'Bridgerton' Season 3 Gives Us The Complexity We've Been Waiting For
HuffPost
In part 1 of the new season, Lady Whistledown finally gets her close-up — and the rest of the "Bridgerton" characters wrestle with change, too.
The carriage wheels are spinning as they return the fashionable set to their London homes, delivery boys are selling the latest copy of Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, and a new set of young ladies prepares to enter society. In other words, after two long years, “Bridgerton” has returned with the first four episodes of its much-anticipated third season (helmed by new showrunner Jess Brownell).
Since the trailer premiered in April, the chemistry between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has set the internet ablaze as fans prepared themselves for the friends-to-lovers trope with a side of a “She’s All That”-esque makeover. And this season does not disappoint. It may even exceed fans’ already-high expectations.
While I loved the fake dating storyline of Daphne and Simon in Season 1 and Anthony and Kate’s evolution from enemies to lovers in Season 2, the rom-com tropes in Season 3 are even better.
This season follows the tradition of the first two and opens with a Bridgerton — the sparkling Francesca (Hannah Dodd) — making her debut. However, despite its similar construct, this season is heightened in almost every way. From the period-inspired but mostly fantastical costumes (lots of ombre, embellishments and layered fabrics) to the whimsical, floral-filled sets to the complicated interpersonal drama, everything fans love about “Bridgerton” has been exaggerated to create a fuller, more colorful, bejeweled world. A world that is clearly not meant to be a rendition of the past or a mirror of our present moment, but a place to live in some imaginary in-between space.
In this place, the events of last season have changed everyone. The most obvious transformation is Colin, who has returned from another adventure abroad looking muscular and tan, and, as his brother Benedict (Luke Thompson) describes him, “sturdy.” Colin has a new confidence and hair that rivals that of Shondaland favorite Dr. McDreamy. His new social ease helps him glide into rooms and flirt with countless groups of debutantes. But this new façade will not help him with Penelope, his oldest friend, who is still enraged after overhearing him tell a group of men at the end of last season that he would never court her. The new armor he has donned to reenter society will also make it even harder for Colin to process the possibility that he may have feelings for Penelope that go beyond friendship.
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