As a Penelope fan, I’m just sitting here wondering how people who claim to love her are happy with what the show (P2 specifically) has done to her.
Lady Whistledown arose out of Penelope growing up in emotionally abusive household where she was and is ignored and belittled, and she develops deeply ingrained trust issues as a result. As she grows older, society then also treats her pretty terribly (whether because of how she looks, who her family is, her shyness… all make sense in a way) and through luck or planning (since the show never tells us), she creates LW as a coping mechanism to be heard and to hit back… which I get - living that sort of life would be incredibly traumatic on a daily basis; I’m not surprised she got angry! But as a result, she ends up CHOOSING to cause hurt in the way SHE was hurt. She becomes a part of the greater cycle of pain and trauma.
That’s not to say the people around her are flawless; they’re not! But even when Pen is trying to (in her mind) help others, despite her intentions she DOES cause harm, to those she cares about AND strangers, and she does it behind a mask and a fear or exposure and censure. She chooses the nuclear option almost every time because she refuses to trust in or rely on others out of fear.
Penelope is perpetually stuck in a trauma-response and holding onto it like her life depends on it because to her, IT DOES - to her, it is the only way she has a say in her life, her way of surviving the grind of the social season, in the society she DESPERATELY wants to be a part of, but where she barely exists to others and is ignored.
And it was interesting; what a conflict!!Penelope, a young woman in a time where women had little to no power or agency, has created this massive machine that the ton is addicted to and feeds… but the power is heady, and she is ALSO addicted to it and can’t seem to stop despite the harm she KNOWS she’s doing, even when it blows up in her face, even when it harms her AND her precious people. Her hyper independence arose out of being emotionally alone nearly her entire life. She keeps her focus outward instead of internal at all costs, because what will she find when she looks inward?
All of this in S1 and S2 was fine with me because characters are allowed to (and should have) flaws. And I was under the impression that in S3, the narrative was going to finally grapple with Penelope’s trauma and the way she CHOSE to cope with it and how those who love her will grapple with this discovery. I was excited for Colin and Eloise to help her realize she is more than what her life has pushed her to be and what she feels she needs to do to survive. And then the show just… doesn’t.
The show’s answer to this was that LW was a victory for her character; that all she needed to do was “be confident” and that fixes all her pain she caused and that staying LW should be the pinnacle of her character growth.
To the show, Penelope “growing up” means actively choosing her coping mechanism over every relationship in her life and framing it as feminist… and that if she were to be rejected, it’s because those people were rejecting Penelope herself, and that she should be blindly supported… when the reality is that the show forces Penelope to reject everything except LW and never lets her consider a different option.
And I’m screaming into the void because how could they want that for Penelope?! Penelope, a hopeless romantic who reads romance novels to escape and because they are a “history of connection,” the thing she has lacked and seeks desperately! And in P2 she’s not alone; she now has Colin who loves her desperately!
Growing up means doing the hard work of self-reflection and acknowledging when you’ve harmed others and then trying to do better. To realize that you can’t live constantly seeking the validation of society because they will always move the goal posts, and that the harm done to you is a reason… but not an excuse to continue to harm others when you know better. But what does the show do?
The show has the briefest of scenes where she attempted a half-assed apology to Colin before the it barrels past any sort of meaningful conversation and then… ultimately keeps her right where she started… but public now (despite the fact that LW CANNOT function out in the open and the show is fucking dumb to pretend otherwise).
Pen is still focused externally on society instead of inward on her own thoughts and her own dreams. The show handwaves LW as “she’ll do better!” with no explanation for what that looks like or entails, (and ignores how people will weaponize gossip now that they know it’s Pen). The show forces Penelope to remain stagnant because they decided they NEED LW to frame future stories, and they would sacrifice everything, even the romance upon which the season is based, to keep that narrative framing as a crutch.
We could have had Colin finding out earlier in the show, still experiencing his RIGHTFUL anger toward Pen and what she’s done… and then having Pen WANT to fight for Colin but not knowing how! To her, who is she without LW? And Colin loving her enough to call her out and help her realize that only living and focusing on what others are saying is deeply unfulfilling when she has her own thoughts to share with the world… because he KNOWS that! He’s LIVED that! LW is mask for a broken, hurt girl but he loves her anyway and they can help the other heal! Polin against the world, against Cressida’s panicked blackmail, against the Queen… against the ton.
Instead, LW is validated every step of the way. Reconciliations with Eloise and Colin are rushed and hand-waved because the narrative demands it. Penelope and Cressida, set up as parallels, never come to together to realize how their actions were influenced by their similar traumas and that maybe they, along with Eloise, can show solidarity and tackle their problems head on. Nope, Penelope is forced to remain hyper-independent (because ✨girlboss✨ or something ) and never learns to rely on others who want to help her: not Eloise, and not Colin. Colin is regulated to her yes man and trophy husband instead of the love of her life who is her EQUAL and has just as much to share with the world if they support one another. Penelope never gets the chance to learn that you can comment on the failings of and imperfections of society without attacking others. That being a writer doesn’t mean you’re stuck as a GOSSIP writer. That she could in fact write about the “histories of connections” she so admires. Nope, for her it’s “I’m this thing that I do, deal with it.”
Her ending is a literal deus ex machina and that is why it is so deeply unsatisfying for so many viewers.
As a Penelope fan, I’m crushed the show didn’t allow her to grow up and move beyond what her emotionally negligent home life did to her, but instead completely shaped her character and ending around it and painted it as a victory. I’m outlining fix-it fic, but it hurts me knowing that this is “canon” and I’m mostly pretending P2 doesn’t exist (aside from a few sweet moments).
This season certainly wasn’t Colin’s, but it wasn’t even Penelope’s - it was Lady Whistledown’s and the writers don’t even realize that they created a tragedy as a result.