Okay, I don't even go to Bridgerton. I only watched season 3 and forgot most of it by now. Somehow I still know the rough outline of the plot in s4, including the Be My Mistress, and now I have a lot of thoughts and even some feelings.
I hope Bridgerton fans realize that the only decent way Benedict could have treated Sophie at this stage was if he didn't pursue her at all. They could have made them yearn and pine from a distance, "we mustn't!" and all that, but now the heartthrob in this feelgood romance will forever be just another aristocrat who made sexual advances on a servant in his employ. For a fluffy kind of romance, "rich fuckboy endangers a lower class woman but it's okay bc love" is where my enjoyment ends, personally. Wouldn't be the first time the male romantic lead put a woman in a compromising situation because he was thinking with his dick so the fact that he could ruin said woman's life didn't even cross his mind (or it did, and he didn't care). Only Daphne would still be rich even if her reputation was ruined. Sophie could end up in the streets with no hope of finding a "respectable" job. I know it's a bodice ripper, there needs to be drama and scandal, but things like this just take me out of the story immediately. Like, this man is a rich sex pest and I'm supposed to be rooting for him? You could still make it a compelling story, but I guess I don't trust the bridgerton writers to do this subject justice.
