Sure,it’s pure fan service,but when it’s done this well,who cares? The creators ofBridgerton,Chris Van Dusen and uber-producer Shonda Rhimes,know what they are doing:sex,wigs and classical-music covers of everything from BTS to Taylor Swift and Sia.
After season two set viewing records for Netflix,season three backs up the carriage and delivers Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newtown) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan),their friends-to-lovers plot having been set in motion in season one.
None of this is a spoiler. The series is based on Julia Quinn’s book series,with each title (and now Netflix season) focusing on a different Bridgerton sibling. Season one gave us winsome eldest daughter Daphne hooking up with Simon,the Duke of Hastings,while season two set its sights on the eldest son,the hot-like-fire Anthony,Viscount Bridgerton,and his drawn-out courtship with the even hotter Kate Sharma (aka #kanthony).
Season three skips ahead of the book order – the second-eldest son,the hopeless Benedict (Luke Thompson),is relegated again – landing on book four,Romancing Mr Bridgerton,aka the one where Colin and Penelope get together (aka #polin).
Penelope is facing her third season out in society. She is a wallflower with no prospects,has a callous mother,Portia,two twittering sisters,Philippa and Prudence,and still has a broken friendship with her best friend,Eloise Bridgerton. But while Penelope is powerless at home,she wields much undercover influence as society gossip Lady Whistledown,challenging Queen Charlotte over her inability to engineer a winning match for the season.
Colin,meanwhile,has returned from Europe to the family home. He is,as his brothers note,looking a little sturdier,his glow-up taking a leaf out of the Colin Firth Book of Scowling Hot Men with Sideburns. Now brimming with the confidence that comes with shagging his way through Paris – one of the wonderful double standards of the age,it’s OK for the blokes to be “experienced”,but the more inexperienced a woman is,the better it is – Colin offers to help Penelope build her confidence and secure a husband.