#AKA this is what i'm pretty sure the marina plotline was for

[pensbridgrton]

So while re-reading Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, I noticed during the big carriage Argument that Colin kept bringing up how he didn’t want Penelope to reveal she was Lady Whistledown to protect her. He talks about how many in the Ton may view her as harsh and cruel (not him, or his family, of course, but others).

Now the problem is that in the books Lady Whistledown isn’t harsh or cruel. Or at least, we never see that. So Colin’s concerns don’t seem legitimate and while we don’t necessarily think he has bad intentions, we side with Penelope - it’s her work, her legacy, she deserves to do what she wants with it. He might be wanting to protect her, but he comes across as an ass for it.

HOWEVER, on the show... we actually see Lady Whistledown being harsh and cruel and ruining people’s lives. Not only the Marina article, but with Daphne and Simon as well. Penelope is still young, still learning and growing, and Nicola has talked about how Pen’s guilty too - so she’ll probably mature and start to do better. We get a little foreshadowing to this with Eloise pointing it out in the last couple of episodes.

So I think when we get to Season 4, whenever Colin finds out about Lady Whistledown (because that feels like a Core Part of their story), he won’t want Penelope to reveal herself because he’ll want to protect her - because Lady Whistledown has been cruel and harsh and ruined people’s lives and while it may be better now, the Ton doesn’t forget. And while he will accept and understand Penelope’s explanation of why she did it - it’s about perception and not intention.

So basically, both Penelope’s wishes (not wanting her legacy to be credited to her worst enemy) and Colin’s intentions (not wanting Penelope to be shunned by society for her past) will have more equal weight in their argument.