Since Polin has been announced as the main couple for season 3, my previous list of “Things I’d Like to See in Season 3” is now better for season 4.
So here’s some predictions now that it’s confirmed that Polin will be taking center stage! (And I bet most if not all will be disproven).
This got long, so I’m putting it under the cut!
1- Penelope Cold Shoulder
The first time we see Colin approach Penelope at a party or a ball, he’s going to be in for quite the shock of his life when his “Pen” addresses him as “Mr. Bridgerton” instead of Colin. Eloise isn’t talking to Penelope, so she’ll be of no help and Colin will try to visit the Featherington residence to call on Penelope and get answers.
2- Featherington Matchmaking (?)
There is a Featherington sister from the books who is absent from the show: Felicity Featherington. And in the book Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, Portia gets it into her head that if 33-year-old Colin Bridgerton decides to marry that year, he should marry early-20s Felicity Featherington. Since Felicity doesn’t exist in the show, it’s possible that Portia might take Colin coming to the Featherington residence the wrong way and try to push him towards Prudence.
3- Eloise Will Tell Colin About Penelope
From some comments Colin made in season 2 toward Eloise, I’m inclined to think that he suspects his sister of being Lady Whistledown. He confronts her in the book about this, too. But at this time, nobody knows about Penelope’s alter ego.
I think in the show, Colin will confront Eloise about being Lady Whistledown. She’ll deny it vehemently, they’ll argue back and forth, and then she’ll exclaim in a fit of anger: “I’mnot Lady Whistledown! It’s Penelope!”
Or he could find out on his own like he does in the book.
4- Another Baby Gender Swap
This is based entirely on Portia’s reveal in the final episode of season 2 that the first of her girls to bear a son will automatically inherit the title of “Lord Featherington” instead of Cousin Jack. I think that season 3 could end with Penelope and Colin and a baby. In the books, their first child is a girl named Agatha in honor of Lady Danbury. While I sincerely hope they keep baby Agatha, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they’ll have a son first instead. They’ve already done this with Daphne having a son named Augie instead of a girl named Amelia like in the books.
So instead of Amelia being the firstborn (again, I hope they don’t change this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did), maybe their son Thomas would be.
5- Masquerade (?)
So far Bridgerton has done a build up to/foreshadowing of the next season’s couple alongside the main couple’s storyline with both of their seasons. If they continue with this trend, it’s entirely possible that the masquerade ball where Benedict meets Sophie could be in this season. Maybe in the final episode? That could allow for a time cut in season 4 and maybe some flashbacks to Sophie’s childhood and how she got to the ball.
This one honestly seems the least likely to me and they’ll probably hold off until season 4 for the masquerade. But who knows?
6- Introducing John Stirling (and maybe Michael)
I was not surprised by the Francesca recasting news. The actress seems in high demand. I believe they intended for her to be in more episodes in season 2, but conflicts with other projects meant she was only in 3 episodes. And since she landed the lead role in a different show and Francesca’s storyline won’t come around until much later, it’s understandable that she’d want to take the opportunity instead of being a background character for the next couple of years.
With Francesca being recast with an older actress, I think we’ll see more of her in the show. Season 3 will be the perfect opportunity for Francesca to debut and be presented to Queen Charlotte. Then her subplot, while the Polin drama is going on, can be her relatively tame romance and engagement to John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin. And if John is introduced this season, maybe a later entry into the season will be Michael Stirling.
I can’t wait for 2023, where all of my predictions will be proven wrong.
Reasons Why I’m Okay With Polin Being the Season 3 Couple
It has been confirmed that the main couple of season 3 will not be Benedict x Sophie after all and instead, Colin and Penelope will be taking center stage. Now, book purists are probably incensed that the show is screwing with the book order, but I don’t think it’s going to be the end of the world for them to shuffle things around this way.
Here are a few reasons why I’m okay with Penelope and Colin (Polin) being the main couple of season 3.
1- They already set it up to happen in the final episode of season 2
Colin stated quite loudly to the Asshole Brigadeat the Featherington Ball that he would “never dream of courting Penelope Featherington.” This is already a departure from the books since in An Offer From a Gentleman, he said something similar, but it was to his brothers on a relatively empty street.
Another departure from page to screen is that in the books, Colin was made aware pretty much immediately that Penelope had heard every word he said. But in the show, Colin doesn’t know that Penelope heard him.
This will set up the conflict at the beginning of season 3 when Penelope is giving Colin the cold shoulder and Colin will be very confused as to why it’s happening.
2- It makes more sense for Eloise’s story to follow right after Benedict’s
In the books, Eloise decides to try and see if marriage to Phillip Crane would suit her after Penelope marries Colin. But she also states in To Sir Phillip, With Love that the reason she went so long without getting married or accepting a proposal was the love story between Sophie and Benedict. If she was ever going to get married, she wanted a romance like theirs.
In the show, Benedict is Eloise’s favorite brother and the Brigerton sibling she feels closest to. In the context of the show, it makes sense that Eloise would move her romance forward following the marriage of Sophie and Benedict.
3- Happily Ever Afters
(I would like to preface this point by saying I’m a white woman, not a person of color, but I’m going to try my best here. I’m mainly just repeating some points that people of color have already made.)
We’re all well aware at this point that Bridgertonis not your typical period drama. Up until recently, most productions that took place in this era had a fully white cast. And when period productions do have people of color in more prominent roles, their plots tend to have them going through something traumatic. Like they have to go to hell and back andmaybeget a happy ending kind of traumatic. And it’s almost always about how that trauma affects the white lead or drives the plot of the white lead forward.
I think we can also safely say that women probably make up more of Bridgerton’sviewership numbers than men. And to paraphrase Charithra Chandran from Netflix’s TUDUM event, she never imagined that someone who looks like her would ever be in a production like Bridgerton. As someone who always had the luxury of seeing women who look like me getting their happily ever after onscreen, I can only imagine what it must feel like for women who look like Charithra and Simone.
Now, if the Bridgerton show remained in book order, then there would be four seasons in a row where women of color did not get to see other women of color in the starring role get their happily ever after in a genre they aren’t normally seen in. These four women in the leading role would be Penelope, Eloise, Francesca, Hyacinth. If Colin’s season comes first, that leaves room for a woman of color to be cast as Sophie in Benedict’s season. It would still be three seasons in a row without a woman of color in the leading role, but it’s a step up from four seasons.
And even with a three-season gap of women of color in the starring role, there are still other women of color in the show that will have more prominent roles, even if it’s not the starring role (Kate, Lady Danbury, Queen Charlotte for example).
(I’m aware of some of the concerns that the Sophie/Benedict storyline could tread into white savior territory. But I don’t want to overstay my welcome treading into a talk about representation.)
TL;DR: Polin is next year’s main couple and that’s fine with me.
Ok so I realized smth a few hrs ago courtesy of doing some color theory research for this fanart I’m working on.
I read somewhere that Bridgerton costume designer Sophie Canale said Penelope wore green this season as an Easter egg that s3 was gonna b Polin cuz yellow + blue = green
Book readers know that in aofag Sophie wears silver to the masquerade ball and silver is essentially grey + blue. Obviously bridgerton is the blue so what if they gave Sophie a grey aesthetic when she was still with the Penwoods but then for the masquerade ball gave her a silver for two reasons. The obvious one is that she meets Benedict here so her relationship with the Bridgertons is catalyzed butu could also take it as the first time she gets her chance at some freedom and does smth for herself so chooses to wear smth brighter.
Listen I’ve (begrudgingly) accepted that season 3 is Polin but if they get an orchestral cover of Enchanted I will leave Shondaland in a worse state than Wanda Maximoff left the Illuminati
Just here giggling at the thought of Benedict being a self proclaimed kept man. Since Sophie is the buisness minded person of them both and she probably went and invested Benedict’s money in all the up and coming buisnesess of London that looked promising. If Benedict won’t let her actually work to support their family! She’s going to make them money somehow.
So when people ask Benedict how he supports his family lifestyle, he refers them to his wife, because she’s the one who handles their investment portfolio. And he’s so proud that his only job is to simply go out with her and look pretty when she’s doing her thing
Sure Benedict sells his paintings and it’s moderately successful but he’s pretty much accepted that without Sophie’s talent for making money, their family wouldn’t have so many pretty things.
So all he has to do in life is paint things and be Sophie’s boy toy. And he’s happy about it.
Okay so you know how they foreshadowed Kate with the tulip thing in S1? What if the Sophie foreshadowing was the fact that Anthony never wore his gloves?
