Angry cat Mom

Marianne Dashwood, living a plot perfect for a tragic death by illness to preserve the beauty of her first attachment and disappointment? Nope, she lives and loves with her whole heart again. Maria Rushworth, the fallen woman who cheated on her husband does not die for her crimes or even fall into poverty or prostitution, her father and Aunt Norris will provide for her. She is punished, but she's protected. Lydia Bennet? Her two sisters will provide for her for the rest of her life. Her husband's debt will not destroy her. Miss Bates? There is an entire community around her no matter what happens and her newly rich niece will provide. No woman is even left as a governess, Miss Taylor is Mrs. Weston, Jane Fairfax becomes Mrs. Churchill instead. Mrs. Smith is pulled out of her indigent state by Anne and Wentworth.

The only woman Jane Austen allows to suffer a terrible fate is off-page and dead long before the novel begins: Eliza Brandon. Eliza Williams, her mother's affair baby, is ruined by Willoughby. Colonel Brandon could easily have washed his hands of her and her affair child, but he doesn't. Eliza Williams is going to be okay. Her child will be okay.

Antagonist women never fall into poverty or die for their crimes, most of them are even in loving marriages. Fanny Dashwood is cruel to her mother and sisters-in-law, one could imagine her falling low in karmic retribution, but no, she's fine. Lady Susan, the delightful anti-heroine, marries a baronet at the end of her novel. No punishment looms on the horizon for her promiscuity and deception. Caroline Bingley has a loving family that will never turn her away and an independent fortune. Mary Crawford has a loving sister. Isabella Thorpe may have lost the big prize, but she has her mother. Never is a woman thrown to abuse or poverty, even when they have attacked other women. The only punishment would come from their own conscience or regret for the goodness they have thrown away.

holy shit

duke mentioned this phrase earlier in the season. it means not going softly, not fading quietly. i have to believe it was intentional with the season centering these loud explosive devices.

she called robby a dick, told him he was projecting. samira admitted that she didn’t quite believe a thing he told her. she extended an apology, acknowledged her faults, showed a level of introspection that robby can’t really access, and she didn’t let robby get away with a thing. she showed her sensitivity while maintaining her strength. she left it unsatisfied, she left with him knowing he ruined the relationship.

sophie baek is a maid. that distinction is not cosmetic, it is the foundation of her entire story. comparing her to penelope featherington ignores the central class divide that defines benedict and sophie’s relationship. penelope is from a reputable family. she is a known, present member of the ton. she is a debutante. ON TOP OF THAT ELOISE’S DEAR BEST FRIEND because of that, colin can bring her through the front door of bridgerton house without any bloody hesitation. he can present her directly to his mother. and violet, the family, and society can accept that union with joy and pride. their love fits within the rules of the world they live in. its two privileged people coming together.

benedict and sophie do not get that luxury. benedict cannot bring sophie through the front door. that is not a minor obstacle, it is the entire point of their story. sophie’s class is mountains lower than the bridgertons’, they are aristocrats, and the ton will never accept her as his equal. their union will be whispered about, shamed, and resisted at every turn. loving sophie is not socially safe for benedict; it is a risk, a defiance, and a dream he is not supposed to be allowed. where colin’s love is sanctioned by society, benedict’s is fundamentally transgressive. penelope’s story is about being seen within the system. sophie’s is about surviving outside of it. collapsing those two dynamics flattens the stakes and erases what makes benedict and sophie tragic, radical, and powerful.

benedict is an aristocrat. his family is close to lady danbury who’s the queen’s closest confidant, his brother is a viscount, one sister is a duchess, another a countess, his sister in law is THE lady whistledown who controls the entire ton, to sophie, benedict is untouchable, an impossible dream. he feels unreal to her, like someone she should never even look at too closely. he’s almost like a prince in her eyes, and the idea of being involved with him any deeper terrifies her.

their love is not meant to be easy, public, or instantly accepted. it is meant to be impossible.