Friends-turned-lovers “Saphne” debuted in Season One. The antagonist-turned-lover “Kanthony” from Season Two turned up the heat. Benedict Bridgerton and the Cinderella-like Sophia Beckett would currently be in the spotlight if the popular Netflix series Bridgerton followed the plot lines of Julia Quinn’s best-selling romance novels.
However, the Regency series’ makers have revealed that Colin Bridgerton and the unfriendly Penelope Featherington will take center stage in Season 3. The announcement was met with a range of responses. Although Penelope (and her altered identity, the poison-penned Lady Whistledown) has a large following, Season 2 made it clear that neither she nor Colin are yet mature enough to work together on an equal basis.
Colin’s aimless travels abroad and apparently endless capacity to take “Pen” for granted have left fans cold – and, let’s be honest, his baby-faced naivety hasn’t exactly been the stuff romantic dreams are made of (though he does win points for his sleuthing-out of “Cousin Jack”).
For her part, Penelope has demonstrated that she is astute enough to maintain the Lady Whistledown scam’s ability to enrich her. She still craves acceptance from Eloise, Colin, the tonne, and her own family, though. It’s all very well and good if Pen and Colin develop a “friends-to-lovers” romance, but at this point, can they even be called “friends”?
Penelope is appreciative that she is in a relationship with a man who respects her, but Colin doesn’t act in a way that resembles a true friend. He completely takes Penelope’s presence in his life for granted because he is the subject of all their conversations.
You can’t help but suspect that if Colin turned around and proposed marriage five minutes after the events of Season 2’s finale, Penelope would be pitifully grateful rather than seeing herself as worthy of Colin’s love.
Penelope needs to discover her sense of worth. For the two of them to finally meet on equal footing, she needs to put her longstanding infatuation with Colin behind her. Colin needs to mature a little, find his identity, and develop an appreciation for the woman standing in front of him in the interim.
When Season 2 came to a close, Penelope overheard Colin speaking to his buddies about:
“I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not in your wildest fantasies.”
In our most improbable scenarios, Bridgerton’s creators permit a suitable time jump before Season 3. We’re talking weeks or maybe years here. That is what Penelope needs to do in order to move past Colin Bridgerton and develop into an independent woman. That is also what Colin needs to do in order to mature into the kind of man who might earn the favor of his best friend, his staunchest ally, and the infamous Lady Whistledown.