Last week I started watching the hit series Bridgerton. I had heard so many great things about the show, and so I wanted to watch it. Honestly it reminded me a lot of Hamilton because many of the characters are people of color. I really loved seeing how a lot of the people in the show were people of color because so far in a lot of the British period dramas I have seen most of the main characters are white. In this episode we meet the main and supporting characters and the different families and the women in the families are introduced. The young women are taken to meet Queen Charlotte (played by Golda Rosheuvel) and must win her approval. Daphne Bridgerton wins the Queen's approval when she curtsies without fainting, unlike the previous girl who fell when she curtsied to the Queen. We meet the Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page) and his father recently died, and Lady Danbury encourages him to go to the party that evening even though he is indifferent and doesn't really care. Everyone is at this party in the evening and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) escorts his sister, Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), around the party and she finds herself meeting many men who are interested in her, especially after winning the Queen's approval. One of the guys who expresses interest in marrying her is a man named Nigel, who kind of reminded me of Chester in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. For those who haven't seen the show, in season 2 there is a guy who keeps following Susie Myerson around the Catskills resort, saying they have a lot in common even though Susie isn't interested in him. He keeps saying to her "criss cross" to express interest in her, and she tries to avoid him repeatedly throughout the episodes in the Catskills. Daphne isn't interested in Nigel; instead she is interested in the Duke of Hastings. The Duke has an indifferent air toward the festivities and he knows Anthony really well. Anthony is concerned because Daphne is getting so much attention from all these men. Marina Crane is another beautiful young woman who gets attention from many suitors; there are three young women in the drawing room who are sitting around and their mom is talking about their marriage prospects and they finally meet Marina and they realize they have competition. Nigel meets with Daphne and continues to express interest in marrying her but she is not interested. Anthony is dating a young opera singer named Siena and they spend evenings having passionate sex, but after dinner his mom tells him he needs to stop messing around and settle down with someone, so Anthony, while he and the girl are having sex, tells her he can't see her again.
When in the garden, Daphne walks away from the festivities and Nigel catches up with her and continues to pursue her. She says no but he doesn't listen and when he tries to force himself on her, she punches him out. The Duke of Hastings sees this and continues to feign indifference. Daphne is about to leave but the Duke says they should pretend they are in love (I think they are actually in love) so people can think she has accepted a suitor and is no longer available. Marina wakes up to find her bedsheet is gone. One of the lady's maids takes it to the woman in charge of the household and she finds out Marina had sex and ended up pregnant since she hasn't bled in a month. She kicks her out of the house and when Marina shouts at her that she doesn't know what it's like to go through this kind of suffering, the lady slaps her.
One thing I really love about this show is the colorful dresses and outfits. I watched Downton Abbey and the outfits they wear are more drab and dull because it is the 1900s and there were more neutral colors. I also really like it because Claudia Jessie, who plays Eloise Bridgerton in Bridgerton, is an SGI member in the UK. As an SGI member myself I found this encouraging. Another thing I loved about the show was the string quartet pieces they play. The show takes place in the 19th century but it's cool how the pieces they play are pop pieces like Ariana Grande's "thank u, next," Maroon 5's "Girls Like You," and "bad guy" by Billie Eilish. It gives the show its uniqueness because when I see period dramas they all feature classical music.
In episode 2 we see a woman giving birth and when the baby is born, everyone is relieved that it's a boy, but then the mother dies shortly after giving birth and Lady Danbury mourns her death. Later on we see the Duke of Hastings flash back to memories of his childhood. During his childhood his dad wanted nothing to do with him because his mom died after giving birth to him and also because he has a speech impediment and the father thinks that his son's speech impediment makes him unworthy and useless to society. Lady Danbury tells the Duke that she is going to educate him and bring him up so he can develop more confidence in his speaking ability and become successful in society later on. The Duke goes into his dad's office later on to show him how he has overcome his speech impediment, especially because the dad continues to neglect him and he speaks but then he starts stuttering, and then the dad once again thinks his son is a lost cause. Which is painful because he was young and facing that trauma of losing his mom and not gaining his father's approval continued to affect his self-worth even as an adult. When Anthony, Nigel and the Duke are at another ball, Anthony is talking with Nigel about Daphne marrying him, and Nigel continues to insist that he is the perfect suitor to marry Daphne, but the Duke overhears this and says that Nigel attempted to assault Daphne and deserved to be punched by her. At first Anthony tells the Duke to mind his own business, and Daphne, while dancing with another potential suitor (the Duke and her are in love, but he doesn't want to get married. That is what he promises his father when his father is on his deathbed), sees this exchange, but then Anthony realizes that the Duke is telling the truth and tells Nigel to stay the hell away from Daphne. When the Duke is in an alleyway, Nigel follows him and tells him off for sharing about him attacking Daphne, and the Duke tells him that Daphne doesn't need him. Nigel brings up the Duke's childhood in a negative way, and that provokes the Duke to punch him several times in the face (in a couple of episodes we see the Duke sparring with another guy in the boxing ring, and I thought, Damn I would not mess with this guy, even for a million dollars.) Even after getting his revenge on Nigel, the Duke is still remembering his painful childhood.
Meanwhile, Eloise is in the drawing room with Daphne, and Daphne is playing music on the pianoforte. Eloise is reading a book and trying to concentrate, so she tells Daphne to play somewhere else. Daphne says she can go outside, and Eloise tries to argue with her. After getting irritated, Eloise finally lets Daphne play her music, as long as she gives the composition a title. Penelope repeatedly goes to the mail-person to see if Marina's lover is writing to her from Spain. Marina is confined to her room because Penelope's mom, Portia, is ashamed of Marina's pregnancy, especially because she is having the baby out of wedlock. She takes Marina to the low-income part of London, the neighborhood out of a Charles Dickens novel, and shows her this community because she thinks Marina will end up in poverty like them. Marina tells her that is nonsense, but Portia tries to knock common sense into Marina and tells her that the guy she loves will leave her for someone else. Marina insists that he loves her, but Portia asks her if he has written back since he had left for Spain, and this fucks up Marina badly. Portia finally one auspicious day gets a letter from Marina's boo from Spain, and they read it but Marina is crushed because the letter reads that the boo doesn't want anything to do with her after finding out she is having their baby. We then see that Portia and her lady's maid forged the original letter from the guy and passed it off as a real letter.
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