’Bridgerton’ Season 3 Part 1 Review

This review was made possible by advance screeners of all episodes of Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1. All episodes of Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 are now streaming on Netflix. 

During Season 1, we followed Daphne Bridgerton and her relationship with Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. In Season 2, we followed Anthony Bridgerton and his tricky relationship with the Sharma sisters, ultimately with Kate Sharma. Now we’re on Season 3, which is splitting its eight episodes into two four-episode parts, a fairly common practice over at Netflix that sometimes works (and sometimes doesn’t), and in this review we’ll be discussing if it worked out for Bridgerton Season 3, where the main focus is on Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington.

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 follows Penelope as she has given up on her longtime crush, Colin, and is now taking the time to look for a husband, one that will allow her to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown. To help Penelope find a husband, Colin decides to take up the mantle of mentor, but by being such a good teacher, he starts to grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly.

Tropes, Tension and Tenderness

Bridgerton usually follows tropes that might not come off as obvious to some people, but they tend to really stick to them within their storylines. These tropes are usually what make the show feel somewhat cheesy; this isn’t a bad thing as it adds to the identity of the show. The trope for the first season followed fake romance; for the second season, it was enemies to lovers. For Season 3 Part 1, it’s not just one trope but two that we get to follow. The first is “friends to lovers”, and these first four episodes explore that thoroughly. Penelope has always had feelings for Colin; she thought they had always just been friends, and with Colin stating at the end of the second season that he would never court her, that has only made things harder for Penelope and her feelings for him. 

Their friendship has been explored over the past two seasons, but only as subplots. With Colin and Penelope now taking front and center stage, it’s the main focus of the season so we get to explore more of their feelings for each other, both as friends and as possible future lovers. It’s unfortunate because, though their story so far isn’t as captivating or tense as what we got last season, you have to remember that we aren’t following enemies and instead we’re following these childhood friends, so those adjectives are replaced with heartwarming and wholesome. Though that doesn’t mean these four episodes are without their drama, there’s a lot, especially between Colin and Penelope.

The second trope that’s used within Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 is the Best Friend’s Brother trope. As we all know, Colin Bridgerton is the brother of Eloise Bridgerton, who is Penelope’s best friend, or, should we say, they had a falling out last season after Eloise found out that she was Lady Whistledown. A lot has changed with Eloise, who has now become unlikely friends with Cressida, and all of this brings a lot of interesting conflict to the season. This theme isn’t as strong as the friends-to-lovers theme in the first part of this season but is something that will eventually change with the growth of Colin and Penelope’s relationship. I can only expect that when they get more serious, we’ll see Eloise affected by this. 

On the topic of Lady Whistledown, this season shows how important it is for Penelope to continue, even after she has lost one friend to it. This is a double life that she’s been leading for a while now, but it is one that is starting to bleed into her life and affect her negatively. With her growing love for Colin and him personally wanting to see the downfall of Lady Whistledown, it starts to spice up the story as there’s a possibility that Colin might one day find out who she is, which will cause a wave of events, and once he finds out, how long will it be before her identity is out? This is a storyline that they’ve managed to tell through three seasons so far and doesn’t feel dragged out whatsoever, and the writers are clearly handling it with care, making sure that it has a good payoff. Lady Whistledown’s story doesn’t end in Season 3 Part 1, but there’s a possibility that we could see the end of it in Part 2…

Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton provide their best performances yet as their respective characters, bringing many emotions to screen and showing off the range they have. It pays off to have their storyline essentially told over the past two seasons, as I can say with confidence that their pairing has the best chemistry out of all the pairings we’ve seen so far.

The season being split may cause some anger between the fans, but personally, it works for Bridgerton. The fourth episode ends in a solid place without any real cliffhangers. You’ll still want to know what happens next, but it genuinely feels like a season ending that I’m satisfied with.

I’m new to Bridgerton, which means that I wasn’t keeping up with news surrounding it, but when watching Season 3 Part 1, I thought there was a new addition to the Bridgerton family as I was seeing a new face, but it wasn’t a new addition to the Bridgerton family but a new addition to the cast. Francesca Bridgerton was originally played by Ruby Stokes in Seasons 1 and 2 before she left for the Netflix original series Lockwood and Co., which unfortunately got cancelled. The reason for leaving was due to her not being happy with her special guest role on the show, but now Francesca Bridgerton is a series regular and played by Hannah Dodd.

Hannah Dodd does an excellent job as Francesca, but unfortunately she’s left with a sub-story that isn’t all that interesting to follow and slows down the pacing for the rest of the season as her presence is noticeable with her screen time. The same can be said for all the sub-stories this season. The sub-stories within Bridgerton used to be one of the show’s strongest highlights, being able to step away from the main drama and take the focus to smaller characters while also keeping it interesting. That’s what helped the episodes move by quickly, even if they were an hour or more long. Now, the episodes feel like they’re an hour plus, even though they’re barely hitting that runtime.

‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Part 1 – Final Thoughts

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1, is the start of another great season for this show. Season 2 fixed problems that Season 1 had, and Season 3 managed to do the same and fix problems that Season 2 had. With the focus being on characters that have had their story told over previous seasons, it wastes no time with introductions. The performances from Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton are the best we’ve seen in the entire show, providing us with a relationship that you’re able to root for. Unfortunately, sudden recasts throw the show completely off, and when paired with subpar side-stories, it really starts to take away from the rest of the good the season is. The music, as usual, is amazing. With covers from artists such as BTS and Billie Eilish, and outfits that just completely stun – especially from Penelope, who gets a brand new look this season that completely works for her.

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.