In all honesty, while Season 2 is my absolute favorite, I greatly enjoyed Bridgerton Season 3 for all of the senseless chaos and drama displayed on screen. Which apparently, the rest of the internet hated.

Colin and Penelope’s Love Story

Say what you will about Lady Cressida Cowper, but a broken clock is right twice a day.

Sure, Lady Cowper is the mean girl villain of the series, but she was correct in her assertion that the Bridgerton’s may favor (or rather, mistake) lust for love. I’m sure it’s different in the books (actually, I’ve heard it is -) but Colin and Penelope’s relationship alone seems to have devolved into a pot of lust that Colin couldn’t just let simmer any longer (a la the carriage scene).

Let’s be honest – whatever identity Colin was trying to embrace or whoever he wanted to become was vastly different from the sweet, almost bumbling yet thoughtful young man who just wanted to find his place in the world featured in Season 2.

Colin Bridgerton is a complete rake in Season 3 – almost to the level of Daphne’s husband Simon before they got serious in Season 1.

Don’t get me wrong, it was hilarious watching “Chad Colin” flirt with all of the ladies within the Ton and have casual threesomes, but less funny when he and Penelope are having pre-martial sex scenes and the only thing I can think of is Rose from Titanic saying “paint me like one of your French girls, Jack” while watching Penelope lie naked on the sofa.

I mean, Colin was completely uninterested in Penelope before their kiss, and way less interested before he took note of the Earl Debling’s interest in her. If I am completely honest, Penelope’s prior friendship and “budding” relationship is what saved her from ruin this season after Colin screws up the perception of the nature of his relationship with Penelope in Lord Debling’s eyes.

Which…I can kind of understand and sympathize with. Penelope did mention that she enjoyed reading in the window at the library outing, but never mentioned or even specified it had anything to do with Colin or the Bridgerton house.

Even so, if Lord Debling suspected Penelope had a crush on somebody like Colin, I’m sure it would be tolerated as a one-sided thing that would not interfere with their future marriage – especially since the two had just spoken about the prospect of love in their mutually beneficial arrangement.

Then Colin shows up, angsty and riddled with lust – and alongside the viper Cressida’s words, now Lord Debling feels less comfortable spending months and years away from home at a time knowing there is a high possibility his wife could have an affair or at worst, a child out of wedlock that he would have to claim as his own, save he lose his own honor.

Not to mention, Colin then chasing Penelope’s carriage down after humiliating her and ruining her last viable prospect on the Marriage Mart just to finger her in the carriage and sully her so that no other man would have her is foul.

Then, using the fact that he essentially “smashed and dashed” on Penelope and because she was a lady of rank and close to his family, that he was duty-bound to marry her after the Lady Whistledown reveal makes matters worse.

The final icing on the cake was the second and final time Cressida was right: Colin is jealous of Penelope’s literary success as Lady Whistledown.

Again, apparently the books are different – but in the show Penelope was literally complimenting Colin’s little conquest journal on the graphic yet vivid detail of his writing – which is oddly perverse given the time period (Regency Era England) and the nature of their upbringing (nobles in the Ton).

Then again, Colin admonishes Penelope for walking out of the Modiste late at night unchaperoned, and in the next (horny) moment is making out with her on a dark street corner for any passerby to see – because clearly, he cares not for his nor her reputation at this point.

The Lady Whistledown Reveal

Also, this may go without saying, but it probably would have been better if Colin and Eloise just let Penelope pay off Cressida to keep the Lady Whistledown secret before it spiraled out of control.

As Cressida and others like Penelope have tried to explain to the other Bridgerton’s and Eloise especially, not all families are as loving and understanding as theirs. Both Penelope and Cressida are a reflection of their mothers – their upbringing and responses to situations mirror that.

What made all the difference, ironically – is Colin in these situations.

Penelope Featherington started the Lady Whistledown column because she felt alone and unseen – a true wallflower through and through. Her mother, Lady Featherington even admits that she knew no other life than being dependent on a man for everything – and because of this urged her daughters to do the same.

So, two out of three daughters did so – becoming bitter and prude airheads who dotted on their husbands because they knew nothing else and were not taught to be their own person otherwise. Penelope, being the most like her mother – decided to build a nest egg for herself and ensure her own security since she saw her mother would not.

When it became all too unbearable at home, Penelope decided to seek out marriage as a way out of her helpless homelife situation. If Colin Bridgerton had not become an option, Penelope would most likely have married the Earl Alfred Debling and had a secure but albeit uneventful and quiet life away from society.

Because Colin became her only option – her only viable prospect left and it being a love match – she allowed herself to give it her all (in intimacy) – something her mother expected due to the sudden proposal on Colin’s end.

And just like her mother falling for a scammer and robbing the Ton – Penelope (unfortunately) did the same thing. Penelope sold tantalizing gossip and secrets on the show while feeding her ego as Lady Whistledown, and then pulled a scam on both the Queen and the Solicitor by revealing herself as Lady Whistledown in high society and opening an avenue for her mother to keep the Featherington title in family by claiming the Whistledown money as hers to cover up their debt.

Which again, I don’t fault Penelope for but as Lady Featherington said – Penelope is the daughter who is most like her. They both scammed the entire town of Mayfair – the only difference is Colin couldn’t run away from Penelope like Lady Featherington’s cousin did because Colin is honor-bound by the good Bridgerton name not to embarrass his family or cause a scandal.

Juxtaposed with Cressida, Penelope understood that Cressida had nothing left to lose and would just rather pay her to make it all go away so that Cressida could have a fresh start after being rejected in society and not finding a suitable match on the Marriage Mart.

This was even evidenced by the fact that Lady Whistledown did not tear down Lady Cowper in her issue following the false admission – but rather realized it was not a (rare) malicious act from Lady Cowper, but one out of fear and desperation for her future with the prospect of a comfortable marriage gone after losing the Earl Debling’s favor.

Eloise and Colin have never had to struggle on their own or even think about losing the support of their families. Which is why Penelope almost ruined Eloise’s reputation by publishing her scandalized exploits with the printer boy last season in an attempt to snap Eloise back to reality – something Eloise only now appreciates this season.

This is why Cressida’s parents don’t want her hanging around “the Bridgerton girl” because they both know not everybody has the luxury Eloise Bridgerton has to be wealthy, loved, and still engaged in her social status despite not pursuing a marriage or any prospects and being afforded time and space to leisurely read and now travel to Scotland at a moment’s notice.

Cressida’s mother abandons her daughter in the same way Penelope’s mother does in favor of her own social standing – the only difference is that Cressida did not have a Colin, or a loving Bridgerton-like figure standing in her corner.

Just like her father’s old man friend who decided Cressida was too much trouble, and a mean aunt who decided to take the bright and flashy girl to Wales – a drab country equivalent to Russia’s Siberia in the UK – to beat the remaining vitality, folly, and hope out of the young girl.

All because Cressida failed to play the game as well as Penelope. Simply because she was not as “clever” as Lady Whistledown. Which in itself, is a damn shame.

And of course, Penelope’s child is the one who carries on the Featherington name, because she is the only one who persevered to get what she believed she deserved in this world – a love match with the Bridgerton boy of her dreams, no matter his drastic personality change.

Like her mother, Penelope ended up securing her own future and that of her family for generations to come by scamming and scheming as Lady Featherington did – but being clever enough to not get caught up in her lies and by keeping her powerful allies in the Bridgerton’s by her side.

But, what is your take on Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington’s sudden yet somewhat tumultuous relationship in Bridgerton Season 3?

Let me know your thoughts and leave them in the comment section below! And until next time ~

“This world is a shadow of the real one”.

❂ Stories From the New World

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