Issues with pacing and a growing ensemble make for a disappointing conclusion to the stories of Penelope and Lady Whistledown.

Part 1 of Briderston Season 3 ended on an exhilarating cliffhanger punctuated by Archer Marsh’s string-quartet rendition of Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything.” But depending on what you wanted out of the romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), Season 3 either gave us too little or way too much. This season is overstuffed with subplots, diminishing the love story at its core and giving the hunt for Lady Whistledown an anticlimactic ending. Newton and Coughlan’s chemistry is searing but wasted in a lackluster and directionless outing from one of Netflix’s signature dramas.

Before I hit you with a “Dearest Gentle Reader” and tear into season 3 with vicious prose (ok, I don’t have the temperament for viciousness and I’m definitely no Whistledown), I want to make it clear that I didn’t hate the season. Far from it. It was a perfectly nice way to spend a few hours, and the melodrama drew plenty of shocked gasps out of me. The potential twists to future seasons are fascinating and I’m curious to see what’s next; I’m particularly intrigued by the potential exploration of queer identities teased for Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd).

Bridgerton Season 3 Gallery

But that’s the future. What about our lovestruck Bridgerton couple of the present? Colin’s puppy dog devotion to his now-fiancé Penelope is fierce and their physical attraction palpable. Viewers waiting for the heat to turn up are in luck: Episode 5, perhaps the peak of Season 3, gifts us with an insanely sensual sex scene between the two. (There’s a mirror involved – I’ll leave it at that.) The problem with Season 3 is never Coughlan or Newton, because they electrify the screen together. No, the problem is we hardly get enough of them across eight episodes that are supposedly dedicated to their romance. Instead there’s Featherington drama, Benedict’s frollicking, Will Mondrich’s (Martins Imhangbe) lamentation over his bar that somehow lasts most of the season, and so on and so on. These storylines wouldn’t be an issue if they didn’t dominate so much of Season 3 that Colin and Penelope’s romance suffers for it.

The entire season struggles with priorities and pacing. Why did Colin need to tutor Penelope in the art of husband-finding if that was going to last all of 5 seconds? Why did we need to spend so much time establishing an emotional connection between Penelope and Lord Debling (Sam Phillips) when he quite literally disappears after rejecting her? Most importantly, why is the Lady Whistledown drama timed so that Colin is furious with Penelope during their wedding and they’re essentially estranged until the last 20 minutes of the finale? The very last scene reveals all three Featherington sisters have had babies, and maybe that’s a bit metaphorical: Penelope sharing the spotlight (yes, the “spotlight” is a trio of newborns in this metaphor), as always, with everyone else.

All that said, the season does continue to explore the harsh realities of gender in a patriarchal society obsessed with producing male heirs. Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) finds herself so desperate to escape her father’s cruelty that she’s driven to blackmail. It’s a humanizing season for the series’ mean girl, reminding us that the ton is a place where a woman’s happiness is entirely dependent on the temperament of their father or husband. Lady Featherington (Polly Walker) and Lady Cowper (Joanna Bobin) are also deeply studied demonstrations of what motherhood means when raising a daughter during this time period. Previously sneering accomplices to their children, Season 3 reveals the cracks in their layers of vitriol and reveals a frightened vulnerability underneath. Not everyone gets to be the lucky Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), with her loving marriage, beneficial connections, and plentiful sons.

Bridgerton season 3 is perfectly fine – and that’s what makes it so frustrating. It’s a locomotive on the right track that somehow still arrives at the wrong destination. Too many stops, too many conductors, too much fuel wasted for an ambling journey. Season 2 was all kindling and fire, but its follow-up feels more like a transitional step into a new phase of Bridgerton, working to create intrigue around love affairs yet to be. Let it serve as a cautionary tale for other producers, directors, and showrunners: If you’re going to put Nicola Coughlan in a romance, make sure you understand she’s the star of the show.

Verdict

I wanted to love Bridgerton Season 3. Instead, I felt ready for it to be over. Nicola Coughlan’s talent manages to take center stage even if the season seems to work against her, and the chemistry between Coughlan and Luke Newton is undeniable. Their scenes are the most fun to watch, but Colin and Penelope’s relationship somehow gets lost in a season where it’s supposed to be the main focus. Like Penelope’s grappling with her own alter ego, Season 3 suffers its own identity crisis when it’s pulled in too many different directions. It’s a fun enough watch, but it never quite manages to capture the incredible intensity of Season 2.