Bridgerton Season 1 (2020)

For me, it might be a hard thing to admit that I did not want this series because everyone was watching it and because Netflix kept recommending it to me. I eventually started the series anyway and here we are. What is the story about?
Wealth, lust, and betrayal are set against the backdrop of Regency-era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family.This is the ‘gossip girl’ meets ‘dramatic view of history’ series you never asked for. But glad you got. I got this information here.

The trailer

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What did I think?
The fact that the staff knows absolutely everything. And the greatest gift to all woman is their ability to talk to one another, to gossip, and this can have good consequences for one of the parties involved. This I must say was special and important to see. I think a lot of people look back at those days and think that women have no power whatsoever. Maybe this was true from the perspective of the law. Yet, we all know that even then women knew how to get things done. People that lived so many years ago weren’t that different from us. For some, this might come as a surprise but truly women ran it all (It might have been more hidden than it is now). All boys know to listen to their mothers and husbands know that a happy wife is a happy life.

Not everyone married for love of course. Although I do believe one can come to love someone else. Besides this, some people had an understanding between the two of them. It must have been hard I can only imagine if you didn’t want to marry in that way. For people who didn’t wish to have relations and for people who wished to have relations with someone like themselves. Nowadays most people don’t tend to see marriage the way they did back then. Back then, marriage was a thing to strive for, a thing everyone would have to seek out. There was not much choice in the matter. I think this is because it’s not frowned upon today if people are sexually active before they are married. In a lot of ways this is a good thing, you shouldn’t be forever ruined because you kissed someone, and if you are in an awful relationship you should always have the ability to leave. However back then, it wasn’t like that. When you truly liked someone and you wanted to be with them. You had one option which was marriage. Whereas now people can date or ‘talk’ or just have relations. This is also why it’s been said in the series that there are two reasons to marry fast ‘a scandal’ or ‘true love’. The latter might sound odd but imagine you meet someone that you like. You become fast friends and there is so much attraction there but you cannot do anything about it until you are married. Waiting for a one-month engagement. We shall only imagine how difficult this must be. I do then understand why people choose to marry quickly, especially if when the attraction is there, it’s far too easy to find yourself in a scandal. The series was interesting to me as it emphasized the power a woman holds and the struggles they face in a men’s world. Women helped their husbands succeed. We all know the saying that behind every successful man is his wife.

This series wasn’t historically accurate, especially the clothes and hair. Personally, I didn’t mind this. Now this might be a bit of a weird opinion as I have seen a lot of people say that this is something they dislike. But I feel that we look at the series with the eyes of today so the show needs us to feel the way they would have if it was 1800. So, we need to like Daphne’s outfits, we need to think they are fashionable, and we need to look at the Featherington’s and see that their dresses are pretty but just missed the mark. The queen has to look although elaborate a bit dated. We need to understand, we need to feel the way we would have felt back then. Which they did perfectly. If they put these people in dresses that were supposed to be very cute back in 1800 I don’t think most people would see it that way.

I did think it to be interesting that they made the girls in the series be just that, girls. Because honestly, all of them grew up so sheltered so lacking in what it means to be a wife let alone a woman. I think it was good for us to understand that they were just girls, with dreams and hopes. Girls who had to become women over a single season. I enjoyed the fact that they didn’t stay away from the taboos. An unwed mother, a homosexual relationship. Those things were part of the world back then just as they are today. However today, we are so lucky the world looks at it differently. It shows in a sense how far most of us have come. Like I said before it was interesting to see how little women knew before they married. I always liked history and I think they did a good job with the rules of society and the taboos. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for these women to marry and to have no idea.

Take Daphne for example, the duke doesn’t want to marry her because at the end of the day, he doesn’t allow himself to be happy. Which is sad itself, he also thinks he isn’t good enough for Daphne. We have to understand though that when people find out they have kissed, she would be ruined. Simon was very selfish by not wanting to marry her right away. Especially because we all know he wanted to be with her anyway.

I disliked Marina Thompson’s storyline more than anything. I think her character was really bad (the actress was wonderful though). She was such a foolish girl with foolish ideas about the future. And I get it as everyone wants to marry for love. Yet still, she was so ungrateful to the Featherington’s. I do get it from her point of view, but they put everything on the line for this girl and she wasn’t grateful. I mean I understand her not wanting old men but there are so much better ways to go about all of it. I thought it showed her poor character when she talked back to people, I understand you don’t want to marry this man but you could at least be kind, as he never did anything to you.

Speaking of which, I was happy people found out for Colin’s sake. He showed too that it wouldn’t have mattered to him if he had been honest. That was her biggest downfall, her lack of honesty. Another example of why I didn’t like her storyline is how Daphne graciously wrote a letter to help Marina and Marina then said it wouldn’t make a difference because Simon didn’t sign it. Eventually, I felt for her, when she heard the news. I felt for her in general but her behaviour didn’t fit with the rest of her story. I also feel that her ex-lover’s brother was a man of great character, not old and not ugly. I think she could have been off far worse.

Speaking of people I do like, Penelope was such a darling and I wanted nothing but the best for her character. I also wanted to throw every yellow dress away. I hope she will come into her own in the next season and tell her mum to do away with the Yellow. She looks so much better in pink. I think the way they put Simon’s storyline together was interesting.  When I started watching I disliked him, but over the season he grew a lot as a person. Which made me like him a lot more. Even re-watching the first episode I once again can’t stand Simon it shows that Regé-Jean Page, is a  great actor. Luckily, later on, we find enough to like about the Duke of Hastings. Honestly, It took me a while to enjoy Daphne and Simon’s relationship but as they fell in love, I did too. However, I think they have serious problems regarding their communication. But I think that they fit well together, we can see their chemistry and love especially after they got married.

I enjoyed the fact that Daphne learned to be a woman, she grew up and learned to listen to understand to love. But to also work for it. I can see a lot of character growth from both of them. For Simon to understand what is truly important and for Daphne to understand that perfection really shouldn’t be the goal. Also, I felt they could have put the stuttering in more as not everyone grows out of it. And it would have made a lot more sense in some parts of the story. Especially the big fight Simon and Daphne had. Lastly, I would like to add that I enjoy Violet Bridgerton (Daphne’s mum) as she tried to give her daughters the best possible life. Telling Eliose that she doesn’t wish to push her to get into the dating game so to speak. And how she tells Daphne that when you love someone some slip-ups might happen and that at the end of the day, this doesn’t matter. That for the time is such a refreshingly modern view. I enjoyed this, you can see that she and her daughter have a great relationship. I loved how they were able to put this on screen. One of my other favourite Characters is Lady Danbury so I enjoyed that she and Violet Bridgerton had screen time together. Both of these ladies saw what we also did. The love between Simon and Daphne and they worked hard to make a true love match happen. This series might not be for everyone but I surely enjoyed it.

Adult content
I know, I know. But we have to. I think it makes me uncomfortable to see all of this. Because it is become a bit too much in series and films. I am no prude but ‘show not tell’ might not be the best course of action in this case. Maybe it is just that we should stay away from people’s marital beds even if it is for a show. If you don’t like such content you can skip forward and not miss a lot of the story.

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Lots of love,
Melissa