Fantastic frocks and complicated women
Season 3 of ‘Bridgerton’ still a pastel-coloured Trojan horse for juicy explorations of the human psyche
With a waltz set to Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach” (instrumental version) and enough spangled tulle to wrap the perimeter of Mayfair thrice, “Bridgerton” returns to our small screens.
For the third outing of Shonda Rhimes’ wildly popular adaptation of Julia Quinn’s equally adored Regency romances, we find ourselves in “Polin” season.
This isn’t related to the allergenic potential of the technicolour spring flowers that bloom in manicured abundance in high society gardens;it’s the portmanteau couple name created by fans (of which there are many) of the next Bridgerton — Colin, third son, people pleaser, moderately insufferable after finding himself on the early 19th-century version of a gap year — to find his match: in Penelope, the childhood pal whom, until now, he has friendzoned because he’s more interested in the approval of his boneheaded buddies than the captivating, complicated woman who’s been pining over him for years.
“A big thing this season is him stepping into adulthood, becoming a man and taking responsibility for the past,” said Luke Newton, the British actor who plays Colin. “There have been mistakes, but that’s just part of growing up and trying to figure out your way.”
Chief among those youthful transgressions is the heartbreaking moment in Season 2 when Penelope
overhears him saying he would “never dream of courting” her.
It’s not a spoiler to hint that there will be redemption to this rejection in Season 3. “What’s beautiful about their relationship is they get to a place where they’re comfortable enough to be able to share (their fears and insecurities) with each other,” said Newton.
And speaking of transparency: along with being the girl who grew up across the square from him, Penelope has a second, secret self. She’s Lady Whistledown, the gossip columnist whose sharp, scandalairing dispatches hold London’s most privileged denizens in thrall — and terror over where her pen might turn next.
“There’s a meme going around on social media about how people say that they want ‘complex female characters,’ but you couldn’t even handle her and it’s, like, Carrie Bradshaw,” said Irish actor Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope. “We have no lenience with women onscreen who make mistakes.”
As Coughlan pointed out, Penelope started her career as 1815’s answer to Perez Hilton when she was only 17, staring down a future in which the only ambition society allowed her was to bag a husband.
“She felt like this was how she was going to have her voice,” she said. “And also, it’s a supply-and-demand thing in this society. The Ton love gossip, they are fuelled by it. It’s their currency, it’s all they talk about. She’s just smart enough to capitalize on it.”
And when that business savvy, combined with a fear of being found out, leads to chaos in her personal life — as when she wrote an item betraying her best friend, Colin’s sister Eloise, last season — Coughlan stands by her character’s intrinsic goodness.
“She sometimes writes before she thinks and there are of course times when I’m like, ‘Come on, don’t do it,’ ” she said. “But who hasn’t sent a text they regret?”
Of course, “Bridgerton” has always been a pastel-coloured Trojan horse for the sort of juicy explorations of the human psyche that are creator and uber-showrunner Shonda Rhimes’ hallmark.
“We’re working with the queen of storytelling,” said Adjoa Andoh, who plays the court power broker Lady Danbury. “She’s interested in the stories of older women just as much as she’s interested in the stories of younger women.”
Behind the delicious intrigue, Andoh concludes it’s deathly serious. “We may be wearing fabulous frocks and the most amazing wigs, but there’s still a really baseline thing about these women understanding that in the world you have to keep things on track, and you have to be smart and strategic to do that.”