Bridgerton is back, baby, and I couldn’t be more excited to dive back into the Ton’s latest scandals. Given that Season 3 is coming out in May, it’s only appropriate for it to center around Polin, AKA Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton’s relationship. Seasons 1 and 2 have set the groundwork for an iconic friends-to-lovers arc that’ll make even the most unromantic viewers swoon. But I have to be honest: the specific details of what happened last season are a little hazy.
Like most Bridgerton fans, I binge-watched all of Season 2 the day it came out on March 25, 2022; Kate and Anthony’s enemies-to-lovers dynamic was just that good. But with great binge-watching comes great memory blackouts (besides Kate’s eyebrow scrunch, which lives in my mind rent-free). With Season 3: Part 1 dropping on May 16 (a whole *2 years* after Season 2 aired), it’s time to break out my lace gloves and catch up on my Lady Whistledown papers. Grab your saucer because we’re recapping all the tea from Bridgerton Season 2 before Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton’s friends-to-lovers story takes center stage.
Kate and Anthony’s love story
Kathony’s love story is the main plotline of Season 2. Anthony Bridgerton vows to find a wife during the new social season. However, love isn’t one of his dealbreakers; he cares more about finding the perfect, “agreeable” match. He sets his sights on Edwina Sharma, whom Queen Charlotte has declared the diamond of the season. Kate Sharma, Edwina’s older sister who basically acts as Edwina’s dating coach, overhears Anthony’s comments about finding the perfect wife and decides there’s no chance in hell that he’ll court Edwina. It’s too late — Anthony’s locked in.
Edwina, Kate, and Anthony end up in each other’s company way too often. Kate and Anthony say they hate each other, but you could slice their sexual tension with a butter knife. Anthony panics when Kate gets stung by a bee, so she places his hand on her chest to calm him down. Normal enemy behavior, NBD.
Kate and Anthony get cozier over the next few episodes. Anthony’s a head-over-heart kind of guy, so he sticks to his original plan and proposes to Edwina like the dutiful son he is. But the passion between him and Kate is too hot to hide, even at his wedding to Edwina. Edwina calls off the engagement, giving Anthony the chance to propose to Kate. She initially turns him down but accepts his proposal after dancing with him at the final ball of the social season.
Eloise finds out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown
Eloise begrudgingly makes her high society debut in Season 2, but her presentation to the Queen gets interrupted by the arrival of Lady Whistledown’s latest pamphlet. This inspires her to get back on her Season 1 grind and uncover Lady Whistledown’s true identity. She visits a print shop that inches her closer to discovering the truth, but her constant visits accidentally put suspicion on her instead.
Penelope (AKA Lady Whistledown) tries to save Eloise’s reputation by writing nasty things about her in the latest Whistledown paper, because there’s no way Eloise would write bad things about herself, right? Unfortunately, Penelope’s pen is a little too harsh. She successfully quiets any doubts about Eloise being Lady Whistledown but ruins Eloise and the Bridgertons’ reputation at the same time by writing that Eloise is connected to political radicals.
Eloise finally realizes Penelope is Lady Whistledown in the Season 2 finale after Penelope makes super specific observations about the people at the ball. She’s pissed at the things Penelope wrote about her (rightly so, IMO) and breaks off their friendship.
Penelope and Colin’s friendship
Colin comes back from his Greek getaway at the beginning of the season (he needed a break from the Ton after all the drama with Miss Thompson in Season 1). He’d kept in contact with Penelope during his vacay via letters. But rather than running straight into her arms the second he comes back to London, Colin decides to swear off women temporarily and focus on himself.
Colin and Penelope remain close friends throughout Season 2. According to Colin and sadly for Penelope, that’s all they’ll ever be. In the season finale, Penelope overhears him telling his friends that he’d never court a girl like her. Yikes.
Pen’s currently the mayor of the friend zone, but fans are rooting to see Colin finally realize his true feelings for her in Season 3. From the scenes Netflix is teasing ahead of Part 1’s premiere, the tea is going to be steamy.