Bridgerton Season 3 (2024)

Oh another season of Bridgerton, I felt about watching this series very similar to the book as I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it. Eventually, I did and did not regret it.

What is the story about?
During this season we follow Penelope and Colin. We also follow Francesca and John Sterlin. Whom I might argue have a more important storyline in this season, at least that is how it feels.

The trailer

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What did I think?
Although I know not everyone likes the re-casting of Francesca, I really like the new actress. She is a softer-spoken version of Daphne (played by Phoebe Dynevor) which fits her book character very well. Speaking of the book because the writers didn’t take into account the time difference between Bennedict’s marriage to Sophie (which has not happened yet) and Colin’s marriage to Penelope some of the storylines do not work. They also added in some other storylines where we get a season 1 but worse type of deal (as it doesn’t fit with the characters at all). It’s a bit sad I suppose as I don’t think the story needs all this extra. They are good enough on their own.

Watching this season I felt similar to when I was reading the books. I liked the story, I liked Penelope, and I liked her story but I didn’t love it. Making it a very stark contrast to the first two seasons (and the first three books). I loved Daphne, I really liked Antony’s story as I related to book Kate so much. I didn’t love Benedict’s story as much as the other two but their story was so different from the one before that I didn’t like it as much as I had hoped I would. It’s still really good though but not my favourite. The make-up and nails this season were a bit of an up-and-down thing but that happens of course. Penelople’s transformation wasn’t as drastic as it was in the book but again in the book it took a lot longer and was a lot more mental, which is difficult to show in the show. I think it would always be difficult as the actress herself is so very pretty in whatever they put her in so it didn’t feel as big as it was in the book. I did really like her dresses this season. I do think, as it is in the show clearly isn’t about her weight (and good on them it shouldn’t be). They should have chosen something else, like making her a bit more awkward in other seasons. or something else such as making her hemlines a tad too short or her makeup a bit out of place. things that you couldn’t put your finger on but later on when she ‘changed’ you can go ah yeah she is different.

As it is now it is very offputting to have people regard her as if she was ugly before when she wasn’t and when the transformation isn’t that noticeable. It takes you very much out of the story and makes you wonder if everyone is alright because I was not at all seeing what they were saying. The only real difference is the colour of the clothes.

Francheska’s actress (Hannah Dodd) really embodied Franscheka so beautifully. She is less boisterous than Eloise, different from Daphne as she has this spark growing up much closer to their big brothers. Francheska is very much her own person and personality which in many ways is different from her family and this was shown so very well.

I know this is a controversial point but at the end of the season, we meet John’s cousin and in the book he is called Micheal and in the series she is called Michaela. Besides the inability of women to inherit a title which is a bit of a silly point as it is a show. They can (and frequently do) change things easily enough. The trouble I have I suppose is that it comes across as if Franceska didn’t fully love her first husband as she has eyes for the cousin right away. Now, I have since read the book and yes the relationship between Franceska and Micheal is different it is doing a disservice towards John to make it seem as if Franceska would have eyes for another right away.

She is faithful throughout her story and she struggles with the idea of falling in love again. I can also understand women who struggle with infertility to feel a kinship with Franceska and be upset that this taboo storyline will be swept under the rug. For an LGBT plotline I personally would have chosen a different sibling, I think it would have worked really well for Eloise’s story for example. I don’t really feel any type of way about it as it is clearly something the writers feel strongly about. But can understand where people are coming from. Personally, I would have liked that look in the last episode to not be there, as it does a disserve as I said to who Franceska is and it’s unnecessary as well. I do hope they will leave their story to after John’s death as it would make me very sad if they would make Franceska a cheater.

It’s a difficult story to write I imagine as it can come across as her marrying John because it is ‘the thing to do’ instead of what she wanted and I think in this context it’s not how one should portray a queer relationship. Because she can easily be both. She can love her husband and enjoy their time together. She can then, after her husband dies fall in love again and this time with a woman and that wouldn’t change the love she shared with her husband. This concept isn’t wrong and it’s the most faithful to the source material and it feels as if they are about to change that too when they don’t need to. Just because she falls in love with someone else later in her life doesn’t change what she had before and this is regardless of gender.

Finally, consequences are never reached in this series. This season they tried to give Cressida an arc this season but I couldn’t really get behind that. I felt for her I really did but the whole relationship with Eloise came out of nowhere. I liked Eloise less because of it, especially when Cressida was mean to Daphne as well. To add to that, Cressida has been on the marriage mart as long as Penelope and no one treats her differently which is why the Penelope arc feels so odd.

I didn’t like Benedict’s storyline this season at all. I found the intimate scenes a bit much and not because it was a threesome but the way it was shot I didn’t like it. I felt I was seriously intruding on someone’s private time. Overal, the season was enjoyable to watch but a bit of a miss in comparison to the other seasons.

Other reviews of this series
Season 1 // Season 2
Book 1 // Book 1, part 2 // Book 2 // Book 3 // Book 4