As its fourth installment closes on a toothachingly sweet ending, once more Bridgerton fails at selling its main storyline and makes all the other side stories shine brighter than its Cinderella-esque romance.
It's female lead is as perfect as they come, a flawless pearl, pure as snow and as dull as it ought to be. Far from the misguided but passionate Daphne, the imponent and micromanaging Kate or the ambitious hypocrite Penelope, she even fails as a protagonist to come close to the impact of the supporting roles of the tiresome and opinionated Eloise and the rigid but quirky Francesca, as Sophie breaks out of a swan's eggshell she is born into the narrative as the most pristine glass of tepid water.
Our Cinderella is doe eyed, soft spoken, gentle and small and the little personality she has is stripped clean of her as the story progresses and worst of all she is quite aware of her position at first and goes on to lose it piece by piece, it's almost like a self inflicted naivete that we see grow in her as she is pushed around by the narrative, as her own person follows into having zero impact on her own story, she is pushed and shoved around doing nothing but smile sweetly and play coy when necessary to forward the narrative she is trapped in.
At first she is shown to have a strong moral compass on the matter of becoming a mistress, as she says she would never put a child into the world to suffer the same fate as she did, it doesn't matter as she fails in keeping her own values and characterization as she risks it all for a mandatory sex scene that lacked all but the corny soundtrack, a scene that is only less contrived than the many "circunstancial" encounters of the pair as the hand of the author is a more prominent feature than the couple's chemistry.
I know it is an erotic-romantic story and it's audience cares little for anything but beautiful gowns and hot people fucking but as the writers get more aware of these circumstances, the more dull and lazy the narrative becomes... The stakes are lower than Benedict's self awareness as he tries too hard to convince anyone he is a grown man now and he does so by pouting at his mommy and throwing tantrums at his brother, the show tries to show us his new found values and understanding of the world he lives in as he yells to defend Francesca's autonomy but fails to be convincing as we know he never cared for his sister's plights and still doesn't care as he is warned over and over that following the path he is in will jeopardize the safety and prospects of the younger girls in the family, all the bravado is not about defending Francesca of a demeaning situation, all his squeaking and shouting is about him not being able to fuck his baby sister's maid in the open.
Funnily enough it is never brought up that he could just LEAVE and be happy, no landed money, no noble titles, no "My cottage", of course no, he wants to eat the cunt and the cake too and I get it is part of the fantasy that a working class girl will become rich and never work a day in her life but it just becomes tiresome when the whole drama could end if he just accepted that love conquers all and went on to live a life of less luxury and drama...
As the show glazes over a class dispute it fails to point that noble titles are generational but they are not given by god, they are given and upheld by the "Society" Benedict now despises but it's not willing to let go as the root of the show is not a commentary on social disparity in a unjust economic system, it is beautiful gowns... And parties with beautiful gowns and orchestral covers of pop music to dance in the beautiful gowns.
And let's be honest he doesn't despise society because he watched Daphne fret at the prospect of an unmarried life, nor because he watches as Eloise is demeaned and silenced, or because he watched Francesca's terrible circumstances, he is mad because he cannot fuck the maid and keep the life of privilege he so adores to have... Not yet at least, we know he will because again the stakes are none.
And fair enough, but it's hard to have any emotional investment in a narrative that is about a cardboard FMC being tossed around like a ragdoll, propped and positioned perfectly for the next scene and a MMC that is nothing but a shallow attempt of a conversation he was never part of.
Also it is oh so boring that all the reckless bisexual brat needed to get his act straight was a virgin girl batting her pretty lashes at him. Fuck off.