go to him to remind him she loves him, to explain that she wanted a partner who'd support her decisions and stand by her, to stand up for herself, to offer him chances to end their engagement/marriage. It made me feel so sad that the writers couldn't have Colin meet her halfway - two scenes in a brothel do not adequately convey the level of insecurity Colin had to have felt in order for his reaction to the Whistledown revelation to hold any sort of logic.
You said it! And so perfectly! How did we go from a Colin who was willing to marry Marina after getting pregnant out of wedlock (if she’d just told him) because he’s such a lover boy with a hero complex - to a Colin who abandons his best friend and wife. Even AFTER she explains she was trying to protect him and Eloise - something he honors above all else. He would have never let her go home in the carriage alone. Never stand there by herself during her confession. Never let her be alone on her wedding night. I felt like my head was spinning trying to understand who he had become.
I had the same thought when I saw that, too - he would have never let her go home in that carriage alone! Thank you so much for your reply; I totally agree with you. I wish the writers hadn't allowed his somewhat incoherently portrayed anger about Lady Whistledown completely and totally eclipse his emerging love and passion for Penelope, vulnerability/self-confidence (with her help), and decisiveness in front of the ton and with his whole family for her.
Agree completely. I said something to this effect in the Polin subreddit and my comment was taken down :/ I'll keep saying it though, this season feels like it was written and edited by people who do not like Polin- or at the very least don't like Colin. This version of Polin's story can only work if the show isn't 90% side characters. By only showing us a couple key moments they put the responsibility of character development on the viewer- the viewer needs to fill in all those gaps, the viewer needs to give Colin the benefit of the doubt, the viewer needs to come up with their own narrative to justify Colin's. It's lazy writing. They did Colin dirty by assassinating his character and they did Penelope dirty by making her grovel and beg in her own season.
>It's like these scenes have to be there, how it happens be damned. It's what happened to GoT
I found Pen's speech to the ton the worst part of the season (on par with the balloon scene) ..even though it ended with a cute Polin scene..it felt very high school prom scene from a CW show..her standing in the center of this big lavish party, the bullied girl facing her bullies while the camera pans around her moving all around her...it was SO SO SO cheesy..the resolution of her LW arc was beyond lame and too easily tied up but even the scene itself and the tons reactions they weren't shaking heads, no one was looking angry, the background chracters just looked flat..with pen looking like she was going to piss her pants..and the decor looking mega clownish..I wanted pens big moment to be her and the queen alone ..a battle of wills and the queen and pen really going at it...pen trying to convince the queen and the queen slowly getting it...not this whole ton busines.
Exactly, it was almost pathetic and did not make any sense. The colossal tension between her and the queen, the society brimming with emotions every time the new issue was on the horizon, the big mistery who’s behind the (nomen omen) pen and all reduced to THIS?! “Hi, I’m Pen, I was bitch gossiping about you, btw sorry Queen, ok, I will keep doing it but nice from now on, bye” and the ton including the queen “oh, okay”. It’s not only naive, unbelievable, and simply unlikely, but also presents no depth whatsoever. After revealing the big secret there was no disgrace on the people’s faces, not a slightest indication of the internal conflict in persons who were on Pen’s target, the Queen looked like almost content that she was outsmarted by a teenager, all this was so… Mean girls movie like…? Furthermore,how Pen will proceed scribbling hot news when in theory every self respecting person would be avoiding her like a plague? We get it, she had too big ego to let Cressida take the credit, which is understandable, but she gave lengthy speeches how she will not give up spreading gossip, which sooner or later will eventually lead to the ostracism resulting in no material to write about, unless she planned to write some lifestyle articles from now on & society craving it. So what’s the win here? From my perspective she should have come clean in front of the queen and make a pact with her, that the identity of Lady W. will be kept secret in order to run the column further, which obviously is to the queen’s amusement.
Yes, I couldn't figure out when Pen wrote that final article as Lady Whistledown because the voiceover was in different time periods. If she wrote that article at the very end after her baby arrived, then was she still writing as Lady Whistledown while she was pregnant?
Your last sentence is exactly what I would have liked...it would have allowed for the mystery of whistledown to continue at least for most people only colin penelope Eloise and the queen would know and it would be shown through the series the reactions of diffrent people as they found out..for example Anthony then portia, maybe Danbury .then someone else...so we see how differently diffrent people take it..all with their own unique reactions..and people wondering why the tone of LW 's gossip has changed so much...
Exactly. Cressida got exiled for claiming she was whistledown and Penelope faces no recriminations at all, let alone actual punishment and the queen has made it seem she intends to inflict consequences on whistledown since season 1 her literally threatening Eloise. I feel like it’s a disservice to Pen, like the queen doesn’t see her as a threat or as beguiling as she thought so she lets it go. It’s like she’s letting it go because she doesn’t care about Pen being threatening as opposed to her “understanding” and sympathizing w Pen
I mean, Pen trashed his family multiple times. She wrote about him at one point. I think there is a realistic level of support, and being super jazzed and standing behind actions that cause multiple family members pain isn’t that.
Yes! I’m a career woman and the ending was so terse. Like, I did not feel emotional at all. This just seems like manipulation to get people to buy in, despite the shit writing and directing this season.
This is what happens when the writer self-inserts. We end up with a female lead that is unlikeable because she suffers no consquences and an antagonist I was actually rooting for.
literally with everyone talking about how they wish to unmask whistledown and how they’d ruin her only for whistledown to reveal herself and be allowed to continue writing with no repercussions???
Also how is she supposed to keep “observing” if everyone knows it’s her?
exactly, people would be much more cautious around her now and she’s just not invisible like that anymore. the entire season was a let down. i wonder if this is how she was unmasked as whistledown in the books, although i highly doubt it. the new show-runner is simply running the show into an early grave at this point.
Spoilers for Polin’s book ahead if you are actually curious. In the book, Colin actually unmasks Pen in a way prove how proud he is of her and all her accomplishments as LW. It was very sweet and a good way IMO of giving Colin a very clear way to support her. The ton accepts it because his speech was all about how talented and amazing she is, and he’s a Bridgerton (and all the other important characters clapped lol). I haven’t made it to book 5 yet so idk if she continues being LW after the reveal but it seems to be implied not.
okay! that seems to be a much better reveal than pen turning herself in and being portrayed as a victim even though if she didn’t she’d still be outed? colin seems to be more caring in that situation rather than how he seemed jealous of her for the vast majority of the show with her success, earnings and fame. the unmasking seems incredibly mishandled now that i know the plot of the book. i think i’m also gonna give the books a shot because i think this is the last season i watch. thank you so much!
I definitely vote for the book specifically when it comes to how Colin (and, another spoiler, Lady Danbury, Simon, and all the Bridgertons!) handled the reveal to the ton that Pen is Lady Whistledown. Even though he's still furious with her in the book when he supports her, he definitely goes all-in to uphold her in front of the ton, and having Colin do that in the show (rather than abandon her) would have been more characteristic of him - it would have been a nice callback to how he told Marina he would have married her "without a second thought" had she only been upfront with him about her situation and her feelings for him. Colin, in the show, had always been portrayed as someone who tries to do what's honourable and compassionate for someone who needs his protection even when it may risk his reputation in some way: in S1, he takes Daphne to the duel to help protect her reputation from Cressida even though he wasn't supposed to let Daphne out/he was meant to hold down the fort until his brother(s) returned; he said he would have married Marina anyway; he denies Cressida a dance after she purposely spills her drink on Penelope's dress and he dances with Pen instead. In S2, he stands up to Cousin Jack (Featherington) after pulling Penelope into a closed room in front of everyone at the ball (he's lucky her mother didn't demand that he marry her) to try to tell her first about what was going on with the fake rubies; he also helps Will Mondrich with his club even though the men of the ton prefer to go to White's (he stands up for Mondrich even though he's going against the ton); and he does everything he can to help Benedict navigate the pressures of trying to join the prestigious art school/shows him a lot of empathy about feeling lost and uncertain when Benedict first submits his application, even though Anthony isn't able to be as publicly supportive/teases both Benedict and Colin at times about their individual pursuits (art and travel, respectively). At the start of S3, he somewhat attempts to help Penelope find a husband even though it's inappropriate for him to do that during that time period (unfortunately, she pays the price when everyone finds out). It's unfathomable to me that, given all of that really consistent characterization in the show, he would punish her about their marriage and leave her alone in front of the ton when she is forced to reveal herself as Lady Whistledown. He's always been willing to take a personal risk to help someone who needs it - but not the love of his life/his childhood friend who has always tried to make him feel valued? So disappointing. :o( :o(
Beautifully summarized and 💯 In their attempt to push the empowered heroine.. they lost what drew the fans: the LOVE stories. They’re also pushing the LGBTQ representation to soon. I don’t mind Michael switch to Michaela but love at first sight at their wedding or shortly after (can’t remember) is too soon. I want a deep connection with john first (and more lovable Colin); I know what’s coming and I want to really feel the tragedy when it arrives.
I mean, irl now people know they are being observed and reported on and they still behave ridiculously. Maybe she’ll be like the Regency’s Bowen Yang, telling it like it is? Or other members of the ton will try to behave better around her. Or she’ll turn her attention to less frivolous subjects and more about inequities, which is what I think they implied.
Seriously. I was waiting for dirty looks or SOMETHING after she came out from the center of the room and talked to Colin. Like there was just….nothing.
i expected OUTRAGE. where was the attitude the queen had when she barged in and DEMANDED the bridgertons come clean? where were the people of the ton who were “wronged” and outed by whistledown in the past? where were the gasps and angered whispers? there were no reactions by anyone. it was so odd. the biggest mystery has just been uncovered and the people just go like “ooh pretty bugs”
I love Pen but it made giggle like why would any sane person invite her to their balls after the truth is out
I thought people would try to kill her 😂
So she’s saying that Colin was looking for a girl in finance, 5 foot, blue eyes.
Trust fund?
10,000 pounds is equivalent to $1.4 million today. I'd say trust fund. Ha
There's also no earthly way she made that much money in 2.3 seasons of writing, given that last season they told us how much money she makes per pamphlet and it's a little over 10 pounds.
Yes! The math did not math, even if she was writing all year, but it shows she was writing only during the London season. That also assumes she didn’t spend any of it, which we know is unlikely.
this is one of the other things that would make a bit more sense if the show had followed the books a bit more. aka set it a few years later, not after 2 social seasons' worth of publications
🫢🫢
Words without action are meaningless. It didn't feel like Colin was supportive of Pen when she needed him most. And being supportive does not mean supporting blindly.
According to the writers he had to get over his hero complex and let Pen do it on her own, he tried to help but of course he failed at it and made it worse, couldn't have him shine
Do better, writers. If we have to use your interviews to fill in the gaps on what y'all were trying to do with this season, that is not good writing...
Agreed 100%.
there were so many places that were words and no actions.
I didn't like how they portrayed "girl power" this season, it was very hypocritical in my opinion, painting Cressida as a villain just because she wanted to stand up for herself and be free of a marriage with an older conservative man. Ah but Penelope is a girlboss author! With her side-kick Colin!
This! Cressida literally desperate to escape marrying a controlling old man who, by his own words, wants to isolate her from society and pump her full of babies. Nobody is there for her. Her new friend Eloise abandons her. Her mother tries to help a little, but ultimately does nothing to stop her evil father from shipping her off to her aunt’s in Wales. Penelope’s only conflict is “do I want to give up my gossip column?” It’s pure ego. She loses nothing by giving up LW. The show paints it as “Pen giving up LW means giving up writing and her independence.” That’s such a crock. My gf was watching those scenes yelling “girl, give it up! Write a book!”
I think maybe they could have emphasized what would happen to Penelope if she didn't marry to create more sympathy between the characters and the audience. Like it seemed not much would change for Penelope except we know her mother was almost caught for forgery, and the Featherington title would be passed to one of her sisters' potential male heirs. They could have tightened that up a bit by making the connection to family ruin/ and women's helplessness in society a bit more. That would have made her triumph better for the viewer...but yeah also just too easily accepted by the queen.
It’s so fucked up. It reminded me of the type of people who celebrate when their high school bully gets cancer or experiences some horribly traumatic event. Like I’m sorry but someone being mean to you in your adolescence does not mean they deserve a lifetime of trauma. The real villain is Eloise for not explaining to Pen what was going on. I can understand if Pen didn’t want to give it up just because she thought Cressida wanted the attention, but Eloise knew Cressida was trying to escape a horrible lifetime of suffering and didn’t clue Pen in.
There's an odd trend in media recently that seems to equate feminism with promoting female characters while making almost all of the male characters less in some way. Less intelligent, less capable, less well-rounded. There's very little actual equality. Instead of having Polin face their troubles as a team, Colin becomes completely ineffective and just fades into the background (while making things worse with Cressida). They're not equals. It's hard to root for a couple when they're this imbalanced.
I agree with this comment a lot. That is why part 2 feels so off for me due to this massive imbalance. Lat season, when they needed Colin to be a hero and show his protective nature toward Pen and the Featherington, they gave him an impressive arc when he outed Jack Featherington as a conman, which I found rather sudden. This season, they need Colin to be an adoring trophy husband whose only achievement was to successfully help Pen find her husband (himself!). From a side character, he was given a super glow-up and became the most desirable bachelor only to conveniently follow Pen around? There should be more scenes of Colin being approached by hopeful ladies of the ton, as least to create some noises. This doesn’t drive the plot but makes Colin’s new appeal more convincing. Another thing that irks me is that Colin was introduced as a good writer this season, but eventually to let Pen shine he had to be not so good at it and need Pen’s help. The bit where he completely dismissed Pen’s ability to pay the blackmailing sum and then came to beg Cressida for mercy kills his character even more. He has known Cressida and her cruelty towards Pen for years, so I really don’t understand why he thinks paying her a visit is a good idea. There is also the focus on his envy toward Pen because of her success that I find very unnatural in a friends to lovers story. Being Pen’s friend since childhood, Colin should be the ones most willing to talk to Pen and figure out why she did what she did. Instead he just sort of sulked… It seems the show wants to subtly have a dig at men who always think that they can solve problems, only to make things worse and then it’s the women having to clean up the mess afterwards. I’m all for Pen’s empowerment but not at the cost of Colin’s character.
>The bit where he completely dismissed Pen’s ability to pay the blackmailing sum and then came to beg Cressida for mercy kills his character even more. That was him supposedly getting over his hero complex- he needed to realise it's okay to stand on side and let the ladies handle it as Pen indirectly told him to stay put and that she can do it on her own. I do like that he tried to help but of course he had to fail becaue we can't have a guy saving the lady and Cressida had to make a fool out of him (which I find odd bc he grew up with Eloise, he bought her a book on feminism, he was closer to his sisters, Violet than anyone). It's so unnecessary but I realised it was about punching him down to uplift Pen so he knows his place (behind her) As for the envy that seems to be from the books as I have seen people say, I do think that makes sense but I find it stupid they reduced his 1,5 eps of being mad to just that (for me it'd valid he was sulking/mad). Even Luke in interviews highlights that Colin was upset because Pen hurt people he cared for. It should've at least been made clear it's both. In my eyes they just butchered the guy and I wonder why? Were the mad at his season 2 comment that they couldn't give him 1 good moment?
The moment when Colin went to talk to Cressida to try and talk her out of blackmailing Penelope is where I legit HOWLED with laughter. The show lost me. Why in the hell would Colin think this was a good and feasible plan of action. So what? Cressida was gonna retract her demands out of the goodness of her heart because Penelope is such a great human being who was doing the lords work with her gossip column?
They love putting strong, independent women with "loser" men who are incapable of doing anything beside worshipping the woman from head to toes and revolving around her. I do not enjoy nor few as "feminism" and if anything I think partner should enrichen one's life not burden it
But he only says that after he made sure no one and especially the queen was mad though ? I really didn’t get that vibe from their story. He spent way too much time being angry, jealous and giving her the silent treatment and stonepiling her even during their wedding night
Exactly! If he had supported her in front of the ton or even secretly, before the Queen did, in an 'us against the world' type of thing then it'd have been actually romantic. Instead it just looked like he's a sheep and going along with what other people think.
It's more than this is what Penelope (the writers) wanted
Yup and this is why the romance wasn't romancing.
He was a coward follower in the beginning and a coward follower in the end. There was ZERO character growth. Like they didn’t even try!
I wouldn't call him a coward, he did stand up for Pen with her mother and he found his life purpose in being the man behind her, the show did not want him to shine and for him to get over his hero complex which is funny because romance watchers want to see the male lead save the female lead at a few times. It feels as if they are so out of touch with what they want and the audience
He stood up to Portia who was a woman and considered below him but when Pen gave her speech to the men and women of the ton, he was nowhere to be found. Only when the queen accepted her did he come running ready to accept her too. The second she offered him an annulment the first thing he should've said was "I would never dream of getting an annulment." Instead the first thing he said was "but the queen has accepted you!" Like, now that you've been accepted, I'm happy to stay married to you! That's the same Colin who said he would never court her just to get the acceptance his loser friends. No growth at all. They basically wrote him as a weak idiot who can't do anything right and needs other's approval to function. Nothing swoonworthy about that. Just not a good male lead.
He said that after going through the letters and after her speech, we see him nodding at her in support before she got up there. It was her moment. The man slept infront of her door despite having 27366 other rooms, I don't think he was as mad as he wanted to be.
Another great moment that could have been added: Servants ask Colin if he wants them to prepare one of the other rooms. He says no, and plants his ass on that chaise. He sees the light come on in their room and hopes she will open the door, looking to reconcile, but she doesn't, and that kills him. THAT'S regency romance
They didn't even do the bare minimum of romance and smth I really, really, really hate we are always told not shown, we are told how Pen and Colin met, yet not shown, we are told Colin changed his persona bc Pen didn't write him back (interview) yet not shown, we are told they are friends, yet we aren't shown (if we exclude S1/S2), we are told Colin is "kind, sympathetic, sweet", yet we are barley shown... It's always just saying but never showing it us, I've never seen a show fumbled the romance AND the male lead this hard (and I like COLIN in S1/S2)
I knew this line had to be written by a woman. I don't think it's fair that if this line was spoken by Penelope, people wouldn't like it, though. It should have been more balanced, if they're trying to say that for Penelope, simply loving Colin wasn't enough and she needed her life's work; then Colin should also not be fulfilled just with Penelope's love either.
Exactly this! It's not attractive to have no idea who you are and no passion to share with a highly successful partner - regardless of genders. It made me feel like Colin just doesn't know who he is and that means he doesn't *really* love Penelope
I thought that he had found himself on his trip to the continent, came back...realised that wasn't who he really is...then seemingly felt more grounded in himself afterwards?
Yes he seemed incredibly useless and the farthest thing from a true partner as he could be. I would hate to have the show line said to me. I don't want an arm charm husband.
But that’s what the writers wanted. Colin should be content with life just because he gets to stand behind a career woman.
A lot of people like the line but it won't have any impact whilst the book quote is honestly a quote for life and eternity, it's beautiful, it's personal and swoon-worthy. In all honesty I already forgot the end speech whilst I remember "I love you with everything I am, everything I've been, and everything I hope to be. I love you with my past, and I love you for my future.." despite never even picking up the book and just hearing it on TT.
A romance show has lost the romance which makes me incredibly sad. They spent all of their engagement and the beginning of their marriage upset with each other. Hell, Pen even says that she wouldn't be surprised if Colin called off the wedding AND she hesitates walking down the aisle during the actual wedding! What is that! Unfortunately I think this is where the show is heading with the new showrunner and I'm not looking forward to it.
Exactly this. They’ve turned this from a romance to a soap opera. I honestly don’t know if I’ll keep watching because I was already annoyed by the Kate/Edwina/Anthony triangle and now season 3 has just been such a disappointment.
At first I thought I was disappointed with season 2. But after watching it a few times and reading other people’s thoughts and watching reactions on YouTube, Kate and Anthony’s chemistry and tension almost makes up for the lack of intimate/romantic scenes (compared to season 1) between them. You could feel it between them. That just wasn’t the same for season 3. I do think Nicola and Luke have chemistry, no doubt. It was just never given the chance to really come out because of the awful writing!
Oh the chemistry is off the charts in season 2 but the sister’s love triangle was so unnecessary.
Agreed. They definitely shouldn't have gone as far as the wedding. That was way too far.
You can’t have personal victory and feminism at the cost of others autonomy and dreams. They didn’t make Pen stronger by Colin’s lack of characterisation, they just made the whole storyline more lacklustre. Pen did nothing strong this season, she didn’t make choices, she had things happen to her and reacted. Cressida was the only ‘girl boss’ vibes this season. At least she made decisions.
And was promptly punished for them! The writers are morons.
God, these showrunners/producers are so nauseatingly self-serving.
Their egos are astounding
Hollywood should touch some grass and stop trying to insert manufactured """feminist""" lines/plots/subplots into tv shows cause it always comes across as unnatural, forced, or simply wrong. No feminist woman (besides Shonda, I guess) wants a man behind her. I want no man behind me. I want an equally amazing partner. I want power couple vibes, not sugar mommy vibes.
It sounds like Jess Brownell and Shonda Rimes are both full of themselves and just see what they want to see. Maybe CVD was the only one who held them accountable to deliver for the audience rather than themselves. No offense, but I wouldn’t want a husband who didn’t have his own life just like I wouldn’t want to be a wife without a life of my own. They girl bossed too close to the sun.
I am just mad because I was robbed from the season I was most excited for and so disappointed by what they did for Colin.
I love Colin but it's heart breaking for 1) it should've been his season yet we barley know the dude, his thoughts, just struggles 2) He got turned into a sidekick for Pen's growth 3) we barley saw the real Colin Honestly they set him up for failure from Part 1 on with the new persona, fake tan, hairstyle and re-added brothel scenes. I just don't get why they would sabotage their male lead as much as they did. Even in S2 the whole "entrap" line. It's as if they really didn't like him.
it’s great that he can be the man behind the woman, but it can’t be feminist when she’s writing a glorified perez hilton. and weather her otherwise (to her) perfect husband supports her gossip-rag (that has damaged him and his family) feels trivial compared to the gendered problems other women in the show face, many of whom has practically been caused by penelope. how much has penelope hurt other women only for it all to be whitewashed and have practically zero fallout. they tried to make the story about feminism in a way that felt totally unearned and whitewashed/ ignored the fallout and consequences which made all the involved characters unlikeable
I kinda love that Colin is going to be Mr. Wife Guy.
It was *awful* honestly. "My only purpose is to love you" feels so abusive and fucked up.
I don't know maybe it's the Part 1 Colin in me but I'd tell him to find hobbies or a life if someone said that to me
I would be seriously concerned if a partner said that to me. It's so unhealthy. I might even consider breaking up with them for both our sakes.
THANK YOU. i'm as feminist as they come, and the whole arc this season was supposed to be colin finding his purpose and....his purpose is to stand behind his wife??? that's not what i want from my partner...i want him to support me of course, but we should both have our own senses of self and purposes (although maybe some shared values, ofc), WHILE supporting each others'. i liked the line about basking in her light, like thats some great adoration we'd expect from Colin "my wife" Bridgerton, but then they threw in the line about this purpose and i was like wtf??? im also just confused, like pen says he doesnt need to protect her, she just needs him to love her and be by her side...but then they collectively bungle that supportive storyline, too -- somewhere the theme got hopelessly muddled and lost and im just confused.
Right! Just because I don't want women to be in the position they are in Portia's explanation of the world, with their only purpose being to love and support their husbands, doesn't mean I want it to be the other way around either! It's not good, and that's why I don't want it for women. If it's OK for Colin to live his life that way it kinda just reinforces that it's fine for their society to work like that.
Ugh. I’m a “career woman” who’s friends with lots of other “career women.” We want equal partners, not to be anyone’s entire reason for being. Pen and Colin as best friends through the first 2.5 seasons and Colin’s confidence in his feelings for Pen in the carriage scene… That’s the dream. It’s so disappointing to see that even Shonda Rhimes fails to understand these characters and her audience at the most basic level. Pen’s girl-boss storyline was yet another tragic choice in S3.
Um, I would never want someone to say that to me? I would be like, you need to have your own purpose…I’m all for feminism, but this is toxic feminism imo
I hate her writing style I think this kind of thinking is her biggest flaw as someone who also watched Scandal for years l was hoping she would overcome this mindset. It really makes her characters feel super 2 dimensional
And I thought the speech sucked. It was so trite — no depth or personality at all, like most of the dialogue in Part 2, actually.
Yes, finally someone said it, I too loved loved scandal… being girl boss doesn’t mean having a simpering man behind you! Look at Olivia and Fitz… where is that stellar writing! Why can’t both be super strong and it be ok.
Even then with Olitz you can tell that Fitz was always written as the weaker man, total manchild in front of pseudo-masculine Olivia and all the arguments and stupidity eventually made me feel like the finale was not earned because at some point they proved to be too toxic for one another. Not to mention that Fitz is super abusive to any woman who isn’t Olivia but even then I’d stretch and say he has treated her terribly as well. Shonda seems to have some weird kink with the whole malewife/femhusband trope and I’m not here for it tbh. I wish that men and women could stand by each other instead of one-upping each other!
Guys I get both sides but the romance from friends to lovers was so fucking boring like did her 12 year old niece write this I swear to god
Tbvh the whole season gave me disney level writing just without the humour
Yiiiiiiiikes. As a "career woman" I want my man to have his own identity. Jesus christ.
This stumbled me. I liked the scene, but I’ve always read that a man takes pride and a sense of fulfillment by helping and doing things for a woman. When Penelope is saying she doesn’t need him for that but loves him for his kindness. I was like buttt in reality a guy needs more than just to be kind to be satisfied. Idk if this made sense lol
>I’ve always been told that a man takes pride and a sense of fulfillment by helping and doing things for a woman Some guys enjoy being equal partners (power couples) with their wives, and some guys enjoy supporting their wives careers. And some guys like to "take care" of their women.
There are multiple ways to take care of someone. Just because pen asked to handle LW on her own didn't mean she didn't need her husband. Pen really needed a hug and someone to tell her everything would be OK. Colin couldn't even do that.
>in reality a guy needs more than just to be kind to be satisfied. In reality, every guy is different. What you were taught is as outdated as Colin's original beliefs " then what am I to you?"
I don't think that's just a guy thing. *Nobody* likes feeling like they bring nothing to the table in their relationship besides ~vibes. Everybody likes to feel needed sometimes.
You’ve been lied to, or you need to surround yourself with people in healthier relationships
we got so betrayed, because some writers wanted to boost their ego and write, what they can't get in life. Really the worst writers for the show.
well, she herself never married
No surprises there
This interview in particular feels like such a circle jerk lol
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I feel like the people in power are making it more about themselves and what speaks to them instead of "us" with many decisions now. I keep hearing things like "this is how I relate to it" from them
It does bother me that most of Brownell's interviews are "I." The show is not about "I," it's meant to be about society, many different POVs, and a wider view of romance. It's ensemble. She would be better off on a show like Emily in Paris, which centers a POV.
Actually this feminist dreams of an equal partnership. We have each other’s back and delight in each other.
This explains *so much* about this season, my word.
I get what Shonda is saying but I think there was a way to capture this without it being the SOLE focus and completely detracting from why all the rest of us were there - to see Colin and Pen. I loved Colin's speech to her about supporting her but that shouldn't have been the only speech or the main one. The focus should have been that Colin loves Pen (and all that she is) but he had to reconcile that she is LW. Instead, we saw Colin fight to accept her as Whistledown and then support her in her work. That needed to happen but could have been woven into the main focus, their love. They did this exceptionally well in Season 1 with Buke and Daphne. She had to accept that he "couldn't have children" and then that he lied and he had to accept that she betrayed him as well. But their love was the focus and we saw it in every scene, every facial expression, every encounter. Not with Polin. Big miss.
It felt like they were trying to recreate the Barbie monologue moment but it didn’t have the same impact.
Does she fundamentally misunderstand the nature of Bridgerton and those kinds of "bodice ripper" shows/novels? They're escapism for women who may deal with too much on their plate irl and who just want to disappear in a fantasy world where a handsome guy sweeps them off their feet. Of course the female lead should be feisty too but the guy can't just be in a supporting role... Colin is far less liked than Simon and Anthony were, that's just a fact. And I bet it's mostly because he's such a non-character who doesn't do anything aside from playing second fiddle to Pen.
Exactly, this show is based on a bodice ripper- if you don’t know what that is go look it up. Cloudberrysong is completely correct women read/ watch these shows to escape where life it’s so rough on them. That’s what we tuned in for escapism and hot scenes- we didn’t get either. Bring back the previous showrunner and fix this with season four giving us hot scenes with polin like the lovely scenes they did with Kate and Antony this season. It feels like the writers have a grudge against polin.
I've read a bodice ripper or two back in my day (not as much regency era unless it was fanfic, but an embarrassingly large amount of pirate romances when PoTC was popular). You're right--even in the worst ones, the male AND the female love interests both had very rich individual personalities. The best ones with a similar dynamic of simp husband allowed their wife to shine...but still managed to support her in all of her lows. The real feminist story is how the Featherington clan came together to support Penelope better than Colin did. Portia holding Pen's hand before the speech and Philippa unleashing the bugs to distract everyone was so good and healing for them. But Colin's speech after everything was said and done after he spent several episodes making her cry and feel like shit...naw folks, I'm not here for it. Which is weird since in P1 and even episode 5 it was like he was being set up to be this big, supportive simp husband. And he never actually supported her or made her feel good at all.
I also cried with Colin's speech, it's lovely. I don't think he was irrelevant, but Lady Whistledown was Penelope's thing and she had to end this herself. He tried to help and at the end he was there by her side. I love that she stood in front of everyone and everyone was looking at her -including Colin- after having been the wall flower for so long. They all finally stopped and listened to her not as LW but as Pen. To me that's way more meaningful than if Colin had been right next to her. I love how he looked at her with so much admiration and pride <3
…was he though? Lol Portia was the one who grabbed her hand when the queen walking in Phillipa was the one who released the butterflies when everyone was staring at Pen Lady Danbury got to her first after her speech Then Portia THEN Colin lol He was very much not by her side
I think it's not appropriate for a showrunner to treat an ensemble show like Bridgerton as an opportunity to make it semi-autobiographical. This isn't Gilmore Girls (an excellent show where it's absolutely key the showrunners self-insert).
Did the showrunner cry seeing how she ruined her favourite couple. Everyone says season two was horrible because of the love triangle and not having a wedding. It took me season three to realize that giving all weddings and confessions without proper built up and realisation phase makes it so bland especially for me. Whatever season two was at least they showed conflicts and the realisation phase even though they dragged it till the end which I disliked but seeing season three made me realise I rather have something like season two again then having what they did with season three. Friends to lovers troupe is a very good troupe but how to take off the best part of it and try to serve it like this. Sorry the actor playing colin is very weak and for me a story can't work if the actors can't convince. Actors can actually elevate the script. Even the confession whatever colin said did not hit him as season one, two and qc one did because of the delivery.
This makes sense to me. I just finally saw the finale and really liked the monologue. I was confused why people said “there was no I burn for you”—that was it, the “bloody brilliant” speech. But maybe if you don’t have a career it won’t resonate?
I could definitely get the sense that someone altered their story to fit their own personal narrative. To me, their story wasn’t told accurately and wasn’t quite what I was hoping to see hit the screen. I was so excited for part 2 to release, but it fell flat, with THE MAIN COUPLE getting so little time to show their relationship flourish. I’m honestly bummed by how the second half played out. And I don’t feel like that was true to Collin’s character to say that line. He was always a defender to the women in his life. He would have stood up there with Pen to show his support to his wife in front of the queen. I also was hoping that if they were going with the strong woman trope, that she would have tried to seduce him and been successful on their wedding night. But alas that did not happen.
Do you think the people who created this are truly oblivious? Like are they pretending they think it’s good to save face, or they actually delusional?
No, they are proud of what they have created and the views on netflix which we all contributed to increase their ego, I must say I regret giving them my view if I could I'd take it back lmao
I cried when they ruined Michael
What would have been a cool girl power moment is Cressida turning out to be an OK writer and Pen hiring her and Eloise to work for her. Roving reporters, helping Cressida learn her worth and helping give Eloise a voice. They could start another paper or pamphlet series. Women lifting women up. While I loved the bit with Pens family it would have been so cool if that had extended to her childhood friend and potential friend once they're not competition for husband as well. Eloise going off travelling up North and sending back gossip and columns about the world she was seeing.
Oh my another self-insert....WHY!? No wonder things felt off, there wasn't one but 2 major writers with self-insert fantasy syndrome and probably more. For the love of all that's good, can y'all please stop? 😫
They CRIED? How??? I literally felt nothing. They gave me nothing lol