To quote Kate, one of the hosts of What Would Danbury Do?, a podcast examining the Bridgerton world, the marketing for the Netflix Bridgerton show has been very subtle. It’s not as if it has it’s own hashtag icon, or that publications like Architectural Digest of all places covered it.
Wait, no, it was everywhere and so many of you asked us about it.
We were watching? Oh, yes. Over the holiday break we’ve been discussing it nonstop. I found myself watching while on the treadmill and not noticing time passing until I’d been on the incline walk for over an hour. My shins were not happy with me.
On one hand, Bridgerton was almost perfectly calibrated to appeal to me, from a nostalgia perspective, and from a “I hardly watch television because I don’t trust people to write a happy ending or an ending at all” perspective. When I started the show, my first reaction was jaw dropping awe: “Ooooooh, so this is what it’s like when budget, time, incredible on-camera and behind-the-scenes talent, and a firehose of opulence are aimed at a romance fiction plot. Wow.”
Since finishing it, I have been pondering how to discuss Bridgerton. It’s complex and there’s a LOT to talk about. This is a portion of our conversation, talking about the wonderful and woeful parts.
SPOILERS ABOUND. This conversation is after most of us have watched all eight episodes, so we discuss plot points, characters, and other moments in detail.
Shana: I’m definitely curious about how people are responding depending on their previous relationship to the book(s).
Sarah: Oh, yeah – me, too. I re-read The Duke and I a week or so ago (time? What is?) and noting both the differences between my reaction now vs. when I first read the book 20 years ago was a LOT to think about. And that was before I started looking at the wisteria-draped, sparkly jewel-tone Netflix version.
Shana: Ooh, I bet. I haven’t tried to reread it, and I’m sure I’d have a very different reaction to it today. Both because I’m much more sensitive to consent issues, and historical romances with zero racial diversity…also because I may have outgrown my love for rakes. There is so much raking on this show! I just want a sweet beta hero to make me snacks.
Sarah: With the book, I can look at it from a distance and recognize the parts that are GOD FUCKING AWFUL and also what worked on me as a reader. With the show, I find myself in a similar position. Some parts really worked. Some parts really did not.
Catherine:I also re-read / skimmed the book before watching Bridgerton, which might have been a mistake. For me, the show worked best when I pretended it had nothing to do with the book. I think one of the great strengths of the Bridgerton books is the dialogue – and for whatever reason, Bridgerton chose not to use it, which was a pity. I feel like they tried to replace it with hot men, and while the men (well, Simon) are indeed hot, I want hot men AND good dialogue, damn it!
Also, changing the dialogue meant that the story became far less witty and far more angsty.
But also, they have made Anthony FAR more of a jerk than is necessary. The whole bit with Siena infuriated me. Bad enough that the script walks right up to the double standard and then does nothing with it, but I’m also not there for him breaking his promise to look after her. This seems supremely un-Anthony, who for all his rakish ways, should be a man of his word. I also found his whole head-of-the-household routine pretty dismal to watch. I am not at ALL convinced that I am going to be able to buy him as a hero in the next season.
Kiki: I’d be interested in discussing it as well—though I have one episode left and I skipped the nonconsensual scene. The Duke and I was one of the first historical romances I read and it really left a mark on me and not in a great way.
Similarly to being over rakes, I’m also over heroes with issues with their father that they never deal with/”the line ends with me to punish my dead dad!”
Sarah: I agree it’s a fragile basis for character motivation.
Also: the way the show has addressed and not addressed racial identity is making me chase my tail. The Black characters know they are Black (and discuss it) but no one else does…so they’re all pretending not to notice race? Or they literally don’t notice? They are in an alternate universe? I’m so baffled.
Kiki: Yeeeeessss. I have so much to say about the conversation between Lady Danbury and Simon where they sorta kinda but also don’t talk about race. I had I pause the show after that scene and audibly say “what??!?!?”
Sarah: That has been STUCK in my head, Kiki. LODGED. NOT MOVING.
Were they in some kind of alt dimension because how on one hand can you have Black characters discussing the Queen being Black, their own status among peerage and wealth, and the precariousness of it…. And no one else comes close to that contextual conversation or awareness?
Kiki: I feel like the writers tried to slip in some actual racial politics but how can you do that in a show that is pretending race doesn’t exist??? I don’t think you get to have it both ways and they tried to.
Shana: YES
Sarah: YES exactly that. It’s disingenuous and excuses too much. The characters acknowledge race when they are Not White but no one who is White does so or has to? HOW.
Another point: I loved Lady Danbury, and how glorious her gowns were, and Adoja Andoh’s ability to demonstrate awareness of power and no fucks given with a zillion tiny gestures and movements. I would watch an entire show of Lady Danbury’s gatherings of married ladies.
Shana: I was initially happy that they added in that scene between Lady Danbury and Simon because it made the alternate history more interesting, but it’s annoying that’s all we get.
I presume the implication is that White folks had a few decades to flip out, decide class matters more than anything else, and they’ve gotten over it now and moved into a mode of quietly pretending race doesn’t exist. Which certainly had some parallels with real life among upper classes but where’s the acknowledgment that institutions don’t work that way?
Sarah: Yes. “That’s all we get?” is exactly right. That’s the precise feeling I have the more I think about it.
Shana: They do something similar with sexism. Eloise is constantly pointing out how marriage in their society is sexist, but the rest of the Bridgertons just ignore her. It’s like the show didn’t want to avoid the topic, but also didn’t want to engage with it.
That Refinery 29 piece captures many of my responses to the show. I mean, just based on the trailer, I was already annoyed by the colorism, and it looked like most WOC wouldn’t be playing love interest roles. Watching the show had not improved my opinion. In fact, it’s worse because Daphne and Simon are pretty boring together. So along with the absence of any real story for Danbury, Marina, and Charlotte, we’re constantly forced back to the most uninteresting pairing I’ve watched in years.
It felt like that Danbury/Simon conversation was just there to give me a chance to fill in the subtext in the Featherington’s family, or imagine a backstory for the modiste…while protecting White viewers from the difficulty of having to think about race.
It’s definitely beautiful to look at. Belle was better, even if it imagined a more luxurious life for the heroine than the real historical figure she was based on. I may need to rewatch that Vauxhall scene as a reward for finishing this.
Oh, and I loved Penelope in the books and so far she’s very unsympathetic here.
Sarah: What did you dislike about her? I struggled with Penelope’s scenes and dialogue while also being riveted to the performance. I think Nicola Coughlan steals so many scenes that she’s in.
Shana: No, the actresses is fabulous, I just found the character so self loathing, petulant, and desperately sad when placed against Marina.
Oof, I just finished episode 6, the episode with the consent issues. Daphne’s post-sex meltdown is just…not a good look. It turned a misunderstanding into an echo of Carolyn Bryant/Emmett Till. I didn’t feel like Simon had done anything wrong except assume a basic understanding of sexual reproduction by his wife. Why are we centering her feelings instead of Simon’s sense of betrayal? This was much worse than I expected. I am horrified.
Lara: If I’m too late to this party, totally understand! I, too, am sitting with some uncomfortable feelings and I’d love to process them with y’all
Shana: Please join the party Lara! I’ve just finished the series.
I watched the last two episodes with my Mom, and she adored Eloise and Lady Danbury, and agreed with Sarah that the Bridgerton boys are forgettable and interchangeable. She declared Simon to be so distractingly cute that it was hard to pay attention to anything he was saying. And she thought Daphne was the most milquetoast character.
Catherine: Just here to agree 100% both on the interchangeable Bridgerton boys (to be fair, they are supposed to look very alike, so I guess the casting director got that right), and the distracting hotness of Simon.
Shana: We thought the colorblind casting was a good idea, and occasionally enjoyable, but poorly executed.
Sarah: Daphne as portrayed is a blancmange of a heroine isn’t she? Her bangs were more compelling than she was, and most of the time her bangs were extremely distracting.
I’m curious about your mom’s opinion on the casting – what was poorly executed in her opinion?
Shana: Omg, blancmange + bangs
So, the discussion on the casting. One, the bland Bridgerton boys and other interchangeable white love interests were a problem. It left the impression that these people were supposed to be a huge catch, even though they were boring. The illusion relies on their whiteness to make them automatically alluring to viewers, and it was noticeable when they were placed against working class or wealthy POC characters who are actually interesting.
This was probably most obvious with mysterious, strong Siena and Madame Delacroix, versus their easily scandalized and vanilla Bridgerton lovers.
Two, the casting didn’t take into account the effect of sprinkling POC, mostly Black people, into couples without thinking about how those pairing would be racialized to viewers and while also missing an opportunity to say something thoughtful and new in the AU they halfheartedly created.
Marina was such a sad character, trapped in this unhelpful white family, misunderstood, and ultimately stuck in a marriage with another boring dude who looked like a Bridgerton. Having all this multicultural casting, but not letting any WOC get a HEA, felt like a blow to Shonda’s base. Unless you want to argue that getting to have sex with a Bridgerton was a HFN for Madame Delacroix. Methinks not.
Catherine: I was absolutely shocked by Marina’s storyline. I really thought she was going to get a happy ending (so much so that I wasn’t even worrying about her, because it was so clear that her boy was going to come back from the war and she would be vindicated and live happily ever after), and I was stunned that she did not.
Though I did think her relationship with Mrs Featherington was one of the most interesting ones in the series. Mrs Featherington treats her horribly, but as the story progresses, one gets the sense that she is actually doing what she genuinely thinks is best for Marina, based on her own experiences – I’m not sure she would treat her daughters much differently.
Shana: But I also think some of the casting just sucked even outside of the diverse casting decisions. My mom loved Sabrina Bartlett, the actress who played Siena, and felt that she would have done a better job with Daphne. And Colin just reads as extremely young, not hot enough to be the center of a love triangle…and I thought he failed to resemble the flirtatious charmer from the books.
Lara: So my 2 cents… I finished the series a few days ago now and I’m still sitting with some queasy feelings. I binge watched the show, but sort of grimaced throughout. Partly because I realise how far I have come in my own growth and understanding of consent, etc., but also because I could not look away. What does it say about me that I willingly watched this series?!
A lot of my feelings on this series say so much about me and where I am in my social justice journey.
My favourite character was definitely Siena. Siena is well-rounded and just so damn interesting to watch. The sex scenes between her and Anthony were so hot I was sure that they were destined to be together. (My memory of book plots is so weak that I had to google who he ACTUALLY ends up with)
I agree with so many of your comments re: the sort-of colourblind casting.
Sarah: I’ve been thinking a lot about the way I’m reacting to the show, too, Lara. I think that on a micro level, sort of zoomed-way-in, scene by scene, episode by episode, there were moments I loved and parts that charmed the heck out of me. This show was specifically developed to target me as an audience who is familiar with the world, with romance conventions, with period drama, and eager to see a new take on all of it.
When I zoom out and consider the whole, and think about how those parts interact or fit or do not fit, then it starts to fall apart
Example: the first time I saw a ballroom scene with so many different people in it, I was beyond delighted. I think I rewatched one of the overhead pan shots of an assembly two or three times.
But that delight sours when considered against the way the White characters are permitted to not acknowledge race at all while the Black characters talk about it in one (and only one) conversation.
I think the show grabs attention in ways that would make it difficult to look away. It is OPULENT and visually stunning and parts that worked really worked for me. But parts of the whole don’t quite fit together.
Lara: That’s precisely it! A little like the foot was only halfway down on the accelerator. Half-throttle nonsense wrapped up in gorgeous costumes and sets. I could not look away and I’m not proud of that.
Sarah: It takes a lot of awareness and difficult questioning to think about why you like something or why something is working. I suspect you’re being a bit too hard on yourself there!
Watching something specifically created to appeal to you and then examining it critically is work and in fact is hard work.
Lara: There’s no way to say this without sounding sassy, but it is sincerely meant… thank you for the wisdom. I’ve not thought about the reviewing/analysing process in those terms before, and it explains why sometimes I watch my little cursor flicker on the screen for ages before the words will come.
Sarah: Oh, yeah, no question: thinking critically is HARD work. Very hard. You have to challenge your preferences – where did they come from? If you think X, why do you think that? Challenging your own position is hard to do. Then explain that and translate it for someone else? Really hard.
There are so many ways the rape scene could have been removed and maintained the tension between Simon and Daphnew. If you’re going to leave it in, call it what it is and deal with it. That could be applied to a lot of points now that I think about it.
I watch with subtitles, and I noticed that Whistledown’s narration of “…can the ends ever justify such wretched means?” was said over a shot of Daphne.
Like the narration and the framing of the show calls her actions “wretched,” but so so subtly.
Again, there’s that… “Wait that’s it?” feeling?
Catherine: That Scene in episode 6 was deeply distressing to watch. Page certainly played it as the utter betrayal it was, and it was quite wrenching. But I felt like the show just didn’t know what to do with it – like Sarah says, you have that bit of narration suggesting that Daphne had done the wrong thing, but that’s really all you get.
Perhaps it’s because in this telling of the story, Daphne feels like the point of view character, and so everything centres around her and her feelings. The Duke is … a beautiful accessory. Speaking of problematic. Though to an extent everyone in Daphne’s narrative who isn’t Daphne is kind of secondary.
Sarah: Meanwhile I have seen about ten male buttocks and…no nipples? None?
Shana: Clearly shooting for the “female gaze” means lots of butts. I’m trying to be mad, but…
Catherine: And shoulders! Which I was 100% there for, I have to say. I don’t know why they kept making Simon put his shirt back on. Though I did laugh when he came into the bedroom in Episode 9, I think, with the classic romance novel cover look of shirt on and tucked in but open all down the front.
Sarah: I also thought it was striking that there is a shot of Daphne’s menstrual blood, no shying away from what it is.
Shana: I totally agree with Lara that Siena and Anthony were interesting to watch, and believable enough that I ALSO googled to see if I’d forgotten him marrying a singer.
Anyway, after a few days of thinking about the show, I think in addition to the production just being gorgeous, what I most enjoyed was the multigenerational storytelling. Ladies Danbury, Featherington, Bridgerton and the Queen were all powerhouses in their own ways, and Difficult Women who were over dealing with nonsense from the men in their lives. I think Danbury was criminally underutilized, but she was also very fun to watch.
And I was left feeling very invested in the continuing adventures of Eloise and Marina in season two. I want them to get a HEA!
Even though I have plenty of critiques over how the show handled race, I’m glad that they didn’t just do a colorblind world, and attempted to explain that an intervention had been made. That teensy, incomplete scene made it clear that racism isn’t just an accident, but something created by people. I think the show would have been worse had they not made that attempt, and I was happy to see it.
But I’m not really sure the show works as a romance! Simon and Daphne’s storyline wasn’t emotionally satisfying for me. I needed her to grovel, honestly. And none of the secondary romances are resolved, right?
Amanda: Definitely agree, Shana. I’m not super invested in the central romance because Daphne is kind of terrible.
Shana: I’m also tired of historical stories that can imagine a world without racism, but not one without the same tired fatphobia. Watching Penelope’s treatment was painful, even if I found her super unsympathetic.
Sarah: Yes. A thousand times yes. Perhaps we can pin all the things wrong with it on Daphne’s bangs. And everything good is because of Lady Danbury’s jewelry.
So: What did you like about Bridgerton?
Lara: The hands-down winner for me is Siena. Loved her!
Shana: It’s so pretty! I loved everything about Bridgerton’s visuals, from Charlotte’s wigs to the Featherington’s garish dresses. The big ball scenes really showed off the gorgeous multicultural cast.
Catherine: Agreed, it is absolutely GORGEOUS to look at, undeniably (and have we adequately addressed how ridiculously hot Regé-Jean Page is as the Duke? Because I rarely fall for actors on shows, but WOW, I could not look away from him). I’d also say that while I found Daphne dull as a character, I thought the chemistry between her and Simon was electric.
What did you not like about it?
Lara: In a single phrase: the queasy feeling it left me with due to the myriad reasons outlined above.
Shana: Where to start? The unlikable characters who barely resembled the books? A story that couldn’t decide what it actually wanted to say? For a show marketed to romance fans, most of the characters seem pretty fucking miserable.
Catherine: Everything Shana said. And… That Scene was deeply distressing, particularly when contrasted with how careful Simon was with Daphne’s consent in their other scenes together. I found it very hard to enjoy anything that happened in the show after that point.
Can you grade it, and if so, what grade would you give? Why?
Shana: I would give Bridgerton a C. I’m glad it exists, but the romance storylines were pretty toxic and unsatisfying. I would give an A- to an abbreviated version where Simon and Lady Danbury just hang out in pretty ballrooms.
Lara: I give set and costumes an A. (Special shoutout to Lady Danbury’s jewels.) I give Siena an A+. I give the Bridgerton family a C. I give the Featheringtons a B because they were rather good at being awful human beings.
Catherine: I think a C minus. It is extremely beautiful to watch, there is some fantastic acting, and there were parts of it that I loved, especially in the earlier episodes when Daphne and Simon were pretending to court. But there is also so much angst, and so many things that are inconsistent or left unaddressed – and like Shana and Amanda I’m not entirely sold on the central romance.
What do you hope to improve or change in the next season?
Shana: I love a marriage of convenience, so I’m hoping for a happy ending for Marina, especially if that involves some solid women friends who won’t backstab her. I’m also hoping we’ll see more ethnic diversity in season two, like non-Black characters of color! Most importantly, I’d like to see at least one of the Bridgertons in a healthy relationship, preferably one with loads of banter. More joy, less depressing storylines for all!
Lara: I second Shana’s call for more joy! I want Eloise to make a wonderful love match. I want Marina to have an epic HEA. I also want Anthony to realise the error of his ways and attempt to woo Siena.
Catherine: Thirded! Especially on Marina getting an adorable marriage of convenience romance! Beyond that, I’m torn – I’d love to see a woman of colour as the heroine of the next series, getting a proper happy ending, but I am far from convinced that marrying Anthony is a happy ending unless he does some serious work on himself. And I want more Eloise and Penelope.
Sarah: I want for the next season for Lady Danbury to have Her Own Whole Side Plot that isn’t dispensing wisdom or arranging social connections. Her assembly of married women was so much more interesting than any and every scene at the men’s club of boring wood paneling, and she should be given more on every level.
…
There has been much thoughtful, interesting writing about this show. Here are a few of my favorite links:
Tressie McMillan Cottom, “The Black Ton: From Bridgerton to Love & Hip-Hop”
Carla de Guzman, author of Sweet on You, reviews Bridgerton in The Philippine Star
Ineye Komonibo and Kathleen Newman-Bremang at Refinery 29
And, not just because I was a guest, I’m an avid fan of What Would Danbury Do?, a podcast hosted by Rudi Bremer, Kate Cuthbert, and Adele Walsh. They look at each book in the series with a mix of informed affection and necessary critique, and are examining at each episode, too.
What about you? What did you think of Bridgerton season one?
I read the Duke and I a long time ago, and read it again before I watched the series. I had actually forgotten about “THAT” scene. After my re-read, I was shocked I had forgotten. Anyway, it was a mistake to read the first 4 books right before the series, because I definitely was disappointed. I don’t like the casting of the brothers, at all. I’m so pissed about the way Violet’s character has been changed. I loved the humor in the books, and it is sorely lacking in any of the dialogue of what I’ve seen so far. The casting of Daphne? In the books one of the premises is that she was so warm and down to earth, everyone thought of her as a friend instead of a love interest. I don’t get that vibe at all from the actress. I think if I had never read the books I would enjoy the series, and reading them again so close to airing was a big mistake!
***ALL THE SPOILERS****
I watched specifically to see how they handled the dark moment. I really really hoped that the fallout would be two sided and that we would get at least a two-sided grovel. Simon for his lies by omission. Daphne for ignoring his consent. In my opinion they played it like Simon’s lie was worse. Yes she felt misled, yes she didn’t know how babies were made and assumed, incorrectly that he couldn’t have kids, not that he wouldn’t, but that doesn’t make right even remotely her not stopping when he said wait. It was hard to hear, but it was there with the subtitles on. There were so many ways they could have handled it. They could have removed it altogether. They could have had her ask about what she learned from the maid instead. They could have shot the scene almost exactly like they did, but with her stopping when he said wait. So still not awesome, but at least there is an impetus for her to ask questions. They could have left the scene as is but had her have to grow as a person and realize that her want of babies doesn’t trump everything, and have her apologize too. Simon needed to use his words, but so does Daphne.
Even with all that said, and all the times I yelled at Anthony for being a complete and total highhanded asshole/idiot, I still enjoyed the show. The color, the sparkle, the fantasy version of Regency. The drama. Simon’s eyebrows. The Queen’s wigs and meddling. Lady Danbury and Violet plotting. Lady Whistledown. I binged the entire thing the day after Christmas. Parts of it felt uneven, and on further scrutiny worthy of criticism. And yet still it was the imperfect piece of entertainment that I needed at the time. There was angst and drama, but none of it was driven by all the too real things happening in the world today. And because it was romance there was the promise that it would all turn out ok in the end.
A lot of people said they didn’t like Penelope, and I don’t completely understand why. She tried several times to not use her power as Lady Whistledown until she felt she had no other choice. Plus she’s only 16 right? and Colin is a long time friend and also her crush. I don’t know how we could expect her to make perfect choices when her emotions are so involved. The imperfect choice felt very real if not very nice. I do wonder what’s she’s doing with the money and how she got started, there had to be some sort of up front capital. I didn’t read past The Duke and I, and that was some time ago so I have no idea what happens or how much info there is about Lady Whistledown/Penelope.
I’m loving all this commentary and differences of opinion.
I enjoyed the Bridgertons the first time I read them but the books feel dated upon reread. My tastes have changed and the first book is wildly problematic. That said I really enjoyed the show and had a nice hangover from it. I almost wish they’d left out the line explaining why people of color we’re in the ton. I acknowledge that I’m selfish and want the fantasy of a colorblind world. The representation almost made me cry. These are people who look like me embodying regency romance. Seeing it was a dream come true! Yes I realize that my standards are low.
That said I think Simon and Daphne’s story got sidelined in the last few episodes and we didn’t get the grovel/emotional pay off I was hoping for.
Penelope ruining her own family felt out of character to me. I wanted to like Marina (ugh what a gorgeous woman) and am curious to see what they do with her if they change her outcome from the books.
Anthony is an ass and I really want Kate to cut him down to size. He got better but the whole Siena plot means he needs to earn that HEA. I’m glad she got sick of his BS and left him. I liked her way more in that moment.
Finally, when I grow up I want to be Lady Danbury and wear Violet’s wardrobe.
Hmm, it’s interesting to me that people are so focused on ‘that scene’ vs what they did to Penelope’s character. She publicly ruined a girl and destroyed her life and the life her unborn child and did so deliberately fully understanding the consequences. Daphne was a clueless 18-year-old girl fumbling around with trying to figure out how bodies/sex/conception all worked. Knowing how Marina ends up in the books (walking into a lake to drown herself) makes it really hard to see how they redeem Penelope after that. Maybe they change that particular detail.
What bugged me most was how they changed the Bridgertons from a family that loves, but also genuinely likes, each other with Violet as the wise, strong glue that holds them together into just another squabbling dysfunctional family with Violet as ineffectual.
Since my favorite books in this series are the ones with the charming men and wise-cracking women, Duke and I never made my reread list. But Viscount Who Loved Me is my favorite of favorites, but they absolutely need the dialogue – it’s what makes it! So I’m a little worried what they’ll do in Season 2.
Did everyone appreciate the bee foreshadowing the next season??
I loved the look of the show, so beautiful. I did want Simon to fix his neckcloth on numerous occasions. Where is your valet, dear boy? But overall, I liked the show but was disappointed in the lack of witty dialogue. And I wanted more from Daphne, she was just too pretty without enough wit to balance it out, which is not the actress fault, but the writers.
I went back and reread The Duke and I about a month ago, and was surprised by The Scene. I guess I had not remembered it being quite so bad when I read it the first time, or maybe my views on consent have progressed since this book came out. I think I viewed it more as Daphne trying to understand and get to the Truth without seeing all the problems with consent. Julia Quinn may have been trying to upend a romance trope where the dude gets drunk, deflowers the lady, and forgets/regrets it later, very common scene ye olde school romance books. Turning it on its head and giving Daphne the power in the scene was certainly one idea but it does not quite fix the issue of consent for Simon.
Anyway, I loved all POC, especially Lady Danbury. I had mixed feelings about Marina, liking her at times then getting really mad about how she treated Colin (although, who could blame the poor girl). I was surprised when Sir Phillip arrived, looking a bit too much like a Bridgerton, so I have no high hopes for Marina to get an HEA (unless they go completely away from the books). I am hoping the other Bridgertons will get more fleshed out and be better than they first appear. I had so much trouble telling A and B apart, thank goodness for sideburns. And Collin seems SO YOUNG and lacking in wit and humor. My favorite was the youngest girl, she has potential but its going to be long time until she is old enough for a debut.
If these do well, maybe we could see some other great romance series brought to the screen. I would love to see Mary Balough’s Slightly series with the Bedwyns, especially the Duke. That would be something to watch!
“What series would you like dramatized?”
Pink Carnation.
@WS—curses, I was only on episode 6, but now having made it to the end, I see what you mean! I’m…disappointed by that.
I would love to see any Lisa Kleypas series, especially the Ravenels. Would like any of Beverly Jenkins historicals.
Not really a series, but if we could be a miniseries based on “Lord of Scoundrels”? Yes, please.
I think Daphne’s experience made her more sympathetic to Marina’s efforts with Colin. I think that’s why she apologized and tried to find George for Marina. She had gambled on forcing Simon and it didn’t work so she understood Marina’s desperation better. On Simon’s side, he knew she didn’t know that she was being lied to. How long she would have remained ignorant, he didn’t seem to factor.I think the power dynamic of the time was such that some women made bad decisions.
@ HeatherS if someone is going to adapt Lord of Scoundrels, they may as well do The Last Hellion and Captives of the Night too. The Lion’s Daughter might be a bit much.
I vote for future adaptations of Sherry Thomas’s historical romances, the characters all inhabit the same universe and they could have intersecting stories/more than one romance per season. Also anything by KJ Charles.
I guess I am in the minority here- I hate-watched the show and came away disappointed. The book series was my gateway drug into romance novels, and I love Shonda, so I had high hopes for this. So Bridgerton, how much did I dislike thee? Let me count the ways:
Starting with the most fundamental problem- All the Bridgerton siblings having the same bland, interchangeable personalities (with the exception of Eloise). Having read the books, I can tell when they’re being misrepresented, but for a viewer unfamiliar with the series, I can’t imagine why they would want to sit through entire seasons to root for an HEA for any of these characters.
Next, way too much time spent in the Featherington household and on the Marina subplot, only to give it an unsatisfying ending. The time could have been used to establish and develop the personalities and motivations of the Bridgerton clan. The next season could have introduced all these new secondary characters.
Anotger thing that got my goat- Racial tensions somehow magically disappeared within one generation, because of a Royal wedding? It’s like they started to acknowledge a grim reality but decided it was too much effort and backed out. As a POC myself, I’m happy we get to see a diverse cast and more opportunities for these actors; but this lip service was unnecessary and detracted from the spirit of being colour-blind. Shows like The Great did a way better job of it.
And finally, it looks like I’m really in the minority on this forum for this opinion- but the costumes were distractingly awful. I’m willing to suspend disbelief and wasn’t expecting complete historical accuracy (high heels? Corsets with nothing underneath?); but if you’re part of the peerage, your clothes need to at least *look* expensive, not like they were fished out of the bargain bin of a costume shop. A lot of the materials looked just like what you’d use in fast fashion clothing today, and seemed anachronistic. Even a lot of the jewellery looked like cheap knockoffs you could pick up on AliExpress. Overall, I felt like the show seemed opulent on the surface, but perhaps a bit tacky on closer inspection.
Anyway, thank you for giving me this space to vent! Glad I could finally get this off my chest.
I don’t think the casting was colorblind (at least not for the speaking cast), because it sounds like they consulted with historians like David Olusoga about Black British historical figures, and then took it from there. I was reading the episode recaps on Vulture (they’re pretty good, and you can clear your Vulture cookies to get past the paywall), and Tracey E. Robey mentioned that Queen Charlotte descended from the Black branch of the Portuguese royal family, hence the decision to cast Golda Rosheuvel. So I would give kudos for casting with deliberate political intent to create an alternate universe, except for all the ways they dropped the ball on race that you all have mentioned.
@Kriburner: totally agree with you on the costumes (mainly because I watched Karolina Zebrowska’s Bridgerton video, because I wouldn’t have noticed 95% of the issues otherwise). I’d already noted the lycra gloves, but I had to lol at the stills of some of the jewelry. Totally understandable that they had to cut corners, with the massive number of costumes they had to make and accessorize, but… yeah.
Am I the only person who spent an episode wondering what happened to the necklace that the Prince gave Daphne? Does anyone know?
@Emma thank you for the tip on reading the reviews over at The Vulture, I’m going to check them out! And you’re right, one thing that I appreciate the show for over the books is the presence of royalty itself (and for giving us the gift of Golda). I’ve read an embarrassingly large quantity of historical romance over any other romance genre, and I always found the conspicuous absence of royalty from the lives of the peerage weird. You’d expect that at least brothers, sisters or kids of the King and Queen would turn up for some of these “events of the Season” but it’s like they’re all mythical creatures who exist in the same universe, but are never to be seen.
I love Karolina’s channel! Didn’t know she had tackled Bridgerton already. Oh man, I can’t wait to grab a nice, hot cup of coffee and settle down to watch her sigh in resignation over the hot mess that is this show.
@Zuzus I was thinking the same thing! Did she return it to him or keep it? Did the Queen send armed guards to the Bridgerton household to collect it? Whistletdown should have done some investigative reporting on the matter.
Surely the only reason Queen Charlotte appears as a character is because of her alleged bi-racial ancestry, which somehow made possible the existence of a Black aristocracy in Britain? This isn’t colour-blind casting – as other posters have said, it brings the issue of race into the story and then does nothing with it. And even if we accept that this is an alternative version of Regency England, what other differences are there? Most obviously, does slavery still exist in the lucrative sugar-producing West Indian colonies? So many questions, so few answers…
As for Charlotte’s racial identity, she was fifteen generations (about 500 years) removed from her supposedly ‘Moorish’ ancestor Mandragana, mistress of King Alfonso III of Portugal. Many European royals, including Charlotte’s husband George III, were also descended from Alfonso and Mandragana; none of them had African features, and were it not for a single portrait and a disparaging remark by Horace Walpole the story of Charlotte’s bi-racial ancestry would never have got off the ground.
Thank you for this review. I’ve been looking forward to it. Sorry I’m late to the discussion. I agree with everything you’ve said here, and I had the same torn feeling, in which I was so pleased to see romance given the Netflix treatment, but at the same time found it hard to comprehend certain changes (and difficult to set aside the colorism, the consent issue, etc.).
(Spoilers ahead:)
One major point of confusion I had, which @Liska and others have mentioned, was Benedict’s plotline. As a queer person, I read his experience meeting Granville and realizing that the artist had a queer relationship as a sort of queer awakening. Especially when taking into account other lines of his (which I’m not sure were in the books, because I’ve only read The Duke and I): lines like when he tells Eloise, “I completely understand” (I’m paraphrasing) after she talks about limitations in her world as a woman. That’s absolutely something a closeted queer person might say. That plus the meet-cute with Granville made me think they were gender-swapping Benedict’s love interest, or perhaps we would have a bi/pan character (be still my hopeful heart). Yet the season ended with him safely involved with a woman, and his last conversation with Granville seems to put a clear line between them. Please, please prove me wrong in season 2! It was like the show set up a queer relationship and then did a hard swerve at the last minute. Disappointing.
Also, I remember this from reading The Duke and I, but I have major issues with plotlines in which the “resolution” is convincing a character to have children. I know that this story is more complicated than that–Simon seems to want to have children “deep down,” he just won’t admit it because of his resentment of his father–but that also is troubling to me. It’s like everyone who chooses not to have children (myself included) is just lying, or traumatized, and needs to overcome that “flaw” to become truly happy and satisfied. Turns out that plotline doesn’t make me feel any better when the character is a man instead of a woman. No matter which way I look at it, I still see a narrative that frames the decision not to have children as wrong and bad (regardless of the reasons for that choice). Not to mention the way that Daphne and Simon never even remotely discuss something like adoption, or denouncing their titles, etc., which both seem like reasonable solutions to their existing problems. Sigh.
Either way, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings, but I’m quietly hopeful that the show might follow through on its queer plotline AND perhaps inspire future romance adaptations with its success. That would be nice, I think.
So, I’m not going to discuss that scene. It’s been discussed enough. I’ve read all the books. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is mya favorite and the 1st I read in the series when I was in high school. That said, I need Penelope to be older and more refined. In the books she was comfortable with herself. Maybe she’ll have that in time. Maybe I wanted too much from a young girl. Her friendship with Eloise was great even if she did keep the secret from her best friend. Colin was just okay. I like that he said he would have married Marina if she had told him what was going on because he loved her. Other than that he was blah.
Anthony and Benedict were interchangeable to me. I couldn’t figure out who was who until I noticed the sideburns. I was thinking since they were both so similar they could share a season on the show and then we’ll be done with them. I thought Francesca was secretly getting married like she does in the books. I was shocked when she came back at the end. Seriously shocked. I read her book once and then never again so I would not have been disappointed at all.
As a WOC I didn’t mind how they handled race. It was too much to get into in an 8 episode show. My coworker and I discussed it. We are okay with the show. Both of us enjoyed it. Sebastian was just so nice to look at and Lady Danbury was everything I needed her to be. Why did people keep saying Sebastian looked like his father? That was really the only racially offensive thing in the show to me. They looked nothing alike. Is it because they were both black? That would be like saying he and Will looked alike. They did not.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to next season and if Benedict wants Madame Delacroix instead of Sophie I’m all for it. Her name can be Sophie Delacroix.
I had mixed feelings about Sienna. I wanted her to kick Anthony to the curb way sooner. He did nothing for her. I loved when she stood her ground and found someone who wanted her for herself.
I thought Marina was going to get an abortion with Lady Featherton like someone else mentioned when they went to the poor area. I’d like Marina to be happy and Eloise to find a different husband so I can think of Marina as happy. We’ll see what happens.
Lastly Gregory. I hated his book so I think I disliked him as a little boy. They were always letting him get away with things. That’s why he SPOILER runs off with someone’s new wife in his book because they hadn’t left the church yet. This is where the behavior starts. Correct him family. Don’t let him think he can get away with whatever. His was my least favorite book and I hated that his was the last book.
@Stacie – your last paragraph made me laugh out loud! I’d completely forgotten about Gregory. Or maybe I didn’t bother to read that book.
Penelope’s book was my favorite too. I haven’t seen the show but at least in the books, Pen got more comfortable with herself as the series went on.