This season of Bridgerton didn't lose me as a viewer, but I did get bored. With the first season, Netflix didn't hold back. Bright colors, big haircuts, beautiful costumes and endless chemistry. Almost everything was right about the debut of this costume drama. Expectations for this second season were therefore very high. Expectations, which in my opinion are not fulfilled at all.
In this season, chemistry is hard to find.
We now know that the series is based on a series of books by Julia Quinn, where each book zooms in on the life of one of Bridgerton's eight siblings. Where last season revolved around Daphne, this season eldest brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) is put in the spotlight. Since he is a viscount, he is under pressure to quickly choose a woman who can become the perfect viscountess. He has therefore decided for himself that it is really time to choose a woman and starts looking for the perfect candidate.
We already know many faces, but this season a few will be added. New are Lady Mary Sharma (Shelley Conn, Mistresses) and her two daughters, Kate (Simone Ashley, Sex Education) and Edwina (Charithra Chandran, Alex Rider). The two ladies grew up in India, after their mother moved there because she fell in love with a man of lower status than herself (shame, of course). Anthony sets his sights on young Edwina, but suddenly ends up in a complicated love triangle. Guess with who...
The course of this main story is therefore completely predictable. From the moment Anthony meets an unknown woman, who immediately interests him, you already know who this will be and how it will turn out. To be honest, I found the other stories much more interesting than the main Viscount story. Including the search for the new Viscount of the House of Featherington, the ins and outs of Lady Whistledown herself, the even more rebellious side of Eloise Bridgerton and everything around it.
The characters that stood out in the first season fulfilled that star role even more during this second season. Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton) plays her headstrong role fantastically and grows with the episode. Now that you know who Lady Whistledown is, you appreciate Nicola Coughlan's acting all the more. The newcomers also play really well next to the cast that we already know from the first season. Each and every one of them are characters that you will love more and more.
The series is simply a contemporary costume drama, without too much fuss.
However, let's be honest. In the first season, the chemistry between Daphne and Simon splashed off the screen. In this season, that chemistry is hard to find. The protagonists don't match at all in my opinion, even though the actors really do their best to make it come across differently. Nevertheless, the gardens are still lush, the houses are still grand and the landscapes are breathtaking. The whole atmosphere is still right, but the story is boring and gets bored quickly.
With a series like Bridgerton, you don't have to think, you can just dream away. The series is just a contemporary costume drama, without too much fuss, so it appeals to a large audience. It still manages to do that. This season just lacked the passion I was hoping for after the first season.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
