Into the Light

My Review- Bridgerton Series 3 Part 1 &2

My Rating 9:10

Gentle reader I must confess when the Bridgerton series commenced in 2020 I thought it clever in a silly way and as artificial as the flowers that adorn every scene .

The colour blindness of the cast at first confused and annoyed me but I persevered and began to appreciate this television confection for its unique qualities.

The writers and producers make no apologies or even attempt to authenticate any historical fact or style in the set decoration.

This is simply a saga of the privileged classes and their attempts to social climb and marry well to win favour at the Court of Queen Charlotte played with devilish charm by Golda Rosheuvel.

Series 2 didn't quite win me over as much as the first but Series 3 I think is a gem fit for any Royal Crown.

Perhaps I needed a break from the angst of violent crime and punishment sagas I'm not sure ?

However on a recent holiday in Spain I was amazed at the elaborate window displays and obvious adoration for the Bridgeton franchise.

I read it's the top rating series in Spain and obviously a ratings pleaser judging from the incredible budget that is lavished on its sets and costumes.

So I was eager to revisit the series on returning home and now I'm a dedicated fan and looking forward to beginning the series again with fresh eyes and pleased to read there will eventually be a series 4 and I predict like Downton Abbey a movie will eventually materialise.

I think the key to Bridgerton's success is a very clever recipe of simplicity and glamour.

If you're going to have a gossip story featuring scandal and romantic intrigue why not exaggerate it and set it in Utopia where there are no wars , no violence and even the Queen and her Court are majestic as well as fallible.

No hint is made of the historic or political events of the day in fact although it's a whimsical take on the marriage of mad King George 111 and his wife Queen Charlotte making Bridgerton for me a modern Jane Austen 17th or 18th Century fantasy.

The outlandish cleverness and contrast in styles of costume designers John Glaser, John Norster, Sophie Canale, and Ellen Mirojnick deserve special mention.

The star performance for me in series 3 for me was from Nicola Coughlan who plays Lady Penelope no spoilers but her role and eventual revelation of her identity made this series so enjoyable for this gentle viewer.

A general thought throughout this season, but most especially in Part 2 was the little screen time Colin and Penelope had despite being the Main Love Interests for the season. The B-plots took over more time than the main love story, some of them completely unnecessarily (What purpose did Benedict's storyline serve exactly?) It would have been nice to have more of Colin and Penelope's story, preferably them actually having love and affection for each other too rather than Colin being angry and Penelope being sad. The direction employed in this season doesn't give justice to Colin and Penelope's story. There is word going around that there were several deleted scenes of Colin and Penelope together that weren't released in the actual episodes and I can't help but think given how much Nicola and Luke gushed about their story in the promos that the production side removed much of their storyline. For what reason I would like to know. Overall, there were too many storylines and not enough focus on the actual main love interests, along with questionable directing choices. There were high expectations for this season, and they all fell flat.

This season, especially this episode, is for the women everywhere who have ever felt overlooked, undervalued and have the greatest ambition for themselves. This episode hit me square in the chest with its earnestness and sharpness. Penelope is perhaps the most dynamic and stiff backed character in modern depictions of the female archetype.

From cinematography to character development; this episode creates space for characters and families to explore the complexities of self. I am overjoyed to see the adaptation of these lovely books to a beloved series that I will be watching and rewatching. X.

I would give this a 10 had it not been for the random plots that took away from Penelope and Colin. We had 5x more random sex scenes with Benedict than the main characters? What even was the point of that? 86 scenes with the Mondriches??? I feel like they're trying too hard to add content to the seasons. The first scene had the perfect balance of main characters and side plot. The second season also did a great job. This season... it felt disjointed. Maybe it's because the show is extremely popular and they're trying to milk it for all it's worth but.... It just didn't seem cohesive. That being said, I loved most of this season and hope they continue to give us great romance. Give us more Polin.

For the writers writing that Colin and Penelope wasn't as loved and shown as much as Daphne and Simon or Anthony and Kate, we must remember that Colin and Penelope were already well portrayed characters till this season. They both had their times and certainly there weren't much new things about them to address except mostly their love and obviously Penelope's moments as Lady Whistledown. Certainly just showing their love and proposing more new sets of worries between them wouldn't have been a better choice. Instead we got what we deserved - the awakening of love and lust from friendship and certainly those carraige scene and mirror scene did fullfillingly.

I am really pleased with how it turned out for them, and looking forward to how now that her identity is revealed, Penelope addresses the concerns as Whistledown. However, the deviation they did from the books with respect to Francesca's story is worth looking for. I am eagerlj waiting for how they are gonna takle the concerns especially considering the period they are writing for.