Someday it’ll all come together… but until then, this is the ✨mood✨ 😂 Who’s with me??
Please note, this isn’t shade toward any ship at all. Just me coping while we wait (and wait… and wait) for S5 😅 I’m excited for Franchaela too!!
In the meantime, can I get some good vibes over here plssssss 🥹🙏 Trying to stay strong through the mystery, the silence, and whatever secret-keeping chaos this production has going on with Philoise lol 💀💙
We've been debating and discussing how Eloise's character has been stagnant for S3/4 and while I do have similar concerns, I try to make sense of it in my lighter moments. This is my positive take on her character arc:
They need to show her at her lowest point, just as they do with every other character before their season. The difference is that Eloise’s downward arc is longer and more gradual because of how strong-willed she is and because her struggle is not just internal and psychological, but she is literally fighting the system. They have shown on the show how they will not break the rules they have set, so in a way, she is fighting the rules of the universe set by the writers. If breaking free were easy, someone like Eloise would have done it already. So the story has to fully explore what keeps her confined. And since she’s still a supporting character, they’ve been exploring this in the limited time available.
Season 3 showed that she can step outside her social bubble(something no other young woman on the show has really done) and that she has a natural ability as a speaker (highlighted by the women commenting on her at the ball, I'm sure they will circle back to this in her season). They also showed her deeply involved with Polin becasue imo Polin will play a big role in Philoise's story from what we've seen on the show so far.
Season 4 makes her sense of being trapped explicit(in a quick moment with Gregory she says she feels “trapped”), challenges her romanticized view of spinsterhood, shows her beginning to see that marriage has certain advantages(companionship + family + prime seat at the soiree(imp point there)).
Her initiating the visit to Scotland was to show that she is actively searching for solutions to her dissatisfaction, but she doesn’t quite succeed as there was apparently nothing to do. She needs purpose. Later, she experiments again by claiming to be “on the shelf,” and that fails. These repeated attempts, and failures, are important. They show that she’s not passive, she’s trying, but nothing really works. She is powerless, and it shows.
From what Jess has hinted and even Claudia's interviews, Eloise in Season 5, will continue to try new things to solve her problem. The show has been very deliberate and careful with her arc. For someone like Eloise, living in that era, feeling this intensely caged is realistic. Her liberation will likely begin next season.
My take on her apparent "anti-feminist" arc: It is deliberate.
I think we can all agree that Eloise has been constantly diminished, and schooled and taught a lesson in every season. She's being punished for having a different worldview and not conforming to what is expected of women in the era. It's not even subtle, it's so in your face and I see how it comes across as antifeminist.
I don't see it as some kind of sick anti-feminist propaganda though, I actually think the show is setting up a reversal for her eventual season. Right now, we’re kind of stuck watching her get criticized for being so 'Eloise-y', and seeing other characters take turns in schooling her, so it is frustrating. The real problem is the pacing, becasue we haven't reached her season yet, they have to keep extending her current 'diminishing' arc until she meets her first real ally. You can argue that she shouldn't need a man for that, but it is a romance show, so there's that. I wish it were Violet or Benedict in some small ways, but they chose not to write that, so it is what it is, and we have to wait for her own season.