#anti-polin

[torchwood-99]

Just gonna say it that there was more chemistry between Cressida and Eloise in that one little snippet than there has ever been for Colin and Penelope.

[thedisdainfullysilentvisitor]

Netflix India commissioned a piece of artwork for Bridgerton S3 that literally shows Penelope and Colin in East Indian garb.

This is not okay. This is not 'cute'. This is attention being given to Polin which should rightfully be given to Kathony.

[dammit-neal]

What's happening?

tbh it's been so long, I can't remember what this is referencing, but in recent tumblr activity in this neighborhood:

I went from not caring about bummy to severely disliking it. I think it's a mix of bummy shipper behavior (including but not limited to: terrible tagging so i got their shit on my feed, and bad takes, everything else is whatever), the UTTER LACK of chemistry between Lou and Oliver that is reflected in the zero chemistry between Buck and Tommy, and just how cheated I feel that they think they can just throw any ol' man at Buck and that's enough for me to be like "Whelp I guess Buck and Eddie's epic love story just isn't meant to be and we can replace Eddie with just any old guy *shrugs*." No one would accept that if someone tried to subvert a straight ship and I ain't lowering my standards here either.

I threw shade at polin (bridgerton), and didn't tag correctly, which is my bad. Someone sent me aggressive anons, and I felt so popular for like 3 seconds.

[letthefairyinyoufly]

So I just finished S3 part 1 and I'm not feelin it.

I was huge Polin shipper, but now I think I don't even like Colin that much and he was my favorite brother in season 1. Why two threesomes and one in the episode where he proposes. WHY? WHY? WHY? I want my male leads be completely consumed by their love for leading lady not visiting brothels the day they propose. I'm tired of rakes. Where is my sweet innocent Colin 😢. This is so bad when I prefer 2nd lead to 1st.

And the breathing was over the top loud. Tone it down. It felt so artificial.

And Kanthony completely missing from the picture isn't good either.

Thank god that the Featherington family exists. Most entertaining part of the show. And they better stick around, but they are probably all gone by season 4. Because that's how this show operates.

And no more Eloise and Benedict scenes? They where my favorite family dynamic.

Part 2 trailer seemed promising, but we will see. I hope it gets better.

[sapphrican]

does anyone else think penelope deserves better than colin or is it all the penthony/penedict fic I've been reading?

[viavolterra]

I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

give them back to me

[hamletshoeratio]

Penelope:

Betrayed the trust of those closest to her including friends, namely Eloise and Marina, and her own family

Nearly ruined/ruined multiple people's reputations out of jealousy (Daphne & Marina)

Straight up attacked people who never had a bad word to say about her (Kate, Edwina, Anthony, Daphne)

Nearly ruined her own family's reputation

Nearly destroyed the Bridgerton's reputation

If she truly had Eloise's best interests at heart THERE WERE OTHER WAYS TO GET HER OFF QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SUSPECT LIST. Eloise wasn't out in season 1, she wasn't present for most of the events Lady Whistledown described. Tell the Queen directly about Theo as she loves a love story. Or you know reveal herself. But no protecting her secret identity took priority.

Destroyed an actual working woman's business (the seamstress from last season) for personal gain (to get Genevieve Delacroix on side after she discovered her lady whistledown secret)

Her comments about George III's mental health are shall we say yikes in qc

The way she handled the Marina and Colin situation. If she truly had Colins best interests at heart, she could've told him or Eloise directly or through another anonymous means. By publishing it, she nearly destroyed her own family's and colins reputation, and trapped Marina in a marriage that if it goes anything like the book will kill her.

But Eloise is the villain for being a young woman and pettily starting a duo with her ex best friend's enemy after learning about the above? Yeah nah.

[dollypopup]

I've been seeing so many bad faith takes from people who just. . .don't understand these characters or their love story, so here I am, taking them 1 by 1 lol

Let's start with potentially the lowest bar for Penelope

"I was rooting for Debling for Penelope!" aka: I didn't want Colin and Penelope to have their love story

Most of the justifications of this perspective come from the idea that an absent husband who leaves you lots of money and space for your hobbies is an ideal prospect. And you know what? You're right! For MOST women of the ton, this is an incredibly appealing proposition! That's why Cressida finds it so enticing. She wants what he can offer, a life away from her family (this is something she and Penelope have in common), a comfortable life in which she is alright with a lack of affection. I would argue most women on the marriage market during this time would agree. Marriage is a business transaction more than a fairy tale for them, for most women of this time, of the ton.

But Penelope is not most women of the ton. This perspective comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of her character. Her seeing marriage as a business transaction is her giving up on her dreams of being loved. People just assume that Penelope's greatest desire in life is to write Lady Whistledown, when this is absolutely not true. I even saw someone say that 'Penelope found her purpose'. But we know this is false

Because she says it herself. In Season 2, right after Colin talks to Marina and she calls him a boy caught up in his fantasies, the conversation is contrasted with Penelope, who tells him it's important to have dreams and fantasies, to be fanciful. And this *connects them*. It is the first truly open conversation we see between the two of them, and when he asks if she's found her purpose, she explicitly informs us what it is: Something that encourages her to be brave, and witty. Something that takes her far away from the watchful eyes of her Mama. Something that fulfills her.

Lady Whistledown is not any of those things. Lady Whistledown, sure, encourages her to be witty, but also encourages her to be cruel, to make painful decisions. Lady Whistledown does not encourage her to be brave, in fact, it only exists through her hiding and secrecy. And it keeps her beneath her Mama's thumb, as she is literally tied to the ton and it's going ons by writing it. No, Lady Whistledown is not her purpose. Writing is her passion, and I do argue that writing is ONE part of her purpose, absolutely!

But. . .what else?

Well. . . .love. Love and connection. *Love* is what inspires Penelope to be brave, Love and comfort with Colin encourages her wittiness, and Love is what will provide her an avenue for leaving her mum. Love is Penelope's greatest dream and desire. And I am NOT just talking romantic love here, but love of all sorts. Philautia (self love), Pragma (love of duty), Ludus (playful love), Agape (universal love), Storge (familial love), Philia (friendship), and, of course, Eros (romantic and sexual). Love with Eloise, Love in her family, Love and Respect in her community, and Love that is romantic and sexual in nature. Love with Colin.

But what Debling offers her is only one of those. He can only offer her a love of duty, respect in her community with a title, a pragmatic marriage with no passion, one in which she is expected to wait for him with fidelity as he lives his own passions, and she occupies herself with her own interests (so long as, very importantly, those interests do not make a fool of him, since he did, after all, dump her when he assumed she'd cheat on him when he was away) (cue me: 'is this your king????'-ing @ you all). I am flabbergasted that people would think Penelope would find happiness being alone and writing Whistledown as a married woman. . .when she did not find happiness being alone and writing Whistledown as a single woman. All that would change is her title, and that's not enough. She deserves better. She deserves more. She wants more.

When she asks him 'Could you ever love me?' he responds with several long excuses that amount to: No. No, he could never love her. He is too tied to his work, he does not know her. He has been talking to her for a week and had maybe what? 5 conversations with her about it? 1 of which was comparing her to a dead deer mounted on a wall (and I'll try not to read too much into the metaphor of Women shedding their names, a death of their old selves in their society, to become a literal trophy holed up in a rich man's house) and another was in which she insisted she. . .loved grass? Come on, people. Have a higher bar for this character you claim to like so much.

Another conversation they share is very telling, in which he asks about her hobbies. She informs she enjoys reading, and he finds it quaint, charming that she enjoys romances. But he does not find that in any way comparable to his own work. Debling respects Penelope as most men in his society respect women: as a pretty bauble with which to decorate his life. Not an equal. He is glad she has a quiet interest that will keep her where he feels she belongs: in his home, tending to his fortune and assets. He explicitly states he doesn't want a partner who shares his passions, who enjoys the outdoors, but simply an honest woman who will tend to his lair estate.

What Debling offers her is a life of pragmatism and expectancy, and in many ways, loneliness. Penelope would surely cultivate friendships in this time, but in accepting his offer, she even says she has 'come to terms' with what he can provide for her. Not that she is happy, not that it is what she *wants*, but that she has come to terms with it. That she will be content. She will fill her days with love stories she will never live, and write about the day to day of a ton that does not accept her. Maybe, just maybe, she can even have a family, and she, like her mother, like Marina, like other tragic women in her society, will find happiness in her children, and not in her own life.

But why should she? Penelope? Penelope wants love. Penelope wants acceptance and tenderness and passion, and that's why I am confident in saying that Penelope has not, in fact, given up on Colin. Not her love for him, at least. Her love for him has not faded, remains evergreen: we see it when she reads his journal, when she stands in the sun after their reconciliation and feels at peace for the first time in the season, when she laughs at his jokes, when she asks him to kiss her. She has given up on one thing only: her expectation of him fulfilling that love. And that's what makes it so heartbreaking that they're both pining for each other, thinking the other does not feel the same. Because Penelope knows (and she is RIGHT) that her and Colin have something special.

This is heart vs. head, and honestly, not even Penelope's head wants Debling.

The people who say they were hoping he and Penelope would end up together, y'all are Portia. Your expectations for Penelope are that she should be happy with money and a title and an absent partner. And then, the quiet part is 'She shouldn't be holding out for love'. She shouldn't be holding out for dreams.

But. . .why not? Colin is in every single way an amazing person for her. And he's proof that she should have held out, that waiting was worth it. That it had always been worth it.

Because it is *Colin* who is the gateway to all those forms of love.

Pragmatically, Colin has money a-plenty. He's in good standing in his society, he's rich, he's attractive, and he comes from a wonderful family. Furthermore, even from season ONE Daphne said that Colin can make an interaction interesting. He makes Penelope laugh, he's a good dancer, he's adventurous and loves to travel. And most importantly, he'd love to travel WITH her. Whilst Debling is attempting to narrow her world, Colin, in contrast, wants to open it to her.

Since her and Colin met as children, much of the start of their love story for him was first universal, and then familial in nature. When first her bonnet flew into his face and he fell, he had no reason to be kind about it, but he was. He has a kind nature. But then as they became acquainted, and she had a connection to Eloise, it morphed from his universal love and good will towards strangers, to that of a family friend. The comment that he sees her as one of his sisters was harsh, but it's also not BAD that this is a kernel of their love story. It bred familiarity with them, and lead into a genuine friendship. And my god, I could talk about their friendship for days.

Colin has been an amazing friend to Penelope. He checks in on her, he writers her letters, he asks how she's doing, he offers her his hand to lift her up, he refuses to let her speak badly of herself, he's protective of her, he finds her funny, he seeks her out because he values her perspective. Colin adores Penelope, and the last two seasons have proven it in so many ways. Even in his pursuit to help her find a husband, this is a selflessness he offers because he cares for her. His goal is not to curry favor with her, his goal is only to uplift her. He only wants to see her happy. He holds her in the highest esteem and sees her in such a beautiful light. And that leads into her self love, because what Colin said to Penelope in Season 2 Surely if Penelope can see me this way, surely I can as well-- that rings true for Penelope, as well. Colin loves her so dearly and sees her with such grace, that she is then inspired to bring that inwardly.

Debling is the death of her dreams, and Colin is her dream in fruition.

But it is also risky, and it is also, in some ways, foolish. He's not a sure choice for her, but he's the BEST choice. He represents passion and tenderness, he is the love story of all her books and fantasies. Because what Marina said to Colin, that he is caught up in his fantasies: Penelope is, too. That's what makes them such a good match. And so with him, she blooms. With him, she feels brave, and is witty, and will come out from her Mama's thumb and her expectations. And what's left after Pragma and Agape and Ludus and Storge and Philia?

Well. . .. It's Psyche and Eros, isn't it?

So, at the end of it, at the 11th hour, when Colin comes to her and he is honest, and he is vulnerable, and he doesn't know she feels this love for him and has for so long, and he spills open for her, Penelope knows she doesn't have to simply be content.

She knows she can be happy. Fuck your low expectations, she *can* and *should* have a love story.

And the one she lives with Colin is such damn good one.

[angrydemonfawnbaby]

maybe one day i will be over bridgerton season three and my hatred for penelope but that day is not today

i understand that the books are different and that book polin and penelope are not what their show counterparts are but i need book polin and penelope fans to take a step back and examine the absolute psychological horror of what show polin is.

genuinely there is something so insidious about a girl who meets a guy, believes it's love at first sight, and then befriends his sister. in fact, her ONLY friend is his sister. she spends years pining, sitting and staring out of her window so often that everyone in her life knows this is a common occurrence for her. a habit. she loves him, she wants to be with him, she wants to be a part of his family, and that family treats her well, they treat her with kindness.

and she tears them down. secretly. she uses her friendship with the daughter, her closeness to them, to prop herself up. to write vitriolic things about them, to cast shame on them, to bring their reputation into question time and time again. there is something so irredeemably manipulative about a girl who takes the secrets of those who trusts her and reveals them publicly when it best suits her--when she does not want the boy she loves to marry a girl who has been kind to her, a girl who considers her a friend, who has shared her anxieties and heartbreak. it does not matter that this girl would be a good wife, or that the boy truly cares for her, because this girl is not her. and she could've told the boy herself, but that boy is kindhearted and sensitive and good and he might still marry this other girl. and that is what is truly unacceptable, that is what can't be allowed to happen. so she destroys it, thoroughly. it does not matter who is caught in the blast.

it did not matter how this embarrassment would effect the family she claimed to love as her own, the family she wanted to be a part of. it did not matter that it would ruin marina, the only other person to consider penelope a friend. it led to marina nearly dying, it led penelope's own family being shamed and shunned. it did not matter, because to penelope, the only thing that mattered was that colin remained unmarried so that he may one day love her the way she loves him.

it did not ever matter that colin already loved her as a friend, because to penelope that was not a love worth having. not from colin, or marina, or eloise.

she does not care who she hurts. again and again. with daphne, with anthony and the sharma sisters, with her own best friend. eloise confides in penelope things that not only could destroy her reputation and that of her family, but things that could get her in trouble with the queen--views that are dangerous. and despite what she says, she does it to save herself first and foremost, to keep eloise from discovering her secret.

and when she thinks that the boy she loves will never return her interest, when he returns from his time away different from the boy she has spent years obsessing over from afar, she writes about it once more. to make herself feel better, to make him feel bad. for not loving her, for daring to try and change, for daring to be something he is not--something different from the boy she supposedly loves.

penelope actions as whistledown have shown her to be a callous, selfish, manipulative person. she understands that being whistledown means having power, admits it, and she has constantly used that power to destroy other women--regardless of how kind they were to her (marina), how much they trusted her (eloise), or if she even knew them at all (kate and edwina, the queen and her infant grandchild). she is a vicious and mean person on paper, with no loyalties to anyone but herself. her actions as whistledown are undefendable and cruel. and she is whistledown, they are one and the same.

i cannot see how anyone can look at the two and see anything to romanticize. she knows eloise would not want her in bridgerton house, rightfully so, but she goes to be close to colin, and then she invades his privacy by reading his journals. she continuously lies and crosses boundaries, but her eyes well with tears immediately after and so all is miraculously forgiven--nevermind that she will go home to write something cruel by candlelight later.

even their first kiss feels like a manipulation. a coersion. she begs, cries, pleads, claims she could die never having been kissed and she knows colin is a soft, sensitive boy. he was going to marry marina after a short courtship, convinced of love, he might've went ahead married her if he'd found out about the pregnancy privately because he is a good and kind man. so of course he will kiss her.

and then he proposes, and before they can go about it properly, before he can rethink it or back out--she publishes it in whistledown. so that the whole ton knows that she has finally won. she has succeeded in becoming a bridgerton. and she continues to lie to them all. she continues to lie to colin. she smiles and plays the role of the innocent girl next door, when she has been their primary antagonist force behind the curtains for years now.

even her declaration of love is said to distract, to protect herself, when he has discovered her secret, her true identity, and she can no longer hide. she shouts it at him, like it is meant to make everything okay, to make all of the bad things she's done go away.

and in a well written story, with well written characters, it would not. it would be seen for what it is. desperate. manipulative. but this season of bridgerton is a let down in many ways, and all of them are rooted in how the narrative has catered to washing away how horrible of a person penelope has been, instead of acknowledging it and moving forward with a true redemption arc.

so instead, we get to watch a gossiping mean girl who has spent years stalking and preying on one family in particular, manipulating her way into her happy ending with said family. and everyone just has to be gaslit into believing this is okay when it's not.

[glitterfairy-21225]

Is this anything?

[dearestgentlereaders]

I just know Lord Remington stays awake at night lamenting on how he monumentally fumbled the bag cause not only did he talk to his idol, Lady Whistledown, he could have married her as well

[orangepeelshortbreadcookies]

Snorting at Penelope swaying on the dancefloor with Debling over the stringquartet cover of Happier Than Ever, precisely at the lyrics: And I don't talk shit about you on the internet/Never told anyone anything bad . When it's literally all she does.

This has to be comedy right? The show does realise how ridiculous the song choice for this particular scene is?

[thedisdainfullysilentvisitor]

With all my complaining about Bridgerton S3, I have to admit I don't gaf about Polin. As long as they're offscreen after their 'love was here all along' shit gets finished, I'm good.

no, the most disappointing thing with Kathony for me, is that we don't ever learn what that medal was the Anthony got. Did he earn it as Viscount when he was given the title and the inconsistency finally caught up? Did he go to war for two months? Did he end up using the queen as his therapist and she gave him the medal after he admitted how his family treats him while he's begging for the right to marry Kate early? We don't know!

If the medal wasn't so prevalent we wouldn't have been questioning that to begin with. S3 P1 was a friggin mess and no amount of money can make me say different.

[iheartbookbran]

actually you know what in retrospect the best part abt the Debling plot was that the reason he decided to not propose to Penelope after all was bc he realized that the minute he put a foot out the door he was getting cuckolded by Colin lmfaoooo

[rottentiger-art]

I STAND FUCKING CORRECTED AND I WILL ISSUE MR. BRIDGERTON A HAND WRITTEN APOLOGY, THIS WAS NOT A ONE-SIDED BEEF

This edit here has opened my eyes bc I wasn't paying attention to Debling at ALL during this scene. There was an acknowledgement that they both wanted Pen, Debling here thought he was the winner. Debling was the first to interrupt rudely in the middle of a conversation, breaking an important moment, Colin was just more scansalous about it when it came his turn, interrumpting them mid-dancing

The way he looks at Colin both times, I thought he was just polite the first time but nah, he was smug, Colin sweety I'm so sorry I gaslighted you, you kinda had other valid reason to dislike him😭

[shewhotellsstories]

Jokes aside, it’s odd for me to see people swearing up and down that Colin needs to beg and grovel and earn Penelope back because up until that conversation she overhead he hadn’t treated her badly. He danced with her, he defended her, he returned all her letters, and he bailed her family out when he thought they were being taken advantage of.

He treated her like a friend. Yeah, no one wants to hear that a crush doesn’t see them as an option romantically, but someone treating you like a good friend when you want more isn’t bullying. It’s life.