We Need To Talk About Penelope
Victoria: Last month, the minds at Bridgerton announced that season three of their show would not be following the third book of the series, which follows Benedict and his eventual wife, Sophie, and has a major Cinderella vibe (the book is hot and I recommend, though I think this is an unpopular opinion). Instead, it would be following Penelope (aka Lady Whistledown) and Colin as they finally get together.
This was not at all surprising to me. The end of season two left Penelope in a really emotionally devastating place — her best friend hates her, Colin has rejected her again, and it's maybe too dangerous to keep being Whistledown, the one thing that gave her any freedom or security. My poor girl! It makes a lot of sense for the next season to focus on her.
But somehow, a lot of people on the Internet don't agree! I will quote from a deeply deranged viral tweet I saw:
"this is an incredibly bad idea & that’s coming from someone who loves them. the bulk of the audience has no sympathy for pen in the wake of s2, so jumping right into her love story without having her try to redeem herself first is going to cause a huge drop in viewership."
The audience has no sympathy for Penelope after season 2??? What! What! What!
I suppose this person thinks Penelope's actions as Lady Whistledown are unforgivable. I don't really see how that's true? She hasn't always made the best or right choice, but let's think about Penelope for a second. She is one of three daughters. She has no currency on the marriage market — she doesn't have a huge dowry, she's not considered beautiful. She doesn't have a rich brother who can take her in if she never marries. Maybe if her sisters marry really well she could rely on them, but that's not necessarily likely, and she doesn't get along with them. Her whole life, she hasn't been good enough for anyone, and she can't fulfill the strict patriarchal expectations of her society.
The one thing she can do is write. And she does it in secret, and she does it well, and she makes herself money which she literally has no other avenue to do. I'm not co-signing all her actions — what she did to Marina was dirty. But it's not unforgivable! Finding forgiveness and acceptance of our flaws is a hallmark of romance!
I suppose some would say that what she did to Eloise was unforgivable, but she really did not have another choice. She had to prove Eloise wasn't Whistledown, and the only way to do so was to reveal something bad about her.
Ok I'll stop writing. Hayley give me your thoughts!
Hayley: I agree with you! I remember seeing that tweet and just thinking ....what?
For some reason (I have theories) people are acting like Penelope is the only person on this show to do something bad. To which I say,
Let's think about Anthony's egregiously bad behavior in S1, interfering in every aspect of Daphne's life. Or Daphne wading into consent grey areas during her early weeks of marriage to the Duke. And Kate's behavior in S2? Also bad! These are people doing complicated, messy, things. Anthony was super fucking annoying in S1, and no one was like "he better redeem himself before I root for him!"
Eloise and Penelope's friendship overall is frustrating to me, because frankly, Penelope deserves a better BFF. Eloise is blinded by her privilege even as she tries to eschew it. In a lot of ways, Penelope and Eloise have bonded over being like "fuck this shit" but to Penelope, this shit is very much front and center in her life and as you have pointed out, she does not have many options if she does not marry. Eloise, on the other hand, is a member of a rich family with many people who would provide for her life as a spinster if that's the life she chooses. Yeah, what Penelope did in outing Eloise was bad, and was a betrayal of trust, but even the show had a hard time making Eloise face any real consequences for her actions.
Penelope is incredibly smart and resourceful, making sure to take care of herself at every turn because no one else will (A survival trait that she actually gets from her mother, as we saw at the end of S2). And like most people hellbent on survival, she has made bad decisions along the way. But she really had no choice but to out Eloise to save her. I think that it is always devastating to see friendship breakups on screen, and this one was bad.
But if there is anyone who has to redeem themselves before S3, it's fucking COLIN.
Victoria: Yes I think this is an amazing point — Anthony, Daphne, the Duke, and Kate all behaved in really bad ways! Daphne obviously gets the most criticism for season one (which I think is ultimately right) but the Duke had no problems at all having sex with someone who had no idea what they were doing — like literally didn't have crucial knowledge about sex! Gross! This is why season two is superior, but I digress!
Colin really needs to STEP IT UP to deserve Pen! Colin is so annoying, truly, just whining on and on about his travels and how lost he is. You're a rich white man! Do literally anything! Stop whining! I'm excited to see how this will play out, but I just hope he's the romantic hero Penelope deserves.
To expand the scope for a second, in general sometimes I'm just baffled by how other people react to the normal conventions of storytelling. Like, I remember when My Mad Fat Diary aired three perfect seasons in the mid-2010s, people on Tumblr would complain that bad things happened to the main character every year. Besties, I've got bad news for you....that's a plot! I also saw similar grousing about Heartstopper (perfect, adore it, watch it if you never did), that fans didn't like that Nick was doing to Charlie what Charlie's ex did by making him keep their relationship a secret. The show obviously did this on purpose and Nick served as a foil to Charlie's ex. Nick was closeted, but he still respected Charlie, and eventually he realized he didn't want to hurt Charlie. Sometimes viewers don't give creators credit for....thinking about plot. Today the final two episodes of Stranger Things season four come out (maybe you'll know what happens by the time you read this) and I'm already prepared for people to say the ending is too depressing. But that's how storytelling works! Before you get to the ending, the heroes have to be laid low. Really low! Lower than low! I always think of Han Solo frozen in carbonite at the end of Empire Strikes Back.
So in a way, the Penelope and Eloise fight is Penelope's frozen in carbonite moment. She's gotta battle back. And I have every belief in her ability to do so.
Hayley: See what I like the most about our newsletter is that you get a detailed unpacking of Bridgerton with a dash of Star Wars thrown in. You are exactly correct, and I think that the fight between Penelope and Eloise is something that we really needed to happen in order to keep Bridgeton interesting.
I think that when you adapt books to TV, you have to spend more time expanding the relationships that each character has with each other. If Netflix is truly going to give us 8 seasons of Bridgerton, then we need to dig deeper into all the interpersonal relationships, and not just the romantic ones. Putting this huge fight at the end of S2 with Pen and Eloise gives us one more reason to tune back in, especially because Colin is so insufferable and I am not in the least bit interested in him. Yet. I think that S3 will give us a lot more conflict early on as Pen and Colin sort out their shit and find their way to each other. I haven't read the books, so I don't know how Pen and Colin (I refuse to use Polin) end up together. But ultimately they both need to grow, a lot!
One of my favorite things that S2 did was give us some flashbacks to see why Anthony had put up so many walls, and I think that this not only gave us a deeper appreciation of his journey, but it gave us more insight into Violet, too. The scene where Violet is in labor and the doctor essentially tells Anthony that he needs to choose whether to save Violet or the baby is absolutely brutal and heartbreaking (and the agency being taken away from the person giving birth, timely as ever!!!!) I hope that future seasons give us more character development for all the Bridgertons, which yes, is probably going to include conflict, because that's how we grow!
Stuff Hayley Likes:
My absolute favorite sparkling water flavor is Klarburnn Cherry Lime, and while I could get it easily at any grocery store when I lived in Wisconsin, it eludes me in Illinois. So I have found another absolute banger of a flavor, Waterloo Blackberry Lemonade. These berry/citrus blends is really where it's at!
My friend recently told me about the United Miles Google Chrome extension she uses to score extra airline miles when she makes purchases online and I am completely and fully obsessed. I am racking up miles without even thinking about it (Chewy gives you 2 miles/dollar spent) and I think I'm gonna become an insufferable "points" person, I can feel it happening.
I highly recommend Anne Helen Petersen's newsletter, Culture Study, if you aren't already subscribed. Also, royal fans should def subscribe to Elizabeth Holmes' (no, not that one) newsletter So Many Thoughts. And also if you want really cool newsletters about celebs/astrology and fashion/music that I write, then Elite Daily and NYLON are always here 4 u.
Things Victoria Recs:
I'm obsessed with my KitchenAid three-cup food processor. I've used it to make hummus, pesto, homemade ranch, vinaigrettes, other dips. She's perfect.
Disney+'s "Ms. Marvel" is so so good, and when you're all caught up read my interview series about it.
I'm obsessed with "The Bear" on Hulu, and I interviewed one of its stars, Ayo Edebiri!