r/Bridgerton

i'm not even asking for a lot of screentime istg

i thought daphne's screentime in s2 was perfect. she helped the main couple get together without taking over the narrative. she was still herself, just more assured and mature, and her relationship with anthony made sense in the context of the season we'd already seen

i just want a satisfying ending for these characters that we've grown to love, and i feel like we don't get that with ANY of them???

daphne and simon are gone (and i'm not blaming regé for leaving, to be clear. he was right to do so considering how he was treated)

anthony and kate missing FUNERALS??? what are we doing here, really?? they're quite literally bound by the trauma of losing loved ones. you're telling me they wouldn't be there for their SISTER??

penelope having whistledown stolen from her instead of giving it up like she does in the book. colin not writing???

i genuinely don't understand why they seem to hate these characters once they marry them off

They're so beautiful I want to cry!!

https://www.shondaland.com/shondaland-series/bridgerton/nicola-coughlan-bridgerton-magic-faraway-tree

https://www.goldderby.com/tv/2026/2026-gold-derby-tv-awards-heated-rivalry-snl-winners/

People think Eloise is being "forced to marry" when it's her season and I find it weird that people believe Eloise would ever be forced into doing anything.

If Violet or Anthony ever tried to force her to marry anyone, Eloise would resist and resist until they eventually give up as we've seen in the past.

So this notion that Eloise will be "forced to conform to societal expectations" is frankly false and insulting to Eloise who is a woman who has been fighting to make her own decisions and if she ever decided to marry, it's HER choice.

That's going to be her season, proving that she has her own agency and is capable of making her own decisions and that she won't be put into a box. I don't know why people don't see that.

She doesn't have to stay single and unmarried to prove her beliefs are true. She doesn't need to shrink herself and be forced into marriage and subjection to prove that marriage is a trap for women. She is just going to do what she feels is right for her.

Her season is going to be a season of CHOICES and her inner turmoil between keeping her independence and freedoms vs. falling in love which is something she never thought would happen to her.

It's the first time I think a season where the female lead won't ever feel pressured to marry because it's "expected for her to do so" because of society. She's not going to have a story like her sisters who all met their husbands in the ton attending balls and such.

She won't be engaging in the marriage mart when she meets her husband. It'll be very unconventional and modern. She meets her husband in the Regency equivalent of Tinder.

Her season will be a MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE trope which means the reason she will get married will have benefits to HER.

She will find an advantage to marriage that won't necessarily begin with love and during the marriage she will find herself falling in love with her husband.

This season will be different than any other season because every season ends with a marriage but Eloise's season will essentially start with a marriage, or at least she will marry very early on in the season.

So she will make the CHOICE to marry. She won't be forced to marry by Anthony or Violet, but it's HER CHOICE.

And the man she marries would need to be super special for Eloise. Everyone wants Eloise to be happy and to still be herself and to not be changed. Nobody wants Eloise to end up with someone who won't respect her and support her opinions.

The show WANTS you to root for Eloise finding love and finding her forever person. They would never pair Eloise up with someone who the audience won't believe is right for Eloise so why are people so skeptical about Eloise's season being a romance and Eloise getting married?

Do you doubt that all the other couples were horrible for each other? Do you ever end the season thinking "man they really ended up with the wrong person". No!

So why do you think Eloise will end up with the wrong person if she marries her book endgame, Phillip? Make it make sense!

"Eloise is so different on the show!"

"Eloise would never marry Phillip because they don't make sense together on the show!"

"Phillip is not right for Eloise on the show!"

"They're two different people!"

"Eloise is nothing like the book so it wouldn't make sense for her to marry Phillip!""

"They changed Eloise so much for her to marry her endgame from the book!"

"It is uncharacteristic for Eloise to marry!"

If Eloise is so different from the books and the show has changed her so much, then what makes you think they won't change Phillip to suit the version of Eloise we know on the show?

It's not like they haven't done it before. They've done with all the characters.

Anthony isn't totally like he is in the books nor is Kate. Colin is different than he is in his book. Francesca isn't like Francesca in the books. Benedict isn't like he is in the books and the list goes on and on...

So, obviously Phillip will be different. He'll be familiar and similar to his book yes in terms of backstory and story beats and some character motivations but his characterization will obviously be different to suit Eloise on the show.

Jess Brownell even said that Eloise's season won't be 100% book accurate and we should expect changes but nothing MAJOR like changing her endgame to being single or a different love interest🙄.

The fact that Eloise's endgame is STILL a topic of great debate and discussion is frankly exhausting.

Granted, I'm not sure if Eloise's season will be good or whether the writers will execute her story well. I do have the same fears that they could butcher Eloise's season because the writers/showrunner hasn't given us anything really to be excited about or to trust them to tell her story well BUT... I'm trying to be open minded.

Just watch the damn show. Have fun! Enjoy the romance and whimsy. No one wants to have fun anymore! 😭 Be open minded. It's a romance show good God😭

if we ignore the scandal long enough, it becomes a family tradition 😭

all of them cracking jokes about the failed edwina nuptials despite the fact that the whole thing was witnessed by hundreds of people, including the queen

and even anthony barely seemed to care about the scandal itself, his only priority was getting back on kate’s good side

i love them

i think there are some people in this fandom who think that not being a virgin automatically makes someone a rake, and that just isn't the case

i'd argue that the show has done a really interesting job with the different ways its male leads use sex. that's one of the things i think it actually does well

simon uses sex as a way to keep himself from getting emotionally close to anyone and avoid the possibility of marriage and a family

anthony uses it almost as an act of rebellion against duty and expectation

colin is almost the inverse of anthony: he uses sex as a way to conform, to prove himself and become the version of masculinity he thinks everyone expects him to be

and then there's benedict, who is probably the only lead we've seen so far who seems to have sex primarily because he enjoys it. although even with him, i'd argue there's something interesting about how sex can be easier than actually being vulnerable

i'd be perfectly happy if we got a virgin phillip. but if phillip has sex before his endgame with eloise, that's also completely fine. having had sex does not suddenly make him a rake. this man lives in relative solitude at romney hall. i don't think he's exactly spending his evenings at the regency nightclubs😭

How Fran Looks at her I would ran Away too 😭😭

I honestly had so much fun putting all this together for my lovely friends. I do an annual afternoon tea for my female friends and I couldn't resist using Bridgerton for this year's inspiration.

I planned 9 dishes, 4 hot drinks and 3 cocktails themed on the show, using some popular flavours of the time.

I'd love ro know what you'd have wanted to sample, or what dishes or drinks you'd have liked to see included

Warning: some of the references contain SPOILERS

Favourites were:

- the scotch eggs

- the Boys' Supper Club Cheeseboard

- the Queen's Wig cake

- the macarons

- the Soju Love Benedict cocktail

THE MENU

Savouries:

Mrs Wilson's Best - A selection of sandwiches

"Enjoy our imported cheeses" - A Cheeseboard including the infamous Taleggio (Mr Dankworth and Mr Finch)

"I eat Scotch eggs now!" - scotch quails' eggs, made with quorn so the veggies could enjoy them too (Gregory Bridgerton)

"Lilies! Forget-me-nots!! LILACS!!" - A floral themed veg focaccia (Anthony Bridgerton)

Sweets:

"I am Lady Penwood now" - French macarons with white chocolate and strawberry or dark chocolate and mint fillings (Cressida Cowper)

"Do I have sugar on my face?" - Iced saffron swirl buns with cinnamon, ginger and allspice (Penelope Featherington)

"Daphne Dates a Duke" - 3 flavours of homemade ice-cream - vanilla, maple pecan and a non dairy coconut and mango with a blackberry swirl (Simon Hastings)

"Lady Danbury Dreams of Home" - Sierra Leonean ginger cake biscuits

The Queen's Wig - a decadent chocolate, coffee and caramel cake with a checkerboard interior

Hot drinks:

"I am the tea you will have" - Yorkshire Rose tea from Bird and Blend - also made this as a cold brew (Violet Bridgerton)

Colin is Absolutely Fine - English Breakfast tea

Black Coffee and Revolution - a choice of espresso or americano (Eloise Bridgerton)

"I despise English tea - [the only one I didn't make as no one requested it but I will be trying it soon] - traditional Indian chai (Kate Sharma)

Cocktails

The Diamond of the Summer Season - a light cocktail with prosecco, apple juice and elderflower with a hint of sparkle (Daphne Bridgerton)

Over the Harvey Wallbanger - the classic orange juice cocktail with Galliano, with a shot of passiondruit liqueur added (young Queen Charlotte)

Soju Love Benedict - a sweet mix of peach soju, Benedictine and a splash of pink lemonade [Sophie Beck and Benedict Bridgerton)

can we, the people of this fandom, please have a crumb of discernment and common sense? i’m literally begging 😭 if it doesn’t come directly from netflix or shondaland, maybe don’t immediately spiral over it

anyway, looking forward to seeing sydney play my favourite regency feminist 💕