Ah, Bridgerton. A show that is basically if Gossip Girl met a Jane Austen novel, meaning it’s addictive and good.
If you don’t know what Bridgerton is (first off, where have you been?!), it’s a series that dropped on Netflix on December 25th. It takes place in 19th century London and revolves around a slew of wealthy families whose daughters are seeking husbands during London’s annual social season. If that doesn’t sound like the most riveting thing, add a sprinkle of drama, tons of steamy scenes (I mean episode 5? C’mon), and Julie Andrews as a narrator, and you’ve got the show everyone and their mother is talking about.
The show starts off strong with Julie Andrews portraying the voice of the mysterious Lady Whistledown, who is basically the Gossip Girl of the regency era. No one knows who she is, except for the fact that she is the author of the juiciest gossip pamphlet filled to the brim with the latest scandalous news.
Our lady of the hour is Daphne Bridgerton, a 21-year-old debutante who wants to find an eligible bachelor to be her husband at this season’s balls. After being dubbed “flawless” by Queen Charlotte herself, Daphne thinks finding a husband should be a surefire shot in the dark. But her overprotective older brother Anthony thinks otherwise and turns away every prospect that presents themselves to Daphne.
However, Daphne soon outsmarts her brother by striking a deal with Simon Basset, the dashing Duke of Hastings. By entering into a fake relationship with the Duke, Daphne can rake in many suitors while the former can get rid of his playboy reputation. But fate has other plans, as it were.
Among the dulcet orchestral melodies of modern songs like “Thank U, Next” and “Wildest Dreams”, Daphne and Simon fall in love for real. Cue the famous “I burn for you” scene.
I mean, just imagine someone telling you they burn for you, and then entering a whirlwind romance set to the tune of a classical “Wildest Dreams.” Not to mention the balls and stunning gowns. It all sounds magical, doesn’t it?
But that’s not all.
The thing I, and many people, love about Bridgerton is the fact that it brings a lot more diversity into the regency era than most shows/movies have done before. For starters, the Queen is African-American, and there are also many other background characters from different racial backgrounds. One of the more prominent families on the show (along with the Duke), is African-American. These factors also introduced the idea of interracial marriage into the regency era- an idea that was deemed unspeakable, at that time, in real life.
That being said, however, there was a significant lack of discussion as to the issue of racial inequality in the show. While there was the idea of interracial marriage/romances, there was only one line in the entirety of the eight-episode show that even addressed it. The line, said by the iconic Lady Danbury, is as follows: “Look at our Queen, look at our King. Look at their marriage, look at everything it is doing for us, what it is allowing us to become. We were two separate societies, divided by color until a king fell in love with one of us” (for context, the King was white and the Queen was black). However, after this line is spoken, the show simply moves on to the next scene. There is no reference back to this line, and no further comments are made on the topic.
Let’s just say that there needs to be more discussion of the topic in season 2 of Bridgerton because this show has significantly raised my expectations.
All in all, Bridgerton is the show we didn’t know we needed. But now that it’s in the world, and doing very well I might add, we all desperately need season 2 to drop soon!