In Bridgerton Season 3, Part 1, the pretty continues

 

Bridgerton!  The hope that got me through a dreary April, knowing that in May a new season would come.  (Or at least half of a new season.)

We knew going in that Season 3 would be about Penelope and Colin.  You know, the best and most interesting character and . . . the Bridgerton brother that is indistinguishable from the other Bridgerton brothers.

Why is Penelope the best character?  For one thing, she is really smart, but unlike her super annoying best friend Eloise she doesn't go around letting everyone know that she is smarter than they are (even though she is).  For another thing, she writes. (I mean . . . )  For another thing, she has a really interesting secret (which we have known since the end of Season 1) -- she is Lady Whistledown, the author of a gossip rag.  To carry this off she has to listen to other people! Even servants!  And make friends with working class people!  And keep her own counsel!  For another thing, she is Hollywood ugly (meaning insanely beautiful) and her mother makes her wear "citrus colors" which actually look amazing on her but in the world of TV are bad clothing choices.

Penelope starts Season 3 with a makeover.  She eschews the citrus colors -- and she still looks amazing.  Alas, perhaps because the character created in Seasons 1 and 2 would present too few challenges to carry a season, we are then presented with her newly created flaw -- namely, that she is incapable of carrying on a conversation.  Really?  (Heavy sigh.)  

Her longtime crush, Bridgerton brother Colin, meanwhile, has become an utter bore.  (Was he in previous seasons?  I don't know, because I can't keep the brothers straight.)  He goes on about his continental travels with an air of mystery.  He drops hints but refuses specifics.  He seems to have gone to every country in Europe on an It's-Wednesday-it-must-be-Paris tour.  I wondered whether he had actually been hiding out with the character he liked who got pregnant by someone else in Season 1.  (Was it him that had the crush?  Or was that a different Bridgerton brother?)  Maybe?  There are still four unreleased episodes this season.

Colin offers to give Penelope charm lessons.  This plot lasts about five minutes, then they kiss, Colin realizes he loves her, plot plot plot, they are engaged.  (Oops, spoiler.) 

Although I'm a bit snotty about certain elements of these episodes, I actually loved them from the first scenes.  I'm not a particularly visual person but the colors, and the costumes, and the scenery, and the photography -- I could happily stare at stills from this show.  I also really liked the subplots.  Colin's sister Francesca, formerly a very minor character, made her debut this season.  She is a virtuoso piano player, and biddable, and an introvert (some have suggested she is on the autism spectrum, although I did not see that).  She will marry whoever it is easiest for her to marry -- until she meets someone as introverted as she is (who may also be on the spectrum?  I'm no expert here).  I'm caught up in her story.

Eloise is somewhat less annoying than in previous seasons.  She is now bffs with mean girl Cressida, who has unexpected layers and a difficult back story.  Hers is another great subplot.

Some people are saying that the shine has worn off this show.  I disagree.  True, I will not meet new seasons with the utter delight I felt when I found Season I on my Netflix queue when I had no idea this show was going to exist.  But the surprise has been replaced by anticipation.  June will bring Part 2 of this season and I can't wait. 

Read my reviews of previous seasons of Bridgerton here and here, and my comments on Regency romances generally here.  

 

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