Fans have waited over a year to watch the second season of Netflix’s hit period piece Bridgerton. The series found major success during its debut in December 2020, at the height of the pandemic. From diverse characters, elegant ballgowns and classical renditions of modern songs, Bridgerton captured the attention of a wide audience for a mere eight episodes.
While the first season followed Daphne Bridgerton, the oldest daughter, the second shifted its focus to a new character, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton. Anthony is the oldest child of the Bridgerton family and is weighed down by the weight of his father’s death as he felt enormous pressure to marry and therefore pass on his family name. The second season followed the pattern of the first: find a suitable partner that you don’t love and eventually fall in love with them. But the Viscount had other plans. Antony’s viscountess had to have only four qualities: tolerable, dutiful, suitable hips for childbearing and half a brain. Although he said that last quality was only a preference.
However, Antony found much more than that for a wife in this season. He found love with his fiancé. Or wait, his fiancé’s older sister.
Kate and Edwina Sharma, the leading ladies of this season, moved back to London from India for that year’s marriage season. Edwina was named the diamond of the season, a perfect title for a viscountess. Antony fought through every obstacle to finally propose to Edwina. Little did he know that Kate wasn’t just an annoying, hateful obstacle. She was also the bane of his existence and the object of all his desires.
The second season produced more patience in the audience than the previous season. The first season had episodes following Daphne and Simon’s courtship, marriage, honeymoon and birth of their child. However, in the second season, there was an achingly slow burn. All that Kate and Antony shared for six episodes were stolen glances and hateful comments. The enemies finally became lovers at the end of episode six.
But even then, their relationship did not become official until the very last episode. All this aside, the intense hatred turned to unbearable love between the viscount and viscountess proved satiable. The viscount’s storyline outdid anything that was written for his sister Daphne in the previous season. I hardly even noticed that Simon did not make one single appearance the entire eight episodes.
The other plotlines found themselves to be underwhelming. Antony and Kate stole the show while the Featheringtons, once again, slowed the show. I found myself skipping their scenes entirely.
Eloise Bridgerton, a season one favorite, also found herself in an entanglement of the heart, something I could see coming from a mile away. She followed the predictable “I don’t need a man. I hate men. Except for that man. I need him” trope. As she was on the search for Lady Whistledown’s identity, she found herself catching feelings for the printshop worker, Theo.
Eloise soon forgot about Theo when she found out her own best friend, Penelope Featherington, was Lady Whistledown. Penelope tried her best to cover her escapade, but it all failed. Just like the entire Featherington plotline did.
It is rare for a second season to be just as good as the first. But I think in this case the second season exceeded the first. It prioritized love over lust and passion over prominence. I only hope that the third season doesn’t throw away the greatest Bridgerton love story yet, the Viscount and his Viscountess.
Joanna Hayes can be reached at [email protected]