#my take on the peneloise feud

[thekatebridgerton]

Eloise wasn't good friend for Penelope, but Pen was much worse , she BETRAYED El, she told it was for protection, but El wouldn't need a protection, if LW didn't piss off queen, Pen CHOSE to write about El, knowing that such information could totally destroy reputation. And i can't see how show give Pen a redemption arc, as I remember in book people applauded her, but in reality ton will be pissed off, Bridgerton will be pissed off. Pen was friend for their family, and i can't see how Anthony, Benedict or Violet can be ok with that. Pen is not feminist, she has a huge internalized misogyny, cause she CHOSE to put other women down in her gossip, two of them were destroyed because of her. Maybe Colin would leave his family for love, but I don't see how they will do that because that is not how this show works

Okay guys get ready for a mild dose of my tirades on why I like show Penelope and why I think she was right. And Eloise not so much. Right in the read more button

First of all lady Whistledown is totally okay with making men like Anthony and Nigel Berbroke miserable too. She's nothing if not consistent in her disdain for both genders. If feminism is to want equal rights for all, I think Lady Whistledown is a feminist because she does try to damage the reputation of people from both genders equally.

1) up until Lady Whistledown is revealed. The columnist could have been ANYONE, from Cressida Cowper to lady Danbury. And Eloise knew that.

And sorry if I can't agree with your take on the Peneloise feud anon. Because I don't think what Penelope did was as wrong as you painted it out out to be.

Simply on account that

Say we separate lady Whistledown from Penelope for a second. Just pretend Lady Whistledown is really Honoria Smythe-Smith and Penelope is exactly who she says she is. A wallflower and Eloise best friend.

2) Penelope lies to everyone, her keeping the LW secret, isn’t personal, or intended to be some sort of insult to her friendship to Eloise.

So, lets unpack this for a bit shall we?

Eloise didn't know who was watching her trapsize around the red light district of London wearing her family diamonds on her neck! And using the Bridgerton carriage. That's why the queen thought she was sus. I mean what kind of strange girl, leaves the queen's castle on the day of her brother's wedding…to go to the dirtiest part of London in her family's very richly decorated carriage and meet a printer assistant?

You know how many people in that venue saw Eloise pull that move? A LOT. One of them could have been Lady Whistledown. Heck all our fictional Honoria Smythe-Smith needed to do to get good gossip on Eloise was ask a well meaning servant why Eloise seemed so obsessed with Lady Whistledown and boom, there's gossip ripe for publishing.

So let's move on, in the scenario that Penelope ISN'T lady Whistledown, but rather she's just a concerned young lady who has just had her best friend trash her room, maybe Eloise finds Colin's letters in the process, or other things Penelope would rather just keep private. All in pursuit of a goal that is evidently damaging life choices. Eloise is still left with no lady Whistledown and one friendship ruined anyway.

How exactly could Penelope have protected Eloise from making obviously bad choices. Considering her friend has been telling her about her escapades that in Penelope's eyes have now escalated to the point Eloise has put her life and that of her family in danger, not just by going to a dangerous neighborhood alone and wearing clothes that flaunt her nobility. But also by attracting the attention of the Queen.

And #2

Honoria Smythe-Smith would feel sympathetic sure. But she'd have thrown Eloise under the bus with a worse scandal than just political radical talk to get properly recognized as a columnist of means.

If Eloise had been anybody else, Penelope wouldn't have bat an eyelash at insinuating she'd lost her virtue. Because that's what everyone else would have been saying behind Eloise back once the words 'used the family carriage to go to the commoner district ' and 'met up with a boy' escaped an indiscreet servant mouth.

I guess the reason I don't think Penelope was a bad friend is because her lie wasn't personal? Penelope as a rule is lying to everybody. Lady Whistledown identity is a universal commodity she keeps to herself. And it doesn't feel like a betrayal if she doesn't share this life changing secret with her best friend because like her crush on Colin, Penelope isn't planning on sharing it at all, with nobody period.

What she does and the danger she puts herself in, from all the people she's outed and treated badly. She takes metaphorical responsibility for it. Both the perks and the problems of her part time job as Lady Whistledown. Aren't for anybody else to poke at.

So maybe im biased in this, because while I do recognize that towards Marina and Daphne, Penelope's writing was terribly damaging and the plot did make her suffer through the death of her father and the leaving of Colin as karma. But When it comes to her fight with Eloise I'm team Penelope.

Penelope doesn't involve anyone else in the enemy making stuff she's doing. If the Queen catches her, she's going down on her own, maybe with the odd footmen or maid who helped her sneak out. But Eloise was putting her family crest out there. The Queen catching her would have spelled the death of the Viscounty.

On a scale of big. The consequences of Penelope's mistakes will come for her alone. But Eloise consequences would have come for her whole family. And that's something that Penelope very well knew!

Have you ever tried to stop a best friend from making a bad decision? You know how hard it is?. Short of publishing her version of cease and desist in Lady Whistledown, Eloise would have continued to be reckless.

But I’m not breaking down the reasons I think Penelope doesn't need a redemption arc, that’s a conversation for another day

And lastly I reserve my opinion on the subject of Penelope’s redeption arc, because I honestly don’t think she needs one.

Realistically, the consequences for her being LW wouldn’t be that big, I mean yes she did take a shot at the queen to her face, but when it comes to the Bridgertons and the subject of forgiveness, they all like Penelope enough to hear her reasons out before outright getting as furious as people seem to think they will be.

And that’s the tea