As someone who’s always had an affinity for the countless different Cinderella movies and stories, you can imagine my intrigue with Bridgerton season four. If you didn’t know, the main leads this season followed a Cinderella inspired narrative. Going into this season, I was really curious how the storyline would get extended, what would be added, and what would be altered to fit the world of Bridgerton.
In order to discuss this aspect of the show, I do want to use Disney’s Cinderella (1950) as a point of reference, as so many popular retellings do. There will be so many spoilers, so read at your own risk.
Starting at the beginning, I was actually really surprised the first episode had the ball. I thought it would’ve been put off towards the end. Most retellings gave time for the main leads to know each other prior, laying a foundation for their future relationship. It’s something many people opposed in Disney’s 1950 Cinderella, and that got reworked in their live action remake of it. I thought Bridgerton would take the same approach, but I actually think this change really suited the characters, specifically Benedict who definitely needed some kind of event or moment to shift his perspective on marriage and courtship. Meeting Sophie as, what Benedict called, “a silver ingénue,” was that moment.
Speaking of silver, I always love seeing the different takes on Cinderella’s ball gown. Through the power of marketing via Disney, Cinderella is most associated with blue despite her gown being white/silvery in the 1950 movie. I thought having Sophie dressed in silver was a very cute allusion to the 1950s version and stood out more among a sea of colors and extravagant costumes. Also, I fear blue would have alluded more to the show’s well established Bridgeton blue which still happens later on, but in a better way.
Another classic element of Cinderella is her shoe being left behind, and it’s another element many adaptations put their own spin on. One of my favorite Cinderella movies, A Cinderella Story (2004), Hillary Duff’s character leaves behind her flip phone. It feels random but in the context and world of the movie, it makes sense. In Bridgerton, Yerin Ha’s character leaves behind her glove. Or really, she forgets to take it back from Benedict when the bell chimes to signify it’s midnight. This feels very natural within the context and the world of Bridgerton.
Another element many adaptations put their own spin on is the “evil stepsisters” trope. I really enjoy any variation of this, whether it’s two malicious stepsisters or only one malicious and the other meek but kind like Posy, who was such a cute and sweet character. I really enjoyed any time she was on a scene.
I really liked how the show incorporated the classic scene of trying on the “glass slipper” to reveal Cinderella. But instead of to Benedict, it’s to the stepmother. A tense turning point of the story where Sophie must leave the house she’s always known. And from this point I knew Sophie and Benedict would meet again and develop their relationship.
That’s where we got the entire cottage plotline, where I had such a great time predicting all the tropes they used. Damsel in distress trope, then forced proximity when they’re forced to travel and take shelter in the cottage together. Hiding your injury trope, the screaming in the middle of the night from nightmares/fevered delusions trope, and being nursed back to health trope. It’s all there, and it’s great. The chemistry between the two leads elevates it from feeling too much like fanfiction. Plus with the addition of Sophie being uncomfortable as a guest rather than as the help was funny. And an interesting look into the Cinderella archetype. I never thought about it, but it must have been a crazy shift to go from unpaid indenture servitude to royalty within a day.
It’s also here in the cottage that Sophie adorns some beautiful blue dresses, a nod to the well known signature color of Cinderella. Plus it completely makes sense within the story, seeing as how they’re all old dresses of Benedict’s sisters, so of course they’re the perfect shade of Bridgeton blue. The family Sophie is going to marry into… aka foreshadowing!
In this cottage, not only does the foundation set for their future relationship, but they literally kiss. They’re down bad, and I’m very happy the show decided to have this happen after the ball rather than before. We get to spend so much more time with them, especially when Sophie is brought to work for Bridgerton house. Called it, but I’m pretty sure everyone did. Same with the whole situation with the will. I knew her stepmother was lying, like why would she not?
With Sophie’s whole backstory, I was glad it wasn’t just copy and paste from Disney. I really got to see Cinderella from the world of Bridgerton. Having Sophie’s mother as a maid who passed away, and Sophie being considered a ward and unfit for society. It’s a case special to the show, so I really enjoyed it. We got it in bits and pieces, and I was side eyeing her dad hard. He completely kept his new bride in the dark about his literal daughter and that whole situation. And then the stepmother lying about the will and saying to Sophie, “I will take care of you now,” just to bag the money for each year she kept Sophie on and use the dowry for Rosamund. From what’s said in passing by Sophie, and what’s seen through the flashbacks, it’s clear the evil stepmother here very slowly and very meticulously started pushing Sophie away from her girls and more to the outskirts of the family. You can’t help but root for Sophie and cheer as Violet Bridgerton takes her side.
I thought Sophie potentially moving with another family to the Americas was a good decision storyline wise. The ball scene and its aftermath are usually the climax and resolution of a typical Cinderella plot, however this was not a typical Cinderella plot. So the added tension and stakes of this scenario fitted well with a TV show format, especially since leaving to another household in the country wouldn’t have completely ended their situationship. Moving across the ocean definitely did, however.
I really thought, in episode 4, when Benedict was looking for Sophie in her room, that he would snoop, smile at something personalized in her room, then see the white glove falling out from the mattress of her bed and have a moment of realization. However, that did not happen. In episode 7 he finds Sophie’s pendant in his room, and recognizes it from the night of the ball. I fully thought she left it at the cottage and was really wondering how or why they were going to have the characters back there. This worked too, I thought it was sweet as her pendant is more personalized and he’d have the pleasure of returning it to her. But I kind of wanted the glove to be the item of realization.
I really loved how Violet Bridgerton stepped in to be a protector for Sophie. Along with Alfie and Irma, I feel they all played the part of fairy godmother. Alfie and Irma in a more obvious way, and Violet in a new way via coming in to save the day at court by using her knowledge of society to make things work out in the end.
I do want to talk about the fact that Benedict did not recognize Sophie as the “Lady in Silver” despite repeatedly drawing her, especially her lips. Given the tropes and story of Cinderella, I knew it wouldn’t be the lips he’d recognize her from. Benedict is looking for a lady of high society, it should be completely unheard of for a maid to do what Sophie did. When Benedict was with Sophie, he was never trying to determine if she was his Lady in Sliver. But I believe part of what attracted him to her was that she unconsciously reminded him of his mystery girl. Before they were at the cottage, he told his mother that he was already forgetting her voice. Plus while he was feverishly delusional, he did seem to make the connection. Now that could mean nothing, but I think it purposely plays into how he’s drawn to her unconsciously. All this to say, I give him a pass. He’s become more in love with Sophie than he is obsessed with finding his Lady in Silver, so it completely makes up for it in my mind.