‘Bridgerton’ Season 3, Part 2 Review – Two Bridgertons And A Stirling

The latter half of Bridgerton’s third season looks forward to the future. When we last left off, Penelope Featherington was on the cusp of deciding her fate – and an err “afterglow” – as her dear Colin Bridgerton asked her to marry him. Quickly, things are set in motion as the family celebrates, but the celebration becomes short-lived as Eloise, the bestie and sister caught in the middle, decides to bestow the soon-to-be bride with an ultimatum instead of a blessing as she demands Penelope come clean about being Lady Whistledown.

Unfortunately, Colin discovers the truth on his own putting a strain on the newly engaged and rather quickly married couple. However, they weren’t the only Bridgerton’s celebrating love in the Ton, Miss Francesca and her love John are also engaged. Of course, these couples finally wed just in time for Penelope to reveal herself to the Ton and Francesca to meet Michaela, John’s cousin and (spoiler alert) her future love interest once our dearly beloved John well… dearly departs.

Overall, this season was one of the best. It had something for everyone: lovers, writers, wallflowers, and dreamers alike. And like the first half, the second continued to be fast-paced though at times it felt anti-climactic namely when Penelope revealed herself to the Ton. This is the biggest “tea” the society has ever encountered, and nothing really comes of it at that moment. Sure, it opens the door for future payoffs, but more was needed in that time to truly grasp how big of a deal it was to realize that the individual warrior was right in their faces the entire time. 

The same can be said for Francesca and John’s wedding. Fans were left disappointed in the rather melancholy outcome of the unexpected romance they’d spent the season falling in love with. Then to make matters worse, that love story was almost completely forgotten as soon as Francesca’s next love interest came in. However, the secret shining stars of the remaining episodes were the Featheringtons. The sisters proved to be more than one dimensional “evil stepsister” archetypes and Lady Featherington herself reminded us that a mother’s love knows no bounds.

The ending of the season opened the door for the next phase of the Bridgerton family as several family members leave the Ton and Penelope continues to write, this time dropping the Pseudonym and officially naming herself as Lady Penelope Bridgerton in forthcoming societal papers. She also has a new title to add to her name – mommy – as audiences were shocked to discover Penelope had been pregnant for most of the second half of the season!

While it’s arguable as to whether this was the most romantic season, viewers were left feeling the love, thereby allowing Shondaland to yet again have another winning series under its belt that’s sure to return for more. However, the showrunner did say that it would likely take at least two years for our beloved Bridgerton to return.

Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton did an amazing job bringing Penelope and Colin or #Polin’s love story to life and Hannah Dodd was a true diamond as Francesca Bridgeton and a gracious nod must be given to her amazing onscreen partner Victor Alli as John Stirling. The two made quite an impression as their portrayal of a [seemingly] socially anxious couple was one many had not seen before.

As for what happens next, who knows? There’s adequate material and loose ends for the writers to go in several directions, so for now all there’s left to do is wait and rewatch to your heart’s content because if there’s one thing Shondaland knows how to do, it’s creating bingeable TV.

Bridgerton is now available to stream on Netflix.