Spoilers for Season 4 Part 1 ahead:
If you haven’t watched Bridgerton yet, you absolutely need to. The hit television show Bridgerton was adapted from Julia Quinn’s famous romance novel series. Since its release in December 2020 it has become a global phenomenon. The series has been awarded numerous Emmy’s, Grammy’s, and is one of Netflix’ s most popular original series. The premise of the show is simple. Each season follows the love story of one of the Bridgerton siblings. In the first season the audience followed the diamond of the season, Daphne. In seasons two and three the audience watched two of the beloved Bridgerton brothers, Anthony and Colin fall in love. Finally, this season follows one of the most anticipated love stories in the series: Benedict Bridgerton.
Each season follows a traditional romance trope. The audience has seen fake dating, enemies to lovers, and friends to lovers. In the new season, we are watching a Cinderella story. Benedict is a rake. The modern translation of being a rake is being a player. Benedict is an avoidant attachment man. He hides his feelings through pleasuring himself with various women and men. That’s until Benedict meets The Lady in Silver. The Lady in Silver, also known as Sophie, follows the traditional Cinderella story. Her evil stepmother forces her to become their family maid even though she’s the only daughter of a nobleman. On her one night of freedom, she escapes to attend the masquerade ball hosted by the Bridgertons. Eventually, Sophie becomes a maid for the Bridgertons while hiding that she is The Lady in Silver. Benedict and Sophie fall in love despite his search for The Lady in Silver. There’s only one issue: they are from different classes. Benedict is upper-class whereas Sophie is a maid or lower-class.Â
Benedict was rivaling Anthony for one of, if not the most romantic love confession in the series thus far until he ruined it with three words, “Be my mistress”. In Benedict’s eyes, this was his only solution to them being together. He would find a wife while he would sneak around with Sophie who he’s actually in love with. The other woman is a trope that has been used through centuries of love and relationships, even in Bridgerton. Sophie refuses to be his mistress and runs away. How many people actually refuse to be mistresses or the backup option?
The first major relationship trend of 2026 was used with the classic hit single “Purple Rain” by Prince. Despite the song being a classic for decades, the song regained popularity after it was used in the series finale of Stranger Things. One lyric in particular has been used for the popular dating trend, “I never wanted to be your weekend lover”. The trend uses pictures to describe their relationship, or should I say situationship with another person. The pictures include texting, meeting up in cars at night, and the overall undertone is being a secret. Women will accept this kind of treatment from men because they want to be with them and they believe they are the ones that are able to change them. You can never change a man, they’ll just pretend for you.
In part one so far, Benedict and Sophie parallel modern dating. Benedict is giving Sophie the bare minimum expecting her to accept it because he’s a man, however, Sophie refuses him. That was in a time period when marriage and status was crucial. Now, even in modern times, when those things don’t matter as much, women will still accept the bare minimum and not refuse these men. In classic Bridgerton fashion our gorgeous love interests will prevail their trials and tribulations and end up together. Something to be learned from this season is that not everyone is Sophie. There isn’t always going to be a Benedict willing to change for them. Despite the chance of losing their Benedict, everyone should be like Sophie and keep their standards and heads up high.