I think today is the day I finally talk about how angry I am at Lady Danbury and Violet for letting the Edwina/Anthony engagement get as far as it did.
In my first couple watches of the season, I absolutely loved Lady D and Violet, and I still do love them as characters. I also particularly loved Ruth Gemmel in the flashback scenes and in the scenes with Anthony in episode 5, 7, and 8.
However, in my last rewatch I was annoyed and confused by them. As great they are as characters are, it does not excuse the writing that made them encourage Anthony to propose to edwina knowing he did not love her and knowing edwina wanted love in her marriage.
Episodes 2,3, and 4 particularly are where I get most confused by their writing this season. In season 1, they were champions of true love. Particularly Lady D when she told Simon that leading Daphne on if he did not plan to propose was cruel. That was such a good moment for her! Ignoring the weird part in season 1 episode 4 where she says true love solves racism (I’m not even going to touch that), you can see that Lady Danbury believes in the true love and it’s power. And we all know Violet just wants each of her children to experience true love.
Where was this attitude in episode 3 when Lady tried to force Anthony’s hand to propose at the dinner?! Where was this when they were eavesdropping outside rooms and looking pleased with themselves knowing that Anthony did not feel anything but duty for edwina?? Or in episode 4 when edwina is clearly deluding herself about Anthony and no one says anything?!
Kate was the only person to tell edwina the truth from the start about Anthony not looking for love in marriage and she was vilified for it (we’re not going into that in this post I have too many thoughts). Violet and Lady D knew the entire time that Anthony simply saw Edwina as a duty and allowed this to happen despite them both being champions of true love in season 1, and Violet telling Anthony that he deserves the same love her and his father shared in episode 5.
Lady D knew that Anthony and Kate had feelings for each other, but her advice to Kate was convoluted and odd throughout, telling her to hide her feelings one day and the next telling her to share.
I will also die on the hill of saying Violet also knew, and the writers made her intentionally obtuse this season for reasons. It’s absurd to me that Violet had to wait for Daphne to confirm things when we had several shots of her from episode 2 on noticing Anthony staring at Kate. We all know daphne knew, but I don’t think she had the power that Violet and Lady D have in the situation and she tried her best (I think it would’ve been amazing and hilarious if she challenged Kate to a duel to get back at Anthony for last season but that’s me being petty).
I think the writers simply wanted drama for the sake of drama this season which is why they wrote several characters inconsistently, including Violet and Lady D (don’t get me started on edwina and Mary and the lack of support for Anthony from many of the bridgerton siblings - looking at you benedict and Colin). Drama is not a bad thing, but if you have to change characters, not to mention several characters to get a situation you want re: failed edwina/Anthony wedding, pre&post- wedding angst and longing, and resulting scandal, that is not good writing or good televison. It is frustrating for viewers to watch because the resulting conflict and resolution does not feel earned, it can be difficult to follow, and the resulting resolution is not satisfying,
Anyways tldr; for the sake of creating more drama, the Bridgerton writers changed the characterization of Lady Danbury and Violet against championing true love for parts of the season. They made Lady D encourage a proposal she knew was out of duty and made Violet intentionally blind to Anthony’s feelings for Kate so we could get the drama of a failed Edwina/Anthony wedding.
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