Bridgerton Season 4: Episode 3 'The Field Next to the Other Road'

This episode starts where the previous episode left off with Sophie and Benedict on their way to London after departing Cavender's place. As it begins to rain Benedict diverts to My Cottage.  Despite Benedict having caretakers, the Crabtrees, there is no-one at the cottage, and as Benedict doesn't have a key Sophie breaks in via a window and they are able to enter the cottage, which - as Sophie states - is a little misleading since it is more of a country mansion than a cottage.  

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After getting a fire started, Benedict shows Sophie to a guest room telling her that she can wear any of the clothes, which are old clothes of his sister's that are inexplicably left at his place.  During the night Sophie is woken by Benedict crying out, and it turns out he is injured worse than he said, and it seems to have gotten infected causing Benedict to have a fever.  While Sophie is tending to Benedict's wound he hallucinates that she is the Lady in Silver - his subconscious showing him the truth in his delirium. The night passes with Sophie spending it in a chair beside Benedict's bed, and in the morning they are woken by the return of the Crabtrees.  

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During the episode Benedict and Sophie are isolated, and spend it in their own bubble at My Cottage as Benedict recovers from his injury and the resulting infection and fever. This is the first time since season 1 episode 6 that the main couple have been isolated away from the Ton. From a storytelling point of view this isolation works to develop their relationship without the distraction of the class divide, though we get moments of Mrs Crabtree playing the role of the wise mentor to both Sophie and Benedict reminding them each of their place in society and bringing them back to reality from the fantasy world they are inhabiting. These conversations with Mrs Crabtree emphasise the theme of this season of power imbalances, and the opposing sides of a fantasy versus reality.

At My Cottage we get snippets of information about both Benedict and Sophie as they grow closer, we learn Sophie is well educated in languages and art, meanwhile Benedict no longer considers himself an artist saying it is soething he dabbles in, calling back to season 2 when he felt like a fraud after finding out Anthony paid for his place at the Royal Academy.  Even though we saw some of Benedict's sketches of the Lady in Silver last episode, in this episode we see Benedict at his easel sketching the outline for a painting, implying that he is feeling inspired to paint again after talking about his art to Sophie. This idyll doesn't last long and soon Benedict is recovered enough to return to London, we see Sophie get changed back into her maid's outfit, and Benedict and Sophie depart My Cottage for London, ending the episode.

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While Benedict and Sophie are at My Cottage, life continues back in London for the Ton. We learn via Lady Whistledown that Sophie's departure was months prior, and her departure began the maid wars, as Lady Whistledown tells us that Araminta required four maids to replace her.  To get the additional staff she requires Araminta is poaching servants from other households by offering them more money, causing a domino effect of other households poaching servants from their friends and neighbours and so on.  In the Featherington Household Varley tells Portia that she has been offered another position for more money, which Portia believes she has declined. Varley requests an increase in her wages, however, Portia says that financial constraints means she is unable to as she would have to increase the wages of the other staff as well. Portia does give Varley her old gowns before replacing them with new gowns, something that Varley does not appreciate.  

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Elsewhere in the Ton we learn that Hyacinth is taking finishing lessons, and Violet has enlisted Eloise to chaperone her, giving Eloise the choice to either join society and talk to suitors or chaperone Hyacinth.  During the lessons Eloise shows that perhaps she isn't so keen on the spinster lifestyle after all, something that is highlighted when she is excluded from an outing with Penelope & Colin and Francesca & John because she is not married.  Eloise's isolation and sense of being an outsider is compounded when she walks in on Francesca and Penelope talking, and they immediately quieten on her arrival.  

Francesca spends much of the episode seeking to understand what the pinnacle is. After asking John why he thinks they aren't with child yet, and if he thinks she should be doing something, John tells her that he had heard that women are more likely to conceive if they reach their pinnacle.  This sets Francesca on her journey to discover what the pinnacle is as she does not know (despite lying to John that she was reaching her pinnacle). In this quest Francesca has a number of awkward conversations, first with her mother, then with Penelope to try and find out what the pinnacle is. 

Highs: 

• The My Cottage scenes, these were a breath of fresh air being out of London and in the country with time that allowed us to see and get to know Benedict and Sophie. This was reminiscent of Simon and Daphne at Clyvedon in season 1. 

• Sophie's gowns. Much has been said of the costuming choices in season 3, and some of the costuming choices for season 4, however, seeing Sophie in gowns that are more in line with season 1 and season 2 costumes was a real boost of seratonin

• Stockings! I don't mean generally either, it was so great to see Penelope wearing stockings in the Carriage Scene 2.0. I was not impressed with the fact she never wore stockings in season 3, so I am glad they remembered she is meant to be a lady. 

• The Lake Scene. Do I need to say more? We had a definite throwback to Anthony getting dunked, if a little more on display for Sophie than what Kate had.

Lows: 

• The caricature of Queen Charlotte that now exists in the space of her character from S1 and S2. This is hinting at a problem that Jess Brownell is facing with wanting (or having) to keep the character in the show but not actually knowing how to use her, and now she has become some caricature of what she was. 

• Violet and Marcus. I am just not feeling this storyline, and I am not sure what it is that isn't quite hitting with me, but I just feel that it is missing the mark a bit. 

• Having so few family scenes is starting to be missed a lot, this is no longer feeling like a show with a family at its heart.