The Bridgertons!
Have you watched the Bridgertons? …all the seasons!?
I have, and I loved it!
I wasn't really into classical history from the 1800s; I found it boring. Instead, I preferred watching Sex And The City (who doesn't love Sex And The City!!). It inspired me to imagine myself as a writer sitting at a coffee shop, writing about motherhood, sipping cocktails at bars, and exploring life as a single mom. When I first decided to pursue writing, I started my blog as my own struggles inspired me to write about them. Moms experience a rollercoaster of love and emotions and often don't get the fairy tale ending they hoped for, so I wanted to be a voice to help. Although all of this is true, it actually happened in 2018, three years before the premiere of the first season of Bridgerton in 2020, if my memory serves me right!
I started watching it at age 36 and needed something to remind me what it meant to have that fairy tale love. I loved the fact that Bridgerton is set during the early 1800s in an alternative London Regency era, in which George III established racial equality and granted many people of African descent aristocratic titles. It’s so wildly popular. I think the success of the show is due to several other factors as well. The Bridgerton show is admired for its diversity (a rare and overdue achievement for a period drama). But before I jump on the bandwagon, in reality, this era had women struggling to be completely independent. They couldn’t vote, own property outside of marriage, or even retain custody of their children if they separated from their husbands. And then there was the all important etiquette. Women of status, like those of the ton, weren’t supposed to work outside the home, go for walks without another female companion or even whisper gossip. Their reputations would be completely compromised. The only way out of this for a woman was marriage, as it was the only socially acceptable way for them to earn a living. How sad; it was very much a man’s world.
Unfortunately, the version of the single I saw on Sex And The City wasn’t my version. They were single at first, childless, and had an endless budget for expensive shoes and parties, spending most of their time on spontaneous dates with men. On the other hand, I had a child and don’t have endless money. I spend most of my time on the school run or cooking fish fingers, and my cocktail options are pretty much limited. The last series of the girls with kids and successful husbands was very much relatable to some mothers.
But the Bridgertons were different! (Spoiler alerts, by the way)
I think the casting decisions are excellent (I adored Phoebe Harriet Dynevor as Daphne and Regé-Jean Page as the Duke), and the 1800s-period lavish costumes are perfect. All four of the prequels were fun for me. Julia Quinn's novels are by far a hit and worldwide! Ruth Gummel is the epiphany of loss and finding her heart falling in love again in the last series. It gives a lot of hope to single mothers wanting to find love again. Lady whistledown definitely provides all the plots and gives it that little spice. There is something so appealing about how all the characters depict love and courtship, relationships, marriage proposals, family secrets, intimate lives to scandal and the social troubles of high society and inner circle that Lady Wistledown threatens to expose. It is interesting to see how the gossip girl spilt the tea, so to say and had everyone at her mercy. She really does make the show better.
The actor Regé-Jean Page had all the ladies (including myself) drooling over his untamed character and bad boy image.
Yes, we were all stuck on the TV. Admit it.
What really stuck out to me is Nicola Coughlan, who IS the gossip girl. Fun fact: Julie Andrews does the actual voice for Lady Wistledown. Penelope really has strong writing and enticing observational skills; even the queen wasn’t fooled by the fake Wistledown in the last series. She doesn’t seem to want to quit writing either because she resembles every unheard voice and is eager to spill the beans for everyone who doesn’t have a voice or for those who deserve a clap back. At least, that's what I got from her character.
It’s in this almost suffocating environment that Lady Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) starts her high society gossip newsletter under the nom de plume Lady Whistledown (a fake name under the real person). Following up on Bridgerton’s second season, it offers a more in depth look at Penelope and what she has to go through to see her views exposed to the tons of society, often sneaking off alone in the middle of the night, dressed up in dark robes looking the maids in order to deliver her latest gossip to the printer who also doesn’t know of her identity. When she almost gets caught, she starts relying on her friend, the dressmaker Madame Delacroix (Kathryn Drysdale, another woman living outside social conventions), to help her. They keep a secret friendship to cover up their true selves. Before the second season, she does a fantastic job at concealing her alter ego until love comes her way in the last season. Will she choose love over her desire to expose what she can’t hold? Or carry on?