As an avid reader myself, who had the pleasure of reading Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent and books like it growing up. Only to see those books get adapted into hugely successful movies that somehow could never capture the true essence of the books, I understand the pleasure in whinging as much as the next reader. However, there is a limit to everything. And lately, fandom culture and especially booktok / bookstagram (whatever space you’re in), has become so toxic.
Because there is making valid complaint about a text. There’s whinging slightly about a text. And then there’s making not liking an adaptation your entire personality. If you have spent the past three seasons complaining incessantly about Bridgerton and promising at the end of each season that this time, this time, you’ll DNF, please just DNF. You really don’t need to finish a show you find this painful.
I understand that sometimes bitching is fun. But there’s a limit to everything. And the limit arrives when non-book readers start wishing you’d just shut up and do yourself the favour of skipping out on watching the adaptation. Especially when the complaint starts sounding homophobic and racist. Just do yourself a favour and stick to the books.
Please.
And yes, for once I did not read the books before watching the adaptation. And I will admit that I definitely prefer the adaptation. I tried reading “The Duke And I” and found myself enjoying it in the same way I enjoyed Wattpad novels growing up. Sure, if teenage me had picked up this book, she might’ve grown an obsession but adult me watched the show first and adult me prefers the diversity, the acting, the set design, the deviation from accuracy in favour of aesthetic and creativity. Adult me really wishes that they would just stop putting marital rape in romance novels when they’re not going to actually punish the marital rape or even portray it to be a bad thing.
Now I’m definitely not saying the book was badly written. I have a lot of respect for the author and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I read the book first. But having watched the show first, I definitely found myself comparing and the book just wasn’t my cup of tea in comparison to the show. The show did something different and new. Whereas I’ve probably read countless books that follow the same themes of blurring consent and making every single love interest an asshole with a sobstory. It’s a well written story but it’s also one you can find countless versions of.
Can you honestly say the same for the Bridgerton show? I genuinely think that the level of diversity, creativity and thought put into this show coupled with its massive success is going to pave the way for greater representation for all of us.
So I’m biased. And you don’t have to like my opinion. You don’t have to like the show. Just do us the favour of sticking to what you like: the books.
And now, after my own whinge, let’s get onto my review.
Can We Get Colin’s Original Personality Back Please?
Among the Bridgerton men, Colin was by far my favourite at the beginning. He wasn’t a man whore and he had three main joys in this world: travelling, writing and Penelope (plus his family too I guess but that goes without saying). Season 3 kind of wrecked that.
I’m not going to lie. I found myself cheering when Penelope roasted him for his douchy new personality. The man deserved it for acting so uppity. Like yeah man, you come from a rich family, having the money to travel doesn’t mean you’re automatically more intelligent. It just means you’re rich.
The man had every opportunity to create success for himself and he instead chose to make travelling his entire personality. And upon hearing that Penelope, despite being a woman from a struggling family, achieved success he could only dream of, he was envious. And yes, he did have valid reasons to be angry with her. But among the valid reasons is also a huge amount of jealousy.
And as much as I hate that deviation, I also appreciate it. It is so realistic. And I know that’s not what we want from our fictional men and he does come around in the end. He gets humbled and he realises what he truly wants. He finally publishes his book. And I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next in his journey.
The Butterfly Metaphor Was Perfection
Penelope Featherington cannot be critiqued. I don’t care that she did bad things. Honestly, I could probably find it in myself to justify the bad deeds of every female character in this show. They did what they could in the time that they lived. Is it a bad thing that Penelope shit talked everyone in her life and omitted the truth from her family, friend and husband? Yes. But is it understandable? Absolutely.
We’re talking about a girl who wrote because she felt powerless. And in doing that, she connected with her entire neighbourhood. She managed to earn enough to sustain herself for a lifetime: married or not. And she often used her power and influence to do good. She saved Daphne from being entrapped by a predator. She exposed shady dealings. She’s not perfect but she’s also a teenager whose writing has not been overseen by a parent.
I’m sure every writer can attest to the fact that we’ve written some things we would never publish as an adult during our formative years. It’s a rite of passage. It just so happened that Penelope made a lot of money with her ranting.
And because of all that, I adore the butterfly scene. Penelope getting in front of a crowd, acknowledging who she really is and promising to do better is the perfect embodiment of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis.
Benedict And Francesca Bridgerton: Bi icons
Did I skip through all the threesome scenes? Yes! Is it because I think there’s anything wrong with a threesome? No! But honestly, there were so many sex scenes in this show that I kind of got over them. I found myself skipping through most of the sex scenes anyway. I’m pretty sure the only one I really focused on is the carriage scene. Otherwise, boring, NEXT!
But I don’t mind Benedict being poly. Just like I didn’t mind all the theories about him being gay or bi. I suppose book readers will be more affronted if there is no Sophie to be found but this show has made so many changes, by the time it’s over, it may become an in name only adaptation. And I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. With adaptations, you can either try and stick as close to the source material as possible or you can say screw it and do what you want while still using the original concepts. Both can work.
And I’m excited to see where they’ll take his story. But getting mad before we even see what happens is a waste of energy. Wait until they disappoint you before you’re disappointed. And that goes for Francesca’s storyline as well. You don’t know what they’re going to do yet. Bridgerton might not even get enough seasons for there to BE a Francesca story. Why get mad now?
Queer representation is so limited that making this much of a fuss about two fictional characters being bisexual makes you sound like a douchebag. The books are still there. And no one is entitled to an adaptation of any story. There are lots of books that never get adapted. And fortunately or unfortunately, whatever contract Julia Quinn signed means that hopefully she’ll get a lot of money but also that she’ll watch her story get reimagined. I think that book readers should have known from the very beginning that there were going to a lot of creative liberties taken from the moment white characters were made into black ones.
This also isn’t a blind casting situation. The characters’ race is baked into the story. Queen Charlotte is an entirely new character. That entire show is not canon to the books. Which means that you can’t really get through multiple seasons and a spin off of an adaptation so loosely connected to the original books and still get angry. There’s a point where the anger is justified and a point where it comes across as wilfully blind.
If you can’t stand to watch the show change important arcs from the books, I beg you, please stop watching. I promise you that it’s not going to get any better for you. They’re only going to deviate more from the original storyline the further we get. And frankly, they have no motivation to do otherwise, I would argue that the show is this popular BECAUSE of the diversity. I know so many viewers of this show who never read the books. I myself have no desire to read them. Everything I hear about the storyline and characters just convince me I will be disappointed.
I Can’t Believe They Made Me Like The Featheringtons
When I first started this show, the only Featherington I liked was Penelope. I hated how her sisters bully her and I hated how her mother belittled and put down every woman outside of her two eldest daughters. I also wasn’t a fan of what she did to Marina. But as soon as Lord Featherington died, I found myself understanding her more. And the more you see of her, the more you realise that at the end of the day, she’s just a woman trying to protect her daughters in a society that makes them easily exploitable. And I respect that.
But I really think season 3 was the season of the sisters. I have to give Portia credit for willing to be humbled. She heard one heartfelt speech and CHOSE to change her behaviour. And I don’t believe it was all to impress the Bridgertons. I genuinely think she regretted how she acted to begin with. And by actually holding her daughters accountable, she paved the way for the sisters to grow close and develop a genuine connection.
And I adore Philippa for creating a distraction to stop people judging her sister. At the end of the day, she may bully Penelope but no one else is allowed to. That’s HER sister!
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, it’s not that deep. If you disagree with everything I’ve said, you hate the show and will continue to watch it for another 60 seasons if needed, that’s your prerogative. I care in the same way I’d care if, while at a movie theatre trying to watch a movie, I had to deal with people who kept throwing popcorn at the screen shouting “That’s not the way it happened in the books”. It’s annoying but I’ll live. And you know what, I get it. I’ve also been that annoying book reader shouting about how much better the book is and how wrong the writers are for not creating a 20 hour movie and including absolutely everything that happened in the book.
But I think it’s important, as fans, to not allow fictional worlds to inspire us to forget basic respect and common sense. That stuff is tacky enough when you’re a teenager. When you’re an adult and you’re still getting into heated debates with online strangers and resorting to personal attacks over an opinion over a TV show, it will make people question your sanity.
And I’ve been there. Even now, I find myself drawn in when someone says something particularly insulting. But I remind myself that the block button exists for a reason. I remind myself that I am an adult with a job and the internet is forever. I don’t want to look back and be confronted by my own shady behaviour. So let’s all be respectful.
If you liked this review, read part 1.
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