Our Bridgerton Season 3, Part Two Watch Party

Adulting Sucks…But it doesn’t always have to. When Michaela graduated high school, I was not prepared for how quickly the transition from childhood to adulthood would happen. It was like LITERALLY overnight. High school was done. College was looming. School admin no longer wanted to speak with parents. Doctor’s offices no longer communicated even though she remained and remains still on my insurance. All of a sudden she was having to make decisions that I always took care of or helped her with. It was scary for her and disconcerting for me. Compound that with all of this happening smack dab in the middle of the pandemic in 2020 and it came a source of great anxiety and grief for both of us. An era was ending abruptly. Neither one of us was prepared.

Now as experts in the area of anxiety and grief, we had to find new ways to cope. In light of the pandemic, our usual method – ESCAPING – became less and less of an option. Like many we relied on media to help us. I had seen Bridgerton as a recommended show on Netflix and I ignored it for a while. But one day while Michaela was at work, I was bored and looking for something to fill my time. I do love a good period drama and romance so I caved and decided to watch. I’ll be the first to admit that the show is soapy and can definitely be corny. This show was NOT a Jane Austen novel whose stories of romance are legendary, as are the movie adaptations that I adore (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?). So warming up to this show as a challenge because on the surface it gave the appearance of a noble regency era story but had taudry visuals that weren’t very necessary – OR wanted.

Season 2 came a couple years later and the hype was ramped up because with the pandemic forcing people to seek their entertainment from their streaming devices, the show had become a huge hit. What would come next was the story shifted to another sibling in the Bridgerton family. This time it was Anthony – who in season 1 was anything but a gentleman and let’s face it, he was gross. How on earth could he be worth a whole season of attention? We learned Anthony was the witness to his father’s demise, how the trauma of that event molded the person he would become – how at the young age of 18 being forced to take on the mantle of father and manager of his family’s entire estate and how he would be required to decide the fate of his mother as she agonizingly endured the breech birth of his little sister. It was a lot. He dealt with it the only way he knew how – whoring around town (let’s be honest) and reminding everyone within earshot that his was a life of duty and nothing else. Now having had to endure the untimely death of a loved one, I empathized with Anthony. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and enjoyed the season as he resisted the charm and beauty of Kate Sharma – all while courting her sister, Edwina with every intent to marry her and have a life with the perfect wife who he did not love. Because love is painful. Love makes you do crazy things. Love, when it’s taken away from you so shockingly, abruptly and painfully only ensures you a life of pain and heartache. And who wants that? Ok. I got you, Anthony.

In the midst of all the Anthony drama of season 2, I had grown fond of the characters Benedict, Eloise, Colin and Penelope. Anthony’s story while exciting with all the yearning for what you can’t have, I was most pulled in by Penelope. She reminded me of myself when I was a teenager/young adult. Like her, I had a very small group of friends who were like family. I wasn’t noticed much at school. I mostly stood on the sidelines at school dances, watching as my friends danced. I wasn’t built like the other girls. Full bosomed and curvy, I didn’t wear the fashions that were popular. I much preferred jeans and sneakers. I didn’t wear make up (I wasn’t taught how to apply it). I seemed to be friends mostly with boys but it was because I didn’t shy away from their boy talk, I played football rather well and I was just one of the guys. And that is how they saw me, if they looked at me at all. Unrequited feelings were something I dealt with most of my teenage years. It was painful and exhilarating all at the same time. Penelope, I understood. And I found myself rooting for this character. A LOT.

The Season 3 hype started months before the show premiered this past May. I got sucked in. Having ridiculed Season 1 to my daughter, I admitted to her that Season 2 was leaps and bounds better than Season 1 and that the spin off Queen Charlotte was the best. It really was. They finally toned down the intimate scenes – while they still had them, they didn’t seem as explicit as Season 1. All this time Michaela had resisted watching. But with all the hype going into this season, I finally caved and told Michaela the plot of the show. We started with Season 1 and I told Michaela that I would NOT be watching Episode 6. While she is an adult and can make her own choices, I still have my boundaries. That episode was too much. Like seriously. And then to mix all that stuff with other storylines that DID matter to me? RUDE. I literally left the room when that episode came on. Michaela did watch it. She agreed that those scenes were unnecessary – save one. She was angry with Daphne (Season 1’s main focus) and to this day, does NOT like her.

Of course by the end of Season 2, Michaela was sucked in too and like me, she had grown an attachment for Penelope. I finally had someone to talk to about the Season 3! The best part about sharing this with Michaela has been the talks we’ve had. We’ve dissected the characters and have had some profound conversations about knowing oneself, what makes a good friend and why people don’t really court one another anymore.

As we approached the premiere of part 2 of Season 3, we came up with the idea of doing a watch party. I suggested that we make hats inspired by Queen Charlotte’s wigs and Cressida Cowper’s crazy hair-dos. We visited the craft store to look for the craziest things we could put on our heads and just seeing Michaela laugh and get excited made me realize that we couldn’t just watch the show wearing dumb hats. We needed to go all in. I’ve always been extra when it comes to my kid, I wasn’t about to stop now! So we planned a menu and got ourselves some fans to hide behind just in case the rumored sexy scenes with Penelope and Colin came true. I even wrote my own copy of Lady Whistledown! It may have been overboard for just the two of us but we had a ball! From the planning to the execution, Michaela and I were all in.