‘Bridgerton’ Season 4, Part 2 review: Love does not always look how one expects
Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 continues its Cinderella story to talk about class.
As in the first part of Season 4, Bridgerton’s second half continues its Downton Abbey turn to foreground a story of class, using the fairy tale framework of Cinderella to question society’s antiquated rules on marriage.
Importantly, it’s the first season of Bridgerton we’ve really gotten to know members of the Ton’s working class, a thread the series continues to weave through the second half, seeing characters like housekeepers Mrs. Varley (Lorraine Ashbourne) and Mrs. Wilson (Geraldine Alexander) as indispensable members of the Ton, keepers of information, and characters in their own right — including our protagonist.
Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), who was previously a servant to her evil stepmother, Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), and her daughters, Rosamund (Michelle Mao) and Posy (Isabella Wei), has taken up employment in the Bridgerton household. That’s all thanks to the man she’s secretly in love with, the Ton’s most eligible bachelor, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson). He still doesn’t know she’s the masked lady in silver from the first episode’s masquerade ball, and she’s still running from Lady Araminta’s wrath, with Leung carving a sublime villain of the season’s antagonist. Honestly, step on my shoe clips.
Over four drama-packed episodes, Bridgerton sees Sophie remain steadfast on her reasons for not becoming a mistress, while Benedict simply cannot understand it from his position of rich male privilege. Joining the ranks of Bridgerton‘s multi-season yearnissance, Leung and Thompson’s chemistry never falters for a second, making Sophie and Benedict a genuinely cheer-worthy duo amid potential scandal.
Here, Bridgerton really digs into the practicalities of “improper” matches like never before, with Ha giving an impeccable performance through Sophie’s frustration at her options, lamenting “love in the face of generations of established practice.” The series also gives Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) a complex narrative arc with her reaction to Sophie and Benedict’s attachment, gifting Gemmell and Thompson many a dramatic scene unpacking the nature of “appropriate” marriage matches. Plus, series favourite Jonathan Bailey is excellent this season as the devil’s advocate, Anthony Bridgerton, with a brief return seeing him lay down the societal law for his brother.
Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 balances steam with solemnity.
While Season 4’s first half focused on a romantic slow burn, the second half pulls directly from Bridgerton author Julia Quinn’s books for some deliriously steamy sequences (social media feeds will inevitably slosh about bath sex for a while to come).
However, while the series lives up to its raunchy Regency reputation, Bridgerton parallels such vivacity by venturing into its most sombre territory yet. For a season that by no means will be its last, Bridgerton Season 4 bakes in many “ends.” The imminent departure of Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) from Queen Charlotte’s (Golda Rosheuvel) side sees these two impeccable actors giving the season’s diamond performances — an unspoken moment between them in episode 6 will stay with me forever.
However, there are more permanent ends afoot. Bridgerton has dabbled with loss, mainly through the omnipresent absence of Bridgerton patriarch Edmund, but death has always happened offscreen or long ago. A hard clash with the splendour, romance, and pink fluffy set decoration of the season, elements of Part 2 find themselves draped in mourning black. It’s one of the events of the Bridgerton books which readers know well has been sitting on the horizon from the very first Netflix season. I won’t spoil it here, but suffice to say main characters are sent down the “winding and illogical path” of grief and guilt — a hard pivot from gossip, filling one’s dance card, and taking tea.
It’s relatively unchartered territory for the series, allowing production designer Alison Gartshore, costume designer John Glaser, and hair and makeup designer Nic Collins to consider what Bridgerton looks like if Wednesday Addams landed in the Ton. But it also allows for quietly moving performances from two characters we’ll see much more of in the future.
Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 lays the groundwork for one hell of a Season 5.
Much of Bridgerton Season 4 concerns lovers hailing from opposing worlds, drawn to each other like a moth to a flame despite not fitting the Ton’s social rules for marriage matches. As Julie Andrews’ always comforting Lady Whistledown voice-over says, “The draw of two differing desires can be torture at best… Perhaps the desire is not the problem, but the world itself.” This season, Sophie and Benedict struggle with the impossibility of their match across classes, and through subtle hints, keen-eyed viewers will see a long-overdue journey on the horizon.
