Dearest gentle reader, the rest of Bridgerton Season 3 is nearly upon us! Netflix has taken to releasing new seasons of their most popular shows in two parts. On the business side, it’s a genius way to ramp up their shows’ hype and fans’ anticipation, but as a fan, all I get is an extra month of yearning to find out what happens next. I burn for more Bridgerton, and I burn for it now.
Luckily, Season 3 Part 2 is dropping on June 13, which means we’ll pick up right where we left off: with a slightly disheveled (read: horny), post–carriage scene Colin asking an even more flustered (read: extra horny) Penelope to marry him. I think hundreds of thousands of fans screamed when the screen went black and they found out they’d have to wait another month for Penelope’s answer (myself included).
The carriage scene is the defining scene of Season 3 (so far, at least — if the Bridgerton books are any indication, the upcoming mirror scene might challenge the carriage scene’s place in the Bridgerton sex scene lineup). It seems to be all anyone can talk about from Part 1, so I don’t blame you if you’ve forgotten everything that happened in the first four episodes. Consider this Lady Whistledown’s TL;DR rundown of the most important plot points from Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1, so you can focus on what really matters in Part 2 (AKA Polin) while being caught up to speed on everything else.
EPISODE 1: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Francesca Bridgerton is the latest Bridgerton sib to join the marriage market. She’s a lot shier and quieter than her older siblings, and to her, debuting in society is NBD; she just wants to find a nice husband and get married.
Colin Bridgerton, however, is very much enjoying the social season. He’s fresh off his world tour and is making sure everyone knows about it. He’s like the guy you know who made studying abroad his entire personality, except in Colin’s case, it actually works — he’s the hottest bachelor in town.
Penelope decides to stake her claim over her long-time crush and pulls off the glow-up of all glow-ups. Unfortunately, her inexperience with courting really shows, so Colin (being the good friend he is) offers to become her secret dating coach.
BTW, Penelope and Eloise aren’t friends anymore after Eloise found out that Penelope was Lady Whistledown at the end of Season 2. Now, Eloise has a new bestie: Cressida Cowper. Yikes.
Penelope’s sisters, Prudence and Philippa, are now both married. You know how the nursery rhyme goes: First comes love, then comes marriage… then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Portia Featherington needs there to be a baby, and she needs that baby to be a boy, or else the Featheringtons will lose their estate and their entire fortune. No pressure, girls.
EPISODE 2: HOW BRIGHT THE MOON
Penelope and Colin’s Courting 101 lessons are going well, with immersion therapy (AKA talking to men in public) and private dance lessons adding to their tension. During a break, Penelope stumbles across Colin’s travel diary and can’t resist reading a few pages. He catches her red-handed before becoming red-handed himself, cutting his palm with glass before Penelope takes care of the wound as a double apology.
At a ball, the Ton finds out about Colin and Penelope’s courting sessions, which very much cross the nineteenth century’s line of propriety. Colin stops by Penelope’s house the next night to check on her. Penelope breaks down and asks Colin to be her first kiss. He obliges — but once you kiss someone, can you ever really be just friends?
Also at the ball, Queen Charlotte comes across Francesca taking a breather from the festivities and playing piano in a separate room (introverted girlies get her). She declares Francesca the diamond of the season, upholding the title Daphne originated in Season 1.
In less happy news, Portia discovers that Prudence and Philippa’s baby-making activities have been woefully off course. That fortune is slipping away more and more every second.
EPISODE 3: FORCES OF NATURE
Colin starts Episode 3 by literally dreaming about his kiss with Penelope. Unfortunately for him, Penelope says that they should keep their distance to avoid further embarrassing her family and to focus on her “actual” prospects (girl, he’s right in front of you!). One such prospect is Lord Debling, a good-looking animal lover with a lot of money. He and Penelope hit it off, much to Colin’s and Cressida’s chagrin. Colin and Lord Debling show how much they each care for Penelope by saving her from a rogue hot air balloon. I’m serious.
Next up on Keeping Up with the Bridgertons, Eloise and Penelope seem to be slowly repairing their friendship, but it’s going to take a lot more than a “sorry” for Eloise to forgive Pen. Francesca seems to have met her match: an equally introverted, quiet man named John Stirling. Also, Benedict finally gets a storyline this season by meeting Lady Tilley Arnold!
EPISODE 4: OLD FRIENDS
Francesca and John Stirling officially start courting each other, as do Lord Debling and Penelope. Lord Debling travels away from home a lot, which means that Penelope would have free rein to continue reigning the Ton as Lady Whistledown. He’d be the perfect husband, and he intends to be — he asks Lady Featherington permission to propose to Penelope — but he’s not Colin.
After Violet Bridgerton tells Colin that Penelope will be getting engaged at that night’s ball, he rushes over to convince Penelope to turn down the proposal. She never even gets the chance to answer Lord Debling either way; he breaks up with her after observing the unresolved tension between her and Colin. Colin and Penelope admit their feelings for each other, and their tension turns physical on the carriage ride back to his house.
The season ends with Colin asking, “For God’s sake, Penelope Featherington, are you going to marry me or not?” (Cue the hundreds of thousands of fangirls screaming.)
Fans aren’t the only people screaming at the end of episode four. It appears that both Prudence and Philippa have taken Lady Featherington’s baby-making advice seriously. They’re both pregnant! Now, Portia just has to hope at least one of them is a boy.
In Season 3 Part 2, I want to see more Polin, more instrumental pop covers, and more danger of Lady Whistledown’s identity being discovered. Let’s ramp up the drama! On June 13, I’ll be nestled on my couch with a cup of tea in one hand and four episodes of tea on my TV.