Explaining the Bridgerton Formula: To be or not to be an anthology?
Do get your Bridgerton playlist ready! In this post, weâre going to talk about what Bridgerton will be like moving forward with RegĂ©-Jean Page not returning. Specifically, will our beloved romantic drama embrace the anthology or the serial. Donât know what any of those mean? Well fear not, Dear Reader, all shall be explained.
All right, letâs start by explaining these two buzzwords: anthology and serial. Perhaps youâll add these words to your next game of scrabble?
Anyway, anthology and serial are two types of formats youâll find in TV shows (disclaimer, there are many other formats, but weâll stick with these for now).
Firstly, an anthology is a type of TV show where the show will completely reset its characters, story, settings and even the creative people behind-the-scenes (e.g. director, cinematographer), after each season or each episode. Think how Black Mirror is completely different each episode, or how True Detective changes its story and its actors every single season. These are anthologies and it seems like Bridgerton is heading down a similar-ish path. So⊠what about serial?
Serial, pronounced the exact same as âcerealâ, is a type of show where the stories and its characters build over many episodes and often times, many seasons. These are super common these days, think Game of Thrones, The Queenâs Gambit, Greyâs Anatomy, even The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. In these shows, we see characters develop over episodes, and in many cases, continue to grow over each season. So, to understand the show and whatâs going on plot wise, youâve got to watch every episode in order! Serial shows are the shows where you always warn about spoilers!Â
Unlike some shows (like Brooklyn 99, The Office, Friends), you canât quite get away with skipping an episode and understanding the rest. What happens in an episode can be super important for the next episode or season. In this way, Bridgerton is very much a serial, you canât mix and muddle with the order of the episodes, you have to watch Daphne and Simon fall in love in eight consecutive episodes.
Ok, so you know what anthology and serial means now, and I bet youâre wondering, what in the hell does this have to do with RegĂ© Jean Page not coming back. Well, hereâs where it gets interestingâŠ
With RegĂ©-Jean Page exiting the show, it seems to confirm that the show will very much stick to the style of the books: each season will cover one book, and thus, one season will focus on one Bridgerton sibling. Season one was all about Daphne, we now know season two is all about Anthony, and we can only assume season three will be about Benedict, then Colin, Eloise and on and on until we finish with Hyacinth (but weâll discuss later why this may change).
Whilst this comes as no surprise to book readers, this is a big shift for those who have only seen the show and are going off their experience with other shows. You see, with RegĂ©-Jean Page just not returning at all (not even for a cameo it seems), Bridgerton actually becomes something quite unique: a romantic, period drama that is a mix of an anthology and serial, its something we havenât really seen before. Each season will ârestartâ by having a different Bridgerton as protagonist, but the Bridgerton family and its overarching story will flow over each season. Â
Now personally, Iâm actually quite excited about this, though I am slightly biased because I loved the books. That being said, I am honestly quite bummed that RegĂ© doesnât seem to want to come back at all, not even a cameo? Weâll talk about this further in a separate post but to say it bluntly: a lot, and I mean A LOT, of people watched it because of RegĂ©-Jean Page. I know itâs called Bridgerton, but he was the breakout star after all (see his fabulous appearance on SNL), so it seems a little strange he wonât even appear for a split second. I personally would prefer to see him, the Duke of Hastings in the flesh, sprinkled throughout the show, rather than have him completely disappear and only mentioned through off hand comments (I am already imagining Daphneâs dialogue of âoh⊠the Duke couldnât be here because of a/b/c tonightâŠâ, and thatâs just not fun). Â
However, I know that myself and a million others are definitely still going to give this a chance. Is it a slightly odd business, producing, marketing choice? Absolutely! But we must acknowledge (and we will in our next post), that some things are simply out of our control.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post! I had lots of fun writing it so feel free to leave your thoughts below. In our next one, weâll be talking about those things we fans sadly canât always control, aka. contracts, busy careers and you guessed it- COVID.
