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Sometimes, you’re simply better off being a young and wild bohemian lothario, loitering in seedy bars and waking up with more than one woman in your bed. Bridgerton season 4 part 1 puts an abrupt stop to Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) foolhardy days, and there’s a part of me that wonders if things are best left the way they are.
Our first four episodes of the new season have a real ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ energy to them, and not just because Netflix has annoyingly decided to split season 4 in half. While Benedict and new character Sophie (Yerin Ha) charmingly embark on a touch-and-go romance, everything else around them feels like more of the same.
Depending on how much you love Bridgerton, this is either a blessing or a curse. The fact that season 4 sticks so rigidly to its tried and tested format means that we’re not really being offered anything new – if you’ve seen any of the past three seasons, you’ve seen this one.
Benedict is not the beating heart of Bridgerton season 4 part 1, and he’s messing things up with Sophie already
I don’t need to explain too much story here if you know your Disney princesses. Violet is absolutely sick of the fact that Benedict makes no effort to find a wife, and she’s determined to make him her project for the social season.
Across the way, maid Sophie works for fellow new arrival Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), who immediately inserts herself into the story as a scheming new villain. Araminta functions as our wicked stepmother, stewing furiously when Sophie sneaks off to the first masquerade ball of the season. She steals Benedict’s heart while she’s there, prompting a town-wide search for the mysterious masked woman without a glove.
Despite it being completely obvious to anyone with eyes that Sophie was that girl, the initial search to bring Benedict and Sophie together is painfully laborious. It’s a narrative we’ve seen in play thousands of times, and nothing about this version is remarkable or authentic. However, the payoff is worth it once they admit their feelings to one another.
Benedict and Sophie are from two completely different worlds, but when they’re away from society, they’ve got all-timer potential. They truly bring out the best in each other, but the second someone else catches wind, the cracks start to show. It’s astonishing how Benedict can bring himself up and let himself down in the same breath, and if I were Sophie, I’d be steering well clear of him.
But if all our girls chose to stay single, we wouldn’t have a show, would we? Eloise (Claudia Jessie) has siloed herself to the metaphorical shelf, and I wish she could peacefully live the single girl life she’s so desperately to cling onto. Francesca (Hannah Dodd) is sexually unfulfilled, while Lady Agatha (Adjoa Andoh) is embroiled in a seemingly pointless feud with Queen Charlotte.
Woe is to be a woman in Bridgerton, if you ask me… except for my new hero, Violet.
Violet is the real star of Bridgerton season 4 – part 2 better treat her amazingly well
All too often, the older woman is overlooked when it comes to being romantically viable. I’m not talking about the Samantha Jones, Sex and the City type of older woman, but the quietly doting mother who’s been pigeonholed into her identity by her circumstances, not who she is. Lady Violet Bridgerton falls into the latter category, but season 4 part 1 is her chance to shine.
Even before Bridgerton started, Violet was a woman on the sidelines. A loyal widow to the husband she lost some years before, her life has been her children, even when it comes to her social standing. She throws lavish parties purely in the hope that she can marry her kids off, never stopping to exist as an individual.
But along comes Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis), intent on getting into Violet’s heart and knickers. He’s ever the gentleman, taking things as slowly as Violet needs while she comes to the gradual realization that life is indeed for living. Their hidden romance isn’t the butt of an elaborate joke but a prize to be sought after, growing in importance as the episodes continue.
We can talk about Benedict, Sophie, or any other youngster until the cows come home, but that is where the real magic is happening. Dynamics that incorporate the effortless representation that you didn’t know you needed is what creator Shonda Rhimes does so well. This is women writing for women, in a space where women feel seen, safe, and satisfied all in one. That, my friends, is priceless, no matter how mundane the big picture has become.
It’s Violet alone who has me hooked for Bridgerton season 4 part 2, dropping in a month’s time. I hope Netflix treats her the way that she should be treated, let alone Lord Anderson.
As for Sophie, she’s still got the threat of Benedict’s lewd behavior and Araminta’s devious plans hanging over her head… but surely a girl will catch a break sooner or later, right?
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
