#I absolutely get why people are upset about what goes down between simon and daphne

[sergeantpixie]

Do you prefer saphne or kanthony and why?! kanthony was too much constant bickering/clashing and not enough actual connection for my taste but i know that’s not a popular opinion!!

You know I wasn't on tumblr when the first two seasons of Bridgerton aired so I experienced it in a vacuum. I watched it with one of my closest fandom friends, we've been friends for about 10 years at this point, so we know each other really well and we respect each others' opinions too. We both liked both couples and both seasons, but we each had a preference. She preferred season 2 and Kanthony, and I prefer season 1 and Saphne. I didn't need to be on tumblr to know which one would be more popular though, this is the enemies to lovers website.

I tend to prefer the friends to lovers route - that's just who I am. But I think Kate and Anthony are so well written that it makes sense why they argue and fight against it and why they end up hurting a lot of people including each other (Daphne and Simon do this too, just differently.) As older siblings who stepped up to take their fathers' place after his death, Kate and Anthony are very similar, specifically similarly damaged. They put their siblings' needs above their own to their own detriment constantly. It makes sense that they could only fight against their attraction and feelings for each other - it makes sense that the only way Kate could come to terms with her own feelings was through the eyes of her little sister that she puts above all else - and it makes sense that she'd end up hurting her in the process, because that's what happens when you wall yourself off from your needs - especially emotional. You hurt people. (We get that with Anthony and Daphne too, in season 1. He projects his own romantic woes onto Daphne and Simon and tells her they can never be together when he's not actually seeing them, he's only thinking about his own doomed romance with Siena. Every time Kate tells Edwina Anthony is not for her she's talking about herself. Both of them are trying to save their beloved younger siblings from pain as well as themselves - and causing them pain - and also causing themselves pain.)

Daphne and Simon are both exactly my types as characters it's kind of insane. Simon's archetype is one I find appealing in both sexes, but Daphne's is exclusively interesting as a woman to me. Almost all of my favorite female characters are the archetypal perfect girl of their universe and they're so fucking lonely because of it that they're barely human. Simon is lonely too - loneliness is an important factor in being my favorite characters - and he's very defined by the abuse and neglect he suffered in his childhood. And then he meets someone who gives him hope - a friend and a lover and someone who makes the world seem bright. But he's so preoccupied by the pain and the anger from his past that he can't let himself take it. Daphne has the strength and the determination to demand he take it. Daphne is also very emotionally stunted and uneducated about certain aspects of life because the time she grows up in is so infantilizing to young women. (I appreciate Queen Charlotte for showing exactly why Mama Bridgerton is so fucking bad at basic sex ed, god her mother was a nightmare!) Her anger and humiliation at her lack of knowledge and understanding of the world is a lot. They do hurt each other along the way but ultimately choose each other (they choose happiness!) and idk I just love it a lot. A character like Simon being able to decide that love is more important than pain is very beautiful to me. I love that he gets to be Lady Danbury's son instead of his father's.

Thank you for asking, anon!