The Bridgerton Curse
I hope Eloise Bridgerton never gets an official season because we need at least one sibling to retain their personality.
The curse of the marriage mart (to the Bridgerton's at least, and the Bridgerton adjacent spouses) is that as soon as they walk down the aisle, any semblance of character and personality, particularly anything considered a flaw, evaporates and they all become doting, charming, lovely, amenable partners.
This is boring.
They bring back previous season faves for them to smile and nod and be oh so nice.
You could argue this a maturity reveal, most of the time these characters are parents now - and of course they can't impact the plot too much because the fiery focus needs to be on the current siblings romance.
Eloise still gets to be snippy comic relief because she is unmarried, and I want it to stay this way.
[SPOILER IN 3 2 1]
Even Cressida's return shows a fairly similar fate. Although it makes a little more sense for her character- it only really works because she was a raging bitch last season. She's still suddenly incredibly understanding, repentant and demure.
Penelope of course has kept up her writing, and her point of privilege undermining Lady Whistledown was interesting but the way it was done, simpering and smiling over tea was cursed. These characters can no longer feel anger or spite. Just ongoing empathy, sympathy and resignment.
Who knows what Daphne's up to. God speed.
Saying all this, this season did allow a deeper focus on older characters which was enjoyable and refreshing. Violet Bridgerton who's arc essentially disrupts the curse, proves that maybe down the line, once responsibilities ebb you CAN go back to who you were. She gets a sex scene. She lies to the Queen. All great stuff that perhaps previous season Violet's wouldn't have done.
We also got the evolution of Mrs Mondrich, and the fight between Charlotte and Agatha was genuinely moving and riddled with personality.
I'm not saying Bridgerton, particularly S4, didn't give us great female characters and fun arcs to follow. Just a disappointing ongoing transformation of interesting leading character to smiling married partner.
Sophie being a maid, she was already on the 'smile charmingly at the delightful sight of Bridgerton's and Babies' train so she won't have far to go if and when she comes back next time. But the little spike she did have i'm sure will be worn down and filed into a neat circle.
Francesca is free from the curse so far because her romance isn't over yet. I am genuinely excited to see this unfold and truly hope she gets the same romantic treatment as her siblings (aka fabulously long sex scenes). Perhaps with the lack of children on the horizon she may forever escape the curse. We'll see.























