My Bridgerton Story

Ouuuuuuuu!!!! I know I am but a writer, but this movie has rendered me utterly speechless with yet so many fluttering burning emotions, begging to flow through me to you.

Oh, how I try and try to calm myself yet all efforts seem so futile, so vain, so impossible.

Me, myself and I.
Two hours later…
Okay! I'm back. I'm calm. Let's dive in.

If you asked me to list some of my favourite movies, you'd have heard me say Sound of Music, The Titanic, The Greatest Showman, New Girl, The Bold Type, amongst many others in no particular order, if I had the time and I was in the jittery mood. I had always been a sucker for good movies. The kind of movies that made you want to cry and at the same time scream for joy. My aunt once told me how she hated Sound of Music because of me. Apparently, I'd always cry and throw a tantrum about wanting to watch Sound of Music. Every flipping time. It was not like there weren't any other movies, but I guess none spoke to my soft fragile feeling heart like Sound of Music did.

This might be a reach, or not, but Bridgerton 2 makes me feel exactly what Sound of Music made me feel. Perhaps even more. From the characters to the setting, the dialogue, the conflict, the passion. Oh my deizzz. The passion. I love that these characters feel so much more real to me than in the previous season. I love that we see the characters in all their roundness.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

We see Anthony for who he really is, a broken man, who never had time to grieve the death of his father, his hero, his provider. A young boy who had to step up to immediately fill the shoes of a man much bigger than him. A young boy who had so much to learn and to see his hero, his mighty father fall to something as little as a bee, broke him, destroyed him even, but he had to hold it all together. It is his duty. It is his responsibility.

And we see Kathani Sharma, fondly called by Kate by all and sundry, a young woman whose mother passed at a tender age, whose father remarried and died shortly after. We see her assume the shoes of both her father and mother, filling these impossible shoes, denying herself love and happiness all in a bid to provide for her stepmother and stepsister. She is introduced as a wild, daring woman, who would not be held bound to the stipulations that society has laid down for her. She loves the ones who have taken her in and she is willing to do anything to protect them, even if it means lying to them. Kate Sharma is a character quite a number of us can relate to on several levels. We can relate to her stubbornness. We see the wild woman in her riding on that horse, damning all social limitations. We hear the tenderness in her voice when she grooms her sister to become the diamond of the season. We hear her unspoken dreams, her silent hopeful whispers.

Oh and Edwina. Sweet beautiful Edwina. She starts out as our perfect lady, sweet, groomed to no fault, full of wisdom and contentment, possessing just the right answers to answer even the most disconcerting questions, and yet, beneath the smile, beneath the gracious bow and courteous responses, beneath the willing housewife to be, Edwina, Edwina is so much more. She is brave and feeling, courageous enough to say no to a pitiful courteous wedding, courageous enough to stand up to the foolish lovers, who didn't know what they were to do with themselves. The way she handles the fiasco with the King, exuding a manner of elegance and grace that even the Queen is too stupefied to display, shows her to be a diamond indeed. A rare gem.

The movie in its entirety made me see things I never would have seen otherwise. It's just like I told a friend, "The characters in this Bridgerton had so much roundness, complexity, change, growth. We see them face difficult choices we can relate to. We're teased by the romantic tension. We want it. We thirst for it, but we can't have it. We feel what our characters feel because we're suffering. Just as they are."

There is the emphatic theme of duty versus desire. We are taught that our duties to those we love should come first. Our responsibilities. Our duties to our family name, rank, or title. But what about our duty to ourselves? We're hardly groomed to pay our duties to ourselves. Kate wasn't taught that way. Neither was Anthony. But Edwina had been taught that way. She had been taught to marry, not merely out of convenience or to ease a burden, but to marry for love. She had been taught to recognise love when it came knocking at her door and to seek out that love. And guess who taught her? Kate. Shocking, right?

It's why I loved what Edwina said to Kate towards the end.

"When I found out about your accident, all I could think of is how I do not even know you. Nor do you know yourself. Kate, I am done with playing a part. I want to know myself, truly and to know who you are too… Be the sister that I know that you are. Be funny and brave and feeling. Be unafraid to follow your heart after doing the exact opposite for far too long. You have spent so much of your time shining your light on me. It is time for you to shine all on your own."

That last sentence especially. It had me. Hooked me. And the makers of the show decided to add fuel to my fire by playing Wrecking Ball, while they danced. Omoooo. I'll just stop gushing here.

Then there's the evident theme of feminism. We cannot talk of feminism without talking of Eloise, but I fear I tire of hitting at these keys already. Eloise is a beautiful character- a firm, stubborn, wild woman, who *insert gasp for dramatic effects* dares to think. She thinks about everything. She tells Penelope how she doesn't understand why the Modiste, a fellow woman, would make gowns so uncomfortable for women to wear. (To be honest, I don't understand why women do that too.) But in the end, we see that women are their own problems and their own solutions, I must add.

Lady Whistledown, who is really Penelope, spreads her gossip and rumours about her fellow women. The Bridgertons throw balls and parties to impress and appease folks they do not even like. The kingdom is ruled by a queen, a fellow woman, who rules in power and dominance, but also lives for the gossip and tea.

And Lady Portia, a woman who, it may not seem like it, takes charge of her home right after her husband died and went to extreme measures to take care of her children. Of course, we are all shocked and surprised when she turns on what's-his-name? Lord Featherington! Especially when she finds out that he has no good plans for her children. Uh? Young man? Never mess with a passionate mother! Portia did that! And guess what? She exudes so much strength while hiding her feats under the very impression that society holds of women never being able to do the things she did. Beautiful, isn't it?

It's 1,256 words in and I am already tired. Lol. So, I'll leave you with some of my favourite quotes.

"After passion cools and fate intervenes, who else is a woman left with but herself?"
_Lady Danbury.

"Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that such a confident, well-spoken man like yourself needed a woman to help inform his plan?"
_Portia the Baddie!

"You are the bane of my existence and the very object of all my desires."
_Anthony, our loverboy! Stubborn stubborn loverboy.

"True love is something else entirely. It is when the rest of the world goes quiet. It is not eyes that meet but souls that dance, settle into each other. Make room for each other, until there is nowhere else to hide."
_Kate. Stubborn lovergirl too.

"If you say she is the one in whose presence you cannot properly think or even… or even breathe. If you say you feel that feeling… The one that makes it impossible to look away from them at any given moment. Your body and soul feel as if they could burst into flames whenever the two of you are near. When all you are able to do in their presence is fight the urge to lean forward and touch their lips with yours."
_Daphne. I just have to say here. She was so much wiser and obviously experienced in this season. It was beautiful to watch.

To draw this to a rather hasty close, I must confess my love for Lady Danbury, Lady Violet, the Modiste, funny Prudence, Eloise, and of course, Theo!

I do hope the next season tells us Eloise's story, but I fear they might turn to Benedict Bridgerton instead. I also hope Penelope and Eloise somehow make up.

Till the next season, I guess. Byeeee!

PS: Tell me if you enjoyed this as much as I did. Okay. Really now. Bye.