‘Bridgerton’ Moves Into New Season of Sizzling Romance
After making waves with its (somewhat overrated) first season, “Bridgerton” returns, faced with the task of polishing a new diamond and building another big romance. Without the Duke’s company (with Regé-Jean Page having decided to move on), the show remains compelling and watchable, though perhaps not as worthy of Lady Whistledown in this latest iteration.
With Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) married to the Duke (who conveniently appears absent from her relatively few scenes), the matchmaking frenzy shifts to her brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), who has pledged to marry her in the latest season of this marriage farce.
Early on, Anthony has a chance encounter with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), who has recently returned to England with her sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) and their mother (Shelley Conn).
Like Anthony (aka the Viscount), Kate has devoted herself entirely to providing for her family, in this case by securing the most advantageous marriage for her sister, without any thought for her own marriage or happiness. The problem, foreshadowed from that first meeting, is her simmering chemistry with Anthony, which makes them both uncomfortable and frustrated, requiring every means possible to bond and tear them apart.
“I see you think too highly of yourself,” Kate taunts the Viscount, although as anyone who has survived sixth grade knows, the exchange of insults is often just a form of clumsy flirtation. Indeed, in the cleverly crafted world of “Bridgerton,” playing croquet becomes a mating ritual.
Everyone’s experience may be different, but the nature of that relationship isn’t quite as endearing as season one, though Ashley and Chandran are great additions to the cast.
Bridgerton still has plenty of other issues to deal with, though, starting with the identity (revealed late in the first season) of a mysterious gossipmonger known as Lady Whistledown, who has angered the Queen (Golda Rosheuvel) enough to launch an investigation to expose her. That causes a lot of complications for Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), the show’s most unique and compelling character.
Most of the other wrinkles, to be honest, including the machinations of Penelope’s cunning mother, Lady Portia (Polly Walker), pale in comparison to those two main strands.
“Bridgerton” remains a cleverly conceived modern twist on the Jane Austen formula, right down to its incongruities, such as playing a musical version of Madonna’s “Material Girl” as the soundtrack to a debutante ball.
But arguably, the show has become a media phenomenon not just because of the appeal Netflix can bring to its premieres but because of its merits. It also returns during a boom in such dramas, with HBO’s “The Gilded Age” just completing its first season and PBS salvaging “Sanditon,” an adaptation of an unfinished Austen novel that caused a smaller stir in 2020 and, like “Bridgerton,” lost its handsome leading man.
On the plus side for Netflix, “Bridgerton” returns as an established commodity, with all the media exposure that comes with it. And if the show can generate anything close to the enthusiasm that greeted its first season, there will still be plenty of unmarried Bridgerton kids to pair off with.
