Colin's "entrapment" line was hard to listen to, but it was most definitely a sign of how unhinged he really is for Penelope.
Ok but for reals, I'm not sure how everyone else reacted when Colin said his now infamous "entrapment" line, but I just love how if one looks at this line a little more closely, it was definitely some semblance of an underhanded (and also a bit silly, lol) attempt to actually keep Penelope entrapped. Haha, the irony of it all. Idk, at least that was my read on it!
Like, it was definitely said in anger as well; he's hurting, and he’s hurting badly, so of course he wants to hit back in some way, however he can. Luke Newton absolutely meant it when he said that Colin reacts to the reveal in the worst way possible, alas.
My very first reaction to that scene: //pauses the screen to yell at Colin at 4am in the morning, “Entrapment????! If you feel trapped, then why the hell are you still going along with it, ya dumb ass!!!
Because really, think about it: Colin was definitely within his rights to call off the wedding, especially when he'd mentioned that Violet had noticed that he and Penelope had not seen each other for some time. It would have been the perfect time to reveal Penelope's secret to his mother, if indeed he felt entrapped by the LW of it all. Violet is family; if he wanted to still protect Penelope but no longer wanted to marry her, he would have been able to count on Violet's discretion. I'm sure she and Lady Danbury would have come up with some sort of plan to deal with the aftermath regarding the Bridgertons’ reputation, as we'd seen with Anthony and Edwina's botched wedding.
Furthermore, it would have probably been the better option to reveal it to her, since the existence of LW does put his family in danger; Penelope herself knows this. Every decision she makes post-LW reveal to Colin is due to the Bridgertons being in danger. Lady Danbury makes a point of this when she said in the last episode, “There is only one other person who loves the Bridgertons more than I.”
Eloise was able to keep the secret with no real consequences because although Penelope was her ex-bff, El still loves her, and besides that, nothing legal binds them as Colin's marriage to Penelope would.
Even when he was getting ready to talk to Benedict about getting funds to fulfill Cressida’s demands, he insisted on making up a lie to shield Penelope’s identity as LW. He knows more than anything that fulfilling a demand like this, all for the sake of his wife and at the cost of using a substantial amount of Bridgertons’ financial assets, may not put his marriage in the best light within his family. He doesn’t want to be forced to have to choose between his wife and his family, so he’s keen on keeping the lie going.
So for all intents and purposes, he doesn't tell his mother, or any of his other siblings (besides Eloise, who already knew); this in and of itself is hella fucking risky. The fact that Colin is willing to take this risk of withholding Penelope's secret identity from his family, the fact that he doesn't think to jeopardize this potentially risky betrothal—already goes to show the measure in regards to how much he wants Pen for his wife. We the audience know this because he waits until the very last minute to tell Violet, and even then, it's not Colin who chose to reveal it to her, but Penelope herself.
Another point: arguably, we can also say that Colin has a lot more wiggle room with his engagement to Penelope to call off the wedding, much more than he ever did with his engagement to Marina.
"A man of honor"? Exactly what "honor" are we talking about here? Colin claimed that he would have married Marina had she just told him the truth, yet when push came to shove and the truth of her pregnancy was revealed for all the world to know, he still chose to take the out Penelope gave him through LW. It’s easier to make a declaration like that when it’s all said and done. Lol Sure, he regretted it and apologized for his behavior later on, but he had made his choice regardless. Y’all can just feel Marina and Lady Danbury judging this dumb ass (affectionate) for dwelling in the past. Silly young man! XD What's stopping him this time around?
"We had been...intimate." Are you talking about the mirror scene, sir? Because let me assure you, you and Penelope have long been "intimate" way before you decided to buy a love nest and take her V-card the very next day you proposed to her. In fact, this is where the significance of their first kiss in 3.02 rings so, SO importantly and WHY it was vital that it was Penelope who asked and said that it would not have to mean anything. Colin knows Penelope would never use their first time together and/or the heated moment in the carriage as a way to entrap him. That first kiss alone should have already warranted that they get married, but Penelope makes it clear that it’s simply a favor, nothing more.
Oddly enough, I’m surprised Colin doesn’t bring up the idea of a long engagement (yknow, as he initially wanted with Marina, but who’s keeping track at this point), considering that would have potentially benefitted their situation. 🤔 His dumb ass (affectionate) was more than willing to stick to the wedding schedule…huh.
Besides all that, I don’t think it’s the showrunners’ intent to “taint” those special moments between them by changing the context through Colin’s (very biased) POV; to believe that to be the case would be, imo, just a bad faith argument. The genre is romance, y’all; these intimacy scenes are on an entirely different pedestal.
Because remember, that “entrapment” line of Colin’s only came about due to Penelope starting the conversation with, “Are you going to call off the wedding?”
Didn’t it almost seem like an afterthought, that he just came up with it on the spot? Hahaha.
I can bet y’all Cressida’s fake ass €20,000 blackmail money that before they’d met up to discuss wedding breakfast plans with their mamas, it had probably never even occurred to Colin to cancel their wedding. Angry and furious as he was, it was never a question of whether or not he still wanted Penelope for a wife.
The fact that it’s Penelope who begins that conversation and opens that Pandora’s box possibility is so, so damn important. Because not only does it show how much Penelope truly loves him in that she would never trap him, it also shows her maturity, in that she’s willing to face the consequences of her actions. She’s willing to give Colin the choice to back out, heartbreaking as it would be to face it, even if she herself would not be the one to pursue that choice.
She gives him the choice a good number of times: the wedding breakfast plan scene, the wedding day itself when she hesitates on the aisle, and the annulment offer after the butterfly scene.
Penelope defends herself softly, but truthfully: she never meant to entrap him, because she really didn’t. And Colin knows this; he would not still love her and want her if he honestly believed she wanted to entrap him. Hell, even if she did, the audience knows it’s a desire that comes from a good place: she loves him, so of course she doesn’t want to lose him. She wants to marry him, because she loves him. That’s all there is to it.
But despite knowing this (imo, anyway), we can also say that this conversation may have contributed to Colin’s downward spiral during the majority of episode 7 and 8, and why he becomes hella fucking desperate to be “useful” to her.
Because unlike himself, Penelope has now begun to entertain the idea of living a life that doesn’t include him—at least, not as her husband. Penelope is brave and strong enough to let him go due to the pain she caused him for her lies and her actions as LW, and as for Colin…well…
(I love it, it’s the same conundrum that Anthony faced in S2: Kate is strong enough to leave him behind and return to India, but Anthony…well…)
TL;DR, Colin’s entrapment line was literally an excuse he gave himself to keep his betrothal to Penelope intact. It’s a line that works in two ways simultaneously: it’s a painful, childish, underhanded thing to say in order to hurt Penelope’s feelings, to get back at her for the anguish he’s suffered. Yet at the same time, it’s also another excuse he gives himself in order to push through with the marriage, to tie Penelope to himself forever.
Because unlike Penelope, the very idea of living without her as his wife, of not having her in his life, is and always will be an impossible notion for Colin to ever entertain.
I love how the hand holding scenes in each season are a perfect reflection of each couple's story. I realize that's precisely the point but it's still beautiful to see.
Daphne and Simon just sort of slowly come together until Daphne tentatively, tenderly moves her hand into his and he lets her. She chips away at his wall a little more and he allows it, even participates in it, like he knows it's what he needs.
With Kate and Anthony we don't actually get the holding part. Their story is all about wanting but not having, reaching but not meeting. It's painful to watch.
And with Colin and Penelope, we see them bump and fumble their way together until they both commit to it with equal strength and certainty, holding each other steady. A shaky start that leads to perfect harmony.
I'm sorry, but this is visual storytelling at its finest.
This is long, but i need to get this out of my chest:
I have made so many post defending Penelope when people talked about her issues, her traumas but right now i feel like defending Colin.
As a woman, sometimes i naturally tend to feel defensive and shield the girl but i need to be fair here. Colin's feelings and trust were deeply hurt, Colin is insecure, soft, thoughtful, introspective, sensitive and suffers with a inferiority complex, and he struggles to know his place in society and among the people he loves, on what he should do and the expectations of society from a 22 years old man.
What many don't seem to realize is that Colin, even before knowing Penelope is LW, was very insecure about what she loves in him ( and even if she did in fact love him, because she was about to marry someone else), about being worth of her, he says he wants to do something, to publish his diaries because he wants her to be proud of him…he already didn't think he was good enough for and to her.
Colin is insecure about not being good enough in every aspect of his life, tbh. His lack of purpose, faith in himself and on others loving him from whom he is runs deep. His moment of vulnerability telling how much Penelope not answering to his letters affected him, his family too was very revealing. Him screaming at Pen with tears in his eyes that he felt foolish that she read his diaries and praised him as something special. This is something i've noticed even in other seasons too. The family not caring much about his need to connect and his somewhat strained relationship with Anthony, who wasn't really a good male figure to him. It's about male ego? A bit, but it's deeper than that in the series.
Another issue is, he put Pen in a pedestal too ( much like Pen did until 2x8), to be honest, and that is never a good thing, because people are not perfect. And he needed to learn all that. There is disappointment there. But, again, it goes further. It’s him not knowing her as he thinks he should. It’s him perceiving her humanity but reflecting on his own. We have to remember he's so happy because Pen chose him, because he thinks now he's someone's priority and he's someone's focus. He has the immature idea that you should be everything in every way to the person you love, and if you can't be their protector and the hero in their eyes, why should anyone love you?
Then he finds out…and his worldview crumbles. Not only Penelope broke his trust and hurt him deeply - and she never told him and never would have - and it wasn't just himself but his family too, but she shattered his belief he knew and connected with her better than almost anyone else, she shattered his barely there newly found confidence and sense of purpose, what he thought was his sense of self now. All modern sensibilities tend to be ruffled about this, but i think it's a fitting conflict that he would have issues with her being so self-sufficient, so successful while he believes himself to be less, way less than her, so to Colin she doesn't need him, and if she doesn't need him, why would she love him? Why should she love him?
Again, there is the side of him conflicted about knowing her. The pedestal was broken, because she lied to him. She is this powerful, talented, successful woman on her own, not just the pretty shy girl with sweetness and great witty personality that he loves, the one that thinks the world of him. She talked about him, she criticized him and while it rings true deep down, it rings devastation, because she could see beyond his farce and it makes him look and feel pathetic.
So he's struggling with two things: on how to love her, all of her, and how to feel good enough for her, love himself. He's trying to accept her new wonderful aspects and her hurtful flaws because he never stopped loving her, in no moment we see anything but love when that man looks at her, when that man is crying because of her and his deep sadness and longing, his anger is laced with so much love for her. He's angry at her but mostly at himself and he needs to figure it out a way to feel like he deserves to be loved by her. It fuels his issues and he also over compensates.
His hang ups with LW becomes his tangible target. Not only he sees as a dangerous thing to her, it puts her at risk, and with that in mind he can put himself in a role of her protector again, but he fixates on the idea that without Whistledown she's the Pen that he can believe is able to love him even if he's not good enough. Without Whistledown she's not so much above him and not so far from him, because Whistledown is her critical eye, it's Penelope appraising people very analytically and if she looks closely, he doesn't think she will see much in him, as she proved before with he S3 ep1 comment. He wants to get rid of it.
Sure, he's jealous too, he envies her success but exactly because he resents how much that makes him less worthy. It's also another thing that he thinks she's putting above him. He couldn't see clearly that it wasn't something outside herself (and he gets it after), but part of who she is, and all of those parts loves him. It's foolish and it's nonsensical because he doesn't understand that she has seen his flaws but she loves him anyway. He needed reassurance just as much as Pen needed. He needed her to keep on telling she loved him and why, because it heals him.
Some people were upset he didn't make love to her that day he went to get a blanket, but i get it. He wants it, he wants her so badly, you can see it. Colin has problems communicating and doing what he wants because he feels pathetic, jealous and that makes him feel worse, makes him feel shame. It’s him, not her that was the issue at that point. His connection with her runs deeper, it's respecting her and himself, with all the conflicted feelings why he didn’t.
It’s a slow process and i’m bloody glad it took its time to be resolved. But he starts understanding that his way wont help them, it wont bring them closer. He wont solve things by controlling and being the hero. He can’t change the past, he can’t change who they are. He wont solve anything by repressing his love.
Pen words help him figuring out a lot, her spoken words directed to him and her written words that he reads again. She needs him. She tells him she needs him and his love, not grand actions. He can show love and be worthy by supporting her. He starts to understand and ACCEPT that Whistledown is Pen, and loving Pen will include that part of her personality. He grasps that it was always there and it never made a difference in how much she loved being around him and him her, how much attention she dedicated to him, how much her words, in her letters, were full of admiration for him, to her love to him, how much she is his special person. She needs him just as much he needs her, she needs his love, his charm, his intelligence, his humor, his integrity, she needs him because without him she doesn’t feel complete, she doesn’t feel happy. He’s a good man, a fine man that makes her happy, always have. And he realizes she inspires him, she always had, and that isn't a problem, that having her helping him is not a problem, because he helps her too in many ways. It’s only when he can accept himself as equal and entitled to her love as she is to his that they could truly be together and happy.
Colin had the right to feel hurt, had the right to have his insecurities, had the right to need time and had the right to need space, had the right to lash out, had the right to come to term with the changes and surprises life threw at him, specially as a sensitive person that he very much is, and i'm glad the show didn't rush that.
I'm that type of romantic that actually was really touched about the small things about Colin "Last of the Romantics'' Bridgerton:
- Colin defending her, telling her he loved her first and being silly just to make her laugh, happy to dance with her and make her feel beautiful and loved, already so excited that he acts like she's already Mrs. Bridgerton and once she actually is, he clearly loves saying "My wife", being happy to show her their home together;
- Colin making sure their first time was good for her, making all about her pleasure and taking pleasure on her enjoyment, reassuring her all the way through and after ;
- Colin not being able to pretend he's unhappy about marrying her, encouraging her to come to him at the altar. He was an emotional mess because he loves her and it showed, from his smile, dancing with her, to kissing her and caressing her face:
- Colin repressing himself, trying not to sleep with her not because he doesn't love or desire her but because he is the type of guy that needs them to be perfectly connected for that, because that's how it was with her, he loves her and when they did make love it was a complete connection to him and anything less taints what they have, if he still has negative feelings and doubts, but being "weak" when she says i love you, his brain short-circuits and his heart and body acted;
- Colin feeling lonely and admitting to himself that it was mostly because Pen didn't reply to his letters, him keeping her letters, and smiling to himself while he reads it;
- Colin so heartbroken and sad and yet he is there, in their home, sleeping on that fucking couch but there, not on the streets making her feel insecure about his whereabouts;
- Colin learning to love equally, accepting and respecting, admiring her, taking pleasure on her success, unafraid of confessing his feelings and his issues, letting himself be helped and loved back...
Those are a few of the things that i love about Colin this season...yes, he lashed out unfairly sometimes, he was stubborn and had his ego bruised at times, but he learned and he never stopped trying to protect her, even if with the wrong approach at times. That, my friends, means to me way more than many sex scenes. But that's just me, i like the details, the in between the lines.
Season 3 is for the overthinkers. The ones who always had the crush but were never the crushes. The ones who only see flaws when they look in the mirror. The ones who throw themselves into books because those worlds treat them better than life ever has. The ones who are just so goddamn tired.
Yo. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS??? I don't read these books so I definately didn't have Colin fingerbanging Penelope in a moving carriage on my goddamn list. Was this hornier than the kanthony gazebo sequence??? (controversial opinion as a kanthony fan??) Like how do you do that???? How do you, imo, outdo Anthony who would sniff Kate like a goddamn dog in heat, every time she was near. WHAT.
come for me if you must but colin and penelope’s first kiss was way more hard hitting than any of the other kisses in bridgerton. it wasn’t fast and wild or trying to prove something. it was slow. gentle. a friend helping out another friend with just a simple peck that could have ended there. but no they pulled back and looked at each other and got lost in with another and kissed again. deepened it. both acting as if it would be the only and last time. colin panting into her mouth. his fingers on her cheek. we have been waiting to see this kiss for two seasons. eighteen episodes. penelope has been waiting for this kiss since they were kids. like!! their kiss holds so much more meaning!! hits harder!! i’m sorry but nothing can top it.
First of all, hi, love all your posts! Second of all, woah "My favorite example is the 2 Kisses in 3x08. The second was Lil/Iain’s idea. They felt that 2 worked better (and it did)" can you tell me where you learned this? I never knew that and the idea they would want another kiss for the characters (which I agree was the right idea) even though Iain in particular was uncomfortable with the kiss is so sweet.
Hi Anon!
Thank you very much!
That lovely gem came from the Season 3 Declassified. Which if you can get one I recommend it. I loved it, loved the insights, loved the things that they couldn’t get into the show (I literally screamed my way through the Radcliffe part). And Fangirled so hard over the Fitzsimmons stuff that involved lots of button mashing and screaming incoherantly at a few people via messages in the middle of the night.
But in regards to that first and second kiss…
“The scene evolved even after shooting began. De Caestecker and Henstridge realized Fitz and Simmons needed to “rip off the Band-Aid” with a passionate, rushed kiss, followed up with a tender and more heartfelt second kiss. “Elizabeth and Iain played that moment beautifully,” Doyle says. “I’ve never been so happy to see something I’ve written like that be filmed. And it was so much better than I imagined, and I think it really speaks to them as such incredible actors. It’s a very small moment that they gave such meaning to, and they elevated it in a way that made me so happy and proud. But I think they were nervous about it because they were friends.”
“We wanted to show that it was a conscious decision of their because that raises the stakes,” Henstridge says. “The first kiss comes out of pure passion, and Fitz kisses Simmons, and then it was nice to show that they have a mome, and then Simmons gets to reassure him with a nicer, more romantic, ‘Yes I want this’ kiss.” -Season 3 Declassified
Yes they were both nervous about the kiss itself, they are good friends in real life, and they had to do it in front of a lot of people. They cast and crew was just as excited about it as us. We have heard Chloe snuck on set to watch it and Ming as well (this one or the team one, not sure). Iain went on to say in the section he would have rather it been with Lil than anyone else.
So I love the moment even more after reading this.
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