Let’s Dish: Bridgerton on Netflix
Unless you have been living in some kind of cave over the past couple of weeks, chances are, you’ve heard of a little show on Netflix called Bridgerton. After surpassing 63 million views in it’s first week streaming, the show is well on its way to becoming one of Netflix’s best performers-ever. And the main thing I have to say about that is perhaps it’s time to option more romance adaptations, yeah? Bridgerton released on Netflix on Christmas day and has been one of the most talked about pop culture moments since. And for good reason. The show has everything we love: sex, hot guys, and controversy. There are a lot of great articles and Twitter threads out there about the more problematic elements of Bridgerton, and I will touch on some of them as I expound my thoughts, but for the most part this is a post to dish about something I love. I recognize it has problems, but they didn’t keep me from thoroughly enjoying the show. So much so that I’ve already watched it twice. Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way, yeah? Simon (Rege-Jean Page) is an absolute snack. The man can do unholy things with his eyebrow alone. Then add in the forearms. And don’t forget the booty. He has shot to the top of my celebrity crush list, which I imagine can be said for most people who’ve watched.
Honestly, I will continue to watch this show on repeat for Simon alone. But I also fell head over heels in love with Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Eloise in particular is dry and sarcastic, which is basically all I want from my British characters. She is witty AF, and she and Penelope together are friendship goals. I’m hoping the show gets renewed for enough seasons so we get their main storylines because they are by far my favorite characters. I am Eloise in this gif.
In general, I liked the older set of women on this show. Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), the mother of the Bridgerton brood, and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) Simon’s aunt/mom’s BFF, were my two favorites, but I also really enjoyed Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel). Their storylines are definitely not the center of the show, but they add some fun moments when they are onscreen.
The first season of Bridgerton centers on Simon and Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), who start out not liking each other very much, but see how they can benefit from one another. Daphne needs to seem desirable and Simon wants to keep the matchmakers at bay, so the two team up for a round of fake dating (fake courting) and of course end up falling for one another. This is one of the classic tropes of the romance genre and it is one of my all time faves. I think it was done well in the show mostly because Rege and Phoebe have great chemistry together. And there are a couple of truly fantastic moments of revealing *feelings* that gave me all the heart eyes.
The main problematic bit comes in once Simon and Daphne are married (this is not a spoiler as this show is based on a series of romance novels and therefore our couples will always end up happily ever after). Simon has made it clear from the beginning that he can not have kids. He tells Daphne this before they are married, and it is in fact the main reason why he resists marrying her-because he knows how badly she wants to be a mother. Daphne assumes Simon is physically unable to bear children, but when she notices he pulls out every time they have sex (and holy balls they have so much sex), she starts to question if it’s a can’t or a won’t. And she decides to test her theory by straddling Simon and not allowing him to pull out they next time they have sex. In the book, the scene is even more disturbing as Simon is drunk and passed out when this happens, but the show doesn’t go far enough to fix the problem. Whatever you want to say about things Simon could have done to stop her, the simple fact of the matter is Daphne knew he didn’t want to do it, and when he told her to wait, she ignored him. There’s no sugarcoating this-she rapes him. Just because it isn’t as bad as the book doesn’t make it less of an assault. And the real problem is that her actions are never addressed. We’re supposed to sympathize with Daphne because Simon misled her, apparently pushing to the side that she deliberately trapped him into something he didn’t want. I really, really would have liked to have seen her actions dealt with in any kind of manner, but that did not happen. It’s most definitely a dark spot in what otherwise could have been a wholly delightful show.
Overall, the show is really what I was hoping for when I heard it was coming to Netflix. The costumes are fun and bright and colorful, the cast is very very pretty to look at, and the show is full of both swoony and sexy moments any romance fan is going to love.
My greatest wish is that the success of the series spawns a million more romance adaptations. Give the people what they want! Oh, and if you still haven’t watched the show…
You can thank me later.
