Bridgerton: new Netflix series

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen a couple reviews that say Marina had more money than her cousins. Did her father know she was pregnant when he sent her to London?

[Anonymous]

I binged watched last night and loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say that I did love the music. They took some contemporary hits and made remade them into lovely classical tunes.

Otherwise, I hated it.

It's Vitamin String Quartet. They've been producing these since the mid-2000's, and I agree they are fantastic and a great choice for this show.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have a love-hate relationship with this show. The storyline is fun but I got really confused during the first 15 mins because I did not expect it to be in an alternte reality. When I saw the costumes in the beginning, I thought, oh ok, it’s Jane austen era, but then, as the story goes, I realize it’s not your typical period piece. The only casting that I liked is the duke and the opera singer. The queen is horrible and I wonder if she was added there to poke fun at the idea of royalty. Dapne is so plain, it wiyld not be an issue if she was not depicted as someone who’s supposed to be gorgeous, ditto with Marina.

I loved the queen. She was hilarious. Marina was pretty and her hair was beautiful.

DP. I loved the queen too. She played the role deliciously and pitch perfectly.

Disagree on Marina. Her hair may be beautiful, but she lacked charm from get go.

Do you have to be charming in order to be pretty?

It made no sense that Marina would have the number of suitors that she had. She had a pretty face, but her attitude was always sullen and flat. Women of that class would have been expected to be polite, to be able to make conversation, to be charming. Plus, she was not from an important or high-ranking family, and we saw no indication that she came from a lot of money or had a big dowry. She would have a few suitors because she was pretty, but she would not have been so sought after without rank, money, or social grace.

This is fantasy. You can't apply real Regency standards and attitudes to it. The show writers and producers aren't going for an accurate production, but playful romance fiction.

Read Austen if you want something more real.

That's what I mean about inconsistency, though. They insisted on some Regency realism -- otherwise, the entire Daphne-Simon forced marriage plot makes no sense -- but then they just chuck that whenever they need for the plot to work. We are shown how one girl's suitor abandons her after learning that she has no dowry. We are shown that people care a lot about wealth and social standing and family lineage. And then suddenly it all goes out the window for Marina? And even in a fantasy world, why would a sullen, middle-class commoner have throngs of aristocratic suitors?

That’s the point of an alternative reality. You can pick what you want to PLAY WITH and discard the rest. It’s why you can get Shakespeare set in 1930s Germany.

Like I said, I enjoy alternative history and fantasy. I just expect some *internal* consistency. If you choose to depict a society with strict rules and conventions, in which those rules and conventions have serious consequences for the characters, and then just ignore the rules and conventions when you feel like it, I'm going to think you're lazy and sloppy.

Yes! I totally agree with you.

[Anonymous]

I think my disappointment came because it wasn't advertised well. I thought it was a period piece and didn't realize it was based on a romance novel until halfway through the show. As a period piece it's ridiculous.

But it's not a historical drama. It's a screen version of a romance novel. It's meant to be somewhere about halfway between a period drama and a pornographic movie set in the same period, and it does this wonderfully. The plotline, acting, and sex scenes are right about at that halfway point. The storyline isn't quite as ridiculous as porn, but it doesn't have the details and realistic character portrayals of a serious drama either. And the sex, even when portrayed as wild, is pretty tame. The show is all about setting up dramatic, romantic scenes and speeches, and these are done really, really well.

As another poster put it:

... I loved Simon-Daphne's love story, especially these scenes:

- The touching yourself talk
- Simon's love speech appeal to the Queen
- The burn for you dialogue, especially Simon's morning, evening, night part
- Daphne's love speech in the rain.


That's what it is about.
It's not meant to be compared to Jane Austen or Downton Abbey. I wish it hadn't been advertised that way. I would have went into it with different expectations.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Daphne Bridgerton is beautiful? She looks pretty basic to me....

[Anonymous]

This show is the pits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a couple reviews that say Marina had more money than her cousins. Did her father know she was pregnant when he sent her to London?

It has been years since I read the books, but I don’t remember the Marina storyline.

[Anonymous]

I just finished binging and really enjoyed it thoroughly - it was engrossing, entertaining, and a lot of fun - and that’s all I was looking for. It’s not meant to be Shakespeare.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Another point about Daphne and Simon and the infamous scene - at this point in history, marriage was very much a “contract.” Children were expected. Simon did indeed misrepresent himself when he told Daphne he “couldn’t” have children. When she finally figured out that he simply *wasn’t* going to have children, she realized that it was his DUTY to do so, and that as his wife, she deserved children. In that context, I found it perfectly understandable that she did what she did. Of course, nowadays, that’s considered tricking/trapping the man, etc. But at the time, she was fully entitled to children by her husband.

Having a boy would have cemented her financial security in the event of Simon's death, I think -- I guess Daphne had her dowry put away for her, but typically the wife lived on the estate of the husband or son, and didn't get much (if anything) if the husband died without an heir. And not having kids would have harmed her social standing. Neither of those comes up on the story, though.

I read somewhere that the author didn't consider it a rape scene when she wrote it (what, 20 years ago?), I'm guessing because he's a guy. Interestingly my DH is Team Daphne as far as her doing what she did. I think the stupidity of Simon's reasons makes us more forgiving toward Daphne.

I was not okay with it because there were so many non-rape ways to accomplish the same plot point. She could have asked him why he was pulling out and received an honest answer. They could have a pregnancy scare (pulling out is hardly foolproof) leading her to find out he knows he can have kids. She could know the basics of sex -- or, say, see a couple of animals doing it -- and realize the import of him pulling out. Any of those would have led to them being mad at each other, without rape.

Oh, good grief. There was no “rape.” None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who doesn't think Daphne Bridgerton is beautiful? She looks pretty basic to me....

She struck me as just right for the role - very pretty, specifically for that era, but not beautiful. And I don’t think she was supposed to be beautiful, which is why she didn’t have any suitors until her agreement with Simon.

I thought this shown was pretty horrible, but I do think Daphne was perfectly cast.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t understand why they waited until the very last episode to introduce another Bridgerton sibling. What was the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t understand why they waited until the very last episode to introduce another Bridgerton sibling. What was the point?

So the alphabet names were complete!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t understand why they waited until the very last episode to introduce another Bridgerton sibling. What was the point?

So the alphabet names were complete!

what does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who doesn't think Daphne Bridgerton is beautiful? She looks pretty basic to me....

She struck me as just right for the role - very pretty, specifically for that era, but not beautiful. And I don’t think she was supposed to be beautiful, which is why she didn’t have any suitors until her agreement with Simon.

I thought this shown was pretty horrible, but I do think Daphne was perfectly cast.

I thought Daphne was plain Jane looking. But also the Duke is the hottest man on Earth so maybe everyone would look like plain Jane next to him.