The Big Change Bridgerton’s Third Season Makes From the Book
Between the passionate love scenes and the familiar tropes of a period drama, Bridgerton, Netflix’s hit adaptation of Julia Quinn’s period romance novels, knows how to get your heart racing. The first two seasons impressed fans with the series’ charming yet relaxed, Regency-era take on classic romances: Season 1 featured a fake relationship, Season 2 was an enemies-to-lovers story. Now, Season 3 follows the third Bridgerton son, Colin (Luke Newton), and his friends-to-lovers relationship with shy girl-next-door Penelope (Nicola Coughlan)—who also has her own “ugly duckling”/”pretty-all-around” storyline. But instead of the familiar warmth of a smooth love story, the first four episodes of the season (released as Part 1, with Part 2 coming in June) feature some significant changes from the book—changes that seem designed to make anxious viewers hold their breath. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I felt nervous watching the first half of Season 3, but honestly, I enjoyed it.
Between the passionate love scenes and the familiar drama tropes, Bridgerton, Netflix’s hit adaptation of Julia Quinn’s period romance novels, knows how to get viewers’ hearts racing. The first two seasons have impressed fans with their charming yet comfortable, Regency-era take on classic romances: Season 1 featured a fake relationship, Season 2 was an enemies-to-lovers story. Now, Season 3 follows the third Bridgerton son, Colin (Luke Newton), and his friends-to-lovers relationship with Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), the shy girl next door—who also has an “ugly duckling”/“pretty girl all the way” storyline. But instead of the familiar warmth of a gentle love story, the first four episodes of the season (released as Part 1, with Part 2 coming in June) feature some significant changes from the book—changes that seem designed to make anxious viewers hold their breath. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I felt tense watching the first half of Season 3, but honestly, I enjoyed it.
00:07 02:57 EV’s death was overplayed.
Let me explain. Colin and Penelope were always meant to be the end. You don’t have to read the books to know that; Penelope’s blatant unrequited love for Colin has been evident throughout the two seasons. But Season 3 teases us with how painful their relationship will be, because Penelope has a big secret: She is the notorious anonymous social commentator Lady Whistledown, as Penelope’s best friend (and Colin’s sister) Eloise discovered at the end of Season 2. In the latest season, we already know that Colin and Penelope will both fall in love, but, thanks to the general rules of narrative logic, it’s clear that it’s only a matter of time before he finds out about Penelope’s deep, dark secret. Just when our heroine finally gets the guy she’s wanted since childhood, this impending revelation threatens to ruin everything. It’s not just the gossip of the upper classes that’s frowned upon—Whistledown has notably published some pretty nasty stuff about Colin’s ex-lover, Marina. Not to mention, one of the most recent issues of Whistledown is dedicated to badmouthing Eloise. (Although Penelope slandered her best friend in print as part of a misguided attempt to shield Eloise from the queen’s ruinous suspicion that the Bridgerton girl was Whistledown, it’s still a girls’ friendship at heart.) All of which is to say, it’s personal for Colin: He has a deep hatred for Whistledown, whom he finds disgusting, destructive, and deserving of such a cruel punishment.
You see the problem: We know Colin and Penelope will fall in love, we know Colin will discover a terrible secret, and we know that secret will leave him disoriented. All that’s left for these first four episodes is to keep us pulling our hair out, waiting in sweet agony for these plot points to inevitably be revealed.
