Queen Charlotte is probably the best Bridgerton season for me because it understands the ingredients needed for a proper love story: romantic leads with sizzling chemistry, well-developed supporting characters, and a fine balance between pathos and joy. Season 4 of Bridgerton, while enjoyable, is moving away from the earlier templates of the show (seasons 1, 2 and Queen Charlotte). The show now is very much an ensemble drama and no longer the fluffy rom-com period drama it used to be. This means more space for supporting characters and their arcs, and while our main couple still get their love story, the subplots no longer revolve around them.
For fans who desire more cohesive plotlines, this direction works, as now characters have more agency within the world and don’t merely exist just to pivot around the season’s main romantic plotline. This season sees a continuation of Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) Lady Whistledown arc, the relationships of the Stirling trio, Eloise’s (Claudia Jessie) search for belonging, Lady Violet’s (Ruth Gemmell) romance – just to name a few. And while I love that we’re getting all these various stories, it does shift the focus away from our main romantic couple. Luke Thompson’s Benedict and Yerin Ha’s Sophie have wonderful emotional chemistry. Their conversations together are always compelling, and it’s clear how much they love and support each other. They both mess up equally – Benedict with the whole mistress proposition, and Sophie for not being truthful to Benedict about her identity as the silver lady – and then communicate openly with each other to resolve things. It’s honestly wonderful to watch.
But where their chemistry is a bit of a letdown is in their intimate scenes together. I mean, sure, the scenes are hot and steamy (literally), yet at the same time I feel acutely aware that I’m watching something that’s very well-choreographed, which shouldn’t be the case. It’s missing that intimacy and hunger that we got in the other seasons. If we compare the bath scene to Queen Charlotte’s bath scene, it feels more rehearsed and less spontaneous. This could be due to the difficulty of performing a scene like this in water, as Ha herself explained in an interview how challenging the scene was to shoot.
I preferred their scenes together in the earlier half of the season, when they were at My Cottage, as well as all the longing looks passed between them while at Bridgerton house. The second half gets bogged down with all class division baggage, as well as Araminta’s (Katie Leung) bitter grudge against Sophie. Once again, the constant issue that Bridgerton has is the quickness in which it resolves certain obstacles. We saw this last season with Penelope’s Lady Whistledown plotline, and it’s the same thing again with the class division issue. Let Benedict make the difficult choice, let there be repercussions, but let him do it because he loves Sophie that much and cannot be without her. Instead, Sophie is simply elevated to nobility status with a lie, and the Queen (Golda Rosheuvel) doesn’t question it for her own amusement. I know it’s a romance and we want to keep things light and fluffy, but it does feel like the Bridgertons get away with so much.
Hannah Dodd does amazing work as a newly married woman trying to navigate a world so new to herself. Her struggles with sex and infertility are something many women have struggled with, and she voices her pathos so beautifully to her mother. She carries a lot of the heavy emotional scenes this season, and does so tremendously. It’s clear that Francesca and John (Victor Alli) love each other dearly, and yes things aren’t perfect, but what relationship is? Currently, she spends more time bickering with Michaela (Masali Baduza) than having any sparks with her, but this is probably purposeful since John is still in the picture and they can’t develop their love story as yet.
As a Queen Charlotte series fangirl, I love all the friendship moments between the Queen and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) this season. It makes sense why the Queen is reluctant to let Lady Danbury leave – we saw all that they went through together in Queen Charlotte – but that gradual letting go is so well done. Massive kudos to Rosheuvel and Andoh for how well they play off each other and how credible they make their friendship even with limited screentime.
Eloise has always been defined by her resistance to marriage as it will take away her agency and freedom. It’s nice to see her be open to a different perspective this season, especially after spending time with Francesca and John, and returning to see Penelope happily married and content. Her conversation with Cressida about Mary Wollstonecraft and the idea of love was also a great way to highlight how Eloise has grown more open to love due to her experiences this season. I am convinced that season 5 will be hers due to all the groundwork laid with her character.
While Queen Charlotte’s ending shot can’t be beat, season 4 comes a close second. That close-up of Sophie’s portrait, complete, with Benedict’s name at the bottom, marks this art piece as Benedict’s first completed work. Our dear Benedict, who has always been so carefree and keen to wander, has finally settled down with a woman who makes him want to stand still. Though I am a little miffed that Anthony and Kate remain the only couple who never got a wedding scene – the few scenes we do get of Jonathan Bailey is a reminder of what a star he is – I remain generally satisfied with this season of Bridgerton.
REVIEW SCORE: 3.5/5
