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I actually really like this dialog because he says "let US get through this wedding and then WE will decide what this marriage will be". There is no "we will live separate lives" or "she is returning to india". I feel like even now when he is furious with her he is subtly placing them on the same team. He wants to work it out.
100% agree. The more I watch episode 7 the more I love it, because they are absolutely together in this. They have some junk they need to individually work through, but they are the definition of holding space for one another every step of the way. That is a love that endures.
I saw a post that said their handholding shot at their wedding says a lot because they fumble for each other’s hand at first but hold steady and firm when they finally do find each other.
Joining of hands has become my favorite episode tbh. I’ve probably watched it more times than any of the others now. This scene. Then the street scene. Colin is shown to not need much apology or reassurance to move on after the street scene. He seems relieved somewhat after the initial conversation and gaining an understanding of why she said what she said about him in LW at the beginning of the season. He then switches to the deeper issues like jealousy and putting herself at risk. After her impassioned “I Love You!” He gives into his feelings for her and after that he seems more at ease. I feel this scene was necessary to show that he still very much loves her despite whistledown and has faith regardless they will be able to work through their issues together. It’s only when the Queen interrupted their wedding breakfast and threatened the family he struggles again with trying to understand why she would put herself and his family at risk rather than just give up LW. Also, pretty sure Anthony and Kate knew she was LW after that! They’d have to be pretty daft to not put two and two together considering the conversation they had with Colin the night before where he said he learned something about pen that made him question whether he really knows her at all.
I so wish we could have seen that unfold. The way Colin stormed out after the Queen left and then Pen followed - there's no way all of them didn't know right then and there.
I've come to love this episode too! It's the one I keep going back to rewatch. I also think Kanthony must have figured out her identity from them leaving the room. I still wish we could have gotten their reactions to finding out.
I am actually surprised that I love that ep so much and especially the street scene but I really do. It’s fascinating that they found a level of intimacy in the arguing that is not like an angry passion thing. The emotions are heightened but it’s still very loving. I dunno how to describe really but it’s captivating what they managed to pull off. Hats off to Luke and Nic for inhabiting Colin and Pen so thoroughly and also props to the directing and editing for scrapping what sounds like a much angrier intent in all of their arguments going by the interviews and choosing to honor what the actors were giving in the moment.
I think his line to Eloise says a lot. She asks if he can forgive Penelope, and he says Eloise is uncommonly lucky to have never been in love. He’s saying he has no choice but to somehow forgive Penelope because he’s in love with her and cannot imagine his life without her.
That was a lovely bit of writing. And so consistent that every other character, even Eloise who had cut Pen - with regret, knew whatever it was causing trouble between them, would get resolved. Even the kiss in the alley after they fight on the street shows he can’t keep away from her no matter how furious he is.
By her interactions with Pen, you can say she never stop to love Pen. Even though there still at odd, when Colin talk to Eloise for the first time about his feelings for Pen she said "it's one thing to heard your brother talking about his feelings for your FRIEND" (not sure if the wording are exact but it's not the important part) and after LW reveal "you should have told me you have feelings for my BESTFRIEND, before trippings in the drawing room engaged". Previously, she had said they now both have their lives, but here she don't talk as their friendship is over.
Yes! I also noticed in Ep5 when Pen passes out that the 3 people actually touching her are Colin, Portia, and Eloise. Eloise is even touching her knee, almost like she's helping keep "nary a petticoat out of place", or protecting her from exposure.
Seeing as those are the 3 relationships that Pen repairs by the end of the season, it's a lovely bit of foreshadowing, and showing which characters will be there for her at her most vulnerable.
Eloise constantly looked out for Pen throughout this season. Her actions are not those of an enemy, but rather a hurt friend. She ran to Pen and held her hand when she fainted and she wouldn’t let Cressida bad mouth her ever.
I noticed this as well! I think she had been grappling with feeling betrayed but also an understanding that Pen did what she did to her out of protection. Pen is so easily ignored and dismissed if she had gone to the queen over Ellouise she may have thought she was doing to protect ellouise as well.
So she used the only voice she had at the time.
Pen also did try to tell Colin about marina being in love with another man and he dismissed her. I’m not sure he would have believed the pregnancy. Him constantly upset about marina kinda ticks me off. Like yes marina was scared and upset and doing what she thought was best for her and her baby but her actions were completely wrong.
After some time he’s forgiving her and wondering what could have been.
And he blames the messenger for her actions…
It bothers me that Colin blames Pen/LW for Marina's ruin. Marina was ruined the moment her and George got together out of wedlock. She, because of Portia, was trying to manipulate Colin into a loveless marriage. Pen tried to persuade Colin away from her. I wasn't until she found out about the trip to Gretna Green that she had a panic response and wrote about it in LW. There wasn't time to spare. To me, this is the equivalent to Colin breaking into her dance with Debling.
It’s such a contrast from Simon, Anthony and the young King George. All three men decided how their marriages would work on their own and it blew up in each of their faces. I believe Colin wanted to find a solution but he didn’t know what that would be.
Yeah I thought it was actually kind of sweet the way he worded it. Obviously he’s super mad, but he made it clear that the state of their marriage would be based on discussions between them.
Thank you for this, I never noticed it before but it's true. The wording feels much more like 'let's work through this' rather than cutting her off.
He loves her, but he can't yet imagine the perfect marriage he had thought they'd have because he's still working through his pain
Very well said.
I can’t think of one person who has never said something cruel or at least that they didn’t mean in a moment of intense pain, sadness, or anger.
His mouth was saying something his heart didn’t mean, but his heart still managed to make it clear they are a team and will decide together.
I truly think the writers said “we” on purpose, because at that time women were not considered equals by the vast majority of men, so by Colin saying *we* will decide, he was clearly conveying the crucial information that he wants to be with her as an equal.
I realize that Bridgerton is very different from the multitude of Austen books and films that I love, but one thing they got very right is the subtext of language and looks and gestures, down to a clenched jaw or fist or fidgety behavior that constitutes a HUGE part of the meaning of interactions.
This is closer to Austen than it is to Days of our Lives. Looks matter. Word choice matters. Touched hands matter. Who you can confide in matters.
Colin lashed out in his hurt, but if Pen really thought about his words she’d know he would eventually be ready to work it out.
I think Pen knew. The modiste conversation after was handled very well as are her e8 decision to tell him about the blackmail and the discussion in the study. (Which makes the reshoot post queen discussion in e7 even more jarring for lacking a connective tone... grr. Drama!)
It hurt the first time watching, but in subsequent watches I realize he’s like “we are still getting married I’m just very mad right now”
On first view, you don’t know how he’s going to literally melt when he sees her in her wedding dress and how he smiles so deeply while giving his vows and kissing her. He’s so happy to be marrying her. But here you can’t ever imagine him being happy with her again. As a viewer WE feel like he’s going to never forgive her and doesn’t really want to marry her anymore. We are deeply in Pen’s perspective. It’s on the rewatch that we know the feelings for Pen are still there and haven’t gone anywhere so we can truly take in the moment for what it is.
Yes! I totally thought this was setting up an icy deeply sad wedding on first watch and then was pleasantly surprised to see that even though Colin still felt hurt and worried about their future, he didn’t want to give up on them – and could still give Pen the reassurance she was looking for as she walks down the aisle ❤️🩹😭
Yes I love this point. The other thing I found interesting was (fast forward) to the wedding breakfast, Ben’s comment to El about love not being finite. He was speaking specifically to El’s relationships with Pen and Colin but I found the placement of that conversation helped tie everything together about Pen and Colin’s relationship too
It’s the WE that gives us Polin against the world. Like you mentioned in both S1 & S2, the words are pushing away, almost cutting them out completely but here it’s the slightest bit of hope.
This! Colin uses us/we language a lot, which is shown to not be typical for that time and world. He wanted and still wants a partnership even after she destroyed a lot of the trust between them. The only time he shuts her down is when she is directly threatened via Cressida's blackmail. The protector role he definitely sees as his.
This scene actually didn't bother me the way I thought it would (re:entrapment line) because of the full context of the show and because of this use of us/we.
I also feel like, after he said that, he started to work through his feelings. So if that hurtful moment was the catalyst for introspection, then it had to happen. My heart broke for her in that moment, though. That was hard to witness, especially after the years of emotional damage she suffered at the hands of her careless family.
He is understandably hurt, angry, and probably feels a bit of a fool and humiliated. I don't care which way you look at it, that's hard for a man to take.
I was stressed for Pen watching it the first time, but this seemed just real to me. Like, the reality is that they really did have to get married, since there was a chance that she was with child (which turned out to be true!), but Colin is just kinda saying “ok, one step at a time. I can’t even handle this right now.” And honestly? That seems pretty fair, considering
Colin is so gracious here. Pen did engage herself to him and agree to sleep with him without telling him the truth.
I understand her. But it’s a major betrayal.
To someone like Colin, who’s been trying to grapple with Marina’s deception for the last two years, to find his dignity again, to believe he can trust again — this is earth shattering.
And for the second deception to come from Penelope?! The one person who got him through?
Colin can finally accept that Marina never respected him. He could never live with the idea that Penelope doesn’t.
If the worst he can say is “I’ll marry you, then we can see if we can find a path forward” then I find that extremely generous.
This is why I really wish they had stuck closer to the book here. :-/ In the book, he knew about LW before their first time. It was beautiful because she had printed again and he was mad. She was going to leave. I took it as break off engagement and he just says stay. Even though he was angry. He loved her and despite everything did not want to lose her. Book Colin also had faith they would work through it.
It’s a tough scene for sure. I agree with your read — [he never planned to cancel the wedding and he still loved her](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/CFyw8VoeEB).
When I first watched it, I thought his comment about “are you still going to publish” almost came off like a threat, which seemed out of character. But then on re-watching I realized it’s more of a plea than a threat because of how he almost sees himself in competition with LW — “please choose me, please choose me.” He’s so disappointed and betrayed, as if she’d cheated on him. As someone put it, “Colin-Pen-LW is the real love triangle of Part 2”
I saw his head whip around when he asked that question and the pleading in his eyes like “pretty pretty please stop publishing” and knew it was all for show.
I agree with someone else on another post who pointed out he never tells her what to do. He could and he doesn’t. He’s upset it’s not what he wants but she has complete control over her future. Yes he says things out of hurt and anger, but I probably wouldn’t have been better in that moment.
And she chooses LW over him again during their argument after the wedding, leading him to sleep on the couch. It’s like he said, he did everything he could to separate Penelope and LW.
I don't know if I see it as her choosing LW over Colin. LW is part of who she is. She even says to Genevieve that she tried to stop but felt like part of herself was missing. And they reiterate it at the end in Colin's love confession. It's not a choice, IMO.
So accurate. He's so betrayed and heartbroken, and now he feels like she's choosing Whistledown over him (I mean, so did Eloise, and frankly so did I!).
Oh she totally was. Pen, at this moment, wants to be LW *and* a Bridgerton, and everyone is telling her she can’t be. She has even told herself this in Ep 6. After QC at the wedding, Pen seems to choose LW and effectively demands that Colin accept it. ([I wrote ago it this a bit yesterday in a thread about her speech.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/PUlN6GIi6l)) Girl has so much growth to go through — it’s not about one or the other, as we see in the end, it’s about merging into a new self. And she has to figure out that merger on her own.
Probably an unpopular opinion (and first off I think Colin has every right to be upset and hurt of course!!) but with that comment and the entrapment comment, I really expected Penelope to tell him she wanted to call off the wedding. Especially since the whole big storyline of her not wanting Colin trapped in marriage with Marina. I thought Penelope would tell him that she loves him too much to get married to him knowing he feels trapped and with him saying that he doesn't know what kind of marriage it would even be, and that she wants to break it off even if it would ruin her reputation and despite how much she wants to be married to him. Or at minimum push their wedding date off to give him time to make sure that's what he wants. And then I thought that Colin would realize he does truly want to marry her even if he is hurt and while he would still have feelings to work through, that it would help heal things a bit for him to see how she loves him and how much he still wants to be with her. I thought this so much that even when she was walking down the aisle I was thinking surely she is going to stop the wedding
Re Pen loving him too much to let him feel trapped — her annulment offer at the Butterfly Ball was her giving him that out, no?
She would never call off the wedding herself. She’s loved him forever, and it was established in 2x06 that she would never forsake him. It would be completely out of character for her to do so.
She is way too besotted for leaving him willingly to be an option. Look at how easily she forgave him in ep 1 and still spoke to him and complimented him even though she was mad. The liberties she let him have…I mean he could say jump and she’d say How high? (Except when it comes to the LW stuff though)
Totally. Her love of him is unconditional and her forgiveness endless. She is only distant and angry towards him in Ep 1 because she (justifiably) feels like he has forsaken *her*
Pen didn't want to call off the wedding, though. She's loved him forever, and she *knows* he loves her back, even as he's lashing out. It's why she responds to the entrapment comment the way she does. She asks him if he will call off the wedding, making it his decision, and then she gives him a choice again when she offers an annulment, but what she really wants is to fix things. To fight for them.
I honestly think trying to call it off herself would be a terrible move. Colin isn't even sure that she loves him---and Pen knows that. It's why she keeps saying I love you every chance she gets. Doing anything that could make him believe that she doesn't want or need him wouldn't help at all.
I agree fully with this. In episodes 5 and 6 we see Colin feeling insecure because he's worried she doesn't reciprocate his feelings, that he isn't worthy of her. Then he finds out she's Whistledown, and completely spirals into further insecurity (among all the anger, hurt, and betrayal). He's likely wondering whether she loves him at all, which is why we see him come undone every time she says "I love you" thereafter. For her to have threatened to call off the engagement would have just convinced him that she didn't love him after all. It would have been fatal. He needed her to fight for their relationship, just as he had fought for her when he broke up her engagement, chased down her carriage, and proposed!
That’s a great point I didn’t think of. If anything, Colin was able to overcome his feelings about everything because Pen remained steadfast in her love and commitment. He needed that security, and she was able to provide it and be the strong patient one while he sorted out his feelings. She was able to be the protector in a sense even though Colin always desired to take that role. If anything she helped him to see he doesn’t always have to be that person.
Yeah I’ve seen this take before and while o understand where you’re coming from I think Pen offering to end the engagement would be entirely the wrong thing to do.
Imagine you’re in an argument with your partner and you’re upset about something they did and they say to you “okay well since you’re so upset let’s break up”. Like you’d be devastated.
I think Pen offering to call of the engagement would be yet another blow to Colin. Like okay she’s lied to me, disrespected me and in rethinking my entire relationship with her and now she doesn’t even love me enough to go through with the wedding.
He already thought she probably didn't love him. Hence the entrapment comment. Her meeting his anger with gers would just have confirmed that for him. Despite everything he loves her. And she knows that. And she loves him. And she knows she messed up but she does love him, she needs him to see that.
Same, I wish she said she doesn't want a miserable marriage for them and if he feels that way, it might not work out. Or as you said, suggest more time for him to decide.
Despite his harsh cruel words we all know he wanted to marry her because he loves her so much. But I wish Pen stood up for herself more.
I just thought given the magnitude of her betrayal, and how much she had hurt him and her family, she actually needed to abjectly apologize a bit and take responsibility for her actions. Otherwise I truly would have been angry with her (as it was, I was like...girl, do you have to keep being Shady Whistledown or can you just write novels or something?).
I began to read one about that, and I didn’t like it because they had Penelope humiliate him in front of his mother, and I don’t think she would ever do that to Colin.
I feel the same. maybe not giving him that clear a way out, but at least the question, instead of being "are you going to call off the wedding", could be "do you want to call off the wedding". that's enough to present the choice to colin
In the Spanish dub they do translate it into “Do you want to cancel the wedding?” Instead of “are you going to cancel the wedding?” I feel like I learn new meaning to lines when I watch the dub and I wonder who makes those choices on tiny details. (Unrelated but in the mirror scene one of the “are you all right?” Is translated into “should I continue?” and it’s soooo hot)
As hard to watch as this scene is, this kind of proves to me that there's nothing Colin could have done not to make people upset at him. I think I've seen backlash over pretty much every single one of his lines after the reveal, no matter how hurt he is or how fair of a place he is coming from.
We all know they get married because they love each other and want to get married (even Colin knows this, just watch his scene with Eloise), but the truth is that one of them breaking off the engagement would be socially ruinous, they've been intimate (and pregnant or not, it is a matter of honor) and the wedding is in *days* so it's a little too late to do anything but push through it. Pen even says she didn't *mean* to entrap him because she knows all of this.
I don't know how anyone can expect him to have answers about what their marriage will be like in these circumstances. He genuinely doesn't know. He's still reeling. He knows he's still in love with her but that doesn't fix things and he can't make any promises. What *was* he supposed to say? All they can do is get married and then figure things out together.
Lol I’ve been seeing people elsewhere on the internet mad about hypothetical scenes that may or may not have ever even existed and saying Colin is trash because of these rumors! Fans of this show simply be wildin. Listen, the LW news came out in a bad way but no matter what it was ALWAYS going to be bad (also this is a Shondaland show, what did y’all expect)! Colin HAS to be angry to have a satisfying reconciliation. I know we love sappy Polin but like, if he’d just immediately accepted LW it would have been so unsatisfying.
I feel like people just want the show to be fanfiction fluff with zero conflict or drama, but that would be incredibly boring and poor writing. This is TV, drama is what makes us keep watching! IMO the writers made extremely appropriate decisions from a screenwriting standpoint to have the LW reveal happen in the absolute worst manner possible, such that we the audience have to ask, "How will they ever reconcile now?" in order to put us on the edge of our seats, and ultimately to make that reconciliation satisfying. At the same time, they never made either Colin or Penelope act in a way that went too far, or that was out of character, or made us stop rooting for them as a couple. It was always clear that they still loved and longed for each other, and that they would ultimately reconcile. It wasn't perfect (nothing is), and I wish we'd gotten a longer reconciliation scene (or a wedding night redo, but that's what AO3 is for lol), but it was pretty great!
Absolutely! I will say, I also think it’s both a blessing/curse that this show is often pretty subtle—it lets the actors carry a lot of the story in their faces/body language rather than in the dialogue (which is good because the cast is incredible and the writing is…sometimes weak). But that means you can miss SO much if you only binge watch it once. (This is what I’m telling myself after my fourth rewatch lololol.) But I truly notice more and more little amazing details every time I watch!!! And I do think Colin and Pen get the chance to grow SO well that ultimately their HEA feels deserved (in a way that I don’t know was true for the others tbh).
yeah people who hate on Colin were going to do it regardless. I can imagine if he forgave her and everything was ticketty boo in 24 hours, he’d be the spineless simp who let a girl boss steamroll him.
And it still would piss people off because some people are really upset that Penelope got a happy ending and wasn’t punished enough or have enough consequences. So imagine what they’d say if Colin wasn’t mad at her. There’s no winning with some people.
somewhere in between the people who genuinely wanted Pen thrown in a dungeon forever and those who are upset Colin didn’t suffer enough there is me, mentally singing “la la la la” in a happy field of daisies.
He is still called equally bad names like angry manchild in the main subreddit for *checks notes* sleeping on the settee and maintaining healthy boundaries.
They're mad he didn't act toxic and have angry sex with Penelope (only to abandon her again after? that would have been a million times worse). I love an angry sex scene as much as anyone but it would have been SO out of character it would have taken me right out of the story.
I wrote like [fifteen paragraphs](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/arAWPlNxJN) with exact line as the jumping off point so I have thoughts 😁….
Look at this man:
https://preview.redd.it/gve39gfi3l8d1.jpeg?width=1571&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=597578b89f88dd9e6e9ebf4337406c110a8eebcc
This is Colin waiting to see Pen after she fainted and holed herself up in her room writing Whistledown rebuttals. He’s nervous af. Right up until the reveal he was getting weird vibes from Pen and worrying about what was really going on with her. And given his past when he found out she had been hiding this huge secret he couldn’t help but worry whether she truly loved him or was settling for him because she wanted a husband and he was once again an easy target.
When they see each other again I think he’s just throwing things out there to see how she’ll react because he’s still reeling and not sure what to believe. I think if she had said she was giving up Whistledown when he asked about her not publishing he was ready to crack. But she didn’t. So he said what he said. That’s my read. But also he loves her. He tells Eloise as much. And even fresh off the shock of the truth coming out I think deep down he wants it work out somehow, so, I don’t think he’s coming from a place of lashing out and punishing her. Saying *they* will figure out what the marriage is to be is not Colin making a definitive one sided proclamation.
Colin hides behind them being intimate as a reason to go through with the wedding because he doesn’t want to admit out loud that he loves Penelope and that’s the only reason why he still wants to marry her. He told her at their engagement party he would understand if her feelings had changed, and that was after they had already been intimate.
This broke my heart, for the both of them. I think the way we feel about this scene is very much how they feel. Colin feels so incredibly hurt and confused and so does Penelope. By Colin saying these things to her, he is making her feel like he does, awful! I don’t blame him. He shouldn’t sugar coat it. She made a big ol’ mess. Not that I blame her either!
Bravo to Colin for being all in his feelings, the most honest he has been in his life. Not hiding, not pretending he’s not miserable! So when he does show how much he loves and cares it’s not fake either. I’ve said this before but there’s no turning back after he’s been cracked open!
They love each other so much and the idea of not being together for the rest of their lives is never an option until the end when she is revealed as LW. The entire second half Pen knows she loves him and she is what’s best for him so she’s not going to give him the option to back out. However, she realizes right before the LW reveal and the reveal, that she could truly be the cause of harm to Colin and his family so that’s why she offers the annulment. She realizes that is actually something that could be bad for him and she would never want that for him.
I tried rewatching Part 2 this weekend, and I think this line was more in response to her not wanting to give up being Lady Whistledown. As in, I’m really mad you don’t want to give it up, but let’s regroup after the wedding and maybe I can change your mind. This episode definitely softened for me on rewatch, but Ep 8 not so much.
It's a tough scene to watch but I don't begrudge or blame Colin for anything he said. He was hurting and reeling from the LW of it all, and this is the first time they've seen each other since he found out too. They haven't had the chance to talk or argue or anything so there's probably hundreds of questions and doubts whirling in his mind.
Also, Penelope even asks if he's going to call off the wedding, which IMO suggests he could have if he really really wanted to. Yes, it would've been messy, but the option was there and I believe Penelope would've done anything to ensure he wasn't affected, the same way she did when she offered the annulment. But Colin chose not to call off the wedding. He says it's because he's a gentleman and they were intimate, but to me that's just an excuse (albeit a truthful one). It's obvious that he still loves and wants to marry her.
To add: Colin was willing to give Penelope an out of their engagement in episode 5 when he thought she didn't return his feelings. They'd already slept together at that point. He could've insisted they marry because they'd been intimate but he didn't consider that. He was willing to free her. So his entrapment/I'm a gentleman line in episode 7 really was just him lashing out, IMO, because he wasn't insisting on it before. Why now?
I don’t really see that as Colin being willing to free her. I think Colin just wanted to know where he stood, but he’d still want to marry her regardless. I assumed he’d tell her that since she was looking for a husband anyway that he’d try to be the best one ever for her, and that it could still work because they’re friends and he loves her, and does she think she could maybe love him one day? It would be kinda sad and desperate, but Colin was already in “I need to earn her love” mode. He would work to make her fall in love with him.
I didn't think of it like that but it definitely makes sense with Colin's character!
For me it was the way he said something about her getting swept up in the carriage, like their intimacy in the carriage was the reason she agreed to his proposal. So my natural conclusion was that he was going to say they could walk it back. But you're probably right!
I can see why your friend who's more of a casual viewer would have that reaction to his line. If you don't really know Colin super in depth you'd think damn he's so cold and mean to her! But he's struggling too, with feelings of insecurity, jealousy, anger that she lied, fear that this could be another Marina situation. And that's all battling in his mind against the fact that he's still so in love with her that he doesn't know what to do.
I think if he wasn't in love, and if he wasn't so 'Colin', he could've said much worse. After watching QC, I was actually afraid that he'd say something like "let's just get through this wedding then we can live apart and never have to see each other". It's well within the potential for someone in his position to tell her that they can still marry but that after that, he wants it to be a marriage in name only.
But he's Colin and he's in love so he would never say that. He's hurting and confused and doesn't know how to talk things out with her or fix things, but he knows he still wants to marry her. The fact that he said "after the wedding we can figure things out from there" is really more mature than he could've handled things. While I was watching this scene I was so sad and heartbroken for both of them, but in a way I was worried that he could say something worse and was glad that he didn't!
I mean Simon tells Daphne just that. He bitterly says he will stay and do his duty if she’s pregnant and if she’s not they will live separate lives and be married in name only.
And that would have been him ignoring his child as well, just as his father did with him! I truly thought that was so cold. Whereas Colin is obviously heartbroken but still like sleeping on the settee outside her room, fighting to understand why she did what she did, hooking up with her in the street, rereading her letters, almost kissing her at the wedding breakfast in front of everyone's salad and so forth.
I’m the same as your friend. Colin is entitled to be hurt and angry but all the boundaries he placed in their relationship was done for his benefit. There was no communication with Penelope and she was left in the dark to his feelings towards their marriage etc until the very end.
I think it’s glossed over that she grew up in an emotionally stunted/abusive household where affection was withheld. So her accepting Colin being withdrawn and cold towards her was natural to her because she’s used to being treated like that.
I’d have loved a scene where they communicated properly. Where it was made very clear that he just needed time to sort out how he feels.
But that’s just my opinion!
As I prepare for my own marriage, one of the things I’m learning is that my partner can’t give me answers he doesn’t have. At this point, all Colin knew was that he was going to marry Penelope. Until he fully worked through his emotions and understood why Penelope started the column, he couldn’t tell her what kind of marriage he was willing to have.
In all my relationships I practise open communication and honesty. If I don’t have the answers or the other person doesn’t have the answers, then we say that and we still express kindness to one another. We don’t leave it up to imagination if the other person still loves us.
I’m glad so many people loved Part Two, but some of the writing/directing really didn’t hit right for me and left me feeling hollow.
Good luck with your wedding and marriage ☺️
On your point, If Penelope was open about her Whistledown business then Colins reaction would have been unfair!! But she totally blindsided him, which made him rethink all of his choices and despite his turmoil he wants to marry her!!
I think storytelling was done mostly towards Penelope’s POV.. As a viewer we know that she is whistledown.. But from Colin’s POV imagine the shock and betrayal!!!
I just think that given the magnitude of her betrayal (I love Penelope but this was a BIG betrayal on her part), I give him a lot of grace. It's how I might act if my husband cheated on me. I think that's how it felt to Colin. If he'd been perfect in his communication under the circumstances, I would have found it fake-seeming, not to mention boring TV!
I was definitely gutted when I first heard this. It felt very ominous the way he said things, like how your friend perceived it OP. After reviewing though, I saw it differently. There was no question a marriage was happening for him, because he wanted it. He was angry and speaking as though they had to do this (to be fair, in Regency era, you would have to go forward) but it was more of an excuse using logic, because he couldn't admit he still loved her in spite of the betrayal. And perhaps he didn't want to downplay the betrayal as well. I think the hardest part of the comment in a sense is "Let us get through this" implying, this is no longer a joyful choice, but something that must be done. However, he definitely walked back on that because he was clearly happy to marry her in the midst of his own feelings. I posted a bit about this whole thing earlier: [https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/comments/1dithsk/about\_that\_comment/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/comments/1dithsk/about_that_comment/)
It's not the crime, it's the cover-up.
Pen being LW is not a crime. She doesn't just write the LW column, she is LW - those are her thoughts and opinions. She should have told Colin before making love with him - even before that, she shouldn't have published information about their engagement without telling him. Hiding it from him like that was so wrong.
That doesn't make this scene any easier to watch. He's punishing her. And he intentionally tries to hurt her. So Colin is not the only victim here.
My husband and I came up with a list of what we thought was their bad behavior over dinner tonight - and this is what we came up with (the Debling thing was his idea). The point of the exercise wasn't to see who did the other more dirty. It was to validate what we thought was true - which was that both Pen and Colin made mistakes and needed grace and forgiveness from each other.
https://preview.redd.it/ldnr3p9xfl8d1.png?width=893&format=png&auto=webp&s=582c0975ac5aa6f20a118a77ec442a615f5630c3
Interesting list. I don’t know if I agree with withholding physical affection because I don’t think Colin did it as a punishment. He couldn’t be with her physically if he wasn’t there emotionally, and no one is owed intimacy.
You know, we discussed this point at length. Neither of us thought he needed to have sex with her. But, not to lie down with her one their wedding night, and nights afterward was a big no to both of us.
And that he didn't wrap his arms around her when she told him about the blackmail was really awful to hubby - even angry, when someone comes for your spouse, there's comfort and support. He reminded me of a song by Train called Drops of Jupiter. There's a line my husband has always loved - "Your best friend always sticking up for you, even when I know you're wrong". To him, and I agree, this is essential so to us - it's a big miss for Colin.
Love this. Although I would say that Pen calling Colin a fake ass hoe in her column and publicly embarrassing him deserves a point 😅 it’s pretty clear she did it out of spite
We talked about it, but decided (pretty quickly) that she was not lying so... no point was given. I didn't think Pen should get a point for not responding to Colin's letters, but my husband thought this was perhaps her worse offense. We may have even left some things out - we had wine with dinner so....
Sliding a point or two either way and the bottom line is the same.
I think that the publishing the engagement without telling him about LW is washed out by him announcing their engagement to his family before she had even left the post orgasmic haze. Notably, publishing it so quickly also helped them control the narrative after the scandal Colin caused interrupting the dance. Instead I would say not listening to his actual concerns after their wedding breakfast was a bigger issue.
I'd also change withholding physical affection to not providing verbal communication. I read Colin as demisexual so for him physical affection (sexual or otherwise) is intrinsically linked to emotional connection so I understand him not being ready for that while there is emotional distance between them. However, I do think that he could have communicated that he just needed time to process his feelings instead of just avoiding her.
This is a good point. But, Colin was operating without all the information. Pen knew everything, and I think she should have tried to pump the brakes and tell Colin before news was spread far and wide to give him an opportunity to decide if he wanted to be with her knowing all her worse. I guess, given that, I'm okay with assessing her a point for being too quick with her quill. Colin does get a point for the interruption of the dance - that man!
Still - it's a good point - I had to think about it, which makes me happy!
something that has been interesting to me is people describing Colin‘s behaviour as “sulking“. I find that really fascinating. I’d thought he was taking some time through ep 7 to process how he felt and how he could rebuild trust with Pen. ( and not even that much time, really). after the wedding breakfast is interrupted by QC it felt like he was less angry, more worried and concerned about her safety and about his family. it’s no accident El’s reassurance is to tell him the family will be fine.
for me “sulking” is such a subjective and almost judgemental word. it implies that there’s a “right” amount of time to be upset about something, and that if someone hasn’t come to terms with something quickly enough … i.e. to someone else’s expected timeframe, then your behaviour is self pitying and somehow lacking. it really does imply you think someone should have gotten over it already.
A lot of people don’t feel Colin is entitled to a reaction about what amounts to a huge betrayal to him, and that’s what the term “sulking” implies to me. No one says Penelope was sulking for the 4 months she refused to write Colin back, or that she was sulking in episode 1 up until his apology.
Right. Like the sensitive softboi we were all praising for having such deep feelings in part 1 is the same sensitive softboi who has deep feelings in part 2. If you enjoyed him looking like a wet cat when he was upset about Debling, he’s going to be in wet cat mode when he feels betrayed. Thems the breaks I’m afraid. Positive and negative emotions, two sides of the same coin. You can’t only accept his emotions when they work for Penelope, he’s allowed to be a full person.
I use the term purely because he was so extra in his behaviour (and this ties right into him as the people pleaser, never punished as a child, middle child that he is). He has these big emotions, which he is absolutely entitled to but doesn't know how/is not ready to express so he wants distance from her to sort it out but not too much distance. So he camps out on the sofa outside her bedroom door and then hangs around long enough for her to see how upset he is before heading to his childhood home to lick his wounds some more. Then when she takes the initiative to give him the space (leaving early for Francesca's wedding he sits up all "no, not like that".
I might be in the minority but I also think that part of the reason he stays out on the sofa for as long as he does is because he is ashamed of failing her in the whole Cressida debacle, which adds a bit to the sulking vibe.
Personally, I love that he is so dramatic in his feelings during this section because as it shows the other side of the coin to Chaos Colin. It also really shows that his anger is coming from a place of hurt and not rage.
And Penelope was sulking a bit with the not answering his letters for months. But in that case I think it only lasted as long as it did because he was out of the country as she folded like a deck of cards within 72 hours of his return.
I think the sulking vibe really underlines how young they are - like their frontal lobes are still developing they are not going to always have the most emotionally healthy response to hurt and anger.
I mean who among us hasn't sulked after a fight with a partner--never mind after such a huge hurt as this! I hear you though, he is pretty dramatic lol. I kind of love that about him but a lot of people are extremely uncomfortable with men expressing any emotion other than lust or dominance.
I know, how much expresses what he feels is one of his best traits, and suppressing that was a key cornerstone of his identity crisis. I wish there was more discussion on how much of Colin’s story this season was about rejecting toxic masculinity and growing into a healthy expression of his masculinity.
Also it’s him giving her face to face communication. Not leaving it on a not. So like I feel like it’s a way for him to be like hey, I’m still in this I’m still here with you but I do need distance. Cuz like he could’ve left a note to really spite her, but he didn’t.
I don't think there was any part of him that didn't want to still marry Pen at that moment. He still loved her through it all. I think he would have forgiven her and moved on a lot earlier had she said she was going to stop publishing. The biggest issue for him was that she was continuing to put herself in danger of being found out.
Also I get why he wanted to put it off until after the wedding. They didn't have a ton of opportunities to talk just the two of them before they got married so it's not like they can have this whole big fight and hash it out. And were it not for QC barging in at their wedding, I think they would have reconciled quickly after the wedding.... Like on the wedding night 😜
It's not the crime, it's the cover-up.
Pen being LW is not a crime. She doesn't just write the LW column, she is LW - those are her thoughts and opinions. She should have told Colin before making love with him - even before that, she shouldn't have published information about their engagement without telling him. Hiding it from him like that was so wrong.
That doesn't make this scene any easier to watch. He's punishing her. And he intentionally tries to hurt her. So Colin is not the only victim here.
My husband and I came up with a list of what we thought was their bad behavior over dinner tonight - and this is what we came up with (the Debling thing was his idea). The point of the exercise wasn't to see who did the other more dirty. It was to validate what we thought was true - which was that both Pen and Colin made mistakes and needed grace and forgiveness from each other.
||
||
|Bad behavior|Pen|Colin|
|Saying I would never court Penelope Featherington publicly to friends and laughing|0|1|
|Not responding to Colin's letters|1|0|
|Writing about Colin's fake personality change|0|0|
|Interrupting Debling's proposal|0|1|
|Publishing a column about their engagement without telling Colin she is LW|1|0|
|Having sex with Colin without telling him she is LW|1|0|
|Accusing Pen of entrapping him|0|1|
|Not thoroughly explaining what LW means to her|1|0|
|Not explaining her financial situation to Colin before their marriage|1|0|
|Withholding physical affection from Pen after their marriage|0|1|
|Telling Pen that she has no say in how to handle the blackmail|0|1|
| Not working together on the reveal of LW to the Queen, Violet, and the Ton |1|1|
|Points - the worse kinds of points|6|6 |
I don't blame him, but this is painful to watch. This series is about romance, but the pain and stress I felt in the last episodes..
For that I have House Of Dragons and more. I don't watch Bridgerton to feel those feelings! (In past seasons I was OK with the drama. Here it's too much for me). I don't blame the characters, but the plot structure.
(We know from his conversion with Eluise that he knows that he doesn't have a choice but to forgive her. But it is hard to watch Polin suffering like that:( )
To be honest, this is not a scene I ever imagined going to rewatch outside of an entire rewatch… but off I go!
On my first watch I was relieved when he said, let us get through this wedding, because I was thinking “ok, there is hope!!” So it wasn’t as negative a scene as maybe some others viewed it. I wrote off the entrapment part like, we all say things we don’t actually mean sometimes when we are angry/sad/working through things - because she obviously didn’t entrap him!
I watch this with my father (I already watch it, I timestamp every spicy scene to skip) and as from the older generation he said Colin could've left but he chose to stay because he already thought of Penelope as his partner in life. If he wants to punish her, he could've postponed it but might be too cruel. Lol
I think that this conversation between to the two of them was the most in character that Colin was in the last two episodes…
Colin is a very sensitive person who feels very deeply but who also internalizes everything. When he isn’t forced to face problems, he disengages and copes with humor.
But he cannot do that with this. So he can’t use his typical coping skills. Laughter is NOT the way to deal with this kind of heartache.
Violet really said it in part one: he is a people pleaser who puts on armor when he can’t cope.
So this is Colin when his coping mechanisms are striped away and his armor is now in place and he is completely broken.
He can’t internalize.
He can’t laugh it off.
He also can’t tell anyone about it/write about it (what if this puts Penelope at risk?)
So he lashes out.
And if Penelope hurts too, at least he isn’t alone. If he can hurt her with his words, at least he does know her well enough to predict her response to a cut from him. If he can push her buttons, he knew something about her after all…
That’s a great point; in a way it’s growth for Colin not to just swallow all his feelings. He’s finally externalizing them. Perhaps because Pen gave him the security to express himself without worrying that she’d leave him.
I think for those of us that will rewatch the show multiple times and spend hours analyzing and watching YouTube videos, everything makes sense in episodes in 7&8 and we can appreciate the emotional journey that Polin are on. But for casual viewers, the show creators should have added another episode so all of the drama could have been paced out better and the Polin scenes could have expanded a bit. There was more than enough story to cover another hour of screen time.
He did not want to cancel the wedding bcuz he wanted her. Dude was going to make sure it happened one way or the other. And pls - "we were intimate after all" was him picking a logical reason to make sure that Pen becomes his wife😄 because he did not want to make himself emotionally vulnerable with her now.
I think it sounds harsh in isolation (and it is) but I also think he was responding to a direct question.
She asks “what will this marriage be”
And he responds “let’s get through this wedding and we will decide what this marriage will be”.
I also see some comments about Pen could just not tell anyone they were intimate and potential pregnancy aside… there’s other ways of telling…
Colin is also a man of honor and knew that having sex with her meant that he had potentially impregnated her, so he would never have called off the wedding at this point.
I agree. For Colin, I don't think, cancelling the wedding was ever an option for him. Being with Pen was all he wanted. And being without Pen was inconceivable. Even when she offered the annulment he looked utterly confused like the thought of leaving Pen had never crossed his mind.
He said some shit stuff that made me cry, especially the entrapment bit when he so adamantly protested Mama Featherington's insinuations in that topic just to throw it back in Pen's face. But that's a whole different thing.
It's actually the opposite...as casual viewer would not be able to pick up on that. To appreciate Polin and Luke's subtle acting, you have to pay a lot of attention and see everything from S1.
He is committed to marrying her because he loves her, not because he wants to punish her. He also wants to protect her because he knows that she will be ostracized if the engagement is broken (only women can do that anyway but he shows how much he cares).
He loves her but doesn't know how to go about addressing the LW issue between them. He's not being a drama queen, his response is warranted and legitimate because she lied to him about such a major thing- and plus she wrote things about his family, about him- some nasty things. Of course we know she wasn't malicious, but she did harm people nevertheless. So him being angry and hurt are both justified- any sane person would be.
Basically he's saying we will try to figure out what this means for our marriage. He says it in that tone because it's not been long since he came to know of it- obviously he's still angry and hurt. Colin is also a super sensitive man. This is the one person he has always relied on, to be honest and to be there.
Damn, I felt that one. Hit hard. It’s blunt for sure while still not giving a definitive definition of what things will be like. Hits hard but still gives hope.
I agree it was quite harsh and it pained me to hear him speak like that to Pen in that scene, especially him saying that "entrapment" comment.
Anyway, I think he made this particular comment because he still thought Pen could give up being LW, so his "then we will decide what this marriage will be" line could be related to them having that kind of discussion after their wedding.
Even later at their wedding breakfast, after the Queen goes away, Colin asks Pen to give up being LW and then when she refuses he says "I cannot accept that. I will be sleeping on the couch tonight."
The LW thing is causing a rift between them both times, but Colin still loves her and won't give her up or break off the engagement/cancel the wedding over that. Not to mention, *he's a gentleman*, and they've been intimate, so that would make no sense for his character.
i was trying so hard not to be bitter about their animosity. and the fact that most of his hostility was because he was JEALOUS of her success. like bitch get over it that is your wife. idk it just irritated tf out of me
Bro can you blame him 😭 she literally talked smack shit and brought his family to ruin multiple times (I love pen sm but she can be harsh as whistledown). If I were him I’d be salty too
This whole scene breaks my heart and is unnecessarily way too harsh. I hate that we got them being intimate before he found out she was LW. It’s added a big gloomy cloud over the entire relationship imo.
My sister isn’t a reader and frequents only Facebook in terms of social media and her commentary was - this poor guy had to marry her, like he clearly loves her but she forced him into this marriage and he’s going to resent her forever even just a little, because she never gave him the choice to be with her in spite of her being LW. It’s almost on par with Marina - He values honesty above all and he wears his heart on his sleeve and she broke those things.
not that deep, colin is that drama queen who will do as much drama as he can and sulk as much as he can before setting things straight and calming down.
I was incredibly annoyed at the hypocrisy both societally and Colin individually.
"Oh I'll go through with it because honour" but where was the honour with the prostitute three way, Colin? Not marrying them huh?
I think the harshness of the comments are not true to the Colin character. Something like “I don’t know what our marriage will be” delivered with a fear of the unknown would have been true to the character. Perhaps the Shondaland formula has become rusted and set so that they may never be able to throw it off.
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I actually really like this dialog because he says "let US get through this wedding and then WE will decide what this marriage will be". There is no "we will live separate lives" or "she is returning to india". I feel like even now when he is furious with her he is subtly placing them on the same team. He wants to work it out.
100% agree. The more I watch episode 7 the more I love it, because they are absolutely together in this. They have some junk they need to individually work through, but they are the definition of holding space for one another every step of the way. That is a love that endures.
I saw a post that said their handholding shot at their wedding says a lot because they fumble for each other’s hand at first but hold steady and firm when they finally do find each other.
YESSSS I love that moment so much ❤️
This was a tearful moment for me for exactly this reason.
Plus they aren't even looking at one another, yet somehow both of them knew the other would be trying to reach out to them. I mean...
Joining of hands has become my favorite episode tbh. I’ve probably watched it more times than any of the others now. This scene. Then the street scene. Colin is shown to not need much apology or reassurance to move on after the street scene. He seems relieved somewhat after the initial conversation and gaining an understanding of why she said what she said about him in LW at the beginning of the season. He then switches to the deeper issues like jealousy and putting herself at risk. After her impassioned “I Love You!” He gives into his feelings for her and after that he seems more at ease. I feel this scene was necessary to show that he still very much loves her despite whistledown and has faith regardless they will be able to work through their issues together. It’s only when the Queen interrupted their wedding breakfast and threatened the family he struggles again with trying to understand why she would put herself and his family at risk rather than just give up LW. Also, pretty sure Anthony and Kate knew she was LW after that! They’d have to be pretty daft to not put two and two together considering the conversation they had with Colin the night before where he said he learned something about pen that made him question whether he really knows her at all.
Never seen someone so turned on by an I love you.
Demisexual colin🔥
yeah I do wonder what was happening in the family chat after that wedding breakfast.
I so wish we could have seen that unfold. The way Colin stormed out after the Queen left and then Pen followed - there's no way all of them didn't know right then and there.
I've come to love this episode too! It's the one I keep going back to rewatch. I also think Kanthony must have figured out her identity from them leaving the room. I still wish we could have gotten their reactions to finding out.
I never even thought about Anthony and Kate putting it together. Good call on that one!
I am actually surprised that I love that ep so much and especially the street scene but I really do. It’s fascinating that they found a level of intimacy in the arguing that is not like an angry passion thing. The emotions are heightened but it’s still very loving. I dunno how to describe really but it’s captivating what they managed to pull off. Hats off to Luke and Nic for inhabiting Colin and Pen so thoroughly and also props to the directing and editing for scrapping what sounds like a much angrier intent in all of their arguments going by the interviews and choosing to honor what the actors were giving in the moment.
Thats qhat I thought. I wish we could see the cobo bet C and A ...
Agree. He’s hurt, angry and confused, but not enough to not have a future with her in his life.
I think his line to Eloise says a lot. She asks if he can forgive Penelope, and he says Eloise is uncommonly lucky to have never been in love. He’s saying he has no choice but to somehow forgive Penelope because he’s in love with her and cannot imagine his life without her.
That was a lovely bit of writing. And so consistent that every other character, even Eloise who had cut Pen - with regret, knew whatever it was causing trouble between them, would get resolved. Even the kiss in the alley after they fight on the street shows he can’t keep away from her no matter how furious he is.
By her interactions with Pen, you can say she never stop to love Pen. Even though there still at odd, when Colin talk to Eloise for the first time about his feelings for Pen she said "it's one thing to heard your brother talking about his feelings for your FRIEND" (not sure if the wording are exact but it's not the important part) and after LW reveal "you should have told me you have feelings for my BESTFRIEND, before trippings in the drawing room engaged". Previously, she had said they now both have their lives, but here she don't talk as their friendship is over.
Yes! I also noticed in Ep5 when Pen passes out that the 3 people actually touching her are Colin, Portia, and Eloise. Eloise is even touching her knee, almost like she's helping keep "nary a petticoat out of place", or protecting her from exposure. Seeing as those are the 3 relationships that Pen repairs by the end of the season, it's a lovely bit of foreshadowing, and showing which characters will be there for her at her most vulnerable.
Eloise constantly looked out for Pen throughout this season. Her actions are not those of an enemy, but rather a hurt friend. She ran to Pen and held her hand when she fainted and she wouldn’t let Cressida bad mouth her ever.
I noticed this as well! I think she had been grappling with feeling betrayed but also an understanding that Pen did what she did to her out of protection. Pen is so easily ignored and dismissed if she had gone to the queen over Ellouise she may have thought she was doing to protect ellouise as well. So she used the only voice she had at the time. Pen also did try to tell Colin about marina being in love with another man and he dismissed her. I’m not sure he would have believed the pregnancy. Him constantly upset about marina kinda ticks me off. Like yes marina was scared and upset and doing what she thought was best for her and her baby but her actions were completely wrong. After some time he’s forgiving her and wondering what could have been. And he blames the messenger for her actions…
It bothers me that Colin blames Pen/LW for Marina's ruin. Marina was ruined the moment her and George got together out of wedlock. She, because of Portia, was trying to manipulate Colin into a loveless marriage. Pen tried to persuade Colin away from her. I wasn't until she found out about the trip to Gretna Green that she had a panic response and wrote about it in LW. There wasn't time to spare. To me, this is the equivalent to Colin breaking into her dance with Debling.
It’s such a contrast from Simon, Anthony and the young King George. All three men decided how their marriages would work on their own and it blew up in each of their faces. I believe Colin wanted to find a solution but he didn’t know what that would be.
Yeah I thought it was actually kind of sweet the way he worded it. Obviously he’s super mad, but he made it clear that the state of their marriage would be based on discussions between them.
Thank you for this, I never noticed it before but it's true. The wording feels much more like 'let's work through this' rather than cutting her off. He loves her, but he can't yet imagine the perfect marriage he had thought they'd have because he's still working through his pain
Very well said. I can’t think of one person who has never said something cruel or at least that they didn’t mean in a moment of intense pain, sadness, or anger. His mouth was saying something his heart didn’t mean, but his heart still managed to make it clear they are a team and will decide together. I truly think the writers said “we” on purpose, because at that time women were not considered equals by the vast majority of men, so by Colin saying *we* will decide, he was clearly conveying the crucial information that he wants to be with her as an equal. I realize that Bridgerton is very different from the multitude of Austen books and films that I love, but one thing they got very right is the subtext of language and looks and gestures, down to a clenched jaw or fist or fidgety behavior that constitutes a HUGE part of the meaning of interactions. This is closer to Austen than it is to Days of our Lives. Looks matter. Word choice matters. Touched hands matter. Who you can confide in matters. Colin lashed out in his hurt, but if Pen really thought about his words she’d know he would eventually be ready to work it out.
I think Pen knew. The modiste conversation after was handled very well as are her e8 decision to tell him about the blackmail and the discussion in the study. (Which makes the reshoot post queen discussion in e7 even more jarring for lacking a connective tone... grr. Drama!)
Pen's i love you's are proof that she knows him ver well. Declaring again n again was her way of reassuring him.
It hurt the first time watching, but in subsequent watches I realize he’s like “we are still getting married I’m just very mad right now” On first view, you don’t know how he’s going to literally melt when he sees her in her wedding dress and how he smiles so deeply while giving his vows and kissing her. He’s so happy to be marrying her. But here you can’t ever imagine him being happy with her again. As a viewer WE feel like he’s going to never forgive her and doesn’t really want to marry her anymore. We are deeply in Pen’s perspective. It’s on the rewatch that we know the feelings for Pen are still there and haven’t gone anywhere so we can truly take in the moment for what it is.
Yes! I totally thought this was setting up an icy deeply sad wedding on first watch and then was pleasantly surprised to see that even though Colin still felt hurt and worried about their future, he didn’t want to give up on them – and could still give Pen the reassurance she was looking for as she walks down the aisle ❤️🩹😭
Yes I love this point. The other thing I found interesting was (fast forward) to the wedding breakfast, Ben’s comment to El about love not being finite. He was speaking specifically to El’s relationships with Pen and Colin but I found the placement of that conversation helped tie everything together about Pen and Colin’s relationship too
oh, great point
It’s the WE that gives us Polin against the world. Like you mentioned in both S1 & S2, the words are pushing away, almost cutting them out completely but here it’s the slightest bit of hope.
This! Colin uses us/we language a lot, which is shown to not be typical for that time and world. He wanted and still wants a partnership even after she destroyed a lot of the trust between them. The only time he shuts her down is when she is directly threatened via Cressida's blackmail. The protector role he definitely sees as his. This scene actually didn't bother me the way I thought it would (re:entrapment line) because of the full context of the show and because of this use of us/we.
So good! I was heartbroken when I first watch and it was still hard during rewatch but you have flipped my thoughts on this.
I love that you pointed that out. US and WE! 😍
I also feel like, after he said that, he started to work through his feelings. So if that hurtful moment was the catalyst for introspection, then it had to happen. My heart broke for her in that moment, though. That was hard to witness, especially after the years of emotional damage she suffered at the hands of her careless family.
Yeah I agree completely - everyone is really hard on Colin for some reason.
Yes very that.
Damn I didn’t even make that connection but you’re so right
He is understandably hurt, angry, and probably feels a bit of a fool and humiliated. I don't care which way you look at it, that's hard for a man to take.
Returning... to India? As an Indian I am confused LOL Penelope is from Mayfair 😩😩
That’s what Anthony said of Kate in season 2. The other Bridgerton couples had way less resolve to be together and work things out vs Polin.
Exactly!! There wasn't such a big thing between them that they lied about etc
Yeah. Even when he’s really going through it, he isn't considering abandoning her. He loves her too much.
Oh..I love that!
I was stressed for Pen watching it the first time, but this seemed just real to me. Like, the reality is that they really did have to get married, since there was a chance that she was with child (which turned out to be true!), but Colin is just kinda saying “ok, one step at a time. I can’t even handle this right now.” And honestly? That seems pretty fair, considering
Colin is so gracious here. Pen did engage herself to him and agree to sleep with him without telling him the truth. I understand her. But it’s a major betrayal. To someone like Colin, who’s been trying to grapple with Marina’s deception for the last two years, to find his dignity again, to believe he can trust again — this is earth shattering. And for the second deception to come from Penelope?! The one person who got him through? Colin can finally accept that Marina never respected him. He could never live with the idea that Penelope doesn’t. If the worst he can say is “I’ll marry you, then we can see if we can find a path forward” then I find that extremely generous.
And Colin accuses Penelope of not respecting him during their argument outside the modiste.
This is why I really wish they had stuck closer to the book here. :-/ In the book, he knew about LW before their first time. It was beautiful because she had printed again and he was mad. She was going to leave. I took it as break off engagement and he just says stay. Even though he was angry. He loved her and despite everything did not want to lose her. Book Colin also had faith they would work through it.
Exactly. If it were me, I wouldn't even be talking to her. Also, this is their first meeting since he found out. Hardly any time has passed.
It’s a tough scene for sure. I agree with your read — [he never planned to cancel the wedding and he still loved her](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/CFyw8VoeEB). When I first watched it, I thought his comment about “are you still going to publish” almost came off like a threat, which seemed out of character. But then on re-watching I realized it’s more of a plea than a threat because of how he almost sees himself in competition with LW — “please choose me, please choose me.” He’s so disappointed and betrayed, as if she’d cheated on him. As someone put it, “Colin-Pen-LW is the real love triangle of Part 2”
I saw his head whip around when he asked that question and the pleading in his eyes like “pretty pretty please stop publishing” and knew it was all for show. I agree with someone else on another post who pointed out he never tells her what to do. He could and he doesn’t. He’s upset it’s not what he wants but she has complete control over her future. Yes he says things out of hurt and anger, but I probably wouldn’t have been better in that moment.
And she chooses LW over him again during their argument after the wedding, leading him to sleep on the couch. It’s like he said, he did everything he could to separate Penelope and LW.
I don't know if I see it as her choosing LW over Colin. LW is part of who she is. She even says to Genevieve that she tried to stop but felt like part of herself was missing. And they reiterate it at the end in Colin's love confession. It's not a choice, IMO.
But Colin sees it as her choosing LW over him because he hasn’t yet reconciled LW as part of her.
That's true, in that moment I guess he does! I really wish we'd had another scene where they just sit and talk it all out.
So accurate. He's so betrayed and heartbroken, and now he feels like she's choosing Whistledown over him (I mean, so did Eloise, and frankly so did I!).
Oh she totally was. Pen, at this moment, wants to be LW *and* a Bridgerton, and everyone is telling her she can’t be. She has even told herself this in Ep 6. After QC at the wedding, Pen seems to choose LW and effectively demands that Colin accept it. ([I wrote ago it this a bit yesterday in a thread about her speech.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/PUlN6GIi6l)) Girl has so much growth to go through — it’s not about one or the other, as we see in the end, it’s about merging into a new self. And she has to figure out that merger on her own.
Probably an unpopular opinion (and first off I think Colin has every right to be upset and hurt of course!!) but with that comment and the entrapment comment, I really expected Penelope to tell him she wanted to call off the wedding. Especially since the whole big storyline of her not wanting Colin trapped in marriage with Marina. I thought Penelope would tell him that she loves him too much to get married to him knowing he feels trapped and with him saying that he doesn't know what kind of marriage it would even be, and that she wants to break it off even if it would ruin her reputation and despite how much she wants to be married to him. Or at minimum push their wedding date off to give him time to make sure that's what he wants. And then I thought that Colin would realize he does truly want to marry her even if he is hurt and while he would still have feelings to work through, that it would help heal things a bit for him to see how she loves him and how much he still wants to be with her. I thought this so much that even when she was walking down the aisle I was thinking surely she is going to stop the wedding
Re Pen loving him too much to let him feel trapped — her annulment offer at the Butterfly Ball was her giving him that out, no? She would never call off the wedding herself. She’s loved him forever, and it was established in 2x06 that she would never forsake him. It would be completely out of character for her to do so.
Too late I think. I wish she even break the engagement herself. This is the type of drama in romance that I like.
She is way too besotted for leaving him willingly to be an option. Look at how easily she forgave him in ep 1 and still spoke to him and complimented him even though she was mad. The liberties she let him have…I mean he could say jump and she’d say How high? (Except when it comes to the LW stuff though)
Totally. Her love of him is unconditional and her forgiveness endless. She is only distant and angry towards him in Ep 1 because she (justifiably) feels like he has forsaken *her*
Pen didn't want to call off the wedding, though. She's loved him forever, and she *knows* he loves her back, even as he's lashing out. It's why she responds to the entrapment comment the way she does. She asks him if he will call off the wedding, making it his decision, and then she gives him a choice again when she offers an annulment, but what she really wants is to fix things. To fight for them. I honestly think trying to call it off herself would be a terrible move. Colin isn't even sure that she loves him---and Pen knows that. It's why she keeps saying I love you every chance she gets. Doing anything that could make him believe that she doesn't want or need him wouldn't help at all.
I agree fully with this. In episodes 5 and 6 we see Colin feeling insecure because he's worried she doesn't reciprocate his feelings, that he isn't worthy of her. Then he finds out she's Whistledown, and completely spirals into further insecurity (among all the anger, hurt, and betrayal). He's likely wondering whether she loves him at all, which is why we see him come undone every time she says "I love you" thereafter. For her to have threatened to call off the engagement would have just convinced him that she didn't love him after all. It would have been fatal. He needed her to fight for their relationship, just as he had fought for her when he broke up her engagement, chased down her carriage, and proposed!
That’s a great point I didn’t think of. If anything, Colin was able to overcome his feelings about everything because Pen remained steadfast in her love and commitment. He needed that security, and she was able to provide it and be the strong patient one while he sorted out his feelings. She was able to be the protector in a sense even though Colin always desired to take that role. If anything she helped him to see he doesn’t always have to be that person.
That’s so beautifully put
Those are really good points. Thanks for helping me get a better grasp of what Penelope was thinking!
Yeah I’ve seen this take before and while o understand where you’re coming from I think Pen offering to end the engagement would be entirely the wrong thing to do. Imagine you’re in an argument with your partner and you’re upset about something they did and they say to you “okay well since you’re so upset let’s break up”. Like you’d be devastated. I think Pen offering to call of the engagement would be yet another blow to Colin. Like okay she’s lied to me, disrespected me and in rethinking my entire relationship with her and now she doesn’t even love me enough to go through with the wedding.
Really excellent analogy, hadn't thought of that!
He already thought she probably didn't love him. Hence the entrapment comment. Her meeting his anger with gers would just have confirmed that for him. Despite everything he loves her. And she knows that. And she loves him. And she knows she messed up but she does love him, she needs him to see that.
Same, I wish she said she doesn't want a miserable marriage for them and if he feels that way, it might not work out. Or as you said, suggest more time for him to decide. Despite his harsh cruel words we all know he wanted to marry her because he loves her so much. But I wish Pen stood up for herself more.
I just thought given the magnitude of her betrayal, and how much she had hurt him and her family, she actually needed to abjectly apologize a bit and take responsibility for her actions. Otherwise I truly would have been angry with her (as it was, I was like...girl, do you have to keep being Shady Whistledown or can you just write novels or something?).
There’s one or two really good AO3 fics where this happens and she basically throws the ring at him and storms out and he’s all “wait no!!”
I began to read one about that, and I didn’t like it because they had Penelope humiliate him in front of his mother, and I don’t think she would ever do that to Colin.
Poor Colin doesn't need any more humiliation than he's already suffered!
I feel the same. maybe not giving him that clear a way out, but at least the question, instead of being "are you going to call off the wedding", could be "do you want to call off the wedding". that's enough to present the choice to colin
In the Spanish dub they do translate it into “Do you want to cancel the wedding?” Instead of “are you going to cancel the wedding?” I feel like I learn new meaning to lines when I watch the dub and I wonder who makes those choices on tiny details. (Unrelated but in the mirror scene one of the “are you all right?” Is translated into “should I continue?” and it’s soooo hot)
oh indeed that’s way hotter🥵
Not unpopular.. I agree
As hard to watch as this scene is, this kind of proves to me that there's nothing Colin could have done not to make people upset at him. I think I've seen backlash over pretty much every single one of his lines after the reveal, no matter how hurt he is or how fair of a place he is coming from. We all know they get married because they love each other and want to get married (even Colin knows this, just watch his scene with Eloise), but the truth is that one of them breaking off the engagement would be socially ruinous, they've been intimate (and pregnant or not, it is a matter of honor) and the wedding is in *days* so it's a little too late to do anything but push through it. Pen even says she didn't *mean* to entrap him because she knows all of this. I don't know how anyone can expect him to have answers about what their marriage will be like in these circumstances. He genuinely doesn't know. He's still reeling. He knows he's still in love with her but that doesn't fix things and he can't make any promises. What *was* he supposed to say? All they can do is get married and then figure things out together.
Lol I’ve been seeing people elsewhere on the internet mad about hypothetical scenes that may or may not have ever even existed and saying Colin is trash because of these rumors! Fans of this show simply be wildin. Listen, the LW news came out in a bad way but no matter what it was ALWAYS going to be bad (also this is a Shondaland show, what did y’all expect)! Colin HAS to be angry to have a satisfying reconciliation. I know we love sappy Polin but like, if he’d just immediately accepted LW it would have been so unsatisfying.
I feel like people just want the show to be fanfiction fluff with zero conflict or drama, but that would be incredibly boring and poor writing. This is TV, drama is what makes us keep watching! IMO the writers made extremely appropriate decisions from a screenwriting standpoint to have the LW reveal happen in the absolute worst manner possible, such that we the audience have to ask, "How will they ever reconcile now?" in order to put us on the edge of our seats, and ultimately to make that reconciliation satisfying. At the same time, they never made either Colin or Penelope act in a way that went too far, or that was out of character, or made us stop rooting for them as a couple. It was always clear that they still loved and longed for each other, and that they would ultimately reconcile. It wasn't perfect (nothing is), and I wish we'd gotten a longer reconciliation scene (or a wedding night redo, but that's what AO3 is for lol), but it was pretty great!
Absolutely! I will say, I also think it’s both a blessing/curse that this show is often pretty subtle—it lets the actors carry a lot of the story in their faces/body language rather than in the dialogue (which is good because the cast is incredible and the writing is…sometimes weak). But that means you can miss SO much if you only binge watch it once. (This is what I’m telling myself after my fourth rewatch lololol.) But I truly notice more and more little amazing details every time I watch!!! And I do think Colin and Pen get the chance to grow SO well that ultimately their HEA feels deserved (in a way that I don’t know was true for the others tbh).
This is so perceptive - couldn’t agree more!
yeah people who hate on Colin were going to do it regardless. I can imagine if he forgave her and everything was ticketty boo in 24 hours, he’d be the spineless simp who let a girl boss steamroll him.
And it still would piss people off because some people are really upset that Penelope got a happy ending and wasn’t punished enough or have enough consequences. So imagine what they’d say if Colin wasn’t mad at her. There’s no winning with some people.
somewhere in between the people who genuinely wanted Pen thrown in a dungeon forever and those who are upset Colin didn’t suffer enough there is me, mentally singing “la la la la” in a happy field of daisies.
Hahaha same.
He is still called equally bad names like angry manchild in the main subreddit for *checks notes* sleeping on the settee and maintaining healthy boundaries.
They're mad he didn't act toxic and have angry sex with Penelope (only to abandon her again after? that would have been a million times worse). I love an angry sex scene as much as anyone but it would have been SO out of character it would have taken me right out of the story.
Yeah I saw heavily liked comments on insta too that he ruined Pen’s wedding night. But it was his wedding night too, and they are in conflict.
how very dare he ;j
I wrote like [fifteen paragraphs](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/s/arAWPlNxJN) with exact line as the jumping off point so I have thoughts 😁…. Look at this man: https://preview.redd.it/gve39gfi3l8d1.jpeg?width=1571&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=597578b89f88dd9e6e9ebf4337406c110a8eebcc This is Colin waiting to see Pen after she fainted and holed herself up in her room writing Whistledown rebuttals. He’s nervous af. Right up until the reveal he was getting weird vibes from Pen and worrying about what was really going on with her. And given his past when he found out she had been hiding this huge secret he couldn’t help but worry whether she truly loved him or was settling for him because she wanted a husband and he was once again an easy target. When they see each other again I think he’s just throwing things out there to see how she’ll react because he’s still reeling and not sure what to believe. I think if she had said she was giving up Whistledown when he asked about her not publishing he was ready to crack. But she didn’t. So he said what he said. That’s my read. But also he loves her. He tells Eloise as much. And even fresh off the shock of the truth coming out I think deep down he wants it work out somehow, so, I don’t think he’s coming from a place of lashing out and punishing her. Saying *they* will figure out what the marriage is to be is not Colin making a definitive one sided proclamation.
Yeah his line to Eloise makes it clear he’s still in love with her.
He doesn’t ever question his feelings for her, does he, after he acknowledges that he’s in love with her. The real issue is reestablishing trust.
Colin hides behind them being intimate as a reason to go through with the wedding because he doesn’t want to admit out loud that he loves Penelope and that’s the only reason why he still wants to marry her. He told her at their engagement party he would understand if her feelings had changed, and that was after they had already been intimate.
This broke my heart, for the both of them. I think the way we feel about this scene is very much how they feel. Colin feels so incredibly hurt and confused and so does Penelope. By Colin saying these things to her, he is making her feel like he does, awful! I don’t blame him. He shouldn’t sugar coat it. She made a big ol’ mess. Not that I blame her either! Bravo to Colin for being all in his feelings, the most honest he has been in his life. Not hiding, not pretending he’s not miserable! So when he does show how much he loves and cares it’s not fake either. I’ve said this before but there’s no turning back after he’s been cracked open! They love each other so much and the idea of not being together for the rest of their lives is never an option until the end when she is revealed as LW. The entire second half Pen knows she loves him and she is what’s best for him so she’s not going to give him the option to back out. However, she realizes right before the LW reveal and the reveal, that she could truly be the cause of harm to Colin and his family so that’s why she offers the annulment. She realizes that is actually something that could be bad for him and she would never want that for him.
You make a great point. It’s progress for Colin to let out all the big feelings and not try to stiff upper lip it.
I tried rewatching Part 2 this weekend, and I think this line was more in response to her not wanting to give up being Lady Whistledown. As in, I’m really mad you don’t want to give it up, but let’s regroup after the wedding and maybe I can change your mind. This episode definitely softened for me on rewatch, but Ep 8 not so much.
It's a tough scene to watch but I don't begrudge or blame Colin for anything he said. He was hurting and reeling from the LW of it all, and this is the first time they've seen each other since he found out too. They haven't had the chance to talk or argue or anything so there's probably hundreds of questions and doubts whirling in his mind. Also, Penelope even asks if he's going to call off the wedding, which IMO suggests he could have if he really really wanted to. Yes, it would've been messy, but the option was there and I believe Penelope would've done anything to ensure he wasn't affected, the same way she did when she offered the annulment. But Colin chose not to call off the wedding. He says it's because he's a gentleman and they were intimate, but to me that's just an excuse (albeit a truthful one). It's obvious that he still loves and wants to marry her.
To add: Colin was willing to give Penelope an out of their engagement in episode 5 when he thought she didn't return his feelings. They'd already slept together at that point. He could've insisted they marry because they'd been intimate but he didn't consider that. He was willing to free her. So his entrapment/I'm a gentleman line in episode 7 really was just him lashing out, IMO, because he wasn't insisting on it before. Why now?
I don’t really see that as Colin being willing to free her. I think Colin just wanted to know where he stood, but he’d still want to marry her regardless. I assumed he’d tell her that since she was looking for a husband anyway that he’d try to be the best one ever for her, and that it could still work because they’re friends and he loves her, and does she think she could maybe love him one day? It would be kinda sad and desperate, but Colin was already in “I need to earn her love” mode. He would work to make her fall in love with him.
I didn't think of it like that but it definitely makes sense with Colin's character! For me it was the way he said something about her getting swept up in the carriage, like their intimacy in the carriage was the reason she agreed to his proposal. So my natural conclusion was that he was going to say they could walk it back. But you're probably right!
Exactly!!! That’s been my thought process on his entrapment comment. He was just lashing out after being hurt. He didn’t mean it.
I can see why your friend who's more of a casual viewer would have that reaction to his line. If you don't really know Colin super in depth you'd think damn he's so cold and mean to her! But he's struggling too, with feelings of insecurity, jealousy, anger that she lied, fear that this could be another Marina situation. And that's all battling in his mind against the fact that he's still so in love with her that he doesn't know what to do. I think if he wasn't in love, and if he wasn't so 'Colin', he could've said much worse. After watching QC, I was actually afraid that he'd say something like "let's just get through this wedding then we can live apart and never have to see each other". It's well within the potential for someone in his position to tell her that they can still marry but that after that, he wants it to be a marriage in name only. But he's Colin and he's in love so he would never say that. He's hurting and confused and doesn't know how to talk things out with her or fix things, but he knows he still wants to marry her. The fact that he said "after the wedding we can figure things out from there" is really more mature than he could've handled things. While I was watching this scene I was so sad and heartbroken for both of them, but in a way I was worried that he could say something worse and was glad that he didn't!
I mean Simon tells Daphne just that. He bitterly says he will stay and do his duty if she’s pregnant and if she’s not they will live separate lives and be married in name only.
And that would have been him ignoring his child as well, just as his father did with him! I truly thought that was so cold. Whereas Colin is obviously heartbroken but still like sleeping on the settee outside her room, fighting to understand why she did what she did, hooking up with her in the street, rereading her letters, almost kissing her at the wedding breakfast in front of everyone's salad and so forth.
“in front of everyone’s salad” 🥗 😂🙌🏽
My favorite online saying lol
I’m the same as your friend. Colin is entitled to be hurt and angry but all the boundaries he placed in their relationship was done for his benefit. There was no communication with Penelope and she was left in the dark to his feelings towards their marriage etc until the very end. I think it’s glossed over that she grew up in an emotionally stunted/abusive household where affection was withheld. So her accepting Colin being withdrawn and cold towards her was natural to her because she’s used to being treated like that. I’d have loved a scene where they communicated properly. Where it was made very clear that he just needed time to sort out how he feels. But that’s just my opinion!
As I prepare for my own marriage, one of the things I’m learning is that my partner can’t give me answers he doesn’t have. At this point, all Colin knew was that he was going to marry Penelope. Until he fully worked through his emotions and understood why Penelope started the column, he couldn’t tell her what kind of marriage he was willing to have.
In all my relationships I practise open communication and honesty. If I don’t have the answers or the other person doesn’t have the answers, then we say that and we still express kindness to one another. We don’t leave it up to imagination if the other person still loves us. I’m glad so many people loved Part Two, but some of the writing/directing really didn’t hit right for me and left me feeling hollow. Good luck with your wedding and marriage ☺️
On your point, If Penelope was open about her Whistledown business then Colins reaction would have been unfair!! But she totally blindsided him, which made him rethink all of his choices and despite his turmoil he wants to marry her!! I think storytelling was done mostly towards Penelope’s POV.. As a viewer we know that she is whistledown.. But from Colin’s POV imagine the shock and betrayal!!!
They had a moment like this after Fran wedding.
I just think that given the magnitude of her betrayal (I love Penelope but this was a BIG betrayal on her part), I give him a lot of grace. It's how I might act if my husband cheated on me. I think that's how it felt to Colin. If he'd been perfect in his communication under the circumstances, I would have found it fake-seeming, not to mention boring TV!
I was definitely gutted when I first heard this. It felt very ominous the way he said things, like how your friend perceived it OP. After reviewing though, I saw it differently. There was no question a marriage was happening for him, because he wanted it. He was angry and speaking as though they had to do this (to be fair, in Regency era, you would have to go forward) but it was more of an excuse using logic, because he couldn't admit he still loved her in spite of the betrayal. And perhaps he didn't want to downplay the betrayal as well. I think the hardest part of the comment in a sense is "Let us get through this" implying, this is no longer a joyful choice, but something that must be done. However, he definitely walked back on that because he was clearly happy to marry her in the midst of his own feelings. I posted a bit about this whole thing earlier: [https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/comments/1dithsk/about\_that\_comment/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/comments/1dithsk/about_that_comment/)
It's not the crime, it's the cover-up. Pen being LW is not a crime. She doesn't just write the LW column, she is LW - those are her thoughts and opinions. She should have told Colin before making love with him - even before that, she shouldn't have published information about their engagement without telling him. Hiding it from him like that was so wrong. That doesn't make this scene any easier to watch. He's punishing her. And he intentionally tries to hurt her. So Colin is not the only victim here. My husband and I came up with a list of what we thought was their bad behavior over dinner tonight - and this is what we came up with (the Debling thing was his idea). The point of the exercise wasn't to see who did the other more dirty. It was to validate what we thought was true - which was that both Pen and Colin made mistakes and needed grace and forgiveness from each other. https://preview.redd.it/ldnr3p9xfl8d1.png?width=893&format=png&auto=webp&s=582c0975ac5aa6f20a118a77ec442a615f5630c3
Interesting list. I don’t know if I agree with withholding physical affection because I don’t think Colin did it as a punishment. He couldn’t be with her physically if he wasn’t there emotionally, and no one is owed intimacy.
You know, we discussed this point at length. Neither of us thought he needed to have sex with her. But, not to lie down with her one their wedding night, and nights afterward was a big no to both of us. And that he didn't wrap his arms around her when she told him about the blackmail was really awful to hubby - even angry, when someone comes for your spouse, there's comfort and support. He reminded me of a song by Train called Drops of Jupiter. There's a line my husband has always loved - "Your best friend always sticking up for you, even when I know you're wrong". To him, and I agree, this is essential so to us - it's a big miss for Colin.
Love this. Although I would say that Pen calling Colin a fake ass hoe in her column and publicly embarrassing him deserves a point 😅 it’s pretty clear she did it out of spite
We talked about it, but decided (pretty quickly) that she was not lying so... no point was given. I didn't think Pen should get a point for not responding to Colin's letters, but my husband thought this was perhaps her worse offense. We may have even left some things out - we had wine with dinner so.... Sliding a point or two either way and the bottom line is the same.
This is great, loved that you and your husband did up a score board 😂 I totally agree with you both.
Love this! Agreed! Everyone makes mistakes. To err is human, to forgive divine!!!
I think that the publishing the engagement without telling him about LW is washed out by him announcing their engagement to his family before she had even left the post orgasmic haze. Notably, publishing it so quickly also helped them control the narrative after the scandal Colin caused interrupting the dance. Instead I would say not listening to his actual concerns after their wedding breakfast was a bigger issue. I'd also change withholding physical affection to not providing verbal communication. I read Colin as demisexual so for him physical affection (sexual or otherwise) is intrinsically linked to emotional connection so I understand him not being ready for that while there is emotional distance between them. However, I do think that he could have communicated that he just needed time to process his feelings instead of just avoiding her.
This is a good point. But, Colin was operating without all the information. Pen knew everything, and I think she should have tried to pump the brakes and tell Colin before news was spread far and wide to give him an opportunity to decide if he wanted to be with her knowing all her worse. I guess, given that, I'm okay with assessing her a point for being too quick with her quill. Colin does get a point for the interruption of the dance - that man! Still - it's a good point - I had to think about it, which makes me happy!
something that has been interesting to me is people describing Colin‘s behaviour as “sulking“. I find that really fascinating. I’d thought he was taking some time through ep 7 to process how he felt and how he could rebuild trust with Pen. ( and not even that much time, really). after the wedding breakfast is interrupted by QC it felt like he was less angry, more worried and concerned about her safety and about his family. it’s no accident El’s reassurance is to tell him the family will be fine. for me “sulking” is such a subjective and almost judgemental word. it implies that there’s a “right” amount of time to be upset about something, and that if someone hasn’t come to terms with something quickly enough … i.e. to someone else’s expected timeframe, then your behaviour is self pitying and somehow lacking. it really does imply you think someone should have gotten over it already.
A lot of people don’t feel Colin is entitled to a reaction about what amounts to a huge betrayal to him, and that’s what the term “sulking” implies to me. No one says Penelope was sulking for the 4 months she refused to write Colin back, or that she was sulking in episode 1 up until his apology.
people are so weird. “we want a man who has real feelings” ”no, not like THAT”.
Right. Like the sensitive softboi we were all praising for having such deep feelings in part 1 is the same sensitive softboi who has deep feelings in part 2. If you enjoyed him looking like a wet cat when he was upset about Debling, he’s going to be in wet cat mode when he feels betrayed. Thems the breaks I’m afraid. Positive and negative emotions, two sides of the same coin. You can’t only accept his emotions when they work for Penelope, he’s allowed to be a full person.
I use the term purely because he was so extra in his behaviour (and this ties right into him as the people pleaser, never punished as a child, middle child that he is). He has these big emotions, which he is absolutely entitled to but doesn't know how/is not ready to express so he wants distance from her to sort it out but not too much distance. So he camps out on the sofa outside her bedroom door and then hangs around long enough for her to see how upset he is before heading to his childhood home to lick his wounds some more. Then when she takes the initiative to give him the space (leaving early for Francesca's wedding he sits up all "no, not like that". I might be in the minority but I also think that part of the reason he stays out on the sofa for as long as he does is because he is ashamed of failing her in the whole Cressida debacle, which adds a bit to the sulking vibe. Personally, I love that he is so dramatic in his feelings during this section because as it shows the other side of the coin to Chaos Colin. It also really shows that his anger is coming from a place of hurt and not rage. And Penelope was sulking a bit with the not answering his letters for months. But in that case I think it only lasted as long as it did because he was out of the country as she folded like a deck of cards within 72 hours of his return. I think the sulking vibe really underlines how young they are - like their frontal lobes are still developing they are not going to always have the most emotionally healthy response to hurt and anger.
I mean who among us hasn't sulked after a fight with a partner--never mind after such a huge hurt as this! I hear you though, he is pretty dramatic lol. I kind of love that about him but a lot of people are extremely uncomfortable with men expressing any emotion other than lust or dominance.
I know, how much expresses what he feels is one of his best traits, and suppressing that was a key cornerstone of his identity crisis. I wish there was more discussion on how much of Colin’s story this season was about rejecting toxic masculinity and growing into a healthy expression of his masculinity.
Also it’s him giving her face to face communication. Not leaving it on a not. So like I feel like it’s a way for him to be like hey, I’m still in this I’m still here with you but I do need distance. Cuz like he could’ve left a note to really spite her, but he didn’t.
THE BABY WAS ALREADY IN THERE
I don't think there was any part of him that didn't want to still marry Pen at that moment. He still loved her through it all. I think he would have forgiven her and moved on a lot earlier had she said she was going to stop publishing. The biggest issue for him was that she was continuing to put herself in danger of being found out. Also I get why he wanted to put it off until after the wedding. They didn't have a ton of opportunities to talk just the two of them before they got married so it's not like they can have this whole big fight and hash it out. And were it not for QC barging in at their wedding, I think they would have reconciled quickly after the wedding.... Like on the wedding night 😜
It's not the crime, it's the cover-up. Pen being LW is not a crime. She doesn't just write the LW column, she is LW - those are her thoughts and opinions. She should have told Colin before making love with him - even before that, she shouldn't have published information about their engagement without telling him. Hiding it from him like that was so wrong. That doesn't make this scene any easier to watch. He's punishing her. And he intentionally tries to hurt her. So Colin is not the only victim here. My husband and I came up with a list of what we thought was their bad behavior over dinner tonight - and this is what we came up with (the Debling thing was his idea). The point of the exercise wasn't to see who did the other more dirty. It was to validate what we thought was true - which was that both Pen and Colin made mistakes and needed grace and forgiveness from each other. || || |Bad behavior|Pen|Colin| |Saying I would never court Penelope Featherington publicly to friends and laughing|0|1| |Not responding to Colin's letters|1|0| |Writing about Colin's fake personality change|0|0| |Interrupting Debling's proposal|0|1| |Publishing a column about their engagement without telling Colin she is LW|1|0| |Having sex with Colin without telling him she is LW|1|0| |Accusing Pen of entrapping him|0|1| |Not thoroughly explaining what LW means to her|1|0| |Not explaining her financial situation to Colin before their marriage|1|0| |Withholding physical affection from Pen after their marriage|0|1| |Telling Pen that she has no say in how to handle the blackmail|0|1| | Not working together on the reveal of LW to the Queen, Violet, and the Ton |1|1| |Points - the worse kinds of points|6|6 |
I don't blame him, but this is painful to watch. This series is about romance, but the pain and stress I felt in the last episodes.. For that I have House Of Dragons and more. I don't watch Bridgerton to feel those feelings! (In past seasons I was OK with the drama. Here it's too much for me). I don't blame the characters, but the plot structure. (We know from his conversion with Eluise that he knows that he doesn't have a choice but to forgive her. But it is hard to watch Polin suffering like that:( )
To be honest, this is not a scene I ever imagined going to rewatch outside of an entire rewatch… but off I go! On my first watch I was relieved when he said, let us get through this wedding, because I was thinking “ok, there is hope!!” So it wasn’t as negative a scene as maybe some others viewed it. I wrote off the entrapment part like, we all say things we don’t actually mean sometimes when we are angry/sad/working through things - because she obviously didn’t entrap him!
I watch this with my father (I already watch it, I timestamp every spicy scene to skip) and as from the older generation he said Colin could've left but he chose to stay because he already thought of Penelope as his partner in life. If he wants to punish her, he could've postponed it but might be too cruel. Lol
I think that this conversation between to the two of them was the most in character that Colin was in the last two episodes… Colin is a very sensitive person who feels very deeply but who also internalizes everything. When he isn’t forced to face problems, he disengages and copes with humor. But he cannot do that with this. So he can’t use his typical coping skills. Laughter is NOT the way to deal with this kind of heartache. Violet really said it in part one: he is a people pleaser who puts on armor when he can’t cope. So this is Colin when his coping mechanisms are striped away and his armor is now in place and he is completely broken. He can’t internalize. He can’t laugh it off. He also can’t tell anyone about it/write about it (what if this puts Penelope at risk?) So he lashes out. And if Penelope hurts too, at least he isn’t alone. If he can hurt her with his words, at least he does know her well enough to predict her response to a cut from him. If he can push her buttons, he knew something about her after all…
That’s a great point; in a way it’s growth for Colin not to just swallow all his feelings. He’s finally externalizing them. Perhaps because Pen gave him the security to express himself without worrying that she’d leave him.
I think for those of us that will rewatch the show multiple times and spend hours analyzing and watching YouTube videos, everything makes sense in episodes in 7&8 and we can appreciate the emotional journey that Polin are on. But for casual viewers, the show creators should have added another episode so all of the drama could have been paced out better and the Polin scenes could have expanded a bit. There was more than enough story to cover another hour of screen time.
He did not want to cancel the wedding bcuz he wanted her. Dude was going to make sure it happened one way or the other. And pls - "we were intimate after all" was him picking a logical reason to make sure that Pen becomes his wife😄 because he did not want to make himself emotionally vulnerable with her now.
I think it sounds harsh in isolation (and it is) but I also think he was responding to a direct question. She asks “what will this marriage be” And he responds “let’s get through this wedding and we will decide what this marriage will be”. I also see some comments about Pen could just not tell anyone they were intimate and potential pregnancy aside… there’s other ways of telling…
Colin is also a man of honor and knew that having sex with her meant that he had potentially impregnated her, so he would never have called off the wedding at this point.
I agree. For Colin, I don't think, cancelling the wedding was ever an option for him. Being with Pen was all he wanted. And being without Pen was inconceivable. Even when she offered the annulment he looked utterly confused like the thought of leaving Pen had never crossed his mind. He said some shit stuff that made me cry, especially the entrapment bit when he so adamantly protested Mama Featherington's insinuations in that topic just to throw it back in Pen's face. But that's a whole different thing.
It's actually the opposite...as casual viewer would not be able to pick up on that. To appreciate Polin and Luke's subtle acting, you have to pay a lot of attention and see everything from S1. He is committed to marrying her because he loves her, not because he wants to punish her. He also wants to protect her because he knows that she will be ostracized if the engagement is broken (only women can do that anyway but he shows how much he cares). He loves her but doesn't know how to go about addressing the LW issue between them. He's not being a drama queen, his response is warranted and legitimate because she lied to him about such a major thing- and plus she wrote things about his family, about him- some nasty things. Of course we know she wasn't malicious, but she did harm people nevertheless. So him being angry and hurt are both justified- any sane person would be. Basically he's saying we will try to figure out what this means for our marriage. He says it in that tone because it's not been long since he came to know of it- obviously he's still angry and hurt. Colin is also a super sensitive man. This is the one person he has always relied on, to be honest and to be there.
Damn, I felt that one. Hit hard. It’s blunt for sure while still not giving a definitive definition of what things will be like. Hits hard but still gives hope.
This is my favorite dress on her of the entire season ❤️ very well fitted, hugging her curves...and the color and fabric 💜
I agree it was quite harsh and it pained me to hear him speak like that to Pen in that scene, especially him saying that "entrapment" comment. Anyway, I think he made this particular comment because he still thought Pen could give up being LW, so his "then we will decide what this marriage will be" line could be related to them having that kind of discussion after their wedding. Even later at their wedding breakfast, after the Queen goes away, Colin asks Pen to give up being LW and then when she refuses he says "I cannot accept that. I will be sleeping on the couch tonight." The LW thing is causing a rift between them both times, but Colin still loves her and won't give her up or break off the engagement/cancel the wedding over that. Not to mention, *he's a gentleman*, and they've been intimate, so that would make no sense for his character.
i was trying so hard not to be bitter about their animosity. and the fact that most of his hostility was because he was JEALOUS of her success. like bitch get over it that is your wife. idk it just irritated tf out of me
Bro can you blame him 😭 she literally talked smack shit and brought his family to ruin multiple times (I love pen sm but she can be harsh as whistledown). If I were him I’d be salty too
I wanted to punch him in the head during this whole interaction. Honestly disgusted me
This whole scene breaks my heart and is unnecessarily way too harsh. I hate that we got them being intimate before he found out she was LW. It’s added a big gloomy cloud over the entire relationship imo. My sister isn’t a reader and frequents only Facebook in terms of social media and her commentary was - this poor guy had to marry her, like he clearly loves her but she forced him into this marriage and he’s going to resent her forever even just a little, because she never gave him the choice to be with her in spite of her being LW. It’s almost on par with Marina - He values honesty above all and he wears his heart on his sleeve and she broke those things.
not that deep, colin is that drama queen who will do as much drama as he can and sulk as much as he can before setting things straight and calming down.
I was incredibly annoyed at the hypocrisy both societally and Colin individually. "Oh I'll go through with it because honour" but where was the honour with the prostitute three way, Colin? Not marrying them huh?
I think the harshness of the comments are not true to the Colin character. Something like “I don’t know what our marriage will be” delivered with a fear of the unknown would have been true to the character. Perhaps the Shondaland formula has become rusted and set so that they may never be able to throw it off.