REVIEW: Bridgerton, Season 4, Episodes 5-8
Janine: The second half of Bridgerton’s fourth season has dropped, Sirius and I have watched all the episodes, and now it’s time to discuss Sophie, Benedict, the rest of the Bridgertons, as well as London high society circa Shondaland’s Regency era.
I may be putting the cart before the horse with this question, Sirius, but how do you feel about this half of the season relative to the first half? Did it disappoint you, live up to your expectations, or exceed them? Why or why not?
Sirius: It was the second half of the story, so it delivered for the most part what I expected – happy ending for Benedict and Sophie (and man, that was lovely).
Janine: I thought it was the stronger of the two halves. Sophie, Benedict, and their relationship came into stronger focus. I liked that it got sexier and I could feel the emotional intimacy between them growing, too. The sections where Benedict was at odds with his mother and his brother Anthony because they felt (at first) that he shouldn’t marry Sophie were great, and I thought the bathtub scene was really sexy. I could feel attraction growing into love. In the first couple of episodes I didn’t quite understand why Benedict sought his mystery lady so hard, but by the end of the season I really believed in this couple. You?
Sirius: Yes I liked the emotional intimacy between them and physical intimacy too. I believed in them as well, but I already believed in them by the end of the first half, I think show built them up very well.
I have to say some small things on the side actually surprised me. First was Araminta. I mean, I have not expected to love her by the end of the season or anything like that, but I actually ended up hating her *so much*. I don’t know why – she was set up as a villain of the season already, but I just did not expect her to be so irrationally angry. She almost felt like a caricature to me – I know she was giving explanation of her treatment of Sophie at the end, but it just sounded so ridiculous to me, both explanation and her behavior, trying to put to jail someone she already tormented so much. So yes, this was a surprise – the extent of my negative feelings for her.
Janine: I agree that Araminta was a caricature, bordering on over the top. She personified the wicked stepmother, which suited the season’s Cinderella theme, but it was almost too much. I didn’t hate her that much; for me the most easy to hate villains are those whose motives for the villainy are relatable — they were genuinely wronged in a way they didn’t deserve at all, and it warped their worldview or destroyed their ability to love. Araminta didn’t have that kind of dimension, but I did have a moment or two of genuinely hating her after she had Sophie locked up from pure hatred, and I think the way Araminta confided her vulnerabilities to Posy was a big part of why I reacted that way.
What did you think of Araminta’s younger daughter, Posy? I have a soft spot for her.
Sirius: I liked Posy, but I was confused. If her storyline was a rebellion against her wicked mother , it felt unfinished to me. I definitely liked her though.
Janine: To me her storyline was just about liking Sophie enough to help her, even though Posy had to overcome her fear of her mother to do it.
Sirius: The second surprise for me was the new Lady Whistledown. I did not expect that, but I also liked that a lot, because let’s face it as much as I love Penelope her being Lady Whistledown in the open for me just was not as much fun as in secrecy.
Janine: I was happy too. This show would not be itself without the framing the Whistledown narration provides, and when Penelope retired her alter ego, I was worried about whether I could even like Bridgerton if they took that element out of it. I’m very glad they didn’t.
Who do you think the new Lady Whistledown is? My money is on Alice Mondrich or maybe Michaela. We know for sure it isn’t Cressida, and it doesn’t seem in Eloise’s style.
Sirius: OOOO Alice Mondrich sounds good. She was telling the Queen how much she (Queen) loves good gossip and what did she say about Lady Whistledown? I definitely think she may have decided to provide some herself to the ton.
I loved Sophie just as much as I loved her in the first half. I still think she is an amazing actress and would happily watch a movie of almost any genre with her in.
Janine: I did really like Sophie and I agree that Yerin Ha is a good actress, but when a friend of mine pointed that Sophie lost all her initial anger over the class structure that held her down soon after leaving Araminta’s employ, I had to agree. I do think the storyline would have been stronger if she’d retained just a touch more of that indignation. Not become a revolutionary, necessarily, but still be someone who didn’t so easily accept injustice.
Sirius: Just to clarify, indignation about class system as in her (Sophie) being a maid or her being illegitimate child of a noble? Because to me, especially by the end of the season I think it sounded very believable that Sophie may have been more distraught about perceived betrayal of her father who presumably left her without any dowry than the fact that she ended up having to be a maid. I think the evolution of her story worked quite well for me and made sense.
Janine: I mean the unjust treatment that servants received, because she wasn’t just thrown out on the streets by Araminta, she also suffered at the hand of her next employer (the one Benedict helped her leave) as did her friend. It seemed at first that she felt some anger over that and then it faded away. And yes, she was disappointed in her father, but I didn’t feel she was indignant about that. I’m not saying her focus on her personal history didn’t make sense, but rather that I think the story would have been stronger with that kind of social commentary. In Season 2 (I think) when Eloise was briefly involved with the printer boy, I thought the class difference theme added so much. With Benedict and Sophie there was also a class difference, and a little (not a lot) more focus on it would have enhanced the season.
Sirius: I understand what you are saying but the lack of stronger focus did not bother me at all. I was fine with Sophie’s storyline as it was.
Let me ask you this though, what was up with all the uproar about Benedict asking her to be his mistress? Because seriously, what else was he supposed to do no matter how much he loved her, if she was of lower birth? I mean, we discussed about the show not really being a history in the last post and before, but occasionally it sort of pretends and I think here it did and again what was with all the uproar?
But I really enjoyed them both together, so I rolled my eyes but moved along.
Janine: It wasn’t as sharp a conflict as it would have been in a more realistic setting, but I do get how Sophie, illegitimate herself, knows that a child born out of wedlock may not have the same kind of security or fair treatment. Even though Benedict would have loved them, we saw that their child would not have been dotes upon by aunts and uncles the way Anthony and Kate’s was. I could understand if Sophie wanted that for her child.
Sirius: I could have completely understand if Sophie wanted that for her child, I just was not sure how she saw her relationship with Benedict developed. I mean I know she tried to not enter into one initially, I guess I was more rolling my eyes at the indignation about Benedict than her wanting something more.
Janine: I haven’t read An Offer from a Gentleman so I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that was a holdover from the book. A lot of 1990s historical romances had that trope, where the wealthy hero offers the impoverished heroine a position as his mistress, but she is upset and outraged that he lacks respect for her enough to think she would agree to it. Reputation was so important back then. If Bridgerton’s Regency that had more authenticity this would have worked better.
One thing I really enjoyed this season was how we saw Benedict mature. He starts out aimless and feckless, but falling in love with Sophie makes him step up to the plate and fight for them. I thought it was a strong character arc and that actor Luke Thompson did a good job with it. His conversations and confrontations with Violet were especially satisfying to me. What did you think about him in these last four episodes?
Sirius: It was a holdover from the book indeed from what I understand. I have not read the book, do not get me wrong, but I do try to read a summary and I have read that apparently show tried to soften this storyline that apparently in the book Benedict makes his proposal much earlier, but again this is from the secondary source, so I am not sure if it was correct. Yes I liked how Benedict matured too.
Janine: I did think Sophie accepted his bisexuality too fast. I wouldn’t want her to be a bigot but it would have made more sense for her to be a little stunned at first.
Sirius: Yes, certainly, but at the same time, if Francesca and Michaela are meant to be accepted in the open, it could be a foreshadowing that this society is even more open than what we suspected.
I really would like to pretend that Francesca is not being set up with Michaela, because while I have not read Francesca’s book, I read the summary and I liked that story *so much better*. I am very determined to miss Francesca’s season actually.
Janine: I loved that book (When He Was Wicked), I hope you read it. I am trying to keep an open mind about Michaela. I think the actress does a good job and the character is likable. I liked the scene where, right after promising to stay with Francesca, Michaela looks down at their hands, so close together on the sofa, and to judge by her expression, has an epiphany. The next morning she has fled without a word.
There is actually something like that in the book. Michael does disappear from Francesca’s life while she is grieving because he loves her, in a way that makes her feel abandoned and angry. I don’t know how this storyline will work without the longstanding friendship and yearning that was in the book. It was a friends-to lovers-story with a lot of longing (which I love) and some angst.
With regard to Francesca’s romance, I am hoping they fold it in with Eloise’s into one (perhaps a couple of episodes longer) season. This is because I feel that some of the stuff from the book has already been played this season – John’s death, Francesca’s (non) pregnancy, Michaela’s desertion. I don’t think there will be enough story left now to support a full season, and I worry that the show will do what they did with Colin and Penelope; add a lot of filler about other people instead of putting the romance front and center. In a choice between that and a joint Eloise/Francesca season, I would take the second in a heartbeat.
Sirius: We shall see about reading the book. I do not mind two love stories in one season, that would make me harder to miss it though :) because I want to see Eloise’s story a lot.
Janine: Eloise is one of my absolute favorites.
Sirius: Did I forget any LGBT characters living openly on the show? I am asking without sarcasm, I may have forgotten, especially with the way I watched second season. If I did not forget any, I am just not looking forward to Francesca basically leaving in exile from her family. If such a big deal was made about Benedict having to abandon his family to live with his mistress, I cannot imagine how much more Francesca will have to hide with her female lover and I know I would hate such ending.
Janine: I can’t remember any either. I’m not that familiar with the Regency, but I know that later in the 19th century queer women could live together quite respectably presenting themselves as spinster friends to the world at large, while in many cases family and close acquaintances knew the truth, and sometimes even accepted and embraced them as a couple. Don’t get me wrong, to be publicly out would lead to social ruin, but as long as they didn’t flaunt it, people were often willing to look the other way.
This being Bridgerton, though, who knows what they’ll decide to write. A wedding would be hard for me to buy. I imagine that Benedict will be in Francesca’s corner, though, and that’s a scene I’d like to see.
Sirius: Right, I was specifically thinking about how isolated from her family Francesca may become.
Janine: Francesca and Michaela wouldn’t need to be isolated to live together, female relatives did that all the time. No one would shun them for that, so I don’t see a reason why the Bridgertons would need to cut Francesca out.
Sirius: Actually, I have a question about John’s death and everyone’s reactions to it. How much time did pass in “real life” on the show between their wedding and death, do you know? I am hoping couple years passed, because it felt to me as if very little time passed and if so, I got Francesca’s and Michaela’s reactions, but everyone else really did not know him for that long. Of course they were upset for Francesca, that I got, but John was almost a stranger to them no?
Janine: It was a bit of a disconnect for me, too. I think Francesca and John left near the end of the previous London season and came back early in this one, which would make it a year or so. But I’m not positive because Penelope and Colin had a baby in last season’s epilogue, and presumably that would have happened several months after John and Francesca left. I don’t recall how big their son looked this season or if we even saw him. Do you? If not, maybe someone can tell us in the comments.
What did you think of the way Lady Bridgerton’s relationship with Lord Marcus Anderson resolved?
Sirius: Another surprise actually. I mean it made perfect sense for me that Lady Bridgerton would want to continue as they were for a while, but Lord Marcus disagreeing and basically letting her go made me think that he might not be that good a fit for her as in that he was not as understanding as I hoped he would be.
Janine: I could see his side of it; it’s one thing to agree not to change things, as he did in the beginning, and another to have a marriage proposal (which from his perspective, seemed like what she wanted) rejected. That kind of thing can cause ripples in relationships. I too was surprised, and a little taken aback, but I’m glad that we might see more of Violet’s storyline in the future instead of having her quickly settle down.
In our earlier post about this season, we speculated that Sophie’s necklace would lead to the discovery that she was legitimate after all. That didn’t happen, and instead the obstacle to marriage was removed a different way. What did you think of that? Was it convincing enough? And did you believe that Sophie would find a way to fit into the world of the nobility, coming from the past she had?
Sirius: Oh I loved the resolution. Of course because Sophie was legitimized, but I also I enjoyed seeing Aramintha getting a pushback. Sophie was educated and kind, I am sure she would find a way to fit in the world of Bridgerton. Had we been in the more historical world, I would have more difficulty answering this question.
Janine: I liked the resolution too but I wasn’t sure if she could convincingly pass herself off as someone who had been raised as a lady. It would require lifelong playacting, so if I think too hard about it, this happy ending falls apart. But Bridgerton is such a light-on-realism show that I can go with it. It didn’t trouble me too much.
The very last scene of the season is of Benedict and Sophie’s wedding, and for some reason the showrunners stuck it after the end credits. I almost missed it, and a friend missed it entirely until I mentioned it to her; then she went back and watched it. I thought it was a nice HEA scene for the most part, but I did feel that Anthony came around to Benedict’s marriage to Sophie in the blink of an eye; his apology came out of nowhere. I would have liked to see this conflict drawn out a bit longer, maybe two or three episodes into next season. It would have deepened the characterization of both men.
Sirius: I would agree with that, that Anthony came around too easy, but happy ending is as happy ending does.
What about you, readers? Did you watch this season of Bridgerton? If so, what were your favorite parts and storylines? Your least favorite? We would love to hear your thoughts.
I did watch, haven’t read any of the books and still thoroughly enjoy every season (multiple times). Your joint review is very well thought out so I can only agree with your opinions. I am in the dark about Sophie being “legitimized,” though. Was she in the book, some deus ex machina that I wouldn’t know? That issue seemed rather hand-wavey, but a minor quibble. I’ll take what ever Shondaland and the show runners want to throw my way.
@Darlynne: Thank you, very much appreciated. I dont know what was happening in the book with Sophie being legitimized, as I mentioned I only read a summary and the summary I read that Araminta was forced to publicly acknowledge that Sophie was her late husband’s ward.
@Darlynne: I haven’t read An Offer from a Gentleman, but when the necklace first appeared, I expected that it would lead to a discovery about Sophie having a noble birth. It was a nice suprise when it didn’t, but I don’t know what happens in the book. I doubt it is the same resolution simply because books in the 1990s treaed this topic differently. But I could be wrong!