u/Zoneout1122

Like it was Sophie who rejected him because she didn’t want to be his mistress. I know he proposed at the end when Violet mentioned that if he asked her to marry him she might accept that but I can’t remember if before that Benedict ever expressed to Sophie or anyone else that he actually wanted to marry her? Did that happen?

It would have been really meaningful if there was a scene where he confessed to Sophie he wishes he could marry her and treat her with the respect she deserves. Like some conversation with Sophie expressing that he actually wishes to make her his wife and not just a mistress. im saying this because I felt during the season, Benedict would have been just happy with the offer and Sophie being his mistress. All his efforts including his gesture with my cottage was about that life. If Sophie had accepted that he would be more than happy with that arrangement.

Idk if there was any real desire or fight from Benedict’s side to fight for Sophie and make her his wife. It all just worked out for him at the end because Violet accepted Sophie and said they would be ready to live with the consequences and handed him her ring. He just seemed kind of passive in this romance and didn’t really fight societal expectations. During the whole season in fact he was trying to convince Sophie to work within society rules and when she wasn’t willing he just sort of didn’t do much else?

It really goes to show how some online spaces have a vested interest in continuing hate campaign against S3 when it is the ONLY season after S1 that remains on Netflix global top 10. The argument about S3 being “bad” leading to S4’s decline in performance does not hold up when S3 (and S1) were the only two seasons that came back to Netflix top 10 when S4 released. Why would people rewatch S3 in 2026 if it was “soo bad that it turned viewers off from S4”? This doesn’t make sense. I think some of the online fans really need to take a step back and understand that maybe S4 is not as popular because it was boring cinderalla retelling where characters didn’t have the chemistry to pull off this story that has been told a million times.

And let me tell you I did enjoy parts of S4, I didnt hate it. It was just boring 😭And It’s not like I don’t have any criticisms for S3, I got plenty. Mainly that Polin, especially Colin, didn’t get enough screen time which was also majorly the complaint of the audience at the time. Bridgerton S4 did course correct this with Benophie but unfortunately the couple simply didn’t have enough chemistry to pull off this season. This season was not the talk of the town like how Heated Rivalry or Off Campus was. For all some fans’ claim of Benedict being a fan favourite, turns out he simply wasn’t swoonworthy. This is not on the actor at all but the bland writing for his character in S4 where it almost felt like he was an entirely new character. It’s only so much an actor can do. And Sophie was boring too even though Yerin infused a certain charm into her that was delightful but ultimately her character lacked any meaningful complexity (and no being too Perfect and hardworking is not a character flaw lmfao). Also important to mention how half the characters in S4 was unknown to the audience which makes it hard to get them to care about them. The show is on its 4th season and people have already invested in characters if they continue to make them disappear then why would people get invested in Benedict and Sophie too? Precedent shows that they won’t be back anyway so why continue to watch?

it’s ok not all seasons resonate with everyone but ultimately this season leads me to think the some of the online fandom does not represent the majority of the audience and that makes complete sense to me when I see how successful S1 and S3 are and continues to be whereas S2 and S4 are often praised in some fandom Spaces.