#i'm cool w/the joke but i don't get extreme arguments that he was the sole one at fault and that he treated her like crap

[pensbridge]

The Colin treated Penelope cruelly and took too long to accept her other identity, when he's the one who entrapped her himself (I get it's a joke, but honestly)...

deserves to be studied.

Colin spent Part 1 coming to the realization of his feelings for his best friend. He jumped into action faster than any of the other male leads and made the decision to marry her as it was the easiest decision of his life. Colin at the end of Part 1 and beginning of Part 2 is a completely different person. He's settled and happy, so content he's courting her after the fact and already acting like a husband. Like, that's half of the purpose of even showing this with him. He's stupid with happiness and he's also in the dark about this whole Whistledown thing. So when he finds out, his world gets turned upside down...YET AGAIN after he' just come to the realization of the feelings for his longtime friend. He's moving at lightning speed with Penelope, compromising her in a carriage and in front of a mirror for the same reason Penelope is going along with this: they're friends-to-lovers; they've had time to waste for years and they have the person they need to spend forever with right in front of them!

A huge part of Colin's characterization when it comes to love is that he goes head first, all in. He's not thinking logically and quick to solve this inner conflict on his own, because he gave his whole heart to Penelope and it just got crushed in a matter of seconds, while thinking he was actually protecting her in a bad part of town.

He doesn't sleep on the couch because he's punishing her or acting like a baby in response to the reveal. He can't talk about what he's learned and evidently decided not to tell when he's prompted with questions by Kate (and Anthony who's also there), for the same reason Eloise still chooses to protect her. Him sleeping there and being sad the whole time is actually a proof of his love and the best route they could go for his angst about the whole thing. He was so distraught he couldn't even bring himself to go to a further room.