Talking About: Bridgerton
Bridgerton is different to the other period shows we’ve seen. For starters: the sex! With its heady mix of flamboyant costumes, inspired casting and flagrant love scenes – surely Jane Austen never hinted at oral sex in her books – the Tonic team couldn’t wait to dissect it.
Rachelle Is it odd to anyone that the TV show that feels the freshest is one that’s set in Regency England? It’s packed with debutante balls and girls with dowries, so why does it feel so contemporary?
Marina Because the struggle against expectations and roles is real and continues to this day.
R Yes, and it’s interesting how those pressures – to settle down and find a life partner – still face thirtysomethings today, although these women were younger. I feel like once you hit your 40s, you’re well beyond those expectations but I remember what it felt like in my 30s.
M Women still struggle against expectations … what defines success for a woman and how a successful woman should behave. There was so much [in Bridgerton] about the challenges for women that women now can relate to. Like, the equating of motherhood with happiness. That pressure continues today, too.
Ute It’s a contemporary show with a bit of Regency window dressing. The people are modern, the relationships are modern. That’s something I found frustrating – if it takes place in a particular time, why put contemporary people in there? Yet their struggles interested me enough to keep watching.
R It had me at the opening. As soon as Julie Andrews started narrating and I got a look at those heavenly outfits, I was wooed.
M For me it was less about the year and more about the societal customs. This was a time when all a young woman could expect in life was to marry and the search for a husband starts with the debutante ball. The era is merely an accessory.
U If you’re going to do a period drama, at least make it a semi-accurate reflection of the era. It felt like they deliberately made choices that were wrong for the period, like those bright and sparkly costumes. If the era is an accessory, why site it there so specifically? I know I sound like a pedant, but we’ve seen how fake news lets people believe things that aren’t true. This is fake history.
R Yeah, I kept looking up whether Queen Charlotte was black. Although I loved that she was in Bridgerton.
U Spoiler: Queen Charlotte wasn’t black.
M I thought that was a nod to the rumour about one of the royals’ relationships.
R I have read some online suggestions that she was black because if you look at some paintings of her, her features are not typically Caucasian. But regarding the black characters on this show, I felt so glad that executive producer Shonda Rhimes has reached a place in Hollywood where she can call the shots, get an expensive show up and running and say, “Hey, let’s just cast black people and not make it a big deal.” I loved that the show was colour blind in this way.
U I’m all for colour-conscious casting in contemporary dramas, but entertainment producers have to consider the ramifications of what they show onscreen. You know that people will watch this show and think England had black nobles. And about colour-conscious casting: if it’s meant to improve diversity, I think they need to really take it seriously and include Asian actors, too.
R Favourite characters? Mine is Eloise because she knows that her happiness would be defined by financial independence – earning her own money as a woman. She resisted the notion of being beautiful and the need to catch a husband. But I felt sorry for her because it wasn’t easy for her to establish her independence in that era.
U I found Eloise heartbreaking because I related to her and you couldn't see a path forward.
M The character that I felt most sorry for was Penelope. She was in love with Colin and wanted to be his wife when she could have led a much more interesting life.
R How great was Penelope? When she saw the yellow dress: ugh, yellow!
U I love the actor that played her. She was in Derry Girls where she also played a teenager and she’s actually in her 30s.
M The bizarre thing for me was how the series went from a G rating to an R rating really fast. There was a lot of gratuitous sex in the last four episodes.
“One thing I did like about the series was that although women had no ability to make their own choices on the surface, Daphne managed to get everything she wanted in the end through careful behind-the-scenes management. She was a stronger woman than it appeared.”
R I can’t believe we have not mentioned the sex until now. Also, depends on how you define “gratuitous!” I could justify it!
U Imagine if you were watching it with your children, thinking, “This will be a nice, safe show to watch together.”
M I watched it with my son!
R There is controversy about the sex. Some commentators call the scene where Daphne mounts the Duke an example of marital rape and non-consensual sex, which we would absolutely think was true if their genders were reversed.
M I have no issue with sex on screen but it was such a departure from the stitched-up first half of the season. Perhaps that was exactly what the director wanted to show – once Daphne no longer had to be perfect all of the time in public, she could really let loose. And they let loose everywhere they could!
U You’re right, it seemed to change speed several times. That was one of the things I didn’t love about it … it didn’t know quite what it wanted to be sometimes.
M Notice that all of the fun – including the sex – happened away from the society parties and balls where people couldn’t be themselves. I loved that scene with the married women having so much fun away from their boring husbands, whom many had only married because they had to take a husband.
R I was really disturbed by the trauma that the Duke experienced at the hands of his father. It was really awful that he had such an emotionally abusive father.
U To me it’s not a period drama unless someone had a traumatic childhood. It was a bit Jane Eyre in its harshness.
M The character of Marina demonstrated that a woman who had lost her virtue – especially one with child – was just about the worst thing you could be in this society, and only a man could save your reputation. How awful.
R Yeah, or a man could ruin your reputation if you were caught outside with him alone after dark!
U And that it ruined not just you but your entire family. That pressure to ensure you married well so your sisters could marry well – ghastly. Like all the women, Marina was trying to get the best deal she could.
M One thing I did like about the series was that although women had no ability to make their own choices on the surface, Daphne managed to get everything she wanted in the end through careful behind-the-scenes management. She was a stronger woman than it appeared.
R What did we think of the casting? Queen Charlotte was magnificently imperious. Lady Danbury delivered her lines with such command, and always looked like Diana Ross in the middle of a concert. She was the best dressed for sure.
M I felt so sorry for the prince.
R Yeah, it would have been good if he loved books and found an equal in Eloise.
U The Prince and Eloise – that’s a match I’d like to see.
M Unfortunately for Eloise, the best guy in the show is her second brother, Benedict. So this can’t happen. This isn’t Game of Thrones!
U Oh hell, they’ve had a Duke teaching a debutante to masturbate, and a gay aristocrat – I reckon they could throw incest in there.
Photos_ Netflix + supplied