‘Bridgerton’ Season 4, Part 1 Review: This one is for the dreamers, the schemers, and the self-saboteurs
4/5 kites!
Sophie Baek will break your heart. The Benedict-centric fourth season of Bridgerton, whose first half drops on Netflix January 29, is as lush and romantic as the series’ best love stories… and maybe even then some.
Adapted from the third book in Julia Quinn’s series, An Offer From A Gentlemen, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie’s (Yerin Ha) tale is known for its Cinderella-ness. The eventual lovers meet at a masked ball. They are parted at the stroke of midnight. As the proverbial Prince Charming, Benedict devotes himself to finding the fair maiden who escaped his grasp against all odds. There’s an evil stepmother, played chillingly by Katie Leung, and her two marriage minded daughters (Michelle Mao and Isabella Wei). You’ll notice right away that there’s a Downton Abbey/Upstairs Downstairs feel to the whole season that expands the world just enough to let a courtship between the classes blossom.
The rest of the ‘ton questions their place in society as well, from a conflict between Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) to whatever the Featheringtons are up to and Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) new marriage to Lord John (Victor Alli). Despite what you may have heard, by the way, a desire to start a family is still part of latter’s story…
Benedict finds his person in the last place he expects.
I’ve been curious about how the An Offer From A Gentlemen season would fit within the larger series. Sure, I had no doubts that Thompson would perfectly step up to the plate as the leading man. Nor did I doubt that the show would strike gold in casting his love interest. But how would Bridgerton manage to give the most Bohemian and pansexual brother on the show the most traditional and heteronormative plot in the books?
Benedict seeks passion outside of society with men and women who are more interesting than his wealthy, single-minded peers in the ton. Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) tells him that he “just needs to meet the right young lady”–a refrain that, while well-meaning in this context, is absolutely a queerphobic microaggression in our world. Eloise (Claudia Jessie) sees her brother and ally’s sudden desire to settle down as a heel-turn, and if Bridgerton didn’t get this right I would be inclined to agree.
But also… does he want to marry? We’ll see about that. For now, he’s in love. To be fair, that has happened before on the show. Many times, in fact. The trick this time, it seems, is to match him with someone who appreciates the little things he doesn’t and remove him from his monotonous environment in other ways. At first, Benedict thinks that Sophie (or, rather, the Lady in Silver) appeals to him because she is “not like other ladies.” Thankfully, she pushes back against that as a compliment. That’s not who Sophie is. They challenge each other just enough to create some real sparks and so, so much yearning.
This one’s for the girls who are their own worst enemy.
Ha’s sad little face, on the edge of tears and hesitating when Sophie wants nothing more than to run into Benedict’s arms, is absolutely devastating. She puts other people’s happiness before her own, like Kate. She’s as relatable as Penelope. Granted, I don’t think that many of can’t say that any crushes we’ve talked ourselves out of pursuing have ever essentially taken out a newspaper column telling the world that they were looking for us, like Benedict does. That does make Sophie’s hesitance to come clean about who she is a little more frustrating than relatable at times. But, in my humble opinion, all the best romances should have you yelling at the characters to kiss, or confess, or do something. That’s half the fun!
Besides, the stakes are a little higher for Sophie than the average Cinderelly. It’s not just that her father remarried an evil stepmother who “hired” her as a maid the second he passed. Sophie grew up with a lot of shame about her circumstances, inflicted upon her by her stepmother and eventually herself. That shame affects how she moves through the world and her ability to let herself, well, follow her bliss. (There’s a certain Game of Thrones character I would compare her to, but it would give too much away.)
Meanwhile, Benedict gets a lecture about power dynamics between the noble class and the serving class that makes him consider whether or not he’s taking advantage of her and pause. He’s not, of course; but it’s nice that they acknowledged the possibility.
They’re not there yet, by the end of Part 1, but so far I’m completely sold and so ready to see what’s next. To be continued! As Sophie herself says in the third episode, “a fire needs kindling.” Ain’t that the truth.
(featured image: Liam Daniel/Netflix)
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