Do You Think Bridgerton’s Penelope Gets a Special Treatment? Think Again

Summary:

• Bridgerton is a romantic period drama from Netflix and Shondaland based on Julia Quinn's novel series of the same name.
• The show follows the structure of the books, but doesn't keep all the details and changes some of them to better fit the narrative.
• Penelope Featherington, the lead character in the upcoming season 3, has faced more added challenges on the show than any other character so far.

Throughout the first two seasons of Bridgerton, it has become clear that Shondaland's creators are not interested in following the original Julia Quinn books word for word.

Although the main characters and their romantic partners remain the same, there are many differences that the show has already implemented and plans to implement in a next season.

Some of them, like giving a bigger role to Her Majesty the Queen or changing the backstory of Anthony's wife, Kate Sharma, were met with obvious excitement by the fans. Others, however, were heavily criticized on social media.

One of the main points of criticism that Bridgerton fans had about season 2 was the amount of screen time spent outside of the Bridgertons themselves.

As the Featherington household became more prominent in the story, fans began to riot against everyone, including Penelope, who was quickly becoming the writers' favorite.

However, given the number of challenges the team has put Penelope through exclusively for the show, this is hardly the case.

Was Penelope Featherington Different In Bridgerton Books?

As a character, Penelope Featherington remained pretty much the same in the show as she was in the books. The only difference is that the show was not interested in forcing the actress behind the character, Nicola Coughlan, to lose weight in order to have a glow, while the book did.

However, this is about the only positive change for poor Penelope, who had to suffer a lot in the show.

First of all, the Featherington household didn't suffer the tremendous loss of a father during the main events of the book series.

Lord Featherington is dead, that much is true, but Penelope doesn't have to learn that her father was brutally murdered, nor does she have to go through years of mourning. That much was added for the show's drama.

Another difference is that Penelope was robbed of the only person in her household who was actually decent and kind to her, her younger sister Felicity.

For some reason, the show decided not to use her on screen at all, even though she played a very important role as Penelope's companion in their love story.

The heartbreak Penelope suffered with Colin's short-lived engagement to Marina Thompson is another change for the worse she had to endure.

It also led her character to make the very questionable decision of outing Marina's pregnancy, which is still heavily judged by the fandom.

On the bright side, season 3 is shaping up to be the season where Penelope Featherington finally finds love and gets her well-deserved happy ending.

Tune in to Netflix on May 16th to catch the premiere, and stay tuned for all the news and behind-the-scenes updates.