Lady Whistledown has picked up her quill once again to write about another scandalous season of courtship between the eligible men and women of the 19th century. Season two of “Bridgerton” was released on Netflix on Friday, March 25. This season follows the first born Bridgerton child, Anthony played by Jonathan Bailey, as he searches for a wife.
Like many others, I was obsessed with season one when it originally came out. The clothes, accents and romance were enough to keep me entertained for countless hours. So when I realized it was time for season two, I did what any die-hard fan would do and cleared my Saturday so I could sit down and binge watch the entire season in one sitting. Needless to say, I fell completely and utterly in love with this season — and I’m not the only one.
Here is the spoiler warning for this article; I am not going to go into too much detail about the events of the season, but I will be listing my favorite parts which could give away a thing or two.
For those of you who haven’t watched, here’s a brief recap: Anthony makes his plans to find a wife clear, though the type of woman he is looking for is one that is pretty, has wide hips for child bearing and if he’s lucky, has half a brain for conversation. He thinks he finds his perfect match in Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), the young woman who the Queen names the diamond of the season (like Daphne was in season one). All seems well for Anthony, until he meets Edwina’s sister Kathani Sharma (Simone Ashley).
Kathani (Kate) is everything
Anthony hates; She’s argumentative, opinionated, competitive, stubborn and the two are bickering from the moment they meet. Kate tries to thwart Anthony’s efforts to court her sister by not only getting in the way, but by pushing her sister towards other suitors.
At first, they truly cannot stand one another — but like any good enemies to lovers duo, these two go from insulting each other to not being able to keep their hands off one another. There are a few hiccups along the way, like Anthony’s engagement to Edwina and her leaving him at the altar because she realizes he’s in love with her sister — but hey, they got there in the end.
It’s hard for me to choose my favorite moment between Kate and Anthony. I loved the way they constantly compete with one another. I loved how their personalities are basically two sides of the same coin. I loved that they understand one another better than anyone else because they have very similar values and pasts. Most of all, though, I loved Kate’s determination to follow the path she built for herself on her own.
Oh, and we have to talk about the swoon worthy lines coming from Anthony. “You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires.” Talk about swoon-worthy. And how about him saying, “I know I am imperfect, but I will humble myself before you because I cannot imagine my life without you, and that is why I wish to marry you?” There’s so much more.
You cannot talk about the beauty of this season without talking about its seamless integration of Edwina and Kate’s South Asian culture. A large reason “Bridgerton” has been praised online is because not only did it include traditional South Asian practices like hair oiling and wearing bangles on one’s wedding day, but it did so without making that the focus of the character. In other words, Kate and Edwina were written as characters beyond their ethnicities — of course they are a part of both of them, but it is not all they are.
Countless fans took to platforms like Twitter and TikTok to express their pride in seeing an actress like Ashley who resembles them playing a strong lead in a show like this.
One Twitter user said, “Bridgerton did a superb job at the South Asian representation. Kate and Edwina were characters that were Indian. They didn’t awkwardly point out that they were brown. They incorporated our culture so beautifully with the jewelry, the haldi mask, the hair oiling and the fabrics.”
This season by far had some of the greatest moments “Bridgerton” fans have seen thus far — inside and outside of the love story. Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) have easily become two of my favorite characters. Between Benedict’s sarcasm and hilarious facial expressions when he’s mocking his older brother and that one scene where he has a little too much … tea, he stole the show.
Elosie’s storyline was, at points, more enjoyable to watch than any other. Her and Theo — a new standard has been set for relationships of book-lovers. If anyone read books and set them aside because they thought of me and wanted me to read them so we could talk about them together, I think I would fall in love immediately.
The actors and actresses were phenomenal in this season. I could feel the chemistry between Bailey and Ashley through my screen. On all accounts, I was amazed. But the actor who blew me away the most was Bailey. His delivery of some of his, now iconic, lines was beyond belief. But what amazed me the most were two scenes in particular: the one showing how his dad died and everything immediately after, and his reaction to finding out Kate was okay after her accident.
I sobbed watching both these scenes. His acting was truly top notch and it was incredible to watch.
If I had to say one negative thing about this season, and only if I must, it would be that the Featherington’s got way too much screen time. I understand they needed aspects of it to set up the plot of the next season, but I would have loved to see some more Kanthony screen time.
Somehow, this season pulled together a love story that was enemies to lovers, love at first sight and forbidden love all in one go. It was no surprise when Netflix announced “Bridgerton” season two was watched for 193 million hours during its premiere weekend, making it the most successful English-language TV series on the platform to date that has also been renewed for seasons three and four.
Next season will follow the artist of the Bridgerton family, Benedict. Although I can’t imagine anything will top this season, I hope they’ll prove me wrong!
