What Penelope’s Story in Season 3 of ‘Bridgerton’ Teaches Us About Being Categorized as a Friend
Perhaps Pen’s anxiety about Colin isn’t all bad.
A few years ago, I was about to walk into a meeting when someone I’d been seeing for five months — let’s call him Evan — called and said he wanted to talk.
“Okay,” I said. “Go ahead.”
“The last few months have been great,” Evan told me.
“Um,” I said. “Okay.”
“But I feel … anxious, and like … maybe we shouldn’t be close anymore,” he said.
“Oh!” I said. “You want to break up?”
“No! I like hanging out. I want to keep hanging out. But as friends.”
I will remember what happened next for a long time because I shocked myself with how quick and decisive I reacted.
“That’s not going to work for you,” I heard myself say, quickly and firmly. “I’m doing great, and being with you on different terms that I didn’t choose would just make my life more chaotic and ambiguous. So, we’re good. Just be careful.”
He sounded shocked and a little angry.
“Wait, what? That’s it? It’s like you’re saying, ‘Get out or get out of the pot.’”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I told him. “And since you’ve already decided how things are going to work out for both of us, we don’t need to talk anymore.” I wished him luck, hung up, and walked into the meeting feeling like the worst bitch alive.
I, dear reader, have been friend zoned, and if you’ve ever been in that situation, you know it’s not a pleasant feeling.
Bridgerton’s Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) knows what I’m talking about. She’s been friend zoned by her longtime friend Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) since they were teenagers. But now, in season three of Shondaland’s hit Netflix series based on Julia Quinn’s books, Pen finally gets the chance to express her true feelings, and with great results.
We’ve raved about how simply wonderful this song is, and rightly so: It’s wonderful to build a solid foundation with someone you trust and then watch that blossom into a romance. Another Bridgerton favorite, Adjoa Andoh, aka Lady Danbury, knows this all too well: She and her husband were friends first before they became a couple. Likewise, the lucky couple who recently got married on Bridgerton, Tiffany Rae and Shanti Hinton, have had a similarly blossoming relationship. “I definitely think it’s important to have a friendship before you get into a relationship, because that friendship lasts forever — no matter what the problems or traumas or challenges are, you always have that friendship to fall back on,” Rae told Shondaland. “And that’s what makes it fun! Like, we party together — everyone knows if I invite you somewhere, she has to come!” But this course can also be fraught with potential pitfalls—because once you cross that line, it’s very, very hard to get out.
Of course, Penelope has long yearned for Colin, and we love seeing her transform from a withdrawn person into a blossoming girl who takes up the space she deserves. But as we see in the first episode, Penelope is right to be cautious and maybe even a little suspicious of Colin, a formerly sensitive soul who seems to have become a full-fledged playboy with a wild streak after her time abroad. And when it comes to his newfound taste for intimacy… well, you’ve seen the episodes. Mon Dieu!
So while we want to see Penelope get the kisses she dreams about from the man of her dreams, her anxiety about “Sexy Pirate” Colin speaks to what we all know intuitively—that there’s always a chance The person who got you out of the friend zone can get you back in.
Indeed, after Penelope and Colin finally, um, hooked up in the back of that carriage, the sheer excitement—from both Pen and Colin and, yes, us fans—was palpable. Polin! Together! Finally! But even after Colin announced his intention to propose to Penelope, we (and Pen) would be remiss not to listen to the little voice in our heads reminding us to proceed with caution. Remember, the slope out of the friend zone is a slippery slope, and no one has the right to shuffle you back and forth between categories in their life like that. It’s cruel. Host Jess Brownell knows that; That’s why, in her interview with Shondaland about what to expect in season three, she said that while the friends-to-lovers antics were hilarious and witty throughout seasons one and two, Polin’s will-they-or-won’t-they story had to reach some sort of resolution.
