Bridgerton season 3, part 2 is a mess but makes a great case for the beauty of the friends-to-lovers trope.
Bridgerton season 3 could best be summarized with this line: “The course of true love never did run smooth.” But compared to its predecessors (including the masterpiece that was Queen Charlotte), the Regency-era series’ third installment was a mess. But if you are looking for a puff piece on blaming anyone for the lack of focus, this is not for you.
Rather, I would like to make a thesis statement: Many viewers still do not understand the stable beauty of the friends-to-lovers arc.
Lost in a sea of tension: How does Polin stay afloat?
Who can blame them? The world has seen Simon admit to burning for Daphne in Season 1, Anthony’s roaring speech about Kate being the bane of his existence and the object of his desires, and Charlotte’s and George’s poetic duet over standing between the heavens and the earth. It is easy to admit that the dopamine effect lies in that tension, in the yearning between two people who hate each other’s guts but cannot stay far apart from each other. They do say there is a fine line between love and hate, but the intensity of both can be hard to tell apart.
The excitable plot driver was back in Season 2. As Anthony and Kate blissfully get lost in the fireworks and the mutual exchange of affection, Colin’s fervent declaration that he would never court his best friend Penelope was the beginning of another flame to fan. It was an issue that brought such hurt and intensity to Penelope straight after she got dumped by her best friend and Colin’s sister Eloise.
But what should have been the focus of the season became a sidepiece. Colin and Penelope’s love story was set aside to accommodate the rest: Francesca, John Stirling, Benedict, Cressida, and the Mondriches.
While I did love the spark between Francesca and John, I wanted to see more of Colin and Penelope. Seeing Penelope shine meant a great deal to someone like me, especially since an “unconventionally sized” woman like her is finally seen as an object of desire, too.
But instead, we are met with several love stories squeezed into eight episodes, further split down the middle. How else were we supposed to get the yearning and the pining, if the mains’ chances were lowered to limited screentime?
So for the sake of this lack, I will steer clear from the side stories and shine a light on why Colin and Penelope deserved more attention.
Endearment, honesty, and comfort:
The beauty of Colin and Penelope’s friendship
Truth be told, there is some tenderness to the mess that is season 3. It is, by all means, not perfect and I rank it below season 2. But the reason why it stays just a little above Queen Charlotte and season 1 is because of how beautiful the words flow through when Penelope and Colin come on screen.
In what minuscule time the main pairing appears, they ensure a memorable performance every time. The most incessant complaint I hear is that there is no angry, shout-from-the-rooftops love speech from either of the two, that their words measured less than how their predecessors delivered.
But isn’t that the point? Iza Calzado’s Patty de Guia from Starting Over Again said it best. “Ours [love story] began in a most unexciting way, as friends.” There was no need to build anything, the foundation was already there. Throughout the seasons, Penelope and Colin sought each other out with neither any drama nor fanfare. They sought each other out because they liked each other’s company from the start and just decided whether to move the relationship forward or not
The words exchanged by Penelope and Colin may not have been laced with gut-wrenching tension, but with an honest endearment that is absent from the previous seasons. While the previous couples found their beating hearts in the pouring rain and through horseback riding, Colin and Penelope found theirs in each other.
Penelope said it best, “Just being you is enough, Colin.” The saving grace of Season 3 is the earnest longing of two friends who want to be more for each other, to grow with one another, and to bask in each other’s light.
Friends to lovers: Stable does not have to mean boring
I could see the opportunities that Bridgerton could have taken. They could have run with the thesis statement that security is not a subtraction of spice, but rather a delicious addition. The pining could have been more, the jealousy could have been more, and even then, I would still accept the mess of this season wholeheartedly than most.
I love the fact that Colin could make Penelope laugh in the church. I love the fact that Penelope and Colin embrace their writing skills differently. I love the fact that they work out their differences in the most realistic way possible – a little pettiness, but with a promise to be there for each other. Isn’t it how it is supposed to go?
“I’ll be there for you, because you’re there for me, too,” goes the Friends theme song. But what I love most is they could truly be themselves when they are with each other– goof, cheese, and a lot of mutual respect in between.
In John Mayer’s “Friends, Lovers or Nothing,” he sings the title in its entirety, before stating that there could only be one, that there is no in between. But Bridgerton proved that wrong. A pair can be friends that grow into lovers and can stay in both categories, but definitely not end up with nothing.
It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged.
Bridgerton Season 3 is streaming on Netflix.
