#bridgerton series rewatch

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

Bridgerton Parallels & Secrets

I’m doing a full series Bridgerton rewatch and I’ve discovered another season 1 parallel in season 3 that I have not seen talked about online.

In S1 E7, Daphne comes home after Marina’s pregnancy is revealed to support Colin and she takes him aside. She tells Colin that he should be lucky he learned of Marina’s secret before his wedding day (obviously this is about her marriage with Simon but it’s interesting how this comes back later).

Jump to season 3 and Colin learns of Penelope’s secret (her identity as Whistledown). And when does he learn of this? Before his wedding day.

In S3 E7, we see Kate offering marriage advice to Colin, saying that everyone has secrets. Here we get confirmation that Colin’s love for Penelope remains even through this conflict. He marries her the next day knowing her secret and accepting her still.

The difference this time with Colin is that his love for Penelope is true and deep, rather than a fleeting fancy. This secret Penelope held from him meant a great deal (due to his love of her and disdain for Whistledown) and yet he still chose to marry her.

And while Colin said he would have married Marina had he known of her pregnancy, the result would have been a loveless marriage and a strained relationship with his family due to their elopement.

Whereas, his marriage with Penelope would still be one of love (their confrontation the night before the wedding confirmed for Colin that Penelope believes she loves him) - regardless of their current conflict.

Furthermore, while Marina would have had Colin (or maybe not even told him) keep her secret, Penelope did have every intention of telling Colin about LW (before her conversation with Eloise in E6). And, once her secret was discovered, Penelope could not allow Colin to keep this secret from his family. Because she loves him.

Colin would have miserable having to keep such a big secret from his family and that is the biggest difference between Marina and Penelope: Marina would not have cared as much about Colin keeping a big Secret from his family but Penelope would. Because she also loves the Bridgertons.

[renegadesstuff]

Duke & Duchess of Hastings 🤍

[patovpran]

Can't wait for Colin to be his true self in pt 2 so people can finally understand him as a character

[somedayillbepeterpan]

On today's rewatch, this is the scene i'm stuck on:

This my favourite LW insult out of all the LW insults I've seen on this show so far.

and her writing this while feeling unwell? Pen has her priorities straight.

I researched what succubus meant and it is a diabolical insult. Adding in first water meaning of the first quality means that she's saying that Cressida is the evilest succubus demon to ever exist.

Succubus: a demon assuming female form to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep

and saying all of that while looking this pretty.

They could never make me hate you, b**tchy Pen/LW. Such a shame that she never got to publish this issue

[wrongcarwhy]

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Episode 6: Crown Jewels, written by Shonda Rhimes

[cassmouse]

I am thinking about Reservation Dogs again- it continues to be the most incredible series I've ever seen with absolutely no exaggeration

To all my mutuals who didn't see how in pieces I was about the final season when it came out last year (and my absolute obsession with it): PLEASE go and check it out it is single handedly the most magnificent thing I've ever seen

[pollenallergie]

if, in between now and the filming of season four of bridgerton, shondaland could somehow come up with another bridgerton spinoff that hits the exact same way that queen charlotte did, i would be so fucking grateful.

[bluebonnet-witch]

how are we doing tonight Bridgerton fans

[eviesaurusrex]

I adore drugged Benedict xD

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

So regarding my Bridgerton series rewatch…listen, I LOVE season 2, don’t get me wrong, but my Polin obsession and my season 3 addiction is making it hard for me to finish season 2 when I really just want to jump head-first into that sweet Polin yearning, my home.

[renegadesstuff]

Benedict & Eloise 🥰

[rafeyswrd]

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS

benedict bridgerton x princess (poc) reader

prologue.

After a series of agonising years of begging her mother to be let out into society — as a commoner would, equally putting her as the diamond of the season, the queen has finally, yet hesitantly agreed. Though with a single condition;

Sponsor the upcoming season. SUCCESSFULLY.

It was proven to be a challenge when her faith was put into the hands of the eldest bridgerton, whom was stubborn beyond belief. And it was only with the help of the second eldest that the princess might accomplish her goal.

However, getting Anthony to be married seemed to be less of a struggle in comparison to the hardship soon to occur with Benedict. Whose eyes never seem to leave her own.

OVERALL WARNING. smut!! (and lots of implied sex & talk), age gap (almost 8 years), toxic family, mentions of mental health issues, classism, abuse of power, mean ish lady danbury (i had to okay), alcohol consumption, misogyny, miscommunication, slowwww burn.

GENRE. fluff, angst, smut. a slight Rapunzel retelling, set in season 2–3 with mentions of season 1.

AUTHORS NOTE. ahhh!! i’m so excited for this, i’ve had this idea since i rewatched season 2 of bridgerton and read a one shot on here about princess reader, and it has not left my mind since. it takes place in season 2 and will have snippets of season 3. please feel free to leave suggestions of what you’d like to see xx

also!! i’ll finish your requests in my inbox soon i promise, this’ll probs make me go back to wp lol

[thebluemallet]

What Colin Calls Penelope In Bridgerton

Between Part 1 and 2 of season 3, I made a post about wanting to see the numbers on what Colin calls Penelope throughout the show because I thought there was a significant increase in the use of "Penelope" over "Pen" as their relationship matured.

Well, I did a very quick rewatch of seasons 1 and 2 (basically fast-forwarding to the parts I knew Colin and Pen would either interact or Colin would mention Penelope) and a rewatch of season 3. AND I HAVE THE NUMBERS!

So here's a breakdown on what Colin calls Penelope through all three seasons of Bridgerton. I'll give the total as well as if it was said directly to Penelope or to other people.

(If someone wants to make a chart or something with all of this data, I would not hate that)

Pen

Season 1- 8 (directly)

Season 2- 10 (directly)

Season 3- 23 (directly); 1 (indirectly); 1 (unclear. He said it to Dream Penelope); 25 total.

Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Pen"- 43

The rest is below the cut because this post got long!!

Miss Featherington

Season 1- 1 (indirectly)

Season 2- none

Season 3- 1 (directly); 2 (indirectly); 3 total

Total number of times Colin has called Penlope "Miss Featherington"- 4

Penelope

Season 1- 1 (directly)

Season 2- 1 (directly); 1 (indirectly); 1 (unclear. He was talking to Penelope but quoting himself--"I said to myself, 'If Penelope can see me this way...'"); 3 total

Season 3- 5 (directly); 22 (indirectly); 27 total

Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Penelope"- 31

Miss Penelope

Season 2- 1 (indirectly)

Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Miss Penelope"- 1

Penelope Featherington

Season 1- none

Season 2- 2 (indirectly)

Season 3- 3 (directly)

Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Penelope Featherington"- 5

Auntie Penelope

Season 3- 1 (indirectly)

Total number of time Colin has called Penelope "Auntie Penelope"- 1

If I lumped "Miss Penelope," "Penelope Featherington," and "Auntie Penelope," into the same group with "Penelope," then Colin has called her Penelope a total of 38 times throughout the series. Which means "Pen" is still the winner.

And if any of you were curious, he called her "my bride-to-be" 1 time (directly), his "future wife" 2 times (directly and indirectly), "my wife" 2 times (both indirectly), and of course, as we all know, he called her "Mrs. Bridgerton" 1 time in the final episode.

[ladypen1796]

I have a hot take on Eloise and would love others thoughts!

Especially in season 3 and rewatching the entire series over the past few weeks I truly have come to not enjoy Eloise and she truly was someone I adored on my first watch as she thought outside the box for a early time period. Here are my reasons why I don't care for her.

- first off she never really listened to Pen until she realized she was Lady Whistledown. It took her actually hearing what pen was saying for her to realize who she truly was. IMO friends listen. There's a part in s2 episode early on, where pen makes a plant pun while Eloise is trying to make her run from possible suitors trying to dance with her and fetch her lemonade. Eloise totally ignores this and it's as if pen knows she's being ignored and then writes a plant pun on the next release in whistledown.

Now I'm not saying every friend is 100% invested into what the other is saying but this is an example of Eloise not listening to Pen.

-Second, everyone around Eloise even Colin is like am I seeding what I'm seeing? Is Eloise friends with Cressida? After the fall out of Eloise and pen I understand that she wasn't going to be talking to pen but did she have to go out of her way and go be friends with her ex friends bully? In my opinion this is not a girls girl thing to do and Eloise screams feminism.

-s1 Eloise was always saying men have it better off than woman. Which I still believe stands in this day and age, but that is nearly my opinion. However, I do think compared to not even just pen but also Cressida Eloise had the luxury of always having a supportive family and just a relatively easy life. (Yes I know she lost her father that is never easy. Which is something I can relate to) however, the support and wealth she has been able to have the opportunity to be a free thinker which in her time period was not something woman had the opportunity to do.

Also I'd like to say I'm not an Eloise hater and can't wait to see what they do with her. If they follow the books. I just love to open discussion because I have an unhealthy relationship with Bridgerton lol 😂 thanks for coming to my Ted talk. 💜

[feuilletonette]

"Book Colin could never stay angry that long..."

Sweetheart, he repressed his jealousy as much as he denies Whistledown by being intimate with her so when the Cressida plot emerges, he conciously hurt Penelope physically because of his unadressed anger.

In contrast, show Colin refuses to be taken by passion because he doesn't want to deduce the sanctity he and Penelope shares in those sacred moments. Not when he's processsing his hurt and overcoming his trauma response.

And speaking of the trauma response, the Marina Thompson plot wasn't even in the books, even Eloise and Theo's. And rewatching season one had built how much damage it really did to show Colin and his family amongst other things LW wrote about them. He actually had more motivation to act on his pain, yet still reacted way better than book Colin ever did.

I was surprised to see that Whistledown wasn't even as controversial as she is in the show. She barely done damage, all she has to say was that he's too charming in which the only thing he could personally complain about.

It's the only book I read in Bridgerton series because I couldn't get enough of Polin, but the only nice thing about it was their first meeting. I would rather divorce the two versions of him. I'm so relieved that Pen was the one to do THE speech. Because it's HER moment. It's about her coming out in the shadows and reclaiming accountability for the triumphs as much as the hurt she had inflicted.

[somedayillbepeterpan]

I demand a Polinyear. Or a Polinlifetime.

For Bonus Polinweek Day 7 | Favourite kink + Love confessions S3E8 | Into the Light The Butterfly Ball confession scene

I have not abandoned my Butterfly ball deep dive series. It's just taking a while to write. And I also was enjoying creating content for Polinweek as it's my first time participating. But I will definitely finish that series.

One of my favourite things about Bridgerton S3 is how real/authentic/genuine it was in portraying Colin and Pen's Friends to Lovers journey. I was rewatching tonight and I burst into tears when the wedding scene was on and I was uncontrollably sobbing by the time Episode 8 rolled around.

The very first time that they finally see each other equally, the very first time that they finally are aligned, the very first time that they decided to grow and mature together is the very first time that they said I love you to each other. Throughout the show, it was just one saying it and the other accepting it with no direct reply.

But the one above was them on equal grounds, on equal playing field saying that the love they feel for each other is more than lust, more than shallow emotions, more than codependency but just pure, unadulterated love.

It's that look that they give each other that even without words says, "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. Because you are deep inside my soul and I understand what love is because of you."

(Why am I crying while writing this???)

The sensation of falling in love is so intense that sometimes you forget yourself. And when you forget yourself, the sensation of love becomes corrupted. There is something that I always remember my husband said to me while we were in the first throes of our love story-- that it takes two people to fall in love. To add to that, it takes another person to grow out of yourself.

Both Colin and Pen were lonely souls, even with the amount of people around them. Since both of them desired deep connection (Colin's journal and when Pen was talking to Debling about love), they have unintentionally isolated themselves with the people around them (Colin going on his travels and when Pen couldn't answer her mother's question of who she was protecting herself from when she started writing LW). The circumstances that pushed them to their loneliness kept them from positively maturing, rendering them stuck in their pasts.

This is why their love story becomes so beautiful to me. In the process of falling in love with each other (or understanding the deep connection they have), they are offered the chance to grow out of the versions they have been stuck on. And isn't that what love should be and do to you? To help take you out of your blindspots and help make you understand that life isn't made to be lived in isolation.

The scene above perfectly ties up that evolution. By looking into how their I love you's progressed-- from Pen's botched confession on S1E8, to Colin and Pen's reciprocated "you are special to me" declaration, to the fallout and subsequent rebuilding of "friendship" via courting lessons, to realising and accepting that they cannot live without each other on a carriage ride to Colin saying I love you for the first time (but with a little push from his big bros and a dash of his hero complex default), to Pen's "I have always loved you", to Pen's three "I love you's" (but with a dash of angst and desperation to get that actual sentiment in Colin's head) and then to end up here, in the Butterfly ball, them saying I love you to each other for the first time without any other hindrance other that it being the truth.

No expectations but just pure love. Luke and Nic's delivery was yet another slam dunk in this scene and I really do believe it's why most of us cried. Not only that Colin's confession before that was so beautiful but it's this mutual acceptance, mutual seeing, mutual embracing of each other's authentic selves that made this scene so satisfying.

And for my personal indulgence, I really love it when I love you's are said just as it is, with no "too's" or "more's" because love is unquantifiable. I try never to say "I love you, too" at all as it never sounds right to me.

Much like my post about my favourite quote, this again is an example of how such simple lines where elevated by the story and Luke and Nic's performances.

I really can't move on from S3. Consider this as my love confession to the season too.

On a side note: Thank you for the bonus Polinweek. I've yet to be done with this season so I hope you can all continue to ride this wave with me.