This episode begins with the fallout of Colin finding out about Lady Thistledown, and to be expected he did not take it well being lied to, and manipulated, by Penelope. The episode begins exactly where the previous episode left off with Colin confronting Penelope outside the printer's shop, confusingly the anger Colin feels towards her appears to come from concern for her safety (him thinking she had been abducted) initially, and vacillates between that and the fact she is the woman who wrote about him and his family and lied to him. Whilst it is most likely that this was meant to show Colin's confused feelings about the reveal it is never satisfactorily looked at in the episode, so it is hard to know what is motivating this emotion in Colin. As a viewer I was unsure what the motivating force behind Colin's anger was, but I do think that the writers were desperate to give him the same reasoning for anger as in the book. This just doesn't work for a number of reasons, partly due to how they have written Lady Whistledown, but also because they had written themselves into a corner with Colin being angry about what Penelope had written, meaning the writing comes across as incoherent and confused.
The next morning we have the 'battle of the Ladies Whistledown' as Cressida puts out her first full edition in which she brings into question the reputation of the Bridgerton family, meanwhile the edition Penelope had published comes out also, with more hard gossip as opposed to innuendo disguised as gossip, with a subtle (or not so subtle) dig at Cressida. We find out that it is Lady Cowper that was behind the cruel things written about the Bridgertons in Cressida's column, with Cressida displaying regret at having written them, Lady Cowper however appears to display some jealousy towards Violet and the Bridgertons.
Preparations for the wedding are underway with Lady Featherington hosting the wedding breakfast, and during the 'tour' with Violet, Colin and Penelope we see the frosty relations between Colin and Penelope. Colin let's Penelope know that he is present because Violet was curious about them not spending time together, and he did not want to arouse suspicions, Penelope's response is to ask if he will call off the wedding - it really seems that is her only concern. In response to Penelope asking if he will call off the wedding, Colin responds with Anthony's line from season 2 - 'I am a man of honour'. Colin also mentions that they were intimate, he goes on to suggest that was also part of her planned entrapment. Penelope doesn't address any issues, just says that she loves him. Colin asks if Penelope will stop publishing, however, she is unable to respond saying she doesn't know if she will, but the night before the wedding when she visits Mme Delacroix Penelope states that she tried giving Lady Whistledown up but it felt like giving up part of herself. I found this from Penelope interesting, it indicates that Penelope may recognise some of the toxicity in her personality and that is what comes out in Whistledown. That Penelope may have some recognition that Whistledown is not the best side of her personality is again hinted at when she runs into Colin outside of the modiste, and again they have a confrontation about Whistledown, and Penelope acknowledges that she has done some damage, and again apologises. As the discussion continues Colin questions about what she wrote about Eloise and Marina and Penelope attempts to justify herself, however, Colin asks if she does not respect him enough to have told him about Marina personally, he then goes on to say it is obvious that Penelope does not respect him considering what she wrote about him at the beginning of the season.
Image Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix
On his return to Bridgerton House Kate and Anthony have a talk with Colin, or rather Kate has a talk and Anthony sits there besotted with his wife. Kate tells Colin that everyone has secrets and has made mistakes, and that he cannot let one mistake define their whole lives together. On the surface this is about Colin and Penelope I feel that the subtext of this from Kate is her showing how she forgave Anthony, and how they moved on from their mistakes in the previous season.
The wedding ceremony is a standard ceremony, though missing some important aspects of a full Church of England ceremony, however, it does feel that it is a much grander wedding than one would expect for a third daughter and untitled third son. After the ceremony the wedding breakfast is held at Featherington house, and is interrupted by the Queen who demands all but Bridgertons leave the room, (strangely Lady D remains). The Queen claims that she knows that Lady Whistledown is in the room, and is one of the Bridgertons, however, Anthony steps up and says he would have known if it was happening in his house and would have put a stop to it. This shows Anthony's mindset with regards to Lady Whistledown, and that when he finally finds out that he probably would not be that happy about Lady Whistledown being a member of his family.
After the Queen leaves Colin and Penelope have yet another confrontation about Lady Whistledown, with Colin again telling Penelope it is time for her to give it up. Penelope responds with a speech about the powerlessness of being a woman, which is interesting because if there is one thing Penelope does it is remove any power a woman may have through exposure in her column, Penelope has not shown any care for women or their roles in society, which makes this speech out of place in the show as it has been previously.
Highs:
- John asking Francesca to dance at the wedding breakfast
- Prudence making an effort towards Penelope, it reinforces to me that Prudence's biggest issue with Penelope was that she recognised Penelope is their mother's favourite
- Kate and Anthony scenes, they are a delight on screen and we truly did not have enough of them
- Marcus and Lady Danbury talking through their issue, and coming to a better understanding
Lows:
- Penelope and Colin getting married without the Bridgertons knowing she is Lady Whistledown, this shows an inherent lack of familial loyalty or care, and also (to echo Colin), a great amount of disrespect. It is odd that the writers had Colin telling Penelope that she showed disrespect by not telling him about Marina, then having Colin show that same disrespect to his family by not telling them about Penelope being Lady Whistledown.
- Telling, not showing, us about Kate and Anthony's wedding. Why bring it up knowing fans were upset about not seeing it? Giving the benefit of the doubt to Jess Brownell and the writers, I will say this may have been them trying to give something to the viewers, however, to many it felt more like they were rubbing it in to Kanthony fans that the woman of colour didn't get a wedding and never will.
