Bridgerton: Series Two - Review

Dearest Reader,

Have you missed me? One may be contemplating why this author took his time chronicling his thoughts on the scandalous return of Netflix’s Bridgerton this coming season. This author prefers to bide his time, which is why I will be giving my avid readers my sharpest review yet…

Following the order of Julia Quinn’s novels, the second outing of this season sees Jonathan Bailey taking centre stage as the reformed Lord Anthony, with Sex Education’s Simone Ashley playing his love interest. The eldest Bridgerton is determined to marry the diamond of the season. When Queen Charlotte names Edwina, Anthony decides to marry her—much to the frustration of Kate.

This author must admit that the chemistry between Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley outshone their predecessors from season one. Moreover, both Anthony and Kate as characters and a couple have much more nuance and depth.

The slow-burn romance is a much more satisfying arc for a good love story. Many writers rush the critical elements of a romance - usually within two episodes; the couple typically has had heavy make-out sessions or has even “done the deed”. Where’s the drama? The tension? The character development!

Granted, one may admit that Simon and Daphne’s arc was guilty of writing such a narrative - even though Daphne’s season was more about a sexual awakening storyline, I found that season was more about lust for a large portion of the season.

Here, Kate and Anthony struggle with said feelings and instead, we see their desires strengthen as the pair progress from spiky indifference to genuine affection. Anthony’s initial engagement to Edwina made the tortured longing even more complex. This season subverted the love triangle tropes, leading more organically to emotionally charged scenes when certain revelations came to light.

Charithra Chandran played a positively charming Edwina Sharma. While the love triangle and Kate and Anthony’s dedications to being martyrs for all eternity became exasperating after the fourth episode, one must admit that each character's motivation made sense within the story.

While Anthony and Kate were very much the driving force of the season, the ensemble cast had a lot more to do.

With season one’s finale revealing that Penelope was, in fact, Lady Whistledon, we see a very different side to her character. Seeing Penelope grow in confidence as a businesswoman and writer was an exciting arc. I have mixed feelings on her impending romance with Collin - while I feel the screenwriters tried to lay the groundwork for their season three storyline, I feel they did not do enough. Collin’s obliviousness and Penelope’s unrequited pining were a bit too repetitive of season one for me.

Meanwhile, the other Bridgertons - specifically Eloise and Benedict - go through an awakening of their own. Both have evident frustrations in their places within their family and society; both are forced to accept they are immensely privileged due to that position, unlike others.

The supporting characters that felt more like comedy have been given much more nuance this season. As such, I enjoyed the writing much more this season. There were some interesting character moments for Penelope, Eloise and even Queen Charlotte. There were a few episodes where I was concerned the writers had no idea what to do with Adjoa Andoh‘s Lady Danbury without her adopted son appearing this season. Still, the character went through an interesting arc.

Addressing the English countryside manor-sized elephant in the room, I’d like to ease readers' concerns about two elements that received surprising backlash from viewers before the second season even aired.

For one, the lack of sex scenes - something the creators had to apologise for. As previously stated, I feel this season’s strongest element was developing the love story emotionally before the characters are intimate. This works for the dynamic of Kate and Anthony, who are more intellectually driven, and this showed in their back-and-forth banter. However, when the show did have any intimate scenes, it very much kept to the show’s commitment to the Female Gaze.

Secondly, there was some outrage when Regé-Jean Page confirmed he was not reprising the role of Simon this season. His reasons at the time were he felt that the character's arc had reached its natural conclusion. His character is still discussed, and Phoebe Dyneor still has a recurring role, so the writers found the balance of paying tribute to the original pairing while shifting focus to a new main character.

I initially wasn’t a big fan of the first season - mainly due to the many, many sex scenes which added little to the plot or went into dark and problematic areas without addressing them. However, the second season definitely came back more robust with a more complex relationship at its heart.

I do wonder how Season Three will play out, especially as Netflix has confirmed that Penelope and Collin will be the diamonds of the season. This author will have to wait and see, but do not fret - my quill will be at the ready.

My rating for this season is 4 STARS. You can watch both seasons on Netflix and stream all sixteen episodes now.