Bridgerton Season 3 Is Never about Mere Romance
It’s Unfair to Judge It Based on Colin’s Cheesy Carriage Confession.
Many online reviews and Instagram reels have sent their thumb down to Bridgerton season 3. Cringe romance, lack of character build-up, too many irrelevant subplots, and most frustratingly, writing inconsistencies.
To first clarify, I am here not to write an antithesis to that. Instead, I am here to talk about the other side of the show that’s still worthy of being highly appreciated. That is, the center theme of gender equality Bridgerton S3 advocates for.
Through the highlighted characters of season 3, Bridgerton brings relevant gender-related issues in our society whose form may yet to be recognizable to the audience.
Let’s start with our dearest gentle author,
Penelope Bridgerton: Power vs. Love, Why Can’t I Get Both?
For YEARS and YEARS women have faced this dilemma, and I believe, heavily before and during the Regency Era. Intelligence was deemed as boring and unattractive, in contrast to elegance, submissiveness, and a specific standard of beauty.
Penelope Featherington (now goes with Bridgerton) is the exact symbol of a woman challenging this belief. Pen’s cleverness becomes her strength and her personality (especially the ones she chooses to channel through Lady Whistledown) is what society least expects of women.
Pen’s withdrawal from society’s shallow conversations is what exactly brings her to thorough observations. As a result, people of Mayfair are both threatened and amazed by Lady Whistledown’s writing.
In the previous seasons, Pen managed to lay low and secretly holds great confidence through Lady Whistledown. However, as her love for Colin is slowly reciprocated and her safety is threatened by the Queen’s investigation, the plot of season three corners her to the illusion of choice: love, or power?
She tries to choose love at first, then feels like she is losing a part of herself. She chooses power after, then she loses Colin’s trust for a while, for a better end that is (more of this in the next two sections). Eventually, in the last episode, she discovers a middle ground: choosing is never necessary. She deserves to have both, and so do all women in Mayfair.
She assertively communicates with Colin about what she truly needs instead of being constantly protected as a vulnerable lover. She then bravely confesses to the Queen, the Bridgertons, and everyone at the ball that she is Lady Whistledown.
Most importantly, she reveals the reason why she became THE Lady Whistledown in the first place. The reason that I believe, the viewers of Bridgerton S3 should also stand up for in their lives: the right to have access to information, to be listened to, to bring up changes, and to be treated justly as human.
“In the beginning, I never thought anyone would take my writing seriously. Why should they? No one has ever taken a part of me seriously. I only realize now how common that feeling must be, to be a young lady to whom no one listens.” -Penelope Bridgerton
Madame Delacroix: True Love means Honesty
I’d say Madame Delacroix has taken the role of a Lady Godmother this season — setting Penelope in the parallel universe of Cinderella, a feminist version, that is.
Previously, Penelope confesses that she tries to stop writing for Colin’s sake. She indirectly excludes Lady Whistledown from her identity because she does not want Colin to worry about her safety nor she wants to threaten Colin’s sense of pride and power.
Madame Delacroix brings Penelope to the realization that when she stops writing for Colin’s sake, she is letting Colin love only a façade of her. As Penelope cuts a valuable part of herself, Colin will love her only as a doll of his making, not truly as the Penelope she feels right to be.
This became a big turning point for Penelope, and I believe, also for the audience. When falling in love, we tend to show an idealized part of ourselves and hide the others beneath the rug. We crave the so-called true love without presenting the full persona of ours because we are too afraid of losing that love.
In contrast to that fear, only once we allow ourselves to be honest: to present both the worst and the best of ourselves, can we see whether the special someone can accept our true self, compromise with it, and thus, love us as a person wholly.
“There’s no such thing as true love without first embracing your true self.” -Madame Delacroix
Colin Bridgerton: Toxic Masculinity Is Not Only Attacking Women
Despite dominantly underlining women’s rights, gender inequality is harming not merely women. Both men and women struggle in the imbalance of power. It is just that men’s may be less noticeable as they were considered to be in a favorable position.
With the higher power they had, men like Colin Bridgerton are expected to keep up their masculine characteristics. They always have to be important, strong, and in control. Their role is always one to protect the vulnerable females and to keep their position of power in check.
This is accurately shown in Bridgerton season 3 as Colin feels uncomfortable Colin demands Pen to stop writing after he finds out that Pen is Lady Whistledown. For obvious reasons, this is to protect her from the Queen’s rage. However, at the same time, this is to protect himself from further jealousy of how much of a great writer Pen is.
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The revelation challenges the power relation between Colin and Pen as a man and a woman in society. Colin questions the nature of Pen’s previous compliment of his writing in the travel journal.
In Colin’s mind, what is supposed to be a flattering compliment from his crush turns out to be a meh mockery from THE Lady Whistledown. Not only that he is jealous, but he is also in denial of the jealousy when Cressida confronts him about it.
Speaking of which, when Cressida threatens to reveal Pen’s secret, Colin insists on meeting Miss Cowper and negotiating with her even though Pen has warned her not to. Why? Because the patriarchal belief still lingers in his head: I am not worthy if I do not take any act to protect my beloved woman.
Then what happens after that? Yup, he worsens the situation. Cressida says nope, nu uh.
This goes to show another problematic belief men still unconsciously hold in our modern society. One which prioritizes pride over listening to others, especially women, in solving an issue — neglecting potential quality solutions for the sake of the recognition of their worth.
Colin eventually realizes this and goes back to Penelope. He admits that there was something restraining him from simply standing by Pen as a legit act of love, but he does not know what that is. Well dearest gentle readers, that something is what I call toxic masculinity.
“Just being you is enough, Colin. I don’t need you to save me, I just need you to stand by me.” -Penelope
Lady Portia Featherington : Antagonist Made of Structural Injustice
Lady Featherington has been repeatedly framed as a terrible woman, especially in the second season of Bridgerton. She makes rash and reckless decisions, such as scheming Jack Featherington and Phillipa’s marriage and joining Jack’s cons until Colin eventually finds out his lies at the end of the season.
These decisions clearly added an extra level of dramas and difficulties in the conflicts. For Pen, especially, she had been extremely overlooked by her mother and sisters accordingly due to her unconventional traits. Portia continuously criticizes her for reading too many books and having less interest in finding a good man to marry.
The Bridgertons, who have been repeatedly involved in Featherington’s businesses, also seem to be fed up by Portia’s rambles and self-defense.
Lady Featherington has been frequently shown as an opportunist mother, and for a good reason, that is. In season 3, the reason why Portia becomes as annoying as she is finally revealed, and it relates to the struggle that Pen goes through as Lady Whistledown: the unfamiliarity of power.
After her husband passed away in the first season, leaving a big amount of debt and trouble for the family, she became overwhelmed with her new role as a single parent and the head of the family. She has never been taught nor conditioned to have power over herself, not to mention others.
As a result, it becomes clearer to us in this season that her annoying tendencies are not intentionally written to be completely hated, but to be investigated and understood. All she knows clearly in mind was that she only has one mission: protect her daughters and the Featherington’s reputation.
Indeed, if we look back to all the decisionss she has made, it was for the best of the Featheringtons, even at the cost of unjustifiable decisions. This is evident in how she rejects Jack’s offer to escape Mayfair after the con’s scheme was revealed by Colin and how she further threatens Jack to expose the secret herself if he does not go from the house. Despite her spark with Jack, she puts her daughters first — a sacrifice none recognizes.
“You know, it’s… no easy thing being a parent. How is I to raise daughters when all my life, I was taught that all power belongs to a man?” -Lady Featherington
Benedict Bridgerton: Love is Blind
An extra discourse on gender equality worth recognizing in Bridgerton season 3 is Benedict Bridgerton’s rediscovery of his gender identity. Through his dynamic with Lady Tilley Arnold and Paul Suarez, he opens a new door of possibility, a form of love that has always been there, but hidden beyond the traditional limitation of gender.
In real life, LGBTQ+ communities are still often discriminated against for “deviating” from the dating norm, that is between a man and a woman. They are seen with disgust, or worse, like a contagious disease. They have to express love in the shadows for the sake of peace.
As a result, men and women like Benedict may have never experienced a love that feels safe and carefree. Neglecting the possibility that they might be a “disease”, they might deny the genderless love that they feel within. They suppress it, and it tortures them like a volcano that no one wishes to burst.
Benedict, with Lady Arnold’s guidance in this season, has successfully depicted how it should go the other way in real life, how men and women should be allowed to explore and embrace their gender identity without harsh judgments. Indeed, the possibilities may confuse one, overwhelm one at some point, and even make one restless thinking about it, but it is indeed the process one must go through to find the truth of oneself.
And eventually, to find true love.
“There is so much in society that’s unnatural, but a feeling between two people, whatever their sex, is the most natural thing in the world.” -Lady Tilley Arnold
That being said,
I adore how Bridgerton season 3 is able to speak up about the detailed struggle of gender inequalities that our modern audience tends to overlook, and how it also gives them the courage to fight through it.
It is truly unfair to only highlight the cheesy carriage lines and to ignore the main message the show is trying to stand up for and the unity it creates throughout the characters’ arc.
I believe there are so many other representations to be discussed, such as the losing side of the issue represented by Lady and Miss Cowper. Let me know in the comments if you want a part 2 of this!
Feel free to drop your reviews on this season of Bridgerton too! The good, the bad, and the lessons you take from it ❤
I would love to read it!!!
