A new season! A chance to restart the game with some unknown players but with the same rules. As it was for the high society of 19th-century London gossiping about which rich young men were courting which attractive young ladies at this year’s social events, so it is for a hit TV show upon its return that does the job has to offer the same. but different. The writers of Netflix hit series Bridgerton enjoy some knowing puns as their characters spend the first episode of the second run wondering what this “new season” will bring.
what does it hold A new protagonist to start with, according to Julia Quinn’s sourcebooks, dealing with each of the eight Bridgerton siblings in turn. Eldest daughter Daphne is now married and almost entirely absent, so the pressure is on elder son Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), to choose the best woman in town and turn her into a viscountess. Before jumping back into the merry-go-round of balls, parties and concerts, he meets Kate (Simone Ashley), a fascinating stranger with whom he shares a provocative exchange, the kind of encounter that really gets him excited. Dutifully forgetting that, he rocks to the first prom of the season and is introduced to Edwina (Charithra Chandran), an impressively capable guy who is soon destined to be the ideal fiancée for a man Anthony’s stature. Guess who Edwina’s older sister is.
Season 1’s sex scenes felt like an integral part of the plot, not just glazed figs on a large confection
You don’t need to have read a lot of contact novels to know how the love triangle between Anthony, Kate and Edwina will unfold, which doesn’t exactly help with the challenge of the second season. Bridgerton is still sweeter and bubbly than competing historical dramas, with its sly anachronisms and racially diverse cast that other west-busters not only play in the past, but get stuck there. However, those things are now expected of her, rather than being a pleasant surprise like they were when the show debuted in 2020. We know roughly what we’re getting, so it’s unfortunate that in the case of this main narrative, we know exactly what we’re getting. What will come to be known as the “bee sting panic attack” scene is one of the less successful attempts to liven up some of the obvious story beats.
We’re also missing equivalents to season one’s famous sex scenes, which, apart from being unusually explicit for the genre and focusing primarily on the female experience, felt like an integral part of the plot, not just glacé figs on a big confection. A product of the original romance between Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne and sadly deceased breakout star Regé-Jean Page as the intense Duke of Hastings, they were a heady, horny, boisterous thing – in other words, young love. But now we’re dealing with a story of emotions clashing with responsibilities that’s more mature and just not that much fun.
That’s not to say Bridgerton’s joys have evaporated. It’s still amusing to note that the strings play covers of You Oughta Know, Material Girl or, when the Queen bestows the title Diamond on the most coveted debutante, Diamonds by Rihanna in the background. The gardens are lush, the houses are colossal and there is great horsing through the parkland. Adjoa Andoh continues to excel as Lady Danbury, the all-seeing doyenne of the scene, more majestic than the queen proper, and the kind of materteral, dogged connoisseur that good historical drama tends to revolve around.
The rolling subplot about a scandalous gossip pamphlet by the non-existent Lady Whistledown also gains new energy after audiences begin to trust who this journalistic pimpernel is following the season one finale. Now we can watch them try to avoid detection while confronting the power they wield. Not all of the minor storylines contribute as effectively, but one that does is that of socialite Eloise, whose intellectual curiosity leads her into a romance across class lines, crystallized through a beautiful interpretation of the trope of two people saying that they say they love each other without loving each other. As Eloise, Claudia Jessie remains the funniest presence on a show that could use a pinch of more outspoken comedy and a little less arrogant sass.
In the closing scene, as the players gather for a turf fireworks display to celebrate another set of loose ends, Bridgerton is in the best of health and ready for no doubt many more seasons to come. However, next time it may have to work harder to feel new.