#but i think both the writers and polly walker understand portia and that they really care about her

[pynkhues]

Thanks for answering my question about Bridgerton. Really loved hearing your thoughts. I personally love lady featherten and I agree with you. I often am drawn to characters more specifically women who are really just survivors. The audience may think of them as villains, but that’s not the case . Totally different vibes but I’m actually in the middle of good girls season three so late to the game Ik, but low-key she reminds me a lot of Beth in many ways. I also agree with your take on Cressida .Wow that girl was going through it and it really sometimes felt like I was watching two different shows . I feel like the writers dropped the ball with her story and yes, Penelope giving her the money would’ve been really great to see . thanks again and hope you have a great day.✨♥️

(x)

You're very welcome, anon! Thanks for the ask.

It's actually one of the things I love about Penelope too is that she has a (not to quote IWTV, haha, but) sliver of coldness in her, which is generally on show with Lady Whistledown. She's so warm and compassionate broadly speaking, but it's that little shard of grit where she can write what she writes and expose people without all that much regard for the consequences - particularly when it's her own security at stake as it was with the modistes in s2 - that makes her compelling to me as a character. Like that's interesting to me, and I think it's one of the issues I had with s1 is that Daphne is, at least for most of the season, so without interiority and complexity.

I know that that's something people like about the books, but one of the problems with adapting such a frothy romance into a TV-series is that these sorts of romances are often low-stakes, low-conflict, which works for quick, breezy reads, but doesn't when you're trying to sell an 8-season show (+ spinoffs) to a mainstream audience. The writers are obviously searching for conflict points, and while I know a lot of people didn't really like the Featherington subplot in s2, I think it worked as a means of contextualising both Penelope as a person and her position in society ahead of her s3 arc.

Penelope's a lot more like her mother than she'd care to admit, and it's that ruthless ability to see a situation for what it is and figure out how to make it work for her that makes them both interesting as characters.

But ah! I'm delighted you're watching Good Girls!! I love that show an embarrassing amount, haha. It's imperfect, but I think was underrated in its time and will be one that people go back to because of the ways it explored class, crime and different aspects of womanhood while still being genuinely very funny. I can definitely see the similarities between Beth and Portia too (I actually had the thought as I was replying to you that Beth could've been Portia in a different era and place, haha).

Hope you're having a great day too <3

[mermaidsirennikita]

bridgerton--the good, the bad, the ugly

The short of it: Bridgerton excellently captures the tone of Regency romance novels and offers a lot of escapism and great sex scenes, but could definitely use some serious work in terms of how it depicts race and it should have made some further alterations to the dated and flawed source material.  Definitely loved a lot of it and am hotly anticipating the second season, but I want to see more work done and I HOPE that this encourages the adaptation of better (and less inherently flawed) romance novels.

Now for the longer take.

The Good

Bridgerton depicted sex and romance in a way that is totally different from anything I’ve seen in period dramas, for sure, but possibly different from anything I’ve seen on TV.  The romance of it all was woven into almost every aspect of the show. There is the handsome and seemingly severe but extravagantly wealthy and sexually adept duke sweeping into town.  The (multiple) rakes who just want to have fun while also being hot messes.  The awakening of female sexuality and the copious use of the female gaze.  (Note the pretty modest and minimal focus on female nudity, while we get plenty of lingering shots on Simon.).  People want love!  There is pretty minimal violence and perhaps the most physically violent scene involves Simon beating a man up because HE IMPEACHED DAPHNE’S HONOR~.

The sex scenes themselves focused on Daphne’s pleasure for the most part, and were probably among the best I’ve seen since Outlander in terms of chemistry, in terms of the visuals, in terms of focus on sex as an act of emotional connection and FUN. Yes, there was some Unlikely Vaginal Orgasming, but we also saw Simon tell Daphne about masturbation.  On the wedding night, he was pretty clearly touching her to help her enjoy it.  He ate her out... a good bit.  

And aside from that, we got all of the grand speeches, the stolen glances and touches, an excellent buildup of sexual tension that led to some pretty hilarious moments.  

I also really enjoyed many of the performances on this show.  Rege-Jean and Phoebe had great chemistry and excellent back and forth.  Jonathan was a GREAT Anthony.  I would argue that as lackluster as I found his relationship with Siena (more on that in a minute) it largely existed as a way to set him up for his romance with Kate.  He now has even more of a reason to be down with love, as opposed to solely relying on a kind of flimsy tragic backstory.  Additionally, his overprotectiveness of Daphne added tension to the story and made him a source of comedic relief for me?  I loved it.  Give me disaster Anthony all day; can’t wait until he falls to the enemies to lovers trope just like Simon fell to his FLAW-FREE fake dating plan.

A lot of the changes I found were really good.  Obviously, it was important that the show incorporated greater diversity (though they need way more).  Benedict was INFINITELY more fun and interesting than he was in the novels, and acted as another standout for me.  As much as I hate Portia Featherington, I think that the elevation of her to a proper villainess is probably necessary and Polly Walker excels at those types of roles, though they need to maybe have her be less like, actively racist.  I adored the addition of Queen Charlotte; she was excellent comic relief.  Lady Danbury’s expanded role and relationship to Simon was one of the best moves they made.  It touched my entire soul.

Buuuut....

The Bad

The show needs to work on casting more men that are frankly on Rege-Jean’s level.  It feels a bit awkward to see a guy that is by most people’s standards kind of stunning and then.... Colin looks twelve.  Lord Philip is like... a farm guy.  Get rid of the sideburns, we’re in romance novel territory.

In the same note, the girl who played Siena wasn’t a great actress and wasn’t super stunning, so even though I’m fine with her being a placeholder....  Eh.  Go for better casting.  The woman playing Madame Delacroix would’ve played that role so much better and I really enjoyed her dynamic with Benedict because she was just fun.

Frankly, I don’t know what the fuck they’re going to do to make me want to watch Penelope and Colin fall in love.  Their book was already a bit basic--fun, but far from revolutionary.  I don’t really get why they would receive attention similar to that of Kate and Anthony, basically.  The issue is that Colin, again, looks and sound rather young and twerpy.  It obviously wasn’t great for him to be tricked into raising another man’s child, but.... For fuck’s sake, how much would that have affected his life on a practical level.  He’d never know unless he was told, thanks to the lack of DNA tests.  He was marrying far out of his league in terms of attractiveness.  He’s a rich white guy in England with a supportive family.  

I really disliked the fact that Colin told Marina in his huffy little tantrum that he would have married her anyway--because would you have, buddy?  Really?  The thing is that Marina had no way of knowing that and her entire life (and the reputations of her cousins) was on the line.  She didn’t know if she could trust Colin to keep her secret.  They barely knew each other.  He basically came off as a whiny child and I’m fine with him staying in Greece if that’s the plan.

Penelope was just... psychotic.  And that was really disappointing, because I love Nicola and would love to have loved to see the fat girl get her sexy love story.  But first off, lol, it wouldn’t have been sexy because Colin was miscast.  Second, she basically tried to destroy Marina’s life and that of her sisters?  And herself?  Because Colin?  Because Colin, a guy who hasn’t even shown any amount of attraction to her at this point?  Her tears, her whining, it was all too much.  Penelope was dealing with a crush and Marina was dealing with the real Grown Woman issues of a child out of wedlock and as it turned out a dead lover and they were not on equal footing.

I mean, Penelope could very well make a great villainess at this point, and if done well I’d embrace it.  But I do not know how the fuck they can make me interested in her love story.  And the idea of her basically being launched into villainy because she was this chubby white girl obsessively jealous of a beautiful black woman...... not a great look.

The show definitely needs to explore diversity in terms of sexuality too--I don’t think it’s correct to read Benedict as straight because he still seems to be open to exploring.  Once he has more screentime, I think he could totally end up being bisexual, and it’s possible that the writers were trying to feel the audience out in terms of their receptiveness to taking a straight character who has a big straight love story in the books and making him LGBT+.  Eloise could also easily be a lesbian, and I’d be thrilled to see that happen.  They need to do something to expand the world, and if there are 8 Bridgerton kids, all of them being straight as an arrow seems SO unlikely.

The Ugly

Obviously, the rape scene was bad and should have been written out.  Simon could have gotten caught up in the moment and blown up at Daphne after he accidentally didn’t pull out in time.  Men.... accidentally don’t pull out in time... a lot.  That’s how babies happen.  It would’ve been believable, and due to our sympathies being with Simon largely, I don’t think he would have become irredeemable if he was more at fault than Daphne.  

As it was, I will say that the scene was somewhat better than it played in the books because Simon was conscious and totally sober, and it was a bit?  Confusing?  That he didn’t just roll Daphne over and pull out?  Because she wasn’t really clearly trying as hard as she was in the book to wrap her legs around him and hold him tight.  But it remained a rape scene.  The show also did a better job, I think, of establishing how fucked up it was that Simon took advantage of Daphne’s lack of knowledge.  Whatever he said about thinking she knew what was up--he knew she didn’t even know about masturbation.  He had to know she wouldn’t understand what pulling out meant.  He did very clearly mislead her to think that he was sterile and therefore denied Daphne her ability to give informed consent.  Did that justify what Daphne did?  Nope.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.  But both of them did a fucked up thing and I think that we honestly could’ve stopped at Simon’s misleading.

The issue too is that this leads into a bigger problem the show had.  It wanted to include diversity (yay!) but did not consider the total implications of what was happening (not yay).  Daphne and Simon’s dynamic is inevitably influenced by the fact that she’s a white woman and he’s a black man, regardless of whatever handwaves happened.  This influences the sexual assault and makes it even more messy.

Speaking of mess, I’m not sure what exactly would have fixed the “we don’t want this to be a colorblind casting” issue... but the explanation they came up with wasn’t good.  Never mind that this makes everything SUPER confusing (racism is over like..... maybe 50 years MAX after Queen Charlotte’s marriage if we assume she was a teen when she married and is in her 60s now?) but Lady Danbury’s dialogue explaining this was HORRENDOUS.  “One of them fell in love with one of us”.  The implications are awful.  I don’t know if perhaps setting back the integration of society centuries earlier would have helped?  But this wasn’t it.

Additionally, the writers and casting directors didn’t seem to get that diversity is all well and good, but what about the fact that almost every black character has a light skin tone?  Why are there so few black female characters?  Why is Marina, the most prominent woc on the show, given the “pregnant and desperately trying to trick a man into marrying her until her jealous white cousin fucks her life up and she is humiliated into settling for a loveless match” plot?  I desperately hope we see her next season, falling in love with Sir Phillip or perhaps having experienced a plot twist that gives her someone else...  And she better not die. Eloise can find someone else if Marina really ends up with Sir Philip.

Ultimately, again, I really loved the show.  But it needs to work on some things.  I think that a lot of its issues can be addressed and fixed in a future season, and I HOPE they do that.

[pynkhues]

Hi!! What are ur Thoughts on lady Featherton character in Bridgerton and on season three Bridgerton in general?

Hey! Lady Featherington is a fave, actually, haha. I do really enjoy Violet as the other mother we see the most of, but I've always preferred women characters with a little more grit and gristle to them, which Portia has in spades.

She's a survivor through and through, and I love that sense that she clawed her way up social ranks in a cruel and loveless marriage only to have to do it all over again after her husband left her and their daughters in financial ruin. She barrels forwards for both her daughters' security and her own, and that really does it for me, character-wise. Plus Polly Walker is probably one of, if not the best actress on the show tbh.

And I enjoyed season 3! Penelope and Colin were really sweet, and I love that in many ways Penelope got three love stories - a romantic one in Colin, a platonic one in Eloise, and a familial one with her mother. It really underlined the theme of the show of Penelope blossoming, but also of her being able to step out as her full self, which means embracing all these parts of herself beyond her romance - her career, her friendships, and her family, who often embarrasses her. I like that it really leant into her not just being understood, but deepening her understanding of those around her.

My biggest issue was with Cressida Cowper's storyline. I actually talked about it in the tags on this post, but I really think Penelope should've given her the money and that Cressida should've gotten out. It would've been a kinder ending for Cressida, yes, but also a more fulfulling one for ending Penelope's arc as the anonymous Lady Whistledown.

I'm basically just going to repeat my tags here, haha, but look - Whistledown gave Penelope power, freedom and escape, and while she used that to hold people accontable (sometimes), she also used it to gossip and exert influence over others. Whistledown had the power to make others feel powerless, and she did use it that way - gosh, we saw that with Marina, but also the competing off-screen modiste who she seemingly ruined in order to buy Delacroix's silence.

If Penelope had used the money she'd earned off other women's stories to actually give that power, freedom and escape to another woman - a woman she understandably doesn't like! - would show real growth of character and a meaningful evolution to Penelope's power as a writer. Plus it would be a nice sort of commentary on powerless women pulling other women up behind them once they come into power.

So yes. I still enjoyed the season, but I thought that was a misstep.