Colin is crazy for this and I love it. I don’t think any man in 1815 had such a chaotic 18 hours. He is so fucking proud of himself.
After he swooped in like a madman and straight up stole Pen from Debling the night before, he played out his heroic fantasy by standing up for Pen to Portia the next morning. Then he proceeded to take her to their future home alone, watch himself unwrap the parts he’s been dreaming about in the 🪞, popped her 🍒, rang her 🔔, and put the next Baron Featherington 🍞 in her oven.
This is why we were shown the fake swagger in 3.01 so we could see the real swagger in 3.05.
Between Part 1 and 2 of season 3, I made a post about wanting to see the numbers on what Colin calls Penelope throughout the show because I thought there was a significant increase in the use of "Penelope" over "Pen" as their relationship matured.
Well, I did a very quick rewatch of seasons 1 and 2 (basically fast-forwarding to the parts I knew Colin and Pen would either interact or Colin would mention Penelope) and a rewatch of season 3. AND I HAVE THE NUMBERS!
So here's a breakdown on what Colin calls Penelope through all three seasons of Bridgerton. I'll give the total as well as if it was said directly to Penelope or to other people.
(If someone wants to make a chart or something with all of this data, I would not hate that)
Pen
Season 1- 8 (directly)
Season 2- 10 (directly)
Season 3- 23 (directly); 1 (indirectly); 1 (unclear. He said it to Dream Penelope); 25 total.
Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Pen"- 43
The rest is below the cut because this post got long!!
Miss Featherington
Season 1- 1 (indirectly)
Season 2- none
Season 3- 1 (directly); 2 (indirectly); 3 total
Total number of times Colin has called Penlope "Miss Featherington"- 4
Penelope
Season 1- 1 (directly)
Season 2- 1 (directly); 1 (indirectly); 1 (unclear. He was talking to Penelope but quoting himself--"I said to myself, 'If Penelope can see me this way...'"); 3 total
Season 3- 5 (directly); 22 (indirectly); 27 total
Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Penelope"- 31
Miss Penelope
Season 2- 1 (indirectly)
Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Miss Penelope"- 1
Penelope Featherington
Season 1- none
Season 2- 2 (indirectly)
Season 3- 3 (directly)
Total number of times Colin has called Penelope "Penelope Featherington"- 5
Auntie Penelope
Season 3- 1 (indirectly)
Total number of time Colin has called Penelope "Auntie Penelope"- 1
If I lumped "Miss Penelope," "Penelope Featherington," and "Auntie Penelope," into the same group with "Penelope," then Colin has called her Penelope a total of 38 times throughout the series. Which means "Pen" is still the winner.
And if any of you were curious, he called her "my bride-to-be" 1 time (directly), his "future wife" 2 times (directly and indirectly), "my wife" 2 times (both indirectly), and of course, as we all know, he called her "Mrs. Bridgerton" 1 time in the final episode.
I’ve been thinking about the evolution of these scenes a lot, and for all the flack part two gets, I think it perfectly illustrates one truth: Colin Bridgerton is consistent in his love to a fault, and he is hopelessly devoted to Penelope.
A lot of us (me) were bothered by him reducing their marriage to a show of his honor and nothing else, but, your honor, the scene on the right makes it clear that’s not true.
The actual truth is that he’d already forgiven her (in less than a day, mind you) — and he was angry at himself for how easy it was for him to do (common, unlucky lovesick fool that he is); angry at how Pen — even after embodying his ultimate dealbreaker — was really all that mattered to him now.
As @phantomphaeton said, what he was actually grappling with was emotional entrapment of it all — the harrowing realization that nothing, literally nothing, could make him not love her.
Because if you think about it, no matter what he may have said at the time, his honor wasn’t enough to make him stand by Marina. With her, honor had his limits. But with Pen? Nothing — not hell or high water — could stop that man from walking down the aisle.
And realizing that shocks him; it scares the living shit out of him, the acute knowledge that he’s so fucking far gone for her, he cannot fathom walking away, even from bloody Lady Whistledown.
So, when she suggests calling off the wedding, the man hurls that entrapment accusation at her with the ease of someone who’d been practicing it; someone who had a list ready to go at the slightest suggestion they break this off. In fact, he doesn’t even take it back when she says she doesn’t know if she will stop publishing, which, considering how much he wants her to stop, is actually super crazy, because it shows just how much he’s willing to put up with, if only just to keep her.
Anyway, Colin Dead Devoted Bridgerton, I look forward to analyzing even more of your desperately down bad clues.
There was something heartbreaking in the way she was gazing at him, as if she might die if he didn’t kiss her. Not from heartbreak, not from embarrassment—it was almost as if she needed him for nourishment, to feed her soul, to fill her heart.
I think people misunderstand "x fell first, y fell harder " trope because it's not about like the one who fell harder loves the other person harder. It's just that the one who fell first falls in a graceful way, one step at the time, maybe gradually over a span of time. The one who fell harder smashes trough the air, there's blood everywhere, everything is fine-
pathetic isn’t really a word I‘d use for colin bridgerton. simon rather dying than marrying daphne was pathetic. anthony going through with marrying edwina until SHE mustered the courage to call everything off was pathetic.
colin contemplating his feelings, calling out his male acquaintances for their chauvinism, seeking advice from his mother and then immediately taking action and putting himself out there without even knowing if his feelings are reciprocated is the complete opposite of pathetic. that requires a whole lot of bravery.
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