Bridgerton Season 3 May 16th binge watch together

[NarrowGate]

I’m not a telly addict but I became obsessed with Bridgerton during Covid times. I love the casting, the settings, the dances, the music, the yearning, and the guarantee of a happy ending.

I’m embarrassed to admit how much I love it in real life because it’s so shallow.

Is anyone else planning to binge watch season 3 when it’s released next Thursday? If so, can we set up a MN support group please?

And then she had to squash herself onto a chaise for the sex scene as well 😂

I found the whole thing a bit dragged out this time. I liked the babies in headbands though.

And there was no fun. Nicola Coughlan must have been exhausted by the end from mining all that quavering voice/nervous energy scene after scene. What a flat mess.

Completely agree with this. I liked Colin and Pen as a couple in the first four episodes. I didn't expect to, but the actors played them really well and Colin's slow realisation from friends to lovers was believable to me. The only complaint in the first four was not enough time on the main couple and too much wasted on random storylines - let's see more of Colin pathetically savouring pastries and thinking of Pen! Unlike other posters I think both actors looked great and had a gentle easy friendship based chemistry.

But God, the last four episodes were so depressing. No fun at all. It was sad to see Penelope finally find love only to have him treat her like dirt, accuse her of trapping him, and demanding she give up her writing. All these years rooting for her and they couldn't even let her have a happy wedding day. Everytime they make up, he changed his mind and gets angry again. I blame the script writers entirely. All it would have taken is for Colin to read those stupid letters the day before the wedding and have the realisation that actually she is the same person, he is just jealous, he loves her. They could then have had a beautiful wedding and when the bribe happens he could have supported her. Nothing would have changed. Stakes would have felt the same.- you could even write a clause where Penelope says she will insist on an annulment to spare the Bridgerton reputation should the plan not work. Then she gives the speech at the end, the ton is won over, all is good. Such a tiny change which would have saved the season. It was too joyless to have him sleeping on the sofa while she cries and looks worried for four hours straight.

You're left feeling that Colin doesn't understand her or really love her. He needed the same stupid speech as the ton needed to see her perspective, he couldn't just see it for himself.

Well summarised @LadyHavelockVetinari it's allegedly a romance. I also don't think that the sex scenes worked or that it was believable for Pen to want to do it without being married, I mean, those were the times and the standard for ladies and she and Eloise were shown to be sexually ignorant. And Colin then saying he had to marry her. Miserable!

They should have just followed the timeline of the book, he becomes sort of obsessed with Pen and follows her and finds out she's whistledown then fingers her in the carriage on the way back. He's angry with her for risking her safety and her reputation, envious of her success but also really really impressed by what's she's achieved and it cements his love for her rather than threatening it.

Book Colin is totally besotted with Penelope but the show never managed to shake off the feeling that Penelope is massively punching.

Book Colin has the right idea. I have no idea WTF Pen sees in him, he was a wanker even before he started on his perpetual Gap Yah.

i've not read the books, but if Michael Stirling has been gender flipped to Michaela, then I think that's too big a liberty taken. Not everything needs to have a LGBTQ line shoe horned in for the sake of it

Couldn't agree more it's really pissed me off. Does a disservice to the books - I loved Michael and can't see how he'll work as a woman! - and to gay relationships.

I didn't know this!! I'm even more annoyed now I know that it would have all been good had they just followed the book. Don't they understand that for this story it wasn't about the drama, it was all about the friendship turned romance?

Polin's sex scene could have been spicier. It was a disappointment. It was quite perfunctory, actually.

I like Benedict. He's like a Labrador, he wants to love and be loved, and loves the attention his affections give him. He's a hippy! But yes, he risks many STIs. He's a bit directionless at the moment. I hope they don't change Sophie (from the books) there's enough LGBT+ representation now. Sophie would encourage him to make art again. I don't think the throuple thing worked especially well, but Benedict being bi or pan is fine by me.

Oh.

Sounds like they really fucked up the Colin/Pen story then.

What a shame.

Too much of the boring Mondriches.

Which is a bloody stupid name imo & I imagine is Richmond in the books!

I don't understand what the point of the Mondriches is. This isn't like Crazy Rich Asians where we need our 'everywoman' character to help us make sense of this strange world. Lady Whistledown has been doing the heavy lifting with the exposition over the last few seasons. Maybe for the American audience they wanted to show people who were a bit more relatable but that is really not the point of Bridgerton, or most costume dramas for that matter.

I assume that the point of the Mondriches is that Shonda wanted to give some visibility and respect to the real Black Britons of the Regency era as well as her fictional alternate universe ones.

It's a political rather than an artistic choice, which I understand, and as a Regency nerd I appreciate, but that's is probably why their plot lines aren't as compelling.

Oh that makes sense @LadyIsabellaWrotham , it's just a bit hard to show 'here is the real experience of actual Black Britons' in the fantasy world of Bridgerton.

Yes it's based on Bill Richmond, but from real life, not the books.

Shonda wanted to give some visibility and respect to the real Black Britons of the Regency

Except the real Black Britons of Regency were not in the aristocracy and happily welcomed to balls

Yes, Richmond was a respectable boxing gym owner and sporting celebrity who hobnobbed with the male aristocracy, but wasn't one himself.
The Bridgerton version then gets caught up in the Great Experiment and given a peerage.

I agree that it's a bit silly to try and portray reality in the Bridgerton world. After all in the Bridgerton world no one has a problem with their race, it's all about their class, so the point is missed anyway.

This bothers me as well. Also the attitude that these men, who we're supposed to think of as virtuous and honourable, view these women as objects. All three of the marriages we've had so far in the season at some point turn on the fact that the man has gone too far with the woman but will marry her because he's "honourable". Yet when it's prostitutes or lower class women that doesn't matter at all. These are not good men! And they're also most likely STD riddled.

Well I've got the books of Anthony, Benedict, Colin & Francesca as it seems these are/might be different to the series.

Can't decide whether to read the rest as I don't think I'm that bothered about watching anymore!

Having seen a reviewer point out that the characters appear to be written as white upper class English and then cast using colour blind casting. I now can’t un-see this.

It’s hard to explain, but if you ever watch the excellent film Belle, in one scene an 18 year old Belle travels and for the first time has a black ladies maid who shows her how to correctly comb her hair without it hurting. It’s such a powerful scene from something so simple. In Queen Charlotte there is a scene early on where a similar subtle nod to her specific needs in terms of hair and skin care as a black person could have been woven in.

I really like the colour blind casting but would like to see slightly more of a nod to the ethnicities of the actors. The Sharma’s clothes did have an influence from Sari’s and there was a disdain for English Tea but apart from that there was very little to indicate they grew up in India.

I’m not talking about stereotypes but more of a subtle reflection of diversity.

It's not colour blind casting is it?

This is the way it has been written for Netflix.

What I think is a shame is that they all dress the same.

I've just finished Francesca's book.
I can definitely see this working with Michaela instead of Michael. So far it's the only one I can see working with a same sex couple.

I still don't like when they change the story lines from book to show, but I can see how this one would work.

In all honestly I don't think they'll carry on after season 4. Feels like they've set it up to both Francesca and Eloise there, maybe Benedict too. Then I reckon they'll give up.

Party as by doing it so out of order it seems like a massive age gap between Francesca and Gregory though it's only supposed to be 4 years ie he should have been 16 when Francesca married John

I'm sorry, but that was poor.

No chemistry between the leads.

Yes, that was probably the best bit