Are 10 minutes enough to ruin an entire tv series?

I had a very different post prepared for Bridgerton. We had been watching an episode or two every night all week and I was so excited for this mind blowingly amazing show that I started writing my post with one episode to go. I figured I would make any quick additions after I saw the finale and that would be that. I had no idea that the last ten minutes of the season finale would change my outlook on the entire show.

This will have spoilers. Pretty massive spoilers. I will be revealing who Lady Whistledown is and I will be discussing how the will-they/won’t-they relationship between Daphne and Simon ended. So, you’ve been warned.

Bridgerton is an R rated Jane Austen fanfiction and I was here for it.

I could wax on about the costumes, the hair, makeup, and set pieces, but really, Bridgerton just reminded me of how much I love the drama, witty conversations, and romance of the Regency Era. Bridgerton is based off Julia Quinn’s novels and adapted for the screen by Chris Van Dusen and Shonda Rhimes, the same duo who brought us Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. I would have put this Netflix Original right up there with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries as my favorite Jane Austen adaptations until the last episode. That’s how much I liked this show. Liked being past tense.

I have also been reading Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter in parallel to the show, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Bridgerton would have been made the way it was without Hamilton. Perhaps it’s just bias and I assume everyone has been inspired by Lin and Hamilton; the non-historically accurate character diversity, the use of modern music and the rarely seen humanization of these characters. It probably helps that Hamilton and Bridgerton are set in the same time period. But I love it, all of it.

Unfortunately, I did some research and found out that none of that was in the original books. Every character was Caucasian, and a handful of the most pivotal characters in the show weren’t even in the books. Queen Charlotte, Prince Friederich, Siena Rosso, Will and Alice Mondrich, Lord Featherington, Henry Granville and Genevieve Delacroix were either not in the books or were complete throwaway characters. Could you imagine that story without Queen Charlotte?

And there was a straight up rape scene between Daphne and the Duke in the book. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much better in the show. At least he wasn’t drunk in the show, but what Daphne did was akin to punching holes in a condom AFTER both parties agree to not have children. And it’s fine having a character do something that is despicable. If the person who committed the act is supposed to be the hero, there should be something that redeems them from that action, otherwise the character will become the villain.

Unfortunately there was NOTHING to redeem Daphne. I’m not even sure what in the hell that whole revelation while dancing in the rain was supposed to be. Lady fancy hair (you know, the one who thought she was going to get the Prince before Daphne stepped in) was right. Daphne was willing to do whatever was needed to get exactly what she wanted, no matter who she had to destroy to do it.

And that’s where Bridgerton ruins it for me. Daphne was supposed to be the hero of this story. She was supposed to respect the Duke’s decision and realize that her love for him was far greater than any desire to have a family. Then, the Duke could have realized that he wasn’t his father, and that people loved him for him, instead of how he made someone else’s life better or worse. And then, he could make the decision to have a child with Daphne. Because he knew that she would love him whether or not he sired a child. So, Daphne robbed Simon of his redemption arc. And the show’s writers/directors/creators/whoever made him ok with it. That pisses me off.

Ok, let’s shift on over to the mystery of Lady Wistledown. First of all, there are 8 books about the 8 Bridgerton children. EIGHT. Lady Wistledown’s identity was hidden until the 4th book, but for some reason the tv show decided to unmask Lady Wistledown in season ONE. Why? Why? Could you imagine the internet posts debating her identity? People arguing that because it was so and so in the book, it was probably her in the show. But what if they changed it? I mean how many other characters did they add, remove or change from the books? If nothing else, could you image how much excitement it would drum up for the second season? Does anyone remember how GoT book fans were like, huh, maybe they aren’t going to do the whole Red Wedding thing, until BAM 5 minutes before the end of the episode the Rains of Castamere starts playing and EVERYONE DIES.

That’s damn good story telling.

The reveal of Lady Wistledown as Penelope was terrible. First, it was so jarring. Because it was a cut scene after the fact, it wasn’t like OOOOOOOOO it WAS her. And her little smile made her look evil and not the lovable friend of Eloise that we had felt for the entire season. And to have Lady Wistledown write what she did about both the Bridgertons and the Featheringtons (which she didn’t do in the books) makes her a monster. Especially because we see Penelope crying in Eloise’s arms one minute and then hear what Wistledown wrote directly after that … that makes Penelope a villain as well. I can’t even like her going forward.

Anyway, you can go check out Bridgerton on Netflix and stop it just before the last 10 minutes of the last episode and pretend it doesn’t get awful, or you can go watch all of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube while you are pretending to work from home. Lizzie won’t let you down.