Netflix: “Bridgerton,” season 3, part 2

Dearest Gentle Reader:

Nothing soothes our psyche better than having our expectations not only met but exceeded. And although we feared “Bridgerton Season 3” would jump the proverbial shark, the final four episodes of S3 have happily proved us wrong.

The central question of S3 remains: will Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) remain a happily married couple once it is discovered she is Lady Whistledown, the notorious gossip columnist?

What makes S3 eminently watchable are not these two, but the season’s secondary characters—starting with Penelope’s comical wet hen of a mother, Portia Featherington (Polly Walker). Portia cannot believe her wallflower daughter has landed a catch as eligible and humpy as Colin. Adding more comic relief to the proceedings are Pen’s sisters Prudence (Bessie Carter) and Philipa (Harriet Caine), two perpetually daffy ding-a-lings, who are desperately seeking ways to become pregnant and thus win the contest to inherit the Featherington fortune.

Meanehile, Bridgerton daughter Francesca (Hannah Dodd) who earlier in the season had the good fortune to be selected as the queen’s “diamond” does fall in love—but not with the queen’s choice of suitor. She only has eyes for Lord John Stirling (Victor Ali). Francesca’s mother Violet (Ruth Gemmell) is batting her eyes at Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), the handsome brother of her BFF Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), the queen’s confidante.

Dearest gentle reader, hold onto your royal head coverings because the real love interest in S3 may not be between two people, but among three. Second Bridgerton son Benedict (Luke Thompson) is enjoying a friend-with-benefits affair with Tilly Arnold (Hannah New) who tells him about her mysterious, handsome—and as it turns out bisexual—friend Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio). Will the ever-adventurous Benedict take the bait and make the couple a throuple? Tilly does her best to convince him. “There is so much in society that is unnatural, but a feeling between two people, whatever their sex, is the most natural thing in the world,” she tells him. Happy Pride!

When it comes to stealing a scene, however, nobody does it better than Queen Charlotte herself (Golda Rosheuvel). She is so determined to find out the identity of Whistledown she is offering a reward of 5,000 pounds to anyone who finds “the culprit.” What she will do with LW once she is exposed is not clear. One goes along for the ride anyway.

Finally, if there were one resident of the ton who does not play well in the royal sandbox, it would be the viperish Lady Cressida Cowper (Jessica Masden.) With hair piled so high and stiff, and wearing gowns with shoulder pads designed to take out Travis Kelce, Cressida has been sitting on the shelf waiting for a beau for the third consecutive season and she aims to have her revenge.

Beneath the towering wigs, the frilly soirees, and the gavottes danced to classical arrangements of Coldplay lies the subtle secondary message of S3: women’s empowerment. Apparently, some female members of the ton have greater ambitions than to serve as accessories to their husbands.

Penelope fights for her right to keep publishing her anonymous gossip column. “Do you know what it is like to have nowhere in the world where you can truly be yourself? You cannot possibly know because you are not a woman,” she tells Colin.

There is much speculation, dearest gentle reader, as to what Season 4 holds for us “Bridgertonians.” Will Eloise (Claudia Jessie) find true love when she moves to Scotland? Will Benedict continue to explore his newfound sexual “freedom”—and with which gender(s)? As such questions are beyond the ken of mere mortals like ourselves, I refer you to producer Shonda Rhimes who if she is wise will provide you with no answers until the next season dawns.

Till then, I am humbly yours,

Lord Aug Whistledown

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