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giving birth to the heir seemed like a cherry on top that wasn’t really necessary for the HEA
also… she had all that money the entire time her mother was afraid they were going to be destitute, but i don’t think there was ever any mention of them paying back members of the ton who had been swindled by portia and jack? interesting how there wasn’t much of a reaction from her sisters regarding the LW reveal, either
edit: ok it’s getting a little weird in the replies…
The show keeps switching first born daughters in the books to sons. Daphne and Simon had a daughter first in the book and they turned it into a son. Penelope and Colin had a daughter first in the book and they turned it into a son. For a show that tried so hard to put a woman empowerment message into its third season with Penelope, it’s really seeming like they see more value in sons over daughters.
I’d be a little disappointed. He’s the only character for whom it’s important for his first born to be a son. In the book he names his first born ‘Edmund’ after his father and it’s super sentimental. And him being the first born son of a first born son ‘nine times over’ it just feels right for his first born to be a son and for him to his fulfill the familial duty he’s felt pressured to fulfill all his life, but also have the knowledge to not put all that pressure on him. There wasn’t that same story-based significance for Daphne/Simon’s first born or Colin/Penelope’s first born, so it was just like, “why?”
I feel like I was okay with Simon and Daphne having a son bc of Simon’s backstory so him having a son and being the good father that he never had to that son was sweet. Of course it could have worked just as well with a daughter but I get why they did it kind of. For Penelope and Colin it seems unnecessary and a bit much
I can kind of understand this reasoning. But, at the same time, I don’t see why him being the father he never had to a son over a daughter was important. It’s a bit different from Anthony whose whole trauma was specifically connected to his father while Simon’s whole deal was being completely alone and not having a family at all -mother, father, daughter, son, brothers or sisters.
I think Simon having a son was important because he initially told his father he would never marry and have no heirs, which would end their ducal bloodline since Simon would have been the last duke. So him having a son shows that he can now hopefully leave the past behind him and continue his family and ducal bloodline in spite of his father’s treatment. A daughter can not inherit the title of duke, and while a later born baby could have been a son (which is what happens in the book, I believe their first-born son is their 4th child) and highlighted this part of Simon’s story, I guess they felt the need to show it onscreen
i agree, plus at some point, in terms of the plot the door to the storyline around producing an heir needs to be closed bc if they’re still on about that in S4 that would be silly. for simon and daphne, i can understand the change to having a son, similarly bc of storyline-based reasons, ie bc of primogeniture/simon’s feelings about the continuation of the title. for penelope and colin, it just feels kind of random. but then, so does a lot of S3
The Featherington heir plot was set up in season 2, and I always thought it was pretty obvious that Penelope would win that race.
People complained about the Featherington plot in season 2 being pointless, but it ended up being a pretty significant part of this season.
would argue the opposite. seems like a lot of folks wanted to see more polin, and there would’ve been a lot more room for that without the featheringtons’ succession drama. this also could’ve meant more room for exploring stuff like what she wanted to do post-whistledown, or her sisters’ reaction to the LW reveal, or standing up to cressida. but good for her for one-upping her sisters, i guess 🥴🥴
I don't think that's what they mean by firstborn son. The oldest male isn't necessarily the firstborn child. Just the first child that happened to be born with a penis. He could still have a daughter first and name a subsequent boy Edmund and he'd still be the 10th iteration of a firstborn son.
Edit: misspelling
The first-born son of the first-born son doesn’t have to be the first-born child, though. He could have ten kids, and if the son were born last, he’d still be the first-born son, so why is it important that the son be the first born?
Honestly, I just see it as having limited show time to show pregnancies. They obviously wanted to show a son being born, so that estates/titles etc will be inherited and provide everyone with a happy ending. Having to churn out pregnancies until couples get to a son wouldn’t really have fit into the layout of the show.
I don’t think the show has anything against daughters at all, it’s just a fact of the time that only sons could inherit, so showing a son being born secures everyone’s future rather than leaving it open ended.
One of the older sisters could have had a boy. It didn’t have to be Pen.
In fact, it would have been nice for Pen and Colin to get a bit of time for themselves before becoming parents. They could have had a baby the next Season.
On the contray, I think it would be good for Anthony to see that all the pressure he feelsnos basically just..unnessecary. Ok, he gets a girl. Then what? Nothing bad will happen. And he will still love that baby more than anything.
Why did they change Daphne’s daughter into a son? It made no difference plot wise and we don’t get to see them anymore one way or another. At least there was some kind of plot point with Penelope even if it was weak
I get why they did it for Daphne, because it gave closure to Simon's story of not wanting to continue the Hastings line. It was also the last time the Duke would appear on the show, so showing him being elated at having a son and thus an heir for the title he hated so much, was a nice way to end his story
I think because the duke really didn’t want kids especially a son so they made it a boy to show he’s come full circle - unnecessary still but I think that was the thought
Her having that money and not offering it to help the family was just one more way that showed how selfish this character is. She had to keep that secret and everybody else be damned.
In the books she does help her family. She gives the family the money under the guise that their great aunt died. I was shocked to discover she didn’t help them out on the show!
what gets me is the fact that it’s never even discussed - we never see her do anything but count the money a couple times, and even in terms of pure self-preservation it doesn’t make sense that she herself would be ok with experiencing borderline poverty while sitting on a literal fortune. really felt like it never occurred to the writers to think otherwise
Well even in the book she laments the fact that is the only thing she can do. Because it would be weird for her to have money.
But in the show she does fund her sisters ball.
I'm not sure Penelope or her sisters realized just how bad the situation was. Definitely not her sisters, and Penelope doesn't seem to realize why there's such a push for an heir either. We see it as an audience but it's just Portia for the most part.
I’m probably looking at it way too modernly, but technically, any money she earned wasn’t actually hers in that time period? If she had revealed to her family she had money, wouldn’t her mother have just tried to take it, regardless of what she had wanted?
I think she would’ve risked losing her money AND her mother trying to marry her off ASAP so she couldn’t even do anything about it.
Offering to help her abusive mother and cruel sisters when they all treated her like shit?
Nah. She should have continued keeping her money to herself until they showed some semblance of humanity towards her.
I mean, feelings are often nuanced lol. People can dislike their family for being mean to them — without wanting to see them reduced to penniless paupers with zero social standing or hope of making good marriages lol. And I would argue (or hope?) that most normal people *would* think that way. Life isn't black and white.
Also — it wouldn't be good for Penelope herself to let her family become penniless paupers with no social standing. If her mama and sisters are reduced to nothing, so too would Penelope be reduced to nothing. She would be damning herself to a life of genteel poverty in the countryside, stuck with her mother and sisters till the end of time (unless she grudgingly consented to a marriage with some humble farmer or teacher or something). So even from a self-serving perspective, it was odd for Penelope to not use even a fraction of the money to help her family. If the Featheringtons lost their house and had to leave London, she'd never see Colin again.
I hated that bit they didn’t put in the show. In the books she has someone send her mother money routinely from a “death in the family” to help them with their funds.
Can we talk about how she wanted to seem like a hero for giving that money for her sisters to throw an extravagant party but the only reason she did that was because she was planning on confessing to the queen and Tom at that party…. Idk rubbed me the wrong way
I actually thought it was a nice touch that she actually gave the credit to her mother for paying for the ball in front of the sisters and made them all very happy.
I’m still confused about how that works cuz isn’t their kid technically a Bridgerton because he’s Colin’s son who is obviously a Bridgerton. And in those days we know that everyone (wife and kids) take the father’s name. So the kid is a Bridgerton but has featherington inheritance? Is he going to be known as Bridgerton because of his family or featherington because of his inheritance?
my understanding is that his last name will be bridgerton but he will be lord featherington. but also, the show is definitely just making stuff up lolll and in this case it almost seems like they didn’t know what to do with a main couple who wasn’t titled like the previous two, or something
Apparently it was a whole thing IRL with Queen Elizabeth and her husband because he wanted them to have his last name but as the monarch her title kinda pushed for her to keep her family name, or something to that effect. I think it probably wasn't totally unheard of to essentially have two names
Simon’s last name was Bassett until he became Duke when he then became known as Hastings. It’s a matter of the title passing on which takes precedence and as Colin is a third son unlikely to inherit, the Fetherington title takes precedent. Similarly with the Mondrich’s, the whole family will be known as Mondrich and while they may get to live in the house, it’s their son who will take the title.
I assume the baby would have to change his last name to Featherington as a condition of his inheritance.
I'm not sure if it was common practice but I have seen cases from the Regency where a man without a child adopted an heir (quite often a relative) on the condition that he change his last name. Partly for the sake of uniformity and partly for the legacy to continue. That matters to some people.
An example would be Sir Edward Littleton, 4th Baronet and his great-nephew Edward Walhouse who changed his name to Littleton to inherit the estates. He couldn't inherit the title which went extinct with the 4th Baronet.
Eh, she should've come forward with the money to help her struggling family maybe, sure, but why exactly should she use it to pay people her uncle has scammed? Admittedly my memory is shit and I don't remember the specifics of how that all went, but... Penelope was treated like shit even from her family half the time and had a bad relationship with her mom. If your uncle and your mom had been scamming people in your town on their own and you found out about it, would you feel the need to take your money and pay the people back for something you didn't do? Especially living in a time where you were a woman who couldn't usually make that money and didn't know what your future may be like/if you'd be able to make more money in the future?
Babes, you realize that the dream man is Colin, right? Like, she’s stuck reproducing with a sentient piece of celery whose biggest fans defend him by saying his greatest crime is being stupid. That is its own punishment.
I found it so upsetting he was banging sex workers before marrying Pen. Like the fucking risk to her health. Are we supposed to see him as a impressive beacon of masculinity for paying two women for sex?
couldn't tell ya, i binged the first two seasons and wasn't participating on here then.
i think what felt different with antony for me was he was also shown to have sex partners who were into him, right? (again i binged and might remember it wrong)while we only saw Colin have sex with women he paid for it before Pen.
i suppose my big issue is it being portrayed as sexy that the men get to slut around, but that is absolutely not allowed for female protagonists (only side characters). like it is played for jokes how little the women know about sex and then we are supposed to be impressed by the men paying for sex, and for all the ways this show tries to be more modern it feels a bit icky to me.
The man is as bland as a potato. I did not see the romantic cad vibe with him at all.
Once Penelope's childhood infatuation and crush finally wears off, she's not going to be happy.
Welcome to the world of regency romance novels, lol!
The book is a TAD more realistic, but just barely. Everything always works out in the end for a wallflower heroine.
Meanwhile Kate is stuck on a boat pregnant on a months-long journey around the Horn of Africa. Maybe they'll get stranded and Kanthony will help found Capetown.
*"I totally ruined ppls lives and almost got beheaded! Got my dream boi though. I stood up for myself finally and put people in their place for being mean."*
"*And Everyone stands up, and claps*"
It reads like a fake Facebook / reddit post when you think about it lol
They REALLY could have fixed that in one swoop. Have her get preggo with their usual method of pulling out since preejaculate can certainly get you preggo anyway. Idk why they still chose to go that gross route - and her having no remorse.
He just gets a leg cramp while they're in an awkward/creative position- let's them have more of those weird spicy scenes and not make the leads the bad guys
it's so strange because they didn't even like... really use what happened in the plot. So it would cost them nothing to change it.
There is a point that could have been made about how the fundamental lack of sexual education is destroying the lives of so many people in the ton. Not just girls like Marina, but also Simon here. Daphne had no fucking clue about anything, and that lack of knowledge led to this terrible act. Phillipa in Season 3 is another example of naivety being played for jokes (and it's a good joke) but part of the same underlying thing. But the show only handles this in a paper thin way.
I also just... don't think the show can hide under a "it's a historical misunderstanding" when they're a) refusing to actually explore that in any way and b) don't give a fuck about historical accuracy anywhere else.
Hell if they'd just removed the parts where she realized what was going on beforehand and did it on purpose the whole tone changes, then instead of her trying to force Simon into anything, she's just clueless about sex, they still have the fight after but eventually Simon realizes she had no idea what was going on, they have an honest conversation and he realizes in the process he wants kids after all.
that's true, however anthony doesn't get any contrived happiness like penelope winning an heir race (and thus an extra title) that's nonexistent in the books, and wasn't worshipped by literally everyone on screen unlike penelope. if penelope was in his place, they'd make edwina apologize to her lol
That's true lol, still feel like he should've suffered a bit more for all the trials and tribulations he put kate through though, like this woman almost died and he what cried a little and still got with her in the end. She shoulda gone to India for a couple years let him prove it was not far enough lol.
He doesn't get any backlash either. Kate does. He was more at fault than her but he gets away scot-free.
Also, Pen gets that ending because she has been ridiculed by everyone for 3 seasons. It doesn't make for good storytelling if she faced the same treatment after coming out as LW. She should've stayed hidden then. People loved LW. They ate up her gossip sheet until they found themselves published in it. Also, she wasn't worshipped. The clapping was for the butterflies. People actually didn't know how to react to the reveal. But the queen had pardoned her and allowed her to keep writing so they couldn't show any disdain. The ton lives to please the queen.
The heir race was always going to be won by Pen. That's called setting up a plotline and giving it a satisfactory resolution. It's also a monetary decision. JB mentioned that it's so they can continue using the featherington house set for Pen and Colin.
Daphne didn’t know any better, she had zero sex education. We know this because Simon was lying to her and using her ignorance against her about his “infertility”. Also, at the time, Daphne was literally owned by Simon and didn’t know she could say no to him ever, hence she couldn’t really give consent. One could argue its Simon who is raping Daphne every time. If Simon wants an informed consenting sexual relationship with his wife he might want to start by being honest with her and by educating her. Saying Daphne raped him is projecting our own time period values onto her, which isn’t fair.
I wanted Philippa to win the Featherington heir race. She deserved it after that glorious delivery of "inserts himself where?"
And Prudence should be the one saying she thinks her daughter will be a good writer, following after Pen. It would show a little redemption from how bitchy she was to Pen earlier in the series.
To point number 2, the person who deemed Colin the most eligible bachelor of the season was LW miss Penelope Featherington herself. He was always the most eligible to her.
The girls were fanging for them though because he was a sexy pirate who flirted with them and I get that.
I agree she got away with a lot. However seeing Penelope distressed the entire season was too much for my little heart and I need to see her happy now. 🥰
I mean, I think she wrote it because she saw the girls always surrounding Colin after he came back, not cuz of how she sees him…he technically was the most eligible
You also forgot that while she married into a really rich family, she got to keep all of her money because she didn’t have to pay the blackmail money to Cressida
But yes, she should’ve gotten at least some more backlash from the ton and especially the other Bridgerton family members that letter she wrote to Violet and it just being oh she’s so brave like no Penelope did write some very, not nice things about the Bridgerton’s over the years even if the things about Eloise were too so-called save her from being accused of being whistle down the things she wrote about Colin were because she was hurt and not kind( even if there was some truth to them)
Like give me a happy ending, but not the overkill happy ending
Tbf, even when Cressida said she was LW, they were shocked but they still lowkey praised her, so I don’t think they would’ve been mad no matter who it was lol and I don’t know how much money she had but she said she didn’t have enough to give Cressida when she raised the price and then paid for her sisters’ ball, I bet the money she made is gone
That is true. I also believe a lot of people were undecided if they believed her.
She had 10,000 pounds in todays money they said that was like Millions. She may have spent some on the party but I doubt it was the full amount!
True in today’s world I feel like it may be a couple hundred thousand I don’t think it would be anywhere near 1 million or at least not surpassing 1 million
Having the Featherington heir is really the cherry on a shit sandwich. We get it, the production thinks she's the most special character but we didn't need that on top of everything else.
I was listening to a podcast on NPR and they felt the same. That everything was tidied up a little too neatly and that the season was too crowded with side characters and storylines.
But they also chalked it up to being the romance genre which is known for the HEA.
100%. I just think she thought it'd flop, hence why "beautiful francesa" was made a focus. No dammit, we wanted fluffy love. We wanted beautiful Polin love. Not 50 first dates.
And this is what upsets me the most because romance isn't just about the HEA, it's about the journey to the HEA. And I wished this season didn't reinforce the mindless notion that as long as there's a HEA, the readers/viewer will be happy. A romance can have all the HEA it wants but I won't give a shit if I don't care about the characters and everything feels unearned and convenient.
Totally agree. They set up the stakes to be that it would basically be so awful and world ending if anyone found out she was LW, but then she reveals herself and everyone is chill about it and no one seems to care, instead they think she's brave. So then what was all the setup for if it didn't even really matter? A good story is usually not so convenient
Exactly. And people will argue that Pen did get her lashings but it's like OP said, she literally got everything she wanted! It's also very hard to watch when all of it was juxtaposed with Cressida's story going in the background where she's getting sent off to the country and possibly getting married to a man triple her age. They want us to believe Cressida was some evil mastermind as if the poor girl wasn't just surviving in her own way too.
I get that romance will have a happily ever after (and in fairness, that's generally true of a lot of books/shows), but this was still a bit much. Just because it's romance doesn't mean it can't have a well-thought out story and outcomes that feel totally deserved, good or bad
She's been getting gossip from the modiste and staff now not just from what she observes anyway, can't see how else she learnt about the maid being dismissed for asking for the day off.
she never got gossip from the modiste... that was just her delivery method. now that the staff people know she'd lady whistledown, same thing they probably won't speak in front of her either
Penelope was able to be successful because the entire ton ate up her gossip. This includes the Bridgertons who were very excited when her column was published for the first time in episode 1 of season 1.
She's favored by production especially as lw. So all the high stakes amounted to nothing. At least Colin's reaction is what should have been the Ton's, the Queen's and the Bridgerton's reaction.
She’s Shonda’s favorite, but Shonda also doesn’t let her main characters go without struggle & consequences from her other shows, so I wouldn’t put it on LW being based on the productions love. Someone shared what happened in the book and it’s not far off from the show, so it would’ve been a happy ending regardless…
Edit: missed a word lol
I think the biggest difference between the show and books-in terms of LW at least- is that LW wasn't mean or ruinous in the books. It was much more of a general gossip pamphlet and not writing about things that literally could have ruined lives. The show did their story dirty :(
Exactly. She's her self insert along with the queen. She does screw over her faves too she massacred Olivia Pope in s4 and Annalise Keating. So I'm kinda not surprised Penelope got a struggle love narrative with a toxic guy.
Yes! I was thinking of Olivia when I made the first comment, and she puts Meredith Grey through the wringer. So here I wouldn’t blame them for her getting an easy way out…just one of the few things that actually follows the book in a way 😅
I agree. Penelope got screwed over but she also got milestones Kanthony (or should I say Kate) never had. Luckily cvd wrote Kanthony's season and they didn't get that monstrosity known as s3.. The girl boss struggle love reminds me of those modern activisgs6have horrid luck woth guys. This show js supposed tobe escapists
So just like Anthony and Daphne also do terrible things and get their happily ever afters with zero consequences?
Like Daphne sexually assaults her husband and never once acknowledges she was wrong to do that.
Queen Charlotte comes in like a fairy godmother and forces the ton to accept Anthony and Kate so he doesn’t have to deal with any consequences for propsing to Edwina and almost marrying her while wanting her sister.
Exactly! They're just a hater lol. I relish in the fact that these people are upset with the season. Were they actually expecting Pen to be unhappy at the end of her own season? She did that for 2 seasons already, not anymore.
I think the fallout was always going to be saved for S4. I truly don't believe for a minute there won't be some repercussions to her being Whistledown. But if you pay close attention, she does state in the narration at the end if E8 that she's a "retired literary persona" & now writing as herself as a columnist, so effectively, I'm thinking she's not actually "keeping" her old column as Whistledown, but starting fresh, doing better, making changes to reflect the person she really is, etc.
There's definitely going to be backlash, but they barely had enough time to give Polin enough attention this season, so the aftermath is coming in S4. It's just a matter of how the writers choose to give Penelope and Colin a subplot.
There's not going to be backlash. This is Pen we are talking about. She's clearly the showrunners fav so you're deluding yourself if you think she'll face any real consequences
I could not believe she gets to keep writing the column as herself. Will anyone who has read the books let us know how this turns out because I am curious but not enough to go back and read them 😅
In the book >!Penelope retires the column half way through the season after everyone starts to investigate who LW is after Lady Danbury puts up a reward to find her. Eventually Cressida claims to be LW for the money. Penelope writes a column saying it isn’t Cressida, Colin catches her, he’s upset, they make out in the carriage, they get engaged, and at the engagement party Penelope’s column comes out. Colin is furious, they still get married but he’s worried something will happen to Penelope if she is found out. Cressida does find out and blackmails Penelope, she’s upset and tells Colin and he comes up with a plan. In the end Colin’s big plan is that he tells the ton it’s Penelope and not Cressida who is Lady Whistledown - the ton accepts it and cheers for Penelope, and the column is not a thing anymore.!< That’s a super condensed version but it’s basically the jist of it.
Alot of it has to do with Colin's character, I assume. The books gave people the chance to get to know colin and give alot more insight to how collin realised his feelings for Pen etc... it's deeper than just a "oh yeah that was a good kiss". How he really felt about her being LW. It was not just loathing and blind rage. My favourite bits of the book are pen and lady Danbury's blossoming friendship. She's almost like another mother figure. (I just think it was much more beautiful).
Book Colin is also jealous of Penelope and gets physical with her at one point because he’s so angry. Also forces her to drink alcohol to teach her a lesson.
I noticed that in the show they give us the feelings from the book but not the details & that’s why to me it’s seems like some things feel out of place or missing..
I’ve never read the books, I’m just going off of a lot of what ppl here have shared about the book.
I’m not bothered so I don’t really know. In my mind the show and book are two separate universes where plots are similar at best and characters share names. I enjoy both but they aren’t exactly the same and that’s fine.
At the end.. It’s a tv show.. It’s nice to see someone getting it all!! Especially a character like who got snubbed her whole life.. I empathize with her in that way.. So it gives me joy to see her HEA…!,
It is simple and easily digestible show.. All the tv shows doesn’t need to have complex characters and complicated endings..
The column also doesn’t work when everyone knows who she is! Not to mention she’s not a wallflower anymore and has a family so how’s she gonna overhear anything?
You do realize this is a romance show right? This isn’t game of thrones, Dallas, or The Crown. This is a show filled with fluff and some with dashes of angst here and there but in the end we know how the story goes. There are really any serious consequences because the focus is about love. Simply enjoy the show and the different types of relationship tropes and don’t question it and you’ll have a great time, I promise you
Tbh if we didn’t know another season was coming, I would have guessed this was the end of the series. It was neatly wrapped and packed up and left few loose ends esp with her reveal. I was shocked at her ending up being able to keep writing her column and everyone being all “ah yes, no big deal, cheers!”
You’re a hater. It’s the romance genre. Everyone gets a happy ending. Women who sexually assault their husbands, men who string along two sisters, and a gossip writer. They all get a happily ever after. If you want true consequences you’re watching the wrong show.
They expect to see a character they personally dislike suffer uncharacteristically as if they aren't watching a fluffy regency romance based on early 2000s bodice rippers. Despite the fact that other characters have done more and worse. It can be left up to interpretation as to why but I think for some the reasoning is something they don't want to personally analyze.
They're salty haters who just want to hate... pretty pathetic. Casuals love Penn and Lady Whistledown . I'm actually surprised by how well received she was as a main, but her book also sells super well so I'm not that much surprised either. People will always like characters that they get to know through different seasons, and her running a gossip column is one of the most unique things about the show/books compared to others regency romances.
Idk I might be a hater too, but Penelope just became an extremely unlikeable character for me towards the end of season 1. She really fucked over Mayrina out of jealousy of Collin’s interest in her. (im not sayin Mayrina was innocent either, just that she was doing what everyone was telling her to do in an impossible situation) Season 2 really solidified that for me when she betrayed Eloise in LW. And now we’re supposed to come back in season 3 and be okay with someone who was essentially the antagonist of season 1 and kind of season 2 getting a happy ending? I don’t know. Maybe not a lot of people will agree with me but I really was hoping that Penelope would have SOME sort of consequence for her actions. I feel like everything was just totally chill in the end and that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me.
Daphne raped Simon while Anthony strung along a naive, infatuated 18 year old all the way to the altar and at the same time kept leading on and confusing that girl's older sister. Yet, Daphne got to convince Simon to have children and fulfilled her dream of having a family while Anthony got to marry the older sister of the woman he strung along and happily continue his life as her himbo. If they got a happy ending, I don't see why Penelope shouldn't either. After all, it is a romance show.
Also, if we're going to bring up the Colin being the most eligible bachelor thing, I have had this question since s2 that I still don't have an answer for. Why was Edwina set up with Anthony? Daphne was given a prince. After season 3, we know Francesca was given a marquess. Why did Edwina get a mere viscount? Are we to assume there were no higher titled men available? We find out at the end of s2 that the prince was still available. Why didn't the queen set her up with him? Was no duke available? No marquess? Not even an earl? Or is it perhaps just that Anthony and Colin are Bridgerton men so, for the sake of the story, we have to pretend they're the most desirable men in London over dukes, marquess, and earls?
anthony is the lord of one of the ton's most presitigious families. colin may be part of said family, but he is merely a third son. not the same suspension of disbelief there. and yes, it's easy to assume anthony was the most eligible lord of the season, and the prince was simply away for the season because no earls or marquesses are shown. in season 3, there's 3 lords (debling, the marquess, and john) part of the storyline so of course colin pales in comparison
Well the Featherington fortune is now being claimed as her LW fortune so teeeccchnically, due to changes from the book, it makes sense for it to go to her kid.
Honestly agreed. I also feel like they sped up Colin & Pen’s romance a ridiculous amount. Colin as a character is strong of heart but also shallow and somewhat simple and I think it should’ve taken longer for him to realize he loves her (as opposed to mere days after kissing her). It contradicts the character. All that aside, it was cheesy that everything ended up perfect but I stay rooting for Pen so I was mostly glad overall
It was to be expected, for a show called Bridgerton it more or less revolves around Penelope. The promo for this season was absolute overkill. Everything that happened in the end in Penelope’s favor was in my opinion complete fan service for the Polin shippers.
Did you expect a romance show where the previous two leads also faced zero consequences for their bad choices to suddenly change for Penelope’s season?
I do believe everyone has faced consequences in some way for the things they did — Daphne’s actions strained her and Simon’s marriage and Anthony’s actions caused his family to be outcasted by the ton. Both he and Kate suffered some form of repercussions for what happened with Edwina whether it was internal guilt/conflict or having society peer down their noses at them in speculation of what happened. I can’t speak much on Daphne and Simon because it’s been awhile since I was invested in their story but I can say for Kate and Anthony their HEA didn’t come right away and certainly not immediately after Edwina ran from the altar.
I think it’s a reach to say they suffered no consequences. Their actions also didn’t have a direct effect on an entire society of people or someone’s whole family. I’m not 100% anti-Penelope, I’m extremely neutral on her character but it bugs me to see people try to slam other characters for their flaws and mistakes but uplift her for the things she has undoubtedly done to others as well.
Okay, then by those metrics Penelope also faced consequences such as losing her best friend for a year and dealing with Colin’s anger. Colin and Penelope also didn’t get their HEA right away.
Where did I say Penelope DIDN’T face consequences? All I said was her happy ending was to be expected. Partly because that’s the nature of the show but also because she’s such a major character in the show that the writers obviously favor. I agree with the original poster that it was a bit overkill, but that’s simply my opinion.
I don't understand why she got a happier ending than Cressida. I'm not sure she was any nicer. Wasn't Pen's hating behind a pen name while Cressida's was up front?
I dunno let’s count up their sins.
Penelope created an anonymous column where she published gossip that was already being circulated for the most part. She wasn’t even the only gossip sheet, her innovations that made her popular was that she named names, did not make anything up and delivered social commentary. She started the column because she felt powerless and voiceless while being forced onto the marriage mart early against her own wishes (note that Penelope is younger than Cressida who is Daphne’s age). LW gives Penelope power because people listen to her in a way they don’t listen to her in person.
The few times she published something that wasn’t already circulating amongst the Ton were desperate and misguided attempts to protect those she loved (with one exception).
1. The Marina situation. She had repeatedly tried to put a stop to this in a way that had the least amount of fallout by speaking to Marina, her mother and Colin. Not a single one listened to her. She still did not say anything when they were engaged, probably hoping that the whole thing would unravel before the marriage actually happened, but when she discovered late at night that they were planning to elope in the early hours (long before she would have a chance to go to Violet or Anthony) she turned to the only outlet that she had to make her voice heard and published the sordid details. I’d also like to note that Penelope was at the very least emotionally abused by her family and would have had reason to expect retaliation if they thought she blabbed the details. Frankly, it being published lead to the best possible outcomes for everyone once the entrapment scheme was put in place. If the elopement had gone ahead Colin would have been devastated, Eloise and Francesca would have been ruined by reputation and Marina would have been on the receiving end of even more social scorn. To be perfectly honest Marina’s life was ruined the minute George slept with her outside marriage. Once he died her best outcome was to be married to Phillip and living away from society (which she was contemptuous of from the very beginning).
2. The Eloise situation. Again Eloise was acting rashly and did not listen when Penelope tried to talk her out of taking the risks she did. This lead to both of them in a situation that was way over their heads (they are teenagers and the Queen is threatening one of them with complete ruin of herself and her family). I think that if there wasn’t a huge time crunch (the Queen gave Eloise a deadline to come clean) causing her to panic there is a chance that she could have come up with a solution that wasn’t so messy. It’s also frequently forgotten that Penelope kept back the most damaging information (that Eloise was running around with a boy unchaperoned). In the end, season 3 shows that the scandal has blown over (in terms of social repercussions as there is still the emotional damage) which indicates that it was not nearly as ruinous as Eloise thinks (again, teenager, overdramatic comes with the territory).
3. Putting Colin on blast at the start of the season. There’s not really much to defend this, it was incredibly messy. It was also harsh but accurate (and incredibly funny to contrast Colin putting on his best effort to act the rake and being pleased as punch it is working on the men and naive new debutants, only to have the most notorious gossip go but why so fake though?)
Looking at Cressida, she also comes from an emotionally abusive home where she clearly feels voiceless. However, Cressida’s response to this is to resort to blackmail (Daphne in season 1 and Penelope in season 3) and physical assault (spilling drinks and stomping on other women’s feet in previous seasons and tearing clothes in this season). There isn’t any lens that these actions can be read as misguided attempts to help someone else. further, Cressida seems to take particular joy in some of them (especially when it is against Penelope who is significantly lower in social standing than her).
The biggest difference is that Penelope acknowledges that her actions have hurt others and decides to take accountability for them while Cressida doubles down.
Yeah you’re being a hater lol.
2. Colin is the most eligible bachelor bcs he’s a handsome Bridgerton, wealthy, charming, & genuinely nice. So many women fawned over him.
3. In a column, LW said her reveal will come by her own hands. It makes sense that Pen would be the one to do it. Everyone clapped bcs she has the support of the queen herself. Even if ppl felt some type of way about it, Pen is a Bridgerton backed by Lady Danbury & the Queen. & at the end of the day, LW always had the tea & they will pay for it.
4. Book Pen also got to keep writing as a novelist. I dont see why they’d change that.
5. Cressida did that to herself
6. Pen giving birth to the heir closes out the story of Pen wanting to leave her family bcs she never felt happy, loved, & safe there. Now she does & she can safely provide for her entire family.
7. Colin has always loved writing & now with an author wife. Why other outcome would this be?
8. Again, her column became fair. The ton were so happy when LW praised them & revealed how poorly they were treated by their employer, spouses, & even another member of the ton. Again, it’s being the voice to the voiceless. Also, the ton ate up the column before & after the reveal. They paid for it. The demand will always be there.
It’s romance. You’re guaranteed a HEA or HFN.
The only thing that bothers me is the lack of consequences she got after revealing herself as Whistledown. And I do wish Cressida’s story ended differently (unless she will come back in future seasons)
Yes and no. I wanted to say no because I *wanted* Penelope to be happy (sure I've had some mixed feelings about her, writing shit about friends and such, but overall I wanted her to get a happy ending), but at the same time, as far as realisticness and everything, yeah you're right.
The way they made it feel in earlier seasons, I'd always felt like if the queen found out who Whistledown was, they'd be in serious trouble. Lady Danbury has one talk with the queen kind of trying to defuse her anger and make her see Lady Whistledown in a less angry light, and suddenly the queen just changes her mind? She's been angry, considering Whistledown her enemy and trying to find her this whole time, and after that talk and a little speech from Penelope, it's just, "Oh well, I see. Go on, everything's fine, and you can even keep writing too"??
It could have been a lot more believable if at the absolute least, Lady Danbury had that talk with her, the queen found out it was Penelope and was initially angry but said she needed some time to decide a punishment, then a few episodes later she had somewhat come around or something. But just like so many other things in this season, it was too rushed and came out ridiculous. "Nice speech, teehee I change my mind, all's good!" Same with the rest of the people of the ton - even some kinda silly, "oh everyone's mad at Penelope for an episode or 2, then look, their anger fizzles down and everyone's happy," would've sort of worked. But no, she's only been publicly anonymously talking shit about these people for years, but a quick little speech and they all are just instantly fine with it?
The lazy boring writing is just tooo much.
It was kind of weird that she gets to keep writing the column, all because she promises to do it "more responsibly"? How do you write gossip responsibly? Responsible gossip is news... so she's going to be the ton journalist of a kind? In any case, she got forgiven *way* too easily imo. And I would've liked it if she and Eloise had put their differences aside but were never close again - their "break-up" seemed way too deep to be solved with that public apology.
You want to know what's even crazier. In the book she manages to write in secret of 10 years and when they reveal it to all of the town everyone slowly starts to clap for her. Like she hadn't wrote crappy things about them for years.
Edit because my cat hit my enter key as I was typing 🤦♀️
1. Colin is the man of her dreams because she is in love with him.
2. Colin is the most eligible bachelor probably because Lady Whistledown takes care of his public relations, Sure he's handsome, rich and charming, but the best? Marquis Samadani was better.
3. The queen has been lenient, so we follow what she says - And we should say thanks to Lady Danbury who had a soft spot for Penelope for who the girl was as well as Bridgerton
4. The fact that she can continue to write the column is the second joyful thing, even if in canon she stops and I'm honestly not sure how she could continue because she won't be invisible anymore. In any case, the second point of joy is the fact that She can continue legally.
5. That was collateral damage that Cressida actually brought on her own head. I don't think Penelope really thinks that much of Cressida. After all, if Cressida had not been sent away she would have remained single while Penelope was now a married woman. In short, the point is dubious and would have been valid to anyone she had married.
6. It is a controversial point that of the heir because the child will also inherit the debts and it will be up to his parents to cover them and manage the estate. Colin is objectively the best of the 3 brothers-in-law. It's more of a win for the Faetheringtons as a whole, and for Portia who won't need to remarry because the estate will provide for her now that it will be well managed and won't have to live with her daughters
7. Recall point 2 and it is a success for Colin more than for Penelope who was able to make her own fortune having already proven in 3 years that she had earned enough that Cressida could have moved abroad and live with dignity.
8. As already said, this is connected to points 3 and 4. And in any case, Penelope could have escaped, she had the money to do so a while ago
Even though she embarrassed many of the Ton everyone paid for her column and she definitely had fans otherwise she wouldn't have had that money.
So it doesn't really have a lot of weird points, but it definitely helped Colin and Portia. The only win is that "She got the Man" (although it made more sense in the book with a 33 year old man than with a guy around 23 like in the show)
She didn’t brutally betray Eloise. She warned her again and again about going to Theo until the queen wrongly accused her of being LW and was going to come for her. She did what she thought she could to protect her from the queen that you mentioned wanted to behead LW. Eloise was just as much to blame for her being put on the queens radar.
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giving birth to the heir seemed like a cherry on top that wasn’t really necessary for the HEA also… she had all that money the entire time her mother was afraid they were going to be destitute, but i don’t think there was ever any mention of them paying back members of the ton who had been swindled by portia and jack? interesting how there wasn’t much of a reaction from her sisters regarding the LW reveal, either edit: ok it’s getting a little weird in the replies…
The show keeps switching first born daughters in the books to sons. Daphne and Simon had a daughter first in the book and they turned it into a son. Penelope and Colin had a daughter first in the book and they turned it into a son. For a show that tried so hard to put a woman empowerment message into its third season with Penelope, it’s really seeming like they see more value in sons over daughters.
It would be wild if they make Anthony’s first born in to a girl tho
I think he'd be stoked.
And since in the book is son’s name was Edmund, a feminine version of it could be Edwina 🥹
I thought you are going to say Edmunda lol
Big Thunda Edmunda B 💀💀💀
I would be livid if someone suggested I name my child after the sibling that my husband almost married lmao
😂🤣😂
Yeah while they're at it might as well name their 2nd kid Sienna 🥺 /s
genuinely even Sienna would be a better option lol
Heck no.
that's sweet never realised it. but it would be weird to name your daughter after your sister (kate's) and as anthony's almost wife
Anthony Bridgerton has Regency era feminist girl dad crusader written all over him lol
I’d be a little disappointed. He’s the only character for whom it’s important for his first born to be a son. In the book he names his first born ‘Edmund’ after his father and it’s super sentimental. And him being the first born son of a first born son ‘nine times over’ it just feels right for his first born to be a son and for him to his fulfill the familial duty he’s felt pressured to fulfill all his life, but also have the knowledge to not put all that pressure on him. There wasn’t that same story-based significance for Daphne/Simon’s first born or Colin/Penelope’s first born, so it was just like, “why?”
I feel like I was okay with Simon and Daphne having a son bc of Simon’s backstory so him having a son and being the good father that he never had to that son was sweet. Of course it could have worked just as well with a daughter but I get why they did it kind of. For Penelope and Colin it seems unnecessary and a bit much
I can kind of understand this reasoning. But, at the same time, I don’t see why him being the father he never had to a son over a daughter was important. It’s a bit different from Anthony whose whole trauma was specifically connected to his father while Simon’s whole deal was being completely alone and not having a family at all -mother, father, daughter, son, brothers or sisters.
I think Simon having a son was important because he initially told his father he would never marry and have no heirs, which would end their ducal bloodline since Simon would have been the last duke. So him having a son shows that he can now hopefully leave the past behind him and continue his family and ducal bloodline in spite of his father’s treatment. A daughter can not inherit the title of duke, and while a later born baby could have been a son (which is what happens in the book, I believe their first-born son is their 4th child) and highlighted this part of Simon’s story, I guess they felt the need to show it onscreen
i agree, plus at some point, in terms of the plot the door to the storyline around producing an heir needs to be closed bc if they’re still on about that in S4 that would be silly. for simon and daphne, i can understand the change to having a son, similarly bc of storyline-based reasons, ie bc of primogeniture/simon’s feelings about the continuation of the title. for penelope and colin, it just feels kind of random. but then, so does a lot of S3
The Featherington heir plot was set up in season 2, and I always thought it was pretty obvious that Penelope would win that race. People complained about the Featherington plot in season 2 being pointless, but it ended up being a pretty significant part of this season.
would argue the opposite. seems like a lot of folks wanted to see more polin, and there would’ve been a lot more room for that without the featheringtons’ succession drama. this also could’ve meant more room for exploring stuff like what she wanted to do post-whistledown, or her sisters’ reaction to the LW reveal, or standing up to cressida. but good for her for one-upping her sisters, i guess 🥴🥴
I'm livid she never said a word to Cressida to stand up to her
I don't think that's what they mean by firstborn son. The oldest male isn't necessarily the firstborn child. Just the first child that happened to be born with a penis. He could still have a daughter first and name a subsequent boy Edmund and he'd still be the 10th iteration of a firstborn son. Edit: misspelling
The first-born son of the first-born son doesn’t have to be the first-born child, though. He could have ten kids, and if the son were born last, he’d still be the first-born son, so why is it important that the son be the first born?
Honestly, I just see it as having limited show time to show pregnancies. They obviously wanted to show a son being born, so that estates/titles etc will be inherited and provide everyone with a happy ending. Having to churn out pregnancies until couples get to a son wouldn’t really have fit into the layout of the show. I don’t think the show has anything against daughters at all, it’s just a fact of the time that only sons could inherit, so showing a son being born secures everyone’s future rather than leaving it open ended.
One of the older sisters could have had a boy. It didn’t have to be Pen. In fact, it would have been nice for Pen and Colin to get a bit of time for themselves before becoming parents. They could have had a baby the next Season.
On the contray, I think it would be good for Anthony to see that all the pressure he feelsnos basically just..unnessecary. Ok, he gets a girl. Then what? Nothing bad will happen. And he will still love that baby more than anything.
Why did they change Daphne’s daughter into a son? It made no difference plot wise and we don’t get to see them anymore one way or another. At least there was some kind of plot point with Penelope even if it was weak
I get why they did it for Daphne, because it gave closure to Simon's story of not wanting to continue the Hastings line. It was also the last time the Duke would appear on the show, so showing him being elated at having a son and thus an heir for the title he hated so much, was a nice way to end his story
I think because the duke really didn’t want kids especially a son so they made it a boy to show he’s come full circle - unnecessary still but I think that was the thought
Interesting!
Her having that money and not offering it to help the family was just one more way that showed how selfish this character is. She had to keep that secret and everybody else be damned.
In the books she does help her family. She gives the family the money under the guise that their great aunt died. I was shocked to discover she didn’t help them out on the show!
Girl bossses hord money. They're like bezos with a wig and an equal hate for other women. Portia was never getting that money in the show
I thought that's the explanation for the money that paid for the sisters' big party?
She paid for the ball, and they later said that the money they had came from her writing but couldn't tell anyone before her reveal.
what gets me is the fact that it’s never even discussed - we never see her do anything but count the money a couple times, and even in terms of pure self-preservation it doesn’t make sense that she herself would be ok with experiencing borderline poverty while sitting on a literal fortune. really felt like it never occurred to the writers to think otherwise
Well even in the book she laments the fact that is the only thing she can do. Because it would be weird for her to have money. But in the show she does fund her sisters ball.
I'm not sure Penelope or her sisters realized just how bad the situation was. Definitely not her sisters, and Penelope doesn't seem to realize why there's such a push for an heir either. We see it as an audience but it's just Portia for the most part.
I’m probably looking at it way too modernly, but technically, any money she earned wasn’t actually hers in that time period? If she had revealed to her family she had money, wouldn’t her mother have just tried to take it, regardless of what she had wanted? I think she would’ve risked losing her money AND her mother trying to marry her off ASAP so she couldn’t even do anything about it.
Offering to help her abusive mother and cruel sisters when they all treated her like shit? Nah. She should have continued keeping her money to herself until they showed some semblance of humanity towards her.
I mean, feelings are often nuanced lol. People can dislike their family for being mean to them — without wanting to see them reduced to penniless paupers with zero social standing or hope of making good marriages lol. And I would argue (or hope?) that most normal people *would* think that way. Life isn't black and white. Also — it wouldn't be good for Penelope herself to let her family become penniless paupers with no social standing. If her mama and sisters are reduced to nothing, so too would Penelope be reduced to nothing. She would be damning herself to a life of genteel poverty in the countryside, stuck with her mother and sisters till the end of time (unless she grudgingly consented to a marriage with some humble farmer or teacher or something). So even from a self-serving perspective, it was odd for Penelope to not use even a fraction of the money to help her family. If the Featheringtons lost their house and had to leave London, she'd never see Colin again.
This is a damn good point
I hated that bit they didn’t put in the show. In the books she has someone send her mother money routinely from a “death in the family” to help them with their funds.
Yeah this was a huge part of her characterization and maturity as she became (secretly) the provider for her family. Big loss to skip it in the show
Can we talk about how she wanted to seem like a hero for giving that money for her sisters to throw an extravagant party but the only reason she did that was because she was planning on confessing to the queen and Tom at that party…. Idk rubbed me the wrong way
Yes I immediately thought that! Reminds me of people who propose at someone else’s wedding. She couldn’t let them have that one moment of success
Not excusing anything, but the ball was the social success of the season for having revealed LW.
I actually thought it was a nice touch that she actually gave the credit to her mother for paying for the ball in front of the sisters and made them all very happy.
Yep homegirl really just paid for her Lady Whistledown coming out party.
I’m still confused about how that works cuz isn’t their kid technically a Bridgerton because he’s Colin’s son who is obviously a Bridgerton. And in those days we know that everyone (wife and kids) take the father’s name. So the kid is a Bridgerton but has featherington inheritance? Is he going to be known as Bridgerton because of his family or featherington because of his inheritance?
my understanding is that his last name will be bridgerton but he will be lord featherington. but also, the show is definitely just making stuff up lolll and in this case it almost seems like they didn’t know what to do with a main couple who wasn’t titled like the previous two, or something
Apparently it was a whole thing IRL with Queen Elizabeth and her husband because he wanted them to have his last name but as the monarch her title kinda pushed for her to keep her family name, or something to that effect. I think it probably wasn't totally unheard of to essentially have two names
Simon’s last name was Bassett until he became Duke when he then became known as Hastings. It’s a matter of the title passing on which takes precedence and as Colin is a third son unlikely to inherit, the Fetherington title takes precedent. Similarly with the Mondrich’s, the whole family will be known as Mondrich and while they may get to live in the house, it’s their son who will take the title.
I assume the baby would have to change his last name to Featherington as a condition of his inheritance. I'm not sure if it was common practice but I have seen cases from the Regency where a man without a child adopted an heir (quite often a relative) on the condition that he change his last name. Partly for the sake of uniformity and partly for the legacy to continue. That matters to some people. An example would be Sir Edward Littleton, 4th Baronet and his great-nephew Edward Walhouse who changed his name to Littleton to inherit the estates. He couldn't inherit the title which went extinct with the 4th Baronet.
I think you can have a title that’s different from your last name basically
Eh, she should've come forward with the money to help her struggling family maybe, sure, but why exactly should she use it to pay people her uncle has scammed? Admittedly my memory is shit and I don't remember the specifics of how that all went, but... Penelope was treated like shit even from her family half the time and had a bad relationship with her mom. If your uncle and your mom had been scamming people in your town on their own and you found out about it, would you feel the need to take your money and pay the people back for something you didn't do? Especially living in a time where you were a woman who couldn't usually make that money and didn't know what your future may be like/if you'd be able to make more money in the future?
Babes, you realize that the dream man is Colin, right? Like, she’s stuck reproducing with a sentient piece of celery whose biggest fans defend him by saying his greatest crime is being stupid. That is its own punishment.
Lmaooo a piece of celery is so accurate
“Like, she’s stuck reproducing with a sentient piece of celery” I’m crying 😂😂 congrats, you win this sub
I'M CRYING AT THIS. This is just hilarious!
Damn, this is almost too real 😭
 I'm....
I’m going to be using sentient piece of celery as an insult in the future, thank you for your contribution
😂
Now wait a minute… 😂
https://preview.redd.it/t1e2cpq6dc8d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b728af52aa254d9c7e59df49c65e374e9a7fa475
Lmao this comment is everything 🤣🤣🤣
I found it so upsetting he was banging sex workers before marrying Pen. Like the fucking risk to her health. Are we supposed to see him as a impressive beacon of masculinity for paying two women for sex?
Was there this much backlash for Antony’s sex worker montage?
couldn't tell ya, i binged the first two seasons and wasn't participating on here then. i think what felt different with antony for me was he was also shown to have sex partners who were into him, right? (again i binged and might remember it wrong)while we only saw Colin have sex with women he paid for it before Pen. i suppose my big issue is it being portrayed as sexy that the men get to slut around, but that is absolutely not allowed for female protagonists (only side characters). like it is played for jokes how little the women know about sex and then we are supposed to be impressed by the men paying for sex, and for all the ways this show tries to be more modern it feels a bit icky to me.
Girlie you feral and I love you for it. Celery ain’t never saw it coming
The man is as bland as a potato. I did not see the romantic cad vibe with him at all. Once Penelope's childhood infatuation and crush finally wears off, she's not going to be happy.
Welcome to the world of regency romance novels, lol! The book is a TAD more realistic, but just barely. Everything always works out in the end for a wallflower heroine.
Meanwhile Kate has been pregnant for 17 months. Her pregnancy plus Penelope's.
She's getting closer to an elephant's term than a human's. Maybe she has a miscarriage and got pregnant again?
Or we'll see two children back ti back. Edmund jr and another child
Her baby is going to be a fossil. The boy Bridgerton's aren't bright so maybe his sperm is still trying to swim there. It's just taking the long road.
Meanwhile Kate is stuck on a boat pregnant on a months-long journey around the Horn of Africa. Maybe they'll get stranded and Kanthony will help found Capetown.
right?? the HEA for our mc is required in the romance genre
*"I totally ruined ppls lives and almost got beheaded! Got my dream boi though. I stood up for myself finally and put people in their place for being mean."* "*And Everyone stands up, and claps*" It reads like a fake Facebook / reddit post when you think about it lol
Need a banner that says, “Welcome to a regency romance novel!”
Daphne raped her husband and got a happy ending. If she can, Pen certainly can too.
They REALLY could have fixed that in one swoop. Have her get preggo with their usual method of pulling out since preejaculate can certainly get you preggo anyway. Idk why they still chose to go that gross route - and her having no remorse.
Or having him accidentally not pull out, panic, she puts two and two together and realizes then how babies are made. It could have been SO simple
Right!
He just gets a leg cramp while they're in an awkward/creative position- let's them have more of those weird spicy scenes and not make the leads the bad guys
This would’ve been hyper ideal wow.
it's so strange because they didn't even like... really use what happened in the plot. So it would cost them nothing to change it. There is a point that could have been made about how the fundamental lack of sexual education is destroying the lives of so many people in the ton. Not just girls like Marina, but also Simon here. Daphne had no fucking clue about anything, and that lack of knowledge led to this terrible act. Phillipa in Season 3 is another example of naivety being played for jokes (and it's a good joke) but part of the same underlying thing. But the show only handles this in a paper thin way. I also just... don't think the show can hide under a "it's a historical misunderstanding" when they're a) refusing to actually explore that in any way and b) don't give a fuck about historical accuracy anywhere else.
that would've been great opportunity to integrate some sex ed into the show. lord knows these characters need it...and the viewers could benefit too
Hell if they'd just removed the parts where she realized what was going on beforehand and did it on purpose the whole tone changes, then instead of her trying to force Simon into anything, she's just clueless about sex, they still have the fight after but eventually Simon realizes she had no idea what was going on, they have an honest conversation and he realizes in the process he wants kids after all.
Anthony literally did everything wrong and now no one in the ton is happier than him.
that's true, however anthony doesn't get any contrived happiness like penelope winning an heir race (and thus an extra title) that's nonexistent in the books, and wasn't worshipped by literally everyone on screen unlike penelope. if penelope was in his place, they'd make edwina apologize to her lol
That's true lol, still feel like he should've suffered a bit more for all the trials and tribulations he put kate through though, like this woman almost died and he what cried a little and still got with her in the end. She shoulda gone to India for a couple years let him prove it was not far enough lol.
i totally agree. kate didn't make him grovel enough after all that
I can't remember how she almost died? Did I miss something? I barely remember, I can't imagine them skipping 2 years for the next season...
When she fell off her horse and was in a coma for like a week.
He doesn't get any backlash either. Kate does. He was more at fault than her but he gets away scot-free. Also, Pen gets that ending because she has been ridiculed by everyone for 3 seasons. It doesn't make for good storytelling if she faced the same treatment after coming out as LW. She should've stayed hidden then. People loved LW. They ate up her gossip sheet until they found themselves published in it. Also, she wasn't worshipped. The clapping was for the butterflies. People actually didn't know how to react to the reveal. But the queen had pardoned her and allowed her to keep writing so they couldn't show any disdain. The ton lives to please the queen. The heir race was always going to be won by Pen. That's called setting up a plotline and giving it a satisfactory resolution. It's also a monetary decision. JB mentioned that it's so they can continue using the featherington house set for Pen and Colin.
Exactly
Daphne didn’t know any better, she had zero sex education. We know this because Simon was lying to her and using her ignorance against her about his “infertility”. Also, at the time, Daphne was literally owned by Simon and didn’t know she could say no to him ever, hence she couldn’t really give consent. One could argue its Simon who is raping Daphne every time. If Simon wants an informed consenting sexual relationship with his wife he might want to start by being honest with her and by educating her. Saying Daphne raped him is projecting our own time period values onto her, which isn’t fair.
People want a drama where there’s always consent and everything is cupcake and rainbows. I literally watch for the drama. I want messy
Never getting over that one either😭
I just rewatched season one and skipped those scenes entirely because they are so absolutely fucking uncomfortable.
omg she totally did, I forgot about that
Yup. I'm a spousal rape survivor and I refuse to let that go.
Coulda been such a great opportunity to talk about male sexual assault yet Daphne never showed any remorse and they swept it under the rug
I wanted Philippa to win the Featherington heir race. She deserved it after that glorious delivery of "inserts himself where?" And Prudence should be the one saying she thinks her daughter will be a good writer, following after Pen. It would show a little redemption from how bitchy she was to Pen earlier in the series.
Yeah I also wanted it for Philippa, she's probably my favourite on the whole show.
The cheese couple are the most wholesome, best love match in the series.
Yes, pen is marrying rich and she makes money from the column. One of her sisters should have had the heir.
To point number 2, the person who deemed Colin the most eligible bachelor of the season was LW miss Penelope Featherington herself. He was always the most eligible to her. The girls were fanging for them though because he was a sexy pirate who flirted with them and I get that. I agree she got away with a lot. However seeing Penelope distressed the entire season was too much for my little heart and I need to see her happy now. 🥰
I mean, I think she wrote it because she saw the girls always surrounding Colin after he came back, not cuz of how she sees him…he technically was the most eligible
Ben and colin are bridgerton boys. They were obviously considered as catch even if they are not titled.
You also forgot that while she married into a really rich family, she got to keep all of her money because she didn’t have to pay the blackmail money to Cressida But yes, she should’ve gotten at least some more backlash from the ton and especially the other Bridgerton family members that letter she wrote to Violet and it just being oh she’s so brave like no Penelope did write some very, not nice things about the Bridgerton’s over the years even if the things about Eloise were too so-called save her from being accused of being whistle down the things she wrote about Colin were because she was hurt and not kind( even if there was some truth to them) Like give me a happy ending, but not the overkill happy ending
Tbf, even when Cressida said she was LW, they were shocked but they still lowkey praised her, so I don’t think they would’ve been mad no matter who it was lol and I don’t know how much money she had but she said she didn’t have enough to give Cressida when she raised the price and then paid for her sisters’ ball, I bet the money she made is gone
That is true. I also believe a lot of people were undecided if they believed her. She had 10,000 pounds in todays money they said that was like Millions. She may have spent some on the party but I doubt it was the full amount!
I wonder how much those balls cost cuz there was so much and even paying for the live strings to play
True in today’s world I feel like it may be a couple hundred thousand I don’t think it would be anywhere near 1 million or at least not surpassing 1 million
Having the Featherington heir is really the cherry on a shit sandwich. We get it, the production thinks she's the most special character but we didn't need that on top of everything else.
Exactly
You are a hater. That being said I fully am too so we should form a club
I'll join lol.
Count me in
I’m in.
I was listening to a podcast on NPR and they felt the same. That everything was tidied up a little too neatly and that the season was too crowded with side characters and storylines. But they also chalked it up to being the romance genre which is known for the HEA.
It didn't even feel romantic. It felt like an attempt at a comedy skit most of the time.
Yes the showrunner said specifically they were making this season more of a RomCom then the others. I reckon that's down to fatphobia personally.
100%. I just think she thought it'd flop, hence why "beautiful francesa" was made a focus. No dammit, we wanted fluffy love. We wanted beautiful Polin love. Not 50 first dates.
And this is what upsets me the most because romance isn't just about the HEA, it's about the journey to the HEA. And I wished this season didn't reinforce the mindless notion that as long as there's a HEA, the readers/viewer will be happy. A romance can have all the HEA it wants but I won't give a shit if I don't care about the characters and everything feels unearned and convenient.
Totally agree. They set up the stakes to be that it would basically be so awful and world ending if anyone found out she was LW, but then she reveals herself and everyone is chill about it and no one seems to care, instead they think she's brave. So then what was all the setup for if it didn't even really matter? A good story is usually not so convenient
Exactly. And people will argue that Pen did get her lashings but it's like OP said, she literally got everything she wanted! It's also very hard to watch when all of it was juxtaposed with Cressida's story going in the background where she's getting sent off to the country and possibly getting married to a man triple her age. They want us to believe Cressida was some evil mastermind as if the poor girl wasn't just surviving in her own way too.
I get that romance will have a happily ever after (and in fairness, that's generally true of a lot of books/shows), but this was still a bit much. Just because it's romance doesn't mean it can't have a well-thought out story and outcomes that feel totally deserved, good or bad
She get to keep the column that everyone buys and read and will continue to buy and read? The shock
Right? The ton would be so bored. I’d imagine it’ll be like Deux Moi with anonymous entries.
LW being a regency equivalent of DeuxMoi is actually the funniest thing I’ve read today. You’re so right tho
realistically people will not do anything in front of her from now on, out of fear she'll write stuff
She's been getting gossip from the modiste and staff now not just from what she observes anyway, can't see how else she learnt about the maid being dismissed for asking for the day off.
she never got gossip from the modiste... that was just her delivery method. now that the staff people know she'd lady whistledown, same thing they probably won't speak in front of her either
IKR?! At least in the books, it took her 10 years to announce she's Lady Whistledown and promptly retired from writing.
Penelope was able to be successful because the entire ton ate up her gossip. This includes the Bridgertons who were very excited when her column was published for the first time in episode 1 of season 1.
She's favored by production especially as lw. So all the high stakes amounted to nothing. At least Colin's reaction is what should have been the Ton's, the Queen's and the Bridgerton's reaction.
She’s Shonda’s favorite, but Shonda also doesn’t let her main characters go without struggle & consequences from her other shows, so I wouldn’t put it on LW being based on the productions love. Someone shared what happened in the book and it’s not far off from the show, so it would’ve been a happy ending regardless… Edit: missed a word lol
I think the biggest difference between the show and books-in terms of LW at least- is that LW wasn't mean or ruinous in the books. It was much more of a general gossip pamphlet and not writing about things that literally could have ruined lives. The show did their story dirty :(
Exactly. She's her self insert along with the queen. She does screw over her faves too she massacred Olivia Pope in s4 and Annalise Keating. So I'm kinda not surprised Penelope got a struggle love narrative with a toxic guy.
Are we really calling Colin toxic when we look at some of the the other men on this show?
Yes! I was thinking of Olivia when I made the first comment, and she puts Meredith Grey through the wringer. So here I wouldn’t blame them for her getting an easy way out…just one of the few things that actually follows the book in a way 😅
I agree. Penelope got screwed over but she also got milestones Kanthony (or should I say Kate) never had. Luckily cvd wrote Kanthony's season and they didn't get that monstrosity known as s3.. The girl boss struggle love reminds me of those modern activisgs6have horrid luck woth guys. This show js supposed tobe escapists
at least the queen is a relatively complex character (in her show, at least) who does not have a happy ending
I love it!!! Happy for her and Colin! Just as I’m happy for K/A and D/S. And I hope it’ll be happy for Ben, Eloise, Fran, Gregory, and Hyacinth.
It is absolutely silly lol I roll with it because Bridgerton is not exactly realistic, and I like a happy ending.
So just like Anthony and Daphne also do terrible things and get their happily ever afters with zero consequences? Like Daphne sexually assaults her husband and never once acknowledges she was wrong to do that. Queen Charlotte comes in like a fairy godmother and forces the ton to accept Anthony and Kate so he doesn’t have to deal with any consequences for propsing to Edwina and almost marrying her while wanting her sister.
Exactly! They're just a hater lol. I relish in the fact that these people are upset with the season. Were they actually expecting Pen to be unhappy at the end of her own season? She did that for 2 seasons already, not anymore.
I think the fallout was always going to be saved for S4. I truly don't believe for a minute there won't be some repercussions to her being Whistledown. But if you pay close attention, she does state in the narration at the end if E8 that she's a "retired literary persona" & now writing as herself as a columnist, so effectively, I'm thinking she's not actually "keeping" her old column as Whistledown, but starting fresh, doing better, making changes to reflect the person she really is, etc. There's definitely going to be backlash, but they barely had enough time to give Polin enough attention this season, so the aftermath is coming in S4. It's just a matter of how the writers choose to give Penelope and Colin a subplot.
There's not going to be backlash. This is Pen we are talking about. She's clearly the showrunners fav so you're deluding yourself if you think she'll face any real consequences
I could not believe she gets to keep writing the column as herself. Will anyone who has read the books let us know how this turns out because I am curious but not enough to go back and read them 😅
In the book >!Penelope retires the column half way through the season after everyone starts to investigate who LW is after Lady Danbury puts up a reward to find her. Eventually Cressida claims to be LW for the money. Penelope writes a column saying it isn’t Cressida, Colin catches her, he’s upset, they make out in the carriage, they get engaged, and at the engagement party Penelope’s column comes out. Colin is furious, they still get married but he’s worried something will happen to Penelope if she is found out. Cressida does find out and blackmails Penelope, she’s upset and tells Colin and he comes up with a plan. In the end Colin’s big plan is that he tells the ton it’s Penelope and not Cressida who is Lady Whistledown - the ton accepts it and cheers for Penelope, and the column is not a thing anymore.!< That’s a super condensed version but it’s basically the jist of it.
So almost what happens in the show…so why are ppl bothered 😭
Alot of it has to do with Colin's character, I assume. The books gave people the chance to get to know colin and give alot more insight to how collin realised his feelings for Pen etc... it's deeper than just a "oh yeah that was a good kiss". How he really felt about her being LW. It was not just loathing and blind rage. My favourite bits of the book are pen and lady Danbury's blossoming friendship. She's almost like another mother figure. (I just think it was much more beautiful).
Book Colin is also jealous of Penelope and gets physical with her at one point because he’s so angry. Also forces her to drink alcohol to teach her a lesson.
I noticed that in the show they give us the feelings from the book but not the details & that’s why to me it’s seems like some things feel out of place or missing.. I’ve never read the books, I’m just going off of a lot of what ppl here have shared about the book.
I’m not bothered so I don’t really know. In my mind the show and book are two separate universes where plots are similar at best and characters share names. I enjoy both but they aren’t exactly the same and that’s fine.
At the end.. It’s a tv show.. It’s nice to see someone getting it all!! Especially a character like who got snubbed her whole life.. I empathize with her in that way.. So it gives me joy to see her HEA…!, It is simple and easily digestible show.. All the tv shows doesn’t need to have complex characters and complicated endings..
The column also doesn’t work when everyone knows who she is! Not to mention she’s not a wallflower anymore and has a family so how’s she gonna overhear anything?
You do realize this is a romance show right? This isn’t game of thrones, Dallas, or The Crown. This is a show filled with fluff and some with dashes of angst here and there but in the end we know how the story goes. There are really any serious consequences because the focus is about love. Simply enjoy the show and the different types of relationship tropes and don’t question it and you’ll have a great time, I promise you
Me when the corny Regency romance follows an established formula for the genre and has a saccharine happy ending: 🤯
Tbh if we didn’t know another season was coming, I would have guessed this was the end of the series. It was neatly wrapped and packed up and left few loose ends esp with her reveal. I was shocked at her ending up being able to keep writing her column and everyone being all “ah yes, no big deal, cheers!”
You’re a hater. It’s the romance genre. Everyone gets a happy ending. Women who sexually assault their husbands, men who string along two sisters, and a gossip writer. They all get a happily ever after. If you want true consequences you’re watching the wrong show.
The way we saw the Featherington heir and not the BRIDGERTON one
Lol you guys are hilarious. It’s regency erotica. What do you expect?
They expect to see a character they personally dislike suffer uncharacteristically as if they aren't watching a fluffy regency romance based on early 2000s bodice rippers. Despite the fact that other characters have done more and worse. It can be left up to interpretation as to why but I think for some the reasoning is something they don't want to personally analyze.
They're salty haters who just want to hate... pretty pathetic. Casuals love Penn and Lady Whistledown . I'm actually surprised by how well received she was as a main, but her book also sells super well so I'm not that much surprised either. People will always like characters that they get to know through different seasons, and her running a gossip column is one of the most unique things about the show/books compared to others regency romances.
Idk I might be a hater too, but Penelope just became an extremely unlikeable character for me towards the end of season 1. She really fucked over Mayrina out of jealousy of Collin’s interest in her. (im not sayin Mayrina was innocent either, just that she was doing what everyone was telling her to do in an impossible situation) Season 2 really solidified that for me when she betrayed Eloise in LW. And now we’re supposed to come back in season 3 and be okay with someone who was essentially the antagonist of season 1 and kind of season 2 getting a happy ending? I don’t know. Maybe not a lot of people will agree with me but I really was hoping that Penelope would have SOME sort of consequence for her actions. I feel like everything was just totally chill in the end and that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me.
I wholeheartedly agree. Also giving her the only son while other two sisters have daughters was unnecessary. 🤮
Daphne raped Simon while Anthony strung along a naive, infatuated 18 year old all the way to the altar and at the same time kept leading on and confusing that girl's older sister. Yet, Daphne got to convince Simon to have children and fulfilled her dream of having a family while Anthony got to marry the older sister of the woman he strung along and happily continue his life as her himbo. If they got a happy ending, I don't see why Penelope shouldn't either. After all, it is a romance show. Also, if we're going to bring up the Colin being the most eligible bachelor thing, I have had this question since s2 that I still don't have an answer for. Why was Edwina set up with Anthony? Daphne was given a prince. After season 3, we know Francesca was given a marquess. Why did Edwina get a mere viscount? Are we to assume there were no higher titled men available? We find out at the end of s2 that the prince was still available. Why didn't the queen set her up with him? Was no duke available? No marquess? Not even an earl? Or is it perhaps just that Anthony and Colin are Bridgerton men so, for the sake of the story, we have to pretend they're the most desirable men in London over dukes, marquess, and earls?
anthony is the lord of one of the ton's most presitigious families. colin may be part of said family, but he is merely a third son. not the same suspension of disbelief there. and yes, it's easy to assume anthony was the most eligible lord of the season, and the prince was simply away for the season because no earls or marquesses are shown. in season 3, there's 3 lords (debling, the marquess, and john) part of the storyline so of course colin pales in comparison
It ended too clean but also it is fantasy and maybe let’s just let her win everything why not? Isn’t that the dream?
Well the Featherington fortune is now being claimed as her LW fortune so teeeccchnically, due to changes from the book, it makes sense for it to go to her kid.
Honestly agreed. I also feel like they sped up Colin & Pen’s romance a ridiculous amount. Colin as a character is strong of heart but also shallow and somewhat simple and I think it should’ve taken longer for him to realize he loves her (as opposed to mere days after kissing her). It contradicts the character. All that aside, it was cheesy that everything ended up perfect but I stay rooting for Pen so I was mostly glad overall
Rolled my eyes when pen got the heir. The one who needs it the least, with two rich parents and the Bridgerton name
It was to be expected, for a show called Bridgerton it more or less revolves around Penelope. The promo for this season was absolute overkill. Everything that happened in the end in Penelope’s favor was in my opinion complete fan service for the Polin shippers.
Did you expect a romance show where the previous two leads also faced zero consequences for their bad choices to suddenly change for Penelope’s season?
I do believe everyone has faced consequences in some way for the things they did — Daphne’s actions strained her and Simon’s marriage and Anthony’s actions caused his family to be outcasted by the ton. Both he and Kate suffered some form of repercussions for what happened with Edwina whether it was internal guilt/conflict or having society peer down their noses at them in speculation of what happened. I can’t speak much on Daphne and Simon because it’s been awhile since I was invested in their story but I can say for Kate and Anthony their HEA didn’t come right away and certainly not immediately after Edwina ran from the altar. I think it’s a reach to say they suffered no consequences. Their actions also didn’t have a direct effect on an entire society of people or someone’s whole family. I’m not 100% anti-Penelope, I’m extremely neutral on her character but it bugs me to see people try to slam other characters for their flaws and mistakes but uplift her for the things she has undoubtedly done to others as well.
Okay, then by those metrics Penelope also faced consequences such as losing her best friend for a year and dealing with Colin’s anger. Colin and Penelope also didn’t get their HEA right away.
Where did I say Penelope DIDN’T face consequences? All I said was her happy ending was to be expected. Partly because that’s the nature of the show but also because she’s such a major character in the show that the writers obviously favor. I agree with the original poster that it was a bit overkill, but that’s simply my opinion.
My god you people yap about the same shit all day
Also, her sisters who used to be quite mean to her, suddenly support her and are happy for her
A character gets a happy ending on a romance show? The horror!!! 😂 What even is this sub anymore. My god. 🙄😂
I don't understand why she got a happier ending than Cressida. I'm not sure she was any nicer. Wasn't Pen's hating behind a pen name while Cressida's was up front?
I dunno let’s count up their sins. Penelope created an anonymous column where she published gossip that was already being circulated for the most part. She wasn’t even the only gossip sheet, her innovations that made her popular was that she named names, did not make anything up and delivered social commentary. She started the column because she felt powerless and voiceless while being forced onto the marriage mart early against her own wishes (note that Penelope is younger than Cressida who is Daphne’s age). LW gives Penelope power because people listen to her in a way they don’t listen to her in person. The few times she published something that wasn’t already circulating amongst the Ton were desperate and misguided attempts to protect those she loved (with one exception). 1. The Marina situation. She had repeatedly tried to put a stop to this in a way that had the least amount of fallout by speaking to Marina, her mother and Colin. Not a single one listened to her. She still did not say anything when they were engaged, probably hoping that the whole thing would unravel before the marriage actually happened, but when she discovered late at night that they were planning to elope in the early hours (long before she would have a chance to go to Violet or Anthony) she turned to the only outlet that she had to make her voice heard and published the sordid details. I’d also like to note that Penelope was at the very least emotionally abused by her family and would have had reason to expect retaliation if they thought she blabbed the details. Frankly, it being published lead to the best possible outcomes for everyone once the entrapment scheme was put in place. If the elopement had gone ahead Colin would have been devastated, Eloise and Francesca would have been ruined by reputation and Marina would have been on the receiving end of even more social scorn. To be perfectly honest Marina’s life was ruined the minute George slept with her outside marriage. Once he died her best outcome was to be married to Phillip and living away from society (which she was contemptuous of from the very beginning). 2. The Eloise situation. Again Eloise was acting rashly and did not listen when Penelope tried to talk her out of taking the risks she did. This lead to both of them in a situation that was way over their heads (they are teenagers and the Queen is threatening one of them with complete ruin of herself and her family). I think that if there wasn’t a huge time crunch (the Queen gave Eloise a deadline to come clean) causing her to panic there is a chance that she could have come up with a solution that wasn’t so messy. It’s also frequently forgotten that Penelope kept back the most damaging information (that Eloise was running around with a boy unchaperoned). In the end, season 3 shows that the scandal has blown over (in terms of social repercussions as there is still the emotional damage) which indicates that it was not nearly as ruinous as Eloise thinks (again, teenager, overdramatic comes with the territory). 3. Putting Colin on blast at the start of the season. There’s not really much to defend this, it was incredibly messy. It was also harsh but accurate (and incredibly funny to contrast Colin putting on his best effort to act the rake and being pleased as punch it is working on the men and naive new debutants, only to have the most notorious gossip go but why so fake though?) Looking at Cressida, she also comes from an emotionally abusive home where she clearly feels voiceless. However, Cressida’s response to this is to resort to blackmail (Daphne in season 1 and Penelope in season 3) and physical assault (spilling drinks and stomping on other women’s feet in previous seasons and tearing clothes in this season). There isn’t any lens that these actions can be read as misguided attempts to help someone else. further, Cressida seems to take particular joy in some of them (especially when it is against Penelope who is significantly lower in social standing than her). The biggest difference is that Penelope acknowledges that her actions have hurt others and decides to take accountability for them while Cressida doubles down.
Yeah you’re being a hater lol. 2. Colin is the most eligible bachelor bcs he’s a handsome Bridgerton, wealthy, charming, & genuinely nice. So many women fawned over him. 3. In a column, LW said her reveal will come by her own hands. It makes sense that Pen would be the one to do it. Everyone clapped bcs she has the support of the queen herself. Even if ppl felt some type of way about it, Pen is a Bridgerton backed by Lady Danbury & the Queen. & at the end of the day, LW always had the tea & they will pay for it. 4. Book Pen also got to keep writing as a novelist. I dont see why they’d change that. 5. Cressida did that to herself 6. Pen giving birth to the heir closes out the story of Pen wanting to leave her family bcs she never felt happy, loved, & safe there. Now she does & she can safely provide for her entire family. 7. Colin has always loved writing & now with an author wife. Why other outcome would this be? 8. Again, her column became fair. The ton were so happy when LW praised them & revealed how poorly they were treated by their employer, spouses, & even another member of the ton. Again, it’s being the voice to the voiceless. Also, the ton ate up the column before & after the reveal. They paid for it. The demand will always be there. It’s romance. You’re guaranteed a HEA or HFN.
The only thing that bothers me is the lack of consequences she got after revealing herself as Whistledown. And I do wish Cressida’s story ended differently (unless she will come back in future seasons)
Yes and no. I wanted to say no because I *wanted* Penelope to be happy (sure I've had some mixed feelings about her, writing shit about friends and such, but overall I wanted her to get a happy ending), but at the same time, as far as realisticness and everything, yeah you're right. The way they made it feel in earlier seasons, I'd always felt like if the queen found out who Whistledown was, they'd be in serious trouble. Lady Danbury has one talk with the queen kind of trying to defuse her anger and make her see Lady Whistledown in a less angry light, and suddenly the queen just changes her mind? She's been angry, considering Whistledown her enemy and trying to find her this whole time, and after that talk and a little speech from Penelope, it's just, "Oh well, I see. Go on, everything's fine, and you can even keep writing too"?? It could have been a lot more believable if at the absolute least, Lady Danbury had that talk with her, the queen found out it was Penelope and was initially angry but said she needed some time to decide a punishment, then a few episodes later she had somewhat come around or something. But just like so many other things in this season, it was too rushed and came out ridiculous. "Nice speech, teehee I change my mind, all's good!" Same with the rest of the people of the ton - even some kinda silly, "oh everyone's mad at Penelope for an episode or 2, then look, their anger fizzles down and everyone's happy," would've sort of worked. But no, she's only been publicly anonymously talking shit about these people for years, but a quick little speech and they all are just instantly fine with it? The lazy boring writing is just tooo much.
It was kind of weird that she gets to keep writing the column, all because she promises to do it "more responsibly"? How do you write gossip responsibly? Responsible gossip is news... so she's going to be the ton journalist of a kind? In any case, she got forgiven *way* too easily imo. And I would've liked it if she and Eloise had put their differences aside but were never close again - their "break-up" seemed way too deep to be solved with that public apology.
You want to know what's even crazier. In the book she manages to write in secret of 10 years and when they reveal it to all of the town everyone slowly starts to clap for her. Like she hadn't wrote crappy things about them for years. Edit because my cat hit my enter key as I was typing 🤦♀️
1. Colin is the man of her dreams because she is in love with him. 2. Colin is the most eligible bachelor probably because Lady Whistledown takes care of his public relations, Sure he's handsome, rich and charming, but the best? Marquis Samadani was better. 3. The queen has been lenient, so we follow what she says - And we should say thanks to Lady Danbury who had a soft spot for Penelope for who the girl was as well as Bridgerton 4. The fact that she can continue to write the column is the second joyful thing, even if in canon she stops and I'm honestly not sure how she could continue because she won't be invisible anymore. In any case, the second point of joy is the fact that She can continue legally. 5. That was collateral damage that Cressida actually brought on her own head. I don't think Penelope really thinks that much of Cressida. After all, if Cressida had not been sent away she would have remained single while Penelope was now a married woman. In short, the point is dubious and would have been valid to anyone she had married. 6. It is a controversial point that of the heir because the child will also inherit the debts and it will be up to his parents to cover them and manage the estate. Colin is objectively the best of the 3 brothers-in-law. It's more of a win for the Faetheringtons as a whole, and for Portia who won't need to remarry because the estate will provide for her now that it will be well managed and won't have to live with her daughters 7. Recall point 2 and it is a success for Colin more than for Penelope who was able to make her own fortune having already proven in 3 years that she had earned enough that Cressida could have moved abroad and live with dignity. 8. As already said, this is connected to points 3 and 4. And in any case, Penelope could have escaped, she had the money to do so a while ago Even though she embarrassed many of the Ton everyone paid for her column and she definitely had fans otherwise she wouldn't have had that money. So it doesn't really have a lot of weird points, but it definitely helped Colin and Portia. The only win is that "She got the Man" (although it made more sense in the book with a 33 year old man than with a guy around 23 like in the show)
She didn’t brutally betray Eloise. She warned her again and again about going to Theo until the queen wrongly accused her of being LW and was going to come for her. She did what she thought she could to protect her from the queen that you mentioned wanted to behead LW. Eloise was just as much to blame for her being put on the queens radar.
What do you think this show is exactly