Liam Daniel/Netflix
When Gossip Lady unveiled its titular city tattle practically a decade in the past, followers rioted. Dan Humphrey made no sense. There have been inconsistencies in his character, he was lame, and the entire reveal felt anticlimactic. Even Penn Badgley himself was in opposition to the reveal.
However this twist had one factor going for it: Gossip Lady waited till the bitter finish. The present had persistence. Bridgerton, Netflix’s Regency period model of the scandalous story, has none, and selected to disclose its key character far too early within the collection.
Bridgerton has burdened its very personal Gossip Lady, Penelope Featherington, aka Woman Whistledown, by making her each annoying and manipulative. And but, we’re anticipated to take care of her within the highlight of the present for the following (at the very least) two seasons whereas she waits for a sweeping love story of her personal. On prime of that, Penelope’s character is given the entire very worst storylines—nobody cares concerning the Featheringtons, or, for that matter, her unrequited crush, Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), essentially the most boring of the Bridgerton brothers.
Her strongest asset is that she’s an underdog. Nobody would suspect younger Penelope—essentially, the actress who performs Penelope, Nicola Coughlan, is 35, a far stretch from 18—who's well mannered, reserved, shy, to be able to such salacious gossip-mongering. However she’s not. As quickly as we all know she’s whining about her closest allies in a column unfold throughout city, we all know that Penelope is way from the harmless girl we’re meant to imagine she is.
Since we all know she’s Woman Whistledown, none of Bridgerton Season 2 makes Penelope look good. For starters, her household faces huge debt and scandal within the Ton. Fully underwater, Woman Featherington forces her eldest daughter into a wedding together with her cousin. Penniless, maligned on the town, and her sister forcing an incestuous marriage, what does Penelope do?
Nothing. She hides her coin from pamphlet gross sales below the floorboards and says nothing.
Maybe this is able to not be such a difficulty if we didn't know Penelope was Whistledown, or if she gave some cause for eager to pen the gossip column. There could be some function behind this gossip column if she had been to, say, save her household’s identify. Or her finest good friend. As a substitute, she backhandedly provides some extra enterprise to the Ton’s tailor.
The one draw Penelope ought to have is her slow-burn romance with Colin Bridgerton. The pair have a friends-to-lovers arc happening, however their chemistry isn’t even remotely near the When Harry Met Sally dynamic it needs to be. On prime of Colin’s character being an general snooze—severely, little Hyacinth and Gregory are extra fascinating than this oddly bearded man—he and Pen don’t even look like good pals. They don't have any intimacy. Her crush is boring. In comparison with the burning ardour between Simon (Regé-Jean Web page) and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) in Season 1, or Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) in these new episodes, Colin and Penelope are an actual drag.
One other key relationship in defining Penelope’s reception is her friendship with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), which, after Season 2, appears utterly dirty. Pen makes an attempt to excuse her damaging habits by gaslighting Eloise into pondering that an exposé is strictly what she wanted to remain protected from the Queen. No, Penelope: she’d be free from all scandal when you weren’t penning this column in any respect. With out the spunky Eloise to liven her up, Penelope is nothing however a brat with a gossip rag.
The issue shouldn't be Nicola Coughlan. Regardless that she’s appearing manner out of her age vary, she nonetheless performs the schemer with spectacular conviction. It’s simply laborious to inform if this characterization—evil, devious, two-faced—is what Bridgerton needs us to think about Penelope, who will, finally, change into the main girl of the present.
Whereas the Gossip Lady reboot had a stable cause for revealing its secret sleuth within the first season, with Bridgerton, the logic feels flawed. Regardless that Season 2 incorporates a subplot wherein the Queen obsessively makes an attempt to unmask Whistledown, it by no means actually felt like Pen was in peril of being uncovered.
Penelope was a superb character in Season 1, however after wrecking her relationship with Eloise (All to, what, hold maintain of the pamphlet that’s ruining her life?) and persevering with to be merciless to the Ton, she’s change into the villain. That doesn’t look like the position Penelope was born to play.
The season finale labored further laborious to try to make viewers really feel unhealthy for Pen, who finally ends up heartbroken after overhearing Colin disparage her and in tears after Eloise primarily ends their friendship. However by that time it was so laborious to justify her actions that these rejections appear extra mean-spirited than character-saving.
So, the place does this depart us for the remainder of Bridgerton? Season 3 is supposed to house in on Benedict, who is way extra fascinating than his youthful brother. Nonetheless, there may be hypothesis that the collection may stray from the books’ order and go proper into Colin’s love story (which, with out spoiling something, closely options Penelope). However doubling down on Penelope storylines with Woman Whistledown and a romance storyline, at this level within the collection, looks as if a stretch.
Anthony was a little bit of a bore in Season 1, however he actually upped his sport in Season 2—which is to say that there’s hope for Colin and Penelope to develop in episodes to come back. There’s acquired to be a stronger cause for Penelope to be Whistledown, and in flip, for us to know that she’s Whistledown.
Penelope’s greatest hope? Colin. Maybe there's a manner for Bridgerton to make Penelope’s unrequited love really feel boundless sufficient to wreak such havoc on the Ton. However this pair will want at the very least an oz. of chemistry earlier than that’ll work. Time to spark issues up.