Personally I can see the criticism about how on earth are they going to make Eloise get with a man after everything she's said about not wanting to get married, but honestly I'd rather save that criticism to see how they handle that when it's her season.
A point I'd like to make is that Eloise doesn't seem to be against love (we've seen her already crushing on someone before) or even marriage itself, but about what it usually means and the expectations that come with it. Eloise doesn't like any of the men in the ton —and I don't blame her because most of them don't seem to be able to handle an outspoken woman like her. She doesn't want to be a perfect high society lady who's only seen as somebody's wife and whose biggest duties according to what she's seen is having children—she is terrified of giving birth—or choosing the right spoons for a family lunch.
Does that mean that I think she's against the idea of love per se? Again, no. But in order for Eloise to be with anyone, in my opinion, it has to be a person that fully accepts her just as she is, that respects her and her ideals and doesn't put any of those expectations on her shoulders. I don't know everything about her book (and I know most of the men suck in the books) but as far as we've seen in the show, Phillip Crane seems to be a nerdy dude and a good man, actually, so maybe he can truly be that person for her. It really depends on how they handle their story on Eloise's season for me. That's why I'm saving the criticism.
So, like many people, I’ve been extremely nervous about what they’re going to do with Eloise’s season in Bridgerton. Judging by the fact that the show seems to have trapped her in limbo this season (an extremely common pattern for the lead going into their season), I do think she is going to be Season 5. As a reader of the books but a much bigger fan of Show!Eloise, I’ve been trying to genuinely parse out what the show could do with her season. I have ranked what I think are the possible paths, including a number of drawbacks or advantages to each, but I do think that the best solution is Theloise. Hear me out.
Possibility 1-Eloise ends up alone after going on a feminist arc. Possible in any other show, but literally never going to happen on Bridgerton. Eloise will fall in love, full stop. I also think it almost definite that she also gets married.
Possibility 2-Eloise is a lesbian. Besides the fact that it is undermined by her Theo arc, the second they chose to make Fran gay they closed down this option. Bluntly, Netflix is not doing two sapphic ships back-to-back. (My condolences to the Creloise girls; I do think it would’ve been interesting). I salute the writers for taking the harder road with not choosing the man-hater as the gay girl, but I don’t want Eloise to suffer as a result.
Possibility 3-Eloise gets with Phillip. Unlike most anti-Phillip people, I’m not going to rag on Book Phillip’s personality—that’s the easiest thing for the show to change. The much harder things: you’ve got to kill Marina in a way that doesn’t feel unnecessarily cruel or racist to the audience. You’ve got to get Eloise actively interested in parenting. And, most damningly, Eloise must integrate seamlessly into society in the most crushing way possible. It turns out her mother was right—she did just need to find the right socially acceptable man. (The only way this would work for me is if somehow Phillip was rendered completely socially unacceptable. Maybe Marina goes missing and everyone in the ton thinks he killed her—and Eloise manages to get a job posing as a governess at the Cranes to look into the mystery for Penelope.) But this arc still doesn’t pay off Eloise’s feminism. The whole of Eloise’s arc should not be “actually, society and the marriage mart and being conventionally married to a man of the ton and caring for his children is good, actually.” That may be a story true to the Regency, but it does her a profound disservice when written in 2026. Instead, I propose….
Possibility 5: Persuasion, Theloise style. Picture it. Eloise encounters some moment of injustice for women in Episode 1 of her season. Maybe she encounters a woman trying to get divorced. Maybe she encounters a woman trying to go to university. Maybe she encounters some maid connection of Sophie’s who is trying to organize factory women. I do think it would help to make it a broader cause with Eloise going really hard to bat for someone else, if only to stave off the “she’s selfish” allegations she somehow keeps getting. Though maybe it starts as a personal cause for Eloise, and then becomes intersectional once she encounters other women dealing with similar problems. (Note: For my preferred plot, I do think it should be something related to women’s property rights in marriage, for reasons I’ll get into later.)
Enter, Theo. Since we’ve last seen him, he’s worked his way through the activist scene into becoming an up and coming politician (a real thing that did happen) vying for a seat in the House of Commons. Eloise first encounters him at a sponsorship party that they’ve both been invited to, where they learn about their shared interest in this cause. He is cold to El (again, think Persuasion), but they end up paired back up in order to fundraise for the cause. Ensue various jealousy plots—perhaps Theo is engaged to the daughter of one of his financial backers, while another sponsor is trying to flirt with Eloise. They spend time together fighting the cause (what shenanigans they get into depends on the cause), but both have moments of defending the other in front of a skeptical crowd. Eventually, El realizes that she does love him, but is scared of a) ruining Hyacinth’s chances b) being legally tied to Theo c) having kids she doesn’t want. Meanwhile, Theo has gone on a journey of realizing that she actually was the girl he thought she was in Season 2: somewhat naive and sheltered, but whip-smart and with a head and heart in the right place. Somewhere in here, the rival love interests are also dispatched—they were only included for Shonda drama. In the end, Hyacinth (a true romantic like her mom) gives her blessing, the Theloise bill passes in a way that confers legal rights of women to own property, and Theo and Eloise revel in the magic of non-penetrative sex. Eloise walks away with the Bridgertons’ blessings and her dowry, now fully in her own name, placing her smack-dab in the middle class (honestly, probably upper middle). The epilogue is her preparing to give a lecture on women’s suffrage while Theo gets ready to enter the House of Commons. Boom, mic drop.
Or we could watch her get the feminism crushed out of her in order to validate certain people’s obsession with living out their marrying rich guy fantasies, despite the fact that Eloise is herself rich and literally every other romance on this show is that exact fantasy. (Insert Eloise gag face.)
predictions & questions for bridgerton s4 part two (spoilers below)
Firstly, as someone who read the book, I think part one was done very well for all intents and purposes. They're following close to the book BUT making it so much more better. The side characters they added, the slight changes to certain characters and moments, I think they really brought more depth, character, and emotion to the story and romance. Not to mention, show!Benedict is wayyy better than book!Benedict for me, so I love how they're handling certain scenes.
Now, I watched the trailer for part two. A few predictions and questions for scenes we may or may not see in part two.
Predictions:
Jail scene is confirmed and WILL happen. Probably on ep. 7 maybe.
The reveal that Sophie is LIS might be done in ep. 6, although I'm not quite sure about that. How they will approach that is also something I'm not sure of. In the book, Benedict puts two and two together when he sees Sophie with a blindfold on her as she's playing with the Bridgerton children. In the show, idk how they'll do the reveal/realization. I have a fun theory (that would be ironic) that what Daphne was to Kate & Anthony (in terms of catching them together and clocking it), Anthony will be that for Benedict & Sophie. Luke T has mentioned in an interview, that Anthony and Benedict will have some important scenes together and I have no doubt that at least one of them will be about Anthony and Benophie (perhaps his thoughts about them, maybe Anthony saying "why are you drawing the maid all over my ledgers" LOL or advice on love). I feel like either one of the Bridgerton's will mention the correlation between LIS > Sophie, or perhaps he'll grow more than one braincell and finally connect all the dots! We shall see!
Couch scene - this, I'm pretty sure is included. I think they alluded to this in the beginning of the trailer, where Sophie said "we were both carried away" and then Benedict said "Is that all it was to you?" I could very much be wrong, they could be referencing to something else, so this may be a theory.
John's death. I didn't want to see him die this season, but I fear from the promo photos of part two and parts of the trailer, the Bridgerton's are all in black mourning clothes. I think Queen Charlotte will die next season, so it's John 😭
Bathtub scene has also been practically confirmed, with Yerin's bts photo she posted on IG where she was in a very large bathtub. Book readers, if you know you know 👀
Araminta vs. Violet Bridgerton is 100% going to happen, and better yet, pretty sure Portia will join in on the smackdown, along with Penelope, Lady Danbury (maybe) and Kate. Atp the entire Bridgerton family, Featherington's, and servants will go up in arms and I AM SAT for that.
Possible Benophie wedding. I heard from a grapevine of a grapevine that the possibilities of getting a wedding at the end of the season is quite likely and I won't lie, I'd actually jump and scream for joy. If they play Young & Beautiful during their wedding, THEN WHAT??!! Also, from bts photos, Yerin is wearing two different regency dresses (which look amazing on her btw she's ethereal) so I'm expecting that we might get Benophie at another ball, maybe after they're married.
Kate & Sophie interaction. I am DESPERATE to see their interaction. It was confirmed that they will meet and interact, but in what capacity, I'm unsure of. Either way, I'm really looking forward to that because Kate & Sophie would definitely be bff's.
Questions:
This has been in my head ever since I watched the season, but for book readers... as we have a decent confirmation that the couch scene will happen, will they keep in the part where Benedict asks Sophie to be his mistress AGAIN—literally right after they did the deed, he essentially assumes it and expects it—and him getting angry and not really understanding why she refuses? He was nasty about it in the book from what I remembered, and even when she told him why, he still couldn't accept it. Now show!Benedict has shown that he isn't prone to being nasty and angry with Sophie at all, just either genuinely confused, soft or trying to be understanding (which is why I really love show!Benedict so much) so I rather expect the couch scene to go differently. Which brings me to the next question...
Will they have Benedict make the offer multiple times like in the book? Though I completely understand WHY he makes the offer—simple media literacy—it doesn't take away the rightful frustration and eye roll of it all (they handled the offer WAY better than the book, it happened at My Cottage - lake scene in the book and he essentially blackmails her from what I remember, HUGE ICK). Especially seeing how much of an outrage the offer in ep.4 garnered, I fear that if they have him make the offer multiple times like in the book, Benedict will be crucified to death to the point of no return. Though, to be frank, one of the aspects of the book I detested, was the fact that he kept asking her to be his mistress. He didn't take no for an answer, was quite adamant on it no matter what and worse yet, he was not nice about it either, quite frankly an ass excuse my language. Which is why I prefer show!Benedict by a long shot (he's also my favorite), and seeing how is with Sophie and generally his overall personality that we get to see throughout the seasons, he's a better version by many points.
There may be more thoughts on part two later on, but for now this is it! I wrote a bit more than I thought I would lol 😂 very excited for part two! I genuinely have high hopes, and that they hopefully won't ruin it, because if all goes well, this will probably be the best season (imo).
If I was working at Shondaland and I was dragged kicking and screaming into the writers room for Eloise’s season after everything everyone has already done to fuck this up beforehand, this is what I would do.
First off, I’d fire Chris Fulton. It’s pretty clear by this point the winning Bridgerton formula is Bridgerton sibling/ POC romantic interest. For the fun of it all I’d seek out some Indigenous representation, either Maori or a Samoan, a real big fit guy. Then we build our new Sir Philip. Not necessarily a Crane, but he’s also a recent widower with two children. He’s also a botanist, and has done such a good job in the scientific field of finding and categorising plants that the king and queen of England have given him a big fat estate they had lying around.
Sir Philip does not want to hang out at his estate though, since his desire is to return to Aotearoa and raise his children in their homeland. So, he’s at the Ton during the social season in search of someone who will be fine with him fucking off for life. He goes to Lady Danbury and asks her for advice and though she’s initially highly sceptical, she points him toward Eloise Bridgerton.
Being a bit socially awkward, he first writes to her explaining the situation, and mistaking him for Philip Crane, she writes back. They strike up a mutual correspondence. Title and opening sequence.
The first episode follows their letter exchange as they come up with a devious plan. In order to make sure Philip can leave the annoying estate without pissing off Queen Charlotte too much, they’ll arrange an elaborate scandal which will force him to extend an offer of marriage and then give him a good looking excuse to avoid England afterward. Eloise, wooed by the respectability that marriage offers and enchanted by the idea of her own big house in the heart of the Ton, steals away in the dead of night.
She knocks on his door, he opens it and uh-oh! He’s kinda dishy, absolutely not like any man she’s ever met before and tattooed and muscly and fuck, fuck, fuck really really nice. He invites her upstairs and after a slip-of-the-tongue regarding the scandalousness of it all, he makes it clear that he’s grieving his dead wife and not really interested in sex, so they just sit on the couch together and the conversation naturally turns to why he’s so eager to leave. He doesn’t really like the Ton. He doesn’t really like the way people treat each other in the Ton. And he likes it less after Eloise rattles off the many ways she’s been treated and other scandals her family have been caught in. She falls asleep on the couch talking to him, so he covers her in a blanket and then goes back to his own quarters.
The next day, Anthony, Benedict, Colin, John Stirling (if alive) and Marcus are on Philip’s doorstep, ready for a hit and run. Eloise and Philip make a big show of “getting caught”, Philip offers his hand in marriage, Eloise goes the lovey-dovey angle but her historically bad-acting makes her brothers think she’s been coerced or worse, officially escalating the situation from “We Demand Satisfaction Of Honour” to “I think we’re gonna have to kill this guy, Colin.”
So, Eloise and Philip now have to convince everyone that they are Absolutely Definitely In Love You Guys before Anthony makes a concerted effort to shoot this guy in the head.
They start out by making a good act out of courting. Seeking each other out at balls and promenading. He sends her flowers, and chocolates and no-one is buying it. Lady Danbury warns Philip that the the queen is Not Happy, plus if the situation becomes more well-known, Penelope may be forced to write about it. With this, Eloise realises that Lady Whistledown could be the key to convincing her family that Philip is a great guy. So, she invites Colin and Penelope over to promenade, with Philip and Colin getting along really well. Penelope and Eloise write new article together, effectively putting Colin on their side but not really anyone else.
At this point, Philip starts getting a little crestfallen because he accidentally finds, he doesn’t hate the Ton as much as he thought. Sure, balls suck but with Eloise to commiserate with, it isn’t so bad. Attending art exhibitions and speeches with her is downright fun. Plus, she really does like listening to him talk about all the places he’s travelled to and the things he’s seen. She’s interested in adventure and knowledge, so he starts telling her about his lifelong interest in a plant that blooms only once a year, under the moonlight. He offers her a personalised book about it and the gift elates Eloise so much, he can’t help but give her access to the whole library.
Montage of Eloise reading the book in her bedroom, and Philip in his bed cradling a portrait of his dead wife while Anthony stands with his nose pressed into Philip’s bedroom window, trying to kill him with his mind.
Eloise is in the library, when she meets Philip’s kids. The brother is loudly teasing his sister about the fact that she’ll have to grow up and marry someday when Eloise stops him and explains that the sister could be anything, an artist, an explorer or a scholar. The boy notes that in Eloise’s free time she’s studied many of the things he’s now learning, and asks for help with his schoolwork. Surprised by the things she has in common with these children, Eloise accepts. None of them know that Philip is standing outside the library with a huge happy smile on his face.
The next day, Philip and Eloise are promenading when he offers gratitude for the way she handled the situation. He explains that one of the reasons he wants to leave the Ton so badly, is so that his daughter doesn’t get caught in that way of thinking. That was really important to Philip’s wife, so he’s really glad Eloise is in her life now, even if it is only temporary. Eloise asks him if his daughter is like his late wife. He says she’’s not. His son is extraordinarily like his late wife, but his daughter is much more like- well, he hopes that someday she is a lot like Eloise.
That gives her the idea to invite the children over to the Bridgerton house. Eloise surmises that if Violet is won over by Philip’s charming children, she’ll be able influence Anthony into giving the couple his blessing. So, she arranges an afternoon tea.
Benedict, having noticed Philip’s library gift is now convinced that Philip is in love with Eloise, but does not think the reverse is true. He confronts her on the swings and she fesses up to the whole scheme. He chides her for not trusting him, and offers to help in any way he can.
The tea doesn’t go great. The children don’t really act in line for what children of the Ton are supposed to be (they don’t like tea, they don’t really love English cake and they don’t have any fun tricks to show off). Eloise once again fails under hard questioning while Anthony, Colin and Benedict engage in Spy x Spy shenanigans, waltzing Philip on and off the perfect mark to drop a piano on his head. Violet is torn, but sees that her daughter really wants this marriage so she offers a suggestion. Host a ball at Philip’s house. If Eloise and Philip pull it off, they’ll show the entire Ton that they are truly in love, convincing the Queen, society and Anthony once and for all that they deserve their happy matrimony.
The final volume I episode is dedicated to Eloise’s attempts to make the ball happen. Recruiting her mother, Penelope, Francesca and Hyacinth, as well as much of Philip’s money she wants, she fumbles her way though placemats, food, decorations and all of the things she hates. Philip really wants to be given a job and make it easier on her, but Eloise doesn’t know what would be appropriate. Violet asks her what the centrepiece will be and that gives her a really good idea and laser-focuses her entire party on finding something incredibly difficult.
Philip visits Lady Danbury and asks her what it was like courting after her husband died and how she faced life alone as a widow. “It doesn’t matter” she tells him. “Because I didn’t love my first husband, like you did and you won’t be alone, will you?” He has no answer.
He walks into his house and finds that the theme of the party is his own botanical work. There are illustrations all over the walls, ferns and beautiful plants everywhere and best of all, she’s managed to leverage her family connections to make his favourite plant (the rare one) the centrepiece of the night. His job is to talk with guests about how special and rare the plant is. He is taken aback by how well she knows his passion and how much he loves hers. She also offers the first dance of the night to be between him and his daughter- to show the Ton a girl who does not have to get married. But he disagrees. The lady of the house must open the ball.
They dance to a cover of “goodbye my danish sweetheart” by Mitski, the air thick with the tension of their looming separation. He finally asks if she loves him. He says if she does, then he’ll stay in the Ton for her. Eloise thinks a long time and answers that she does love him. But she wouldn’t if he stayed.
Philip stops the dance and hands Eloise over to Anthony Bridgerton. He takes his children upstairs and tucks them into bed. While they dance, Anthony tells Eloise that he does believe her and asks an apology for not seeing it sooner. He’ll give the couple his blessing and anything she’ll ever need for a happy life. All she has to is ask.
When Philip comes downstairs he overhears guests laugh about how terrible the ball is. The place settings are mismatched, the decorations are poorly conceived. The Queen loudly complains that the centrepiece is boring and lambasts Lady Danbury about what a poor host Eloise is. He storms over, saying something to the effect of “shame you’re wrong you cock-sucking whore and if my WIFE’S name ever leaves your bitch-ass mouth again I Will Stomp You To Death With My Hooves.”
The Queen looks at this man like he’s her Christmas present and every birthday and gossip column combined, her eyes sparking alight with the joy of a thousand heirs and then banishes him from England forever. End of Volume I.
Anticipating Bridgerton Season 4 part 2 (book lore mentioned a bit)
Manifesting an alive and relatively healthy John (hints to the future for the book readers, but let the show watchers be so unaware).
Manifesting more Charlotte and Lady Danbury moments
Manifesting a true discussion of classism and not ‘all problems suddenly get resolved when I somehow rise you your level’ (he want downstairs to get to her she went upstairs to get to him and then the met in the middle before the It’s a bad Idea scene that’s what I need (also I really want her ‘below stairs’ friends aka her best and truest friends to be at the wedding).
Manifesting John (the footman) and Hazel need to be something they are so adorable (lowkey want Sophie to give him a pep talk where he is feeling inadequate because Hazel joked about marrying rich and he knows he can never provide that for her, but Sophie (post her and Benedict crash out possibly) says something like who cares about money you can love her freely, truly, and fully and that is more valuable than any title)
Manifesting Violet being a mother to beautiful Sophie (there is a reason she names her first daughter Violet)
Manifesting Posy marrying a lovely human, like the Mr. Finch to her Philippa, he listens to her weird dreams and everything.
Manifesting Anthony discussing his mistress (Sienna) with Benedict and how he treated her like shit, and society allows him to do that. He thinks about the promises he broke and how much he hurt her and while she obviously was not his soulmate she did not deserve to be strung along by his empty promises of security (imagine if someone did that to his daughter).
Manifesting Portia Featherington apologizing to Varley for treating her horribly
Manifesting society realizing they suck and the maid war only happened because they don’t treat their staff well (Sophie and Benedicts love won’t change society (especially since the Queen is still so passive about having over 100 maids) but I hope Lady Whistledown leaves a legacy not in just calling out Lady Penwood for mistreating Sophie but also to all of society for being awful to their staff that makes their privileged lives so easy)
Manifesting we find out more about Sophie’s backstory through the Bridgerton ladies (Violet, Eloise, etc.) investigating.
Manifesting more Alfie the Penwood footman and Irma presence (they are gonna size up Benedict hard protective vibes) (also I want them at the wedding somehow all of the Bridgeton staff should be there they are Sophie’s friends and family) (also was I the only one who noticed Alfie changed his accent when he was treating Sophie like a Lady I episode 1 or 2 (he went from like thick accent to upper classy fake accent when he was in public) I wonder how many staff members pretend like that).
Manifesting flustered Michaela (hidden).
Manifesting Michaela character development
Manifesting Francesca reaching the pinnacle with her husband not only gay thoughts (gay thoughts and fertility insecurity be gone I want Fran to fully give-in to her pleasure she’s so tense (I mean not completely gone with the gay thoughts (see prior post about my Michaela and Francesca feelings)).
Manifesting a good set up for the next season with hopefully less of a wait time 🤞🤞
That is all I can think of right now, I need to finish my work so no more tumblr posts tonight (at least not before midnight 😈). Have a good evening, night, day of waiting to watch the show.
And in case something goes horribly wrong I will preemptively say:
Bridgerton Theory: Season 4 is going to end with a death.
Time for some heedless speculation based on little but my knowledge of the books and a conversation with a friend. But I think we have a good chance of season 4 ending with the death of a side character. I think there are three likely candidates, which I'll explain below the cut. Warning for spoilers!
1. King George
Now, this is my theory with the least amount of textual evidence - it's more based on historical context than the show/books. But I do think it could be an interesting way to wrap up the Queen's s4 storyline + set her up for a new one in s5. As my regency-loving bestie pointed out to me, the show is currently taking place in 1818. And what happened in 1818? The real Queen Charlotte died.
I think it would be pretty hard for them to do that and keep the story moving as it has been since they made the Queen a major player in the show. HOWEVER, King George does die before the Queen irl, and they've kind of been hinting at him being near the end of his life for seasons now. I have kind of been feeling like she's feeling a little aimless this season already, and she's clearly bored of the status quo; even Whistledown isn't giving her the joy she once had with it. While her husband dying wouldn't help that, it would put even more weight on her shoulders, and I think it would be interesting to see her navigate the true loss of her love and how it's different from what she's been anticipating for almost her entire marriage.
This could also be how we get Lady Danbury staying in town (as she has been confirmed to be important in s5) - if her best friend loses her husband + THE KING, I can imagine her deciding to stay around for a while, especially given the obvious fear of abandonment the Queen is already displaying at just the thought of Agatha leaving town.
(My other two theories will depend on whether s5 is going to be focused on Eloise or Francesca, which, at the point of writing this, is still unclear. Both of these characters do die in canon, so it's likely only a matter of time for both of them.)
2. John Kilmartin
We're already seeing the setup for Francesca's story with Michael/Michaela. I think the second half of s4 will be her and Michaela building that friendship/comradery Fran and Michael have in the books. He's a known rake, and gives Fran a hint of that wildness she doesn't have in her marriage (and doesn't necessarily want. Though dear god at least let that woman find her pinnacle). Still, it's part of the reason they get on so well, and I'm interested to see if that will continue to be the case if Michaela is out there hooking up with women (or perhaps already has! #WhatHappensInStirling...).
And now that Michaela has arrived at Kilmartin house, I think it's only a matter of time until we lose John (GOD I'm so mad they made me like him before they kill him). Whether his death comes at the end of this season or the middle/end of next season will depend on whether they'll tackle Francesca's story or El's story in S5. Which brings me to my final theory...
(PS I do think John has an inkling that there might be something going on with Fran's feelings. But that's a different theory entirely)
3. Marina Crane (nee Thompson)
I have been extremely interested in how they're going to make Eloise's story happen since we learned that her season wouldn't directly follow Penelope's, as their fight over Whistledown is a major catalyst of the start of Eloise's story in the books. The way I see it, the show has kind of set themselves up/backed themselves into a corner in that this is the only way it could go.
Another big part of the catalyst to Eloise's story is the death of Marina, and Sir Crane's need for a nanny to help him raise the twins. In the books, she's not mentioned much beyond the intro of El's story, but in the show, we have a whole season of her history with the rest of the ton. Despite leaving the Featheringtons on bad terms, I can see people like Pen, Colin, and even El having mixed feelings on Marina's death - enough so that they may find themselves compelled to attend her funeral or pay their respects to her husband.
The Bridgertons' country home has been established to be near the Cranes', so it wouldn't even be that far out of their way to visit outside of the season. Given that El has put herself on the shelf, I can see her observing Sir Crane's struggles with the children and offering herself up as a nanny, giving her a chance to "make her way" in the world, in part to spite her mother's belief that she must marry to make something of herself. Of course, for all this to happen, they have to receive news of Marina's death. And what better opportunity for that than at the end of the season as everyone is about to retreat to said country homes?
