#but bridgerton is like. here is your female lead. here is your male lead. everyone knows they will end up together

[bahoreal]

the thing about bridgerton is that its kinda contrived and bad but its also very compelling. and thats fun.

[bridgertonbabe]

I’m reading your Violet & Edgar story, so that then i can read the Benophie Blip, and I’m loving it so much!!! your portrait of Violet is exactly how I imagined her!

I was wondering, between all the cousins, who do you think bonds more with who?

Also, what do you think are the strongest relationships between uncle/aunt and niece/nephew?

So within the cousins here are a few different dynamics;

When Amanda Crane first met the Basset girls, she did not like Amelia after the eldest Bridgerton grandchild asked her if she wanted to have a tea party, feeling as though Amelia was trying to dictate to her what to do. Prior to meeting her step-mother’s family, Amanda had sworn to Oliver that they wouldn’t leave each other’s side, so she rudely turned down Amelia’s offer only to turn around and find that Oliver had already run off with the Bridgerton boys. Amanda had sulked for awhile, glaring over enviously at Amelia and her sisters as they enjoyed their tea party, secretly wishing to join in even though she had rejected them. It was only after some cajoling from Eloise that Amanda swallowed her pride and bashfully asked if she could join them after all. From then on Amanda built up a steady friendship with Amelia, despite being closer in age with Belinda and Caroline. While Belinda was a little too much to deal with and Caroline a bit too on the quiet side, Amelia was the happy medium and Amanda greatly enjoyed her company. They only got closer as they grew up, so much so that in 1843 Amanda “Mandy” Joliffe and Amelia “Amy” Farraday were born only a month apart. 

Charlotte Bridgerton spent the first few years of her life surrounded by her brothers and male cousins, enjoying the rough and tumble of running after them in the grounds of Aubrey Hall in the summertime. The Basset girls were a little too old for her (even if Amelia liked to pick her up as toddler and haul her about, in spite of Charlotte’s desperate wriggling to get free) when she she was younger, but once her cousins Violet, Agatha, Penelope, and Georgiana were old enough to run about, Charlotte took great joy in leading the pack of girls around at family gatherings. She gets along well with her female cousins just as much as her male cousins, though her favourite Bridgerton cousin is definitely Violet.

William Bridgerton is a perfect example of a floater in the family; pair him up with any relative regardless of age, he’s going to chat away to them and do everything in his power to entertain them. He does get a little quieter when he’s among the older male cousins of the family, having been the youngest boy for a number of years before Thomas was old enough to join in, but even then he’s still cracking jokes and nudging his cousins if he finds something particularly funny. 

Edmund Bridgerton and Amelia Basset are the natural leaders of the younger generation, being the eldest grandson and granddaughter respectively. However while Amelia likes to think she’s the epitome of a role model for her younger cousins to look up to, Edmund is more modest of his position and he dutifully ensures everyone is safe while being dependable at all times.

Mary Bridgerton and Janet Stirling have a very close bond and always pair up together at family gatherings. They can be typically sighted holding each other’s hand and running off giggling together but they’re both very innocent so neither one of their fathers ever has cause for concern with what they might be up to. Though there is a rather significant distance between them for most of the year, they’ve been pen pals since they were both old enough to read and write, and it’s a correspondence they keep up for the rest of their lives. 

And as for dynamics between the aunts and uncles with their niblings?

Hyacinth was the adult comrade for her nieces and nephews growing up, being a lot closer in age to a good deal of them and being the ultimate fun aunt - but once they were adults, her nephews quickly realised she was an ally no more but rather a dastardly aunt who took great pleasure in their torment i.e. forcing them to dance at balls. She takes over the mantle from her grandmother-in-law, Lady Danbury, in meddling as best she can with the men of the family, though she does also offer sage advice to the more sensible-minded of her nephews should they need guidance. 

As head of the family, Anthony cares a great deal about every last Bridgerton member, though he has particular soft spot for Charles Bridgerton, the nephew who is often compared to him for their similar temperament. While some in the family think Charlie is quick to overreact when it comes to being protective and defensive of those he loves, Anthony completely understands where he’s coming from and is always there for his nephew when he needs to vent his frustrations. 

Speaking of Charles, he’s also a favourite of his uncles, Michael and Phillip. Michael Stirling always takes a keen interest in the young man considering he was the one who had to deliver him when Sophie went into labour at Francesca and John’s wedding reception, meanwhile Phillip was the one who saved an ailing Charlie when he was a child. Michael and Phillip are always particularly concerned whenever they hear that Charlie has got so much as a common cold; in their eyes, he’s as much their boy as he is Benedict’s. 

[him-e]

Could you give some recommendations of TV shows that are, in your opinion, good/interesting/fun to watch/etc.? They can be recent or older ones, and pretty much of any genre (also, the more recommendations, the better).

disclaimer: I haven’t been in the *right* mood to really get into anything for a LONG WHILE, so my feelings about tv and movies at the moment exist in a spectrum that goes from “ok I guess” to “this somehow sucks even more than my life does and I want to crawl into a hole and rot in it”. So don’t expect lots of flailing and squeeing, lol. THAT SAID, I’m going to focus on the stuff I’ve seen recently:

bridgerton. mildly fun. very cw-ish but with occasional sexplosions. a mix between reign and gossip girl set in regency era. no mr darcy equivalent, unfortunately (the duke of hastings is 100% a chad). also don’t expect historical accuracy or anything like actual jane austen vibes. the main couple is quite shippable and has some decent banter and slow burn until it suddenly escalates into marriage and the sexplosion I mentioned above. the best part, though, is that i’m apparently shipping in*cest again 

the undoing. nicole kidman is married to hugh grant, who is, shockingly, an asshole. but before you think “typecasting”, more on the creepy than pathetic side. the mystery is kinda underwhelming imo bc it leads you to think there’s much to the story than what you originally thought, but no, it really is that simple.

the crown. what can i say? very well written and acted. It’s also super slow and analytical, and can be occasionally boring, if you’re not in the mood. I’m being super slow at catching up because I’m watching it with my mother, and I’m still at season 3 and feeling inappropriately (but also predictably) sympathetic towards Charles (but I’m looking forward to the Diana episodes). This is also a good show if you wanna play “drink every time you recognize a Game of Thrones/Being Human/*insert iconic franchise starring predominantly british folks* actor”. Speaking of royals...

the queen’s gambit. 10/10. Singlehandedly cured my depression for a week. absolutely perfect in every aspect (almost---the lack of a main romance with HEA was a bit of a bummer, but there’s shipping material nonetheless): only one season, “strong” heroine in the sense that she’s a character with an actual PERSONALITY who falls and has genuine flaws and---despite being “inexplicably” a genius (the show gives the context of how she learns to play chess but doesn’t go out of its way to *justify* her talent or how she managed to pulverize guys older and better trained than her)---falls, and loses, sometimes badly, actually at one point slips into a pit of depression and self destruction but only to eventually rise again. I also somehow didn’t come out of this show hating the entire male gender any more than I already do, even though it’s a story about a woman in a male-dominated field who often has to face sexism and patronising attitudes from her peers. but almost everyone she meets is, actually, a quite decent guy? even those who initially challenge her or treat her condescendingly. It’s also a lesson about writing stories with very definite ANTAGONISTS who, however, are NOT villains (but obviously this wouldn’t work for every genre, this one is a fairytale-ish coming of age, a female power fantasy set in the real world, it actually reminded me of 80′s spokon/shoujo anime like Attacker You) 

a discovery of witches. I’ve seen only season one so far, and let me say I didn’t expect a main romance between a VAMPIRE and a WITCH to be such a SNOOZEFEST. dear god. I swear they’re giving me Bill/Sookie vibes (and I like Matthew Goode). but aside from this, it’s sorta watchable, and there’s an *evil* finnish witch who’s in a sorta kinda enemies-to-friends dynamic with the protagonist

his dark materials. Still have to catch up on season 2 because I feel rather lukewarm about it. I haven’t read the books so I can’t tell if it’s a good adaptation or not. From what I can see, everything is in the right place to make it a good story, but somehow, I’m not vibing with it? Maybe I’m just too old to care about stories with child protagonists lol.

cursed. watch it for the weeping monk. YES he’s Medieval Kylo Ren.

the boys. pretty much the most FUN (and plot-heavy) shit I’ve seen recently, but also the only good take about marvel-style superheroes and their whole fake-deep, dishonest, intensely capitalistic rhetorics i can stomach anymore (beyond the on the nose parody and obvious--a bit insufferable actually--genre-subverting intent, try looking at Homelander & co. through the lens of this post). oh yeah I also ship Frenchie and Kimiko btw, which just proves how a mediocre show can become good, and a good show can turn into AMAZING if there’s something I can ship in it.

now quite out of character for me but here’s a couple Netflix rom com movie recs:

holidate. yeah I know christmas time is over but this somehow became my new comfort movie. Fake dating at its finest. Hot, fun, not insufferably cheesy, definitely not a Hallmark Xmas movie (you know those movies where as a set up the female protagonist breaks up with her long term fiance and she’s like, “oh.”, and proceeds to be sad for 0,5 seconds? This is not one of those), it’s an actual slow burn, and there’s a part where the heroine has a diarrhea emergency which a) is not played as a gross joke and b) somehow leads to hot, romantic sex??

leap year. a 2010 movie with Matthew Goode (who is sexier here than in vampire form) and Amy Adams, it’s a road trip in Ireland (!!!!) with a shitton of belligerent romantic tension and fanfic tropes, 10/10