There’s Something About Bridgerton

This profile was written for and originally published in the summer issue of Élan Magazine.

“You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires.”

These words have been sending Bridgerton viewers into a frenzy ever since they were uttered by its leading man of season two. Love can be so powerful and painful and perfect and inconvenient— and we love to watch it in all its duality.

Bridgerton is a Netflix Original series created by Shonda Rhimes (of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder fame), based on the Bridgerton novels written by Julia Quinn. The show follows the Bridgerton family in Regency era London as the children make their debuts in society thus beginning their searches for marriage. It is narrated by Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews), an anonymous pamphlet writer who comments on the latest gossip circulating among the rich families of London, including the Bridgertons. 

In the first season, we see a group of young women begin their respective searches for a husband: one of these women is Daphne Bridgerton. Her winding and complicated path to finding her husband and settling into married life was the focus of the first season (as well as of Lady Whistledown’s pamphlets). Throughout the eight episodes, their love was displayed in its most physical form.

Season two of Bridgerton carried much the same passion and romance, but displayed its intensity in other ways. It follows a new Bridgerton sibling: Anthony. He is in need of a wife and has a very calculated plan for finding one— until his feelings get in the way. The romance in this season rarely relied on the display of physical intimacy; the focus, instead, was on the sexual tension. There was a suspense to this love. When will it become so unbearable that their feelings for each other become known to both? Will they even admit their feelings to themselves?

Think about what we view as traditional romance stories, like those given to us by Jane Austen. In Emma, Mr. Knightley professes, “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” We, as viewers, want that passion and poeticism. One of the more recent “love stories” to break our hearts was Fleabag, in which The Priest frequently held a gaze filled with love, but also with rage at the fact that this love was ruining his life because he couldn’t have it. In a Venn diagram of Emma and Fleabag, Bridgerton is comfortably in the center.

While all of Bridgerton’s love stories are unfolding and their calculated matches are being made, Lady Whistledown is commenting on it anonymously, hiding in plain sight as she observes all. And though we love to see all of these events unfold in high society, we, in our 21st century lives, recognize how flawed it all really is and appreciate having a character like Lady Whistledown, who exposes and criticizes its inner workings like a Regency era Gossip Girl.

Bridgerton has successfully filled the gap we had been experiencing ever since Jane Austen died, Gossip Girl retired, and The Priest told Fleabag “it’ll pass.”