I am the first to put up my hand and say that Bridgerton, that abomination of a show which is currently starring on Netflix, is many things to many people. Words that come to mind include not great, vapid, weird, fun, up its own arse, timely and timeless - all at once. It's been described as a sexed-up Pride and Prejudice or a raunchy Downton Abbey. I think I see more in the first descriptor, as in the latter you see what's going on downstairs, and there is little of that here unless you count Simon's bum as a good bit of downstairs action.
Bridgerton is fairy floss telly at its best. And like fairy floss, you can only have so much if it before you don't feel so good.
I'm just a bit lost as to how deep I've fallen down the Bridgerton rabbit hole.
As a big fan of Shonda Rhimes, show runner for Grey's Anatomy, I was always going to watch this. I just wasn't expecting to feel quite as conflicted, enraged, overjoyed and perplexed by it all.
Something a friend mentioned to me was that they couldn't get over the colourblind casting of the shol. Their comment was that there were no people of colour in the court of George III, why should it be there now? For me, I have no issue with this - in fact I quite like it. You get to concentrate on the characters - and how pretty they all are, skin colour be damned. Being truthful, I find it rather refreshing. And anyway, this is fairy floss tell, not real life. We can dream.
The series is based on the series by Julia Quinn, each book looking at one of the Bridgerton children, Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth (yeah...deal with it). the novels have titles like, The Duke and I, the Viscount who Loved Me, An Offer from a Gentleman and When He Was Wicked - titles straight out of Mills and Boon. If the books are like the series, they are light, raunchy and pure escapism. Maybe the calibre of the novels is slightly better than Mills and Boon, maybe not. I'm not rushing out to read the books, but I do want to know what happens with Eloise - and her friend Penelope Featherington. Oh, and Colin, you can't forget Colin.
This series deals with the first book, The Duke and I, where Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), belle of the season, is looking for a husband. In walks the brooding Simon Basset (Rege-Jean Page), Duke of Hastings - a rich and seemingly emotionally unreachable man, who's a friend of Daph's brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey). Daphne's soon over men tryihng to take her for a bride, preferring love to staus. Simon is over being fawned over by every debutante's mother - and of course, these two pretend to fall for each other to get everybody off their backs. And drama ensues.
In the background there is the stories of the Featheringtons. There are three plainish daughers, Phillipa, Prudence and Penelope (who steals the show as the downtrodden, lovelorn younger sister, played by Nicola Coughlan) Penelope and Eloise Bridgerton are the best of friends. In the Featherington house, a distant cousin, Marina Thompson, comes to stay for the season. She too has a secret which will bring the Featheringtons to their knees.
This is souped up confection. We know from Austen about the fripperies and ennui of the women and the allowed bad behaviour of the men, especially as they 'sow their wild oats' before marriage. Everything, for these poor women is about finding a good husband, and then keeping them - any woman with a shred of ambition beyond marriage is knocked back into place really quickly.
Oh, and then there is the mysterious Lady Whistledown, who narrates the whole show. Voiced by Julie Andrews, she's fun. She's exposed at the very end of the show, somewhat predictably. Lady Whistledown's gossip pages are the impetus for much of the show.
But I persevered with Bridgerton. It's only got eight episodes. Part of me cant quite believe I've watched this drivel, then again, part of me knows I'm a sucker for a bodice ripper - and good bums - there are lots of decent bums to be seen. Love a good bum.
Oh, and the last big beef with this show - can somebody please tell Simon that the withdrawal method is really, really, really not a reliable form of contraception.
That's all I'll say. I think I might turn on The West Wing or Mad Men to get a bit of quality telly back in my life.
Today's Song:
2 comments:
With regards to the "colourblind casting of the shol", episode 4 (almost 99% certain it was this episode) makes it clear that Bridgerton is set in an alternative universe during a discussion about the King and his chosen Queen.
Thanks, Tibbet. I caught that on a second reading. I rather like it. They did similar with the recent David Copperfield movie.
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