SPOILERS BRIDGERTON SEASON 4 - Benedict’s story

[IWantToHibernate]

I couldn’t see a thread so thought I would start one.

The first 4 episodes drop on Netflix tomorrow (29th Jan). We will then need to wait until 26th February for the other 4.

We all know it’s not a realistic period drama but it’s great escapism and I’m looking forward to binging the first 4 eps.

Maybe together with Lady Featherington, they would make a good team (as Whistledown)

No Cressida was married to the new Earl.

so after he died the new Earl let Araminta and daughters stay in the London house because he didn’t want to. They didn’t inherit the estate, just got allowance and dowries.

then when he married Cressida she insisted they moved back in.

The will still gave Araminta access to the dowries for her daughters and the £4K a year for Sophie who had only recently left Penwood House. She probably thought she had outsmarted Sophie anyway.

It did annoy me that Posy didn’t speak up sooner but if she had I doubt it would have stopped Araminta from accusing Sophie. And Posy was a bit down-trodden herself.

Ah thank you that does make more sense. Still think she wouldn't have left that will in the house.

To be fair we managed to go in for this second lot of episodes at 7 rather than 5, missing two whole episodes and only realised most of the way through episode 7. So went straight in to John dead and it wasn't until there was a flashback to something we hadn't yet seen that we realised.
Sure there were a few holes in the plot, Violet was suddenly engaged and Sophie's necklace was missing but I assumed it was just Bridgerton doing style over substance as usual :)

Wouldn’t the will belong to the new Earl of Penwood anyway? There would have been more in it besides the money do the daughters. He is still
funding Araminta - would he be funding the dowries as well or would they be under Araminta’s control at this point? But yeah I don’t know how she has otherwise explained away Sophie.

I'm curious. If Sophie had known about her dowry all along, would it have changed anything? Surely she would still not be able to marry a gentleman (the whole point of the story) as no amount of dowry would remedy the fact that she's the illegitimate daughter of an Earl and a maid.

Her birth would still be a handicap but a reasonable dowry might have allowed her to make a decent marriage, maybe not the peak of the ton/upper 10000-/Bridgerton but perhaps a respectable middle class situation , younger son, landed country family, gentleman farmer, well established tradesman or other more middle class professionals who would appreciate her virtue, education and dowry without suffering major social damage from her illegitimacy. Pretty cold but better than servitude.

Think Harriet in Emma - maybe a natural daughter of someine significant, unclear status, but being educated, accepted socially, might not be able to aspire to the highest but had some marriage value,

But the point is she wouldn’t have been a maid. She was raised and educated as his ward, and would have been treated as such. It was only after he died that Araminta forced her to become a maid.

True, but a "ward" of uncertain birth would still be very unlikely to even meet a Bridgerton, let alone marry one.

Thanks for your reply, JustFish, agree with all that.

£18k would be worth about £2M today! I think you’re right, she would have been able to marry and make a life for herself.

I read that a servant would earn around £10 -20 annually. So she would have made a very comfortable life for herself and her family with a dowry without all the fripperies the upper class needed.

Also the dowry and allowance signals more that the earl wanted his natural daughter brought up and educated with her half sisters, in the family home and given a dowry was a signal that she was not unprotected, that his hopes for her were a genteel and secure future despite her birth, that she should be accepted by family if not society at large. That was the real cruelty attempted not just to appropriate the money, but to take away that protection/buffer that the earl tried to give her, and also make her doubt his love and acceptance.

Basically Araminta is the evil stepmother, it is loosely based on Cinderella afterall.

Did anyone catch the Harry Potter Easter egg? (Shoe clips)

Actually, there were a few examples of obviously illegitimate children of men of high rank doing well for themselves. The best outcomes were for the offspring of noble men and noble women (i.e. the product of affairs) but there are examples like the 5th Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes in The Duchess) having a daughter with a milliner who was brought up by his Duchess Georgiana (Keira Knightley in the movie) after the mother died. She was married off to a respectable rector.

(both the Duke and Duchess had other illegitimate children themselves - it was not a successful marriage! - and they also married respectably).

In this scenario, where Sophie’s father survived, continued to raise his “ward” with his stepdaughters and provided her with an equal dowry, he probably could have married her to a second son like a Benedict.

Daphne was totally erased from the family. Didnt even attend any sibling weddings

Every so often they'll throw in a reference to Daphne, almost to remind us she's there. I think I remember Hyacinth mentioning her in the lemonade speech. Otherwise it's like she doesn't exist.

Well, what are the producers supposed to do if the actor doesn’t want to be in the show? Should they recast the part so she can be seen at weddings and stuff?

I didn't know that was the case.

Part of the problem is youngish leading actors in one series don’t want bit parts for 7 seasons. They are looking for other leading roles.

Pen, Lady Danbury, the Queen, Violet etc. are character actors and have a narrative running through the whole 8 series so their roles are supporting but have decent screen time. Anthony as Viscount has a key role for all his sisters. I can see both Colin and Benedict having smaller roles in later series, particularly after Eloise is married as if it sticks to the books they have a good comedic role in that book.

I think Phoebe said she’d still like to be in the show but it was Rege who didn’t want to, suppose it’s hard to show one without the other. I’d love to see a few more cameo’s.

Given that it’s Shondaland and Greys anatomy is now on the 24th Season, I totally think they’ll do all 8 books and maybe even a follow up and more offshoots.

I read something that heavily implied that they will announce soon the next lead, but that Francesca and Eloise will have their owns seasons, report leaning towards Eloise. Which makes sense as Yerin has said she’ll be back in season 5 and in the book there are parts in My Cottage I think.

I thought I read that Phoebe Dynevor would be happy to come back but she hasn’t received the call. Whereas Rege Jene Page wants to focus on other things. And separately I read that the producers don’t want to just bring them back for a cameo, they would only do it if they had a good storyline for them. 🤷‍♀️ To be fair I think it would be hard to shoehorn in a lot of scenes or extra stories about the other siblings just to please the fans. People complaining about feeling shortchanged on Kate and Anthony - I don’t know what else they could do that isn’t a repeat of their support for Colin in season 3. Maybe Kate could have given Anthony a telling off for being so hard on Benedict. 😅

(Baby Edmund is the cutest though! 😍)

Though with Anthony and Kate now heading the Bridgerton house, it would be a bit weird not having them present for future seasons.

Francesca’s story is mostly set in Scotland - I wonder if they will shift the location. I can’t remember where exactly. I think it might be quite refreshing and romantic in the Highlands!

(Also did any of the Kilmartins have a Scottish accent? It wasn’t very obvious to me!)

Given that Phoebe is willing to come back, I think she should have been included this season for John’s funeral and Benedict’s wedding. Easy enough to explain why her husband wasn’t able to make it, but her absence from key events like that is objectively odd. At least throw in a line like ‘oh Daphne’s pregnant again and didn’t want to travel’.

I’m not especially a Phoebe fan, but personally I feel more engaged in the Bridgerton family relationships than I do the romances, and I like scenes where they’re all interacting with each other. Her character feels quite close to Hyacinth’s in some ways, both romantic girly girls, so it would be interesting to see some older sister mentoring. But I guess her not being there does give more space for the other siblings to have screen time and character development.

I think the key difference in that situation is the Duke recognised/acknowledged Charlotte as his daughter. That did give a sort of status. The Earl of Penwood did not publicly acknowledge Sophie, she was just his ‘ward’.

I just watched Jane Eyre (the film) the other day and wondered if Rochester’s ward was in fact his illegitimate daughter, I’m guessing that happened a lot.

Sophie was really stupid not to ask to see a copy of the will sooner 🙄 and wouldn’t there have been some legal person overseeing it anyway?!

Grabby Arminta shot herself in the foot by being so spiteful to Sophie.

I just watched Jane Eyre (the film) the other day and wondered if Rochester’s ward was in fact his illegitimate daughter,

I think Adele's mother has told him that he is Adele's father but he doesn't believe it?