Bridgerton S3 Needs a Proper Time Jump to Sell Colin & Penelope Love Story
Season One gave us friends-to-lovers "Saphne". Season Two turned up the heat withenemies-to-lovers "Kanthony". If the hit Netflix series Bridgerton was following the order of JuliaQuinn's bestselling romance novels, it would now be time for Benedict Bridgerton and theCinderella-like Sophia Beckett to take the spotlight.
However, the creators behind the Regency series have announced that Season 3 will instead center around Colin Bridgerton and the perpetually friend-zoned Penelope Featherington.
Reactions to the announcement were mixed. While there are a lot of fans of Penelope (and her alter-ego, the poison-penned Lady Whistledown), Season 2 showed us that neither she nor Colin are currently mature enough to meet each other in equal partnership.
Colin's aimless travels abroad and apparently endless capacity to take "Pen" for granted have left fans cold – and, let's be honest, his baby-faced naivety hasn't exactly been the stuff romantic dreams are made of (though he does win points for his sleuthing-out of "Cousin Jack").
For her own part, Penelope has proven that she's sharp-witted enough to keep the Lady Whistledown scam lining her pockets. But she's still desperate for approval from Eloise, Colin, the ton, and her own family. A "friends to lovers" romance is all very well and good – but right now, can Pen and Colin even be considered "friends"?
Penelope is grateful to have a man in her life who treats her with respect, but Colin doesn't actually behave like her friend in any meaningful way. All they ever talk about is him, and he takes Penelope's presence in his life completely for granted.
You can't help but suspect that if Colin turned around and proposed marriage five minutes after the events of Season 2's finale, Penelope would be pitifully grateful rather than seeing herself as worthy of Colin's love.
Penelope needs to learn how to value herself for who she is. Ideally, she needs to get over her lifelong crush on Colin, so that the two of them can finally meet on equal footing. In the meantime, Colin needs to grow up a bit, come into his own, and learn to appreciate the woman who's right in front of him.
At the end of Season 2, Penelope overheard Colin telling his friends:
"I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not in your wildest fantasies."
In our wildest fantasies, Bridgerton's creators allow for a proper time jump before Season 3. We're talking months if not years. That's what it will take for Penelope to get over Colin Bridgerton, and mature into her own independent person. That's also what it will take for Colin to grow into the kind of man who might deserve the hand of his friend, his biggest supporter, and the notorious Lady Whistledown.