YAINE

And Bridgerton didn't do this. Instead, they blackmailed the evil stepmother into staying away from Cinderella for life, and schemed a scenario that would allow them to straight up lie about her birth origins, so that she and a man of nobility could be together. Of course she's legitimate! She's the Late Earl's cousin. Just moved here.

a woman taught from the beginning in her home, by her own mother, that she cannot trust any other women, who finally, FINALLY felt she had a friend- who didn't care for her much at all. a woman who grew up in a house that is more akin to a mausoleum, a woman dressed up as a doll and made to masquerade and sing and dance for the attention of a half decent man, never to be considered seriously. a woman who is foisted onto a man old enough to be her grandfather, who wants 4 children from her, and intends to keep her locked up in his estate with at most 1 social outing a month, who didn't believe in listening to music, or art.

a woman who goes to the only person she ever considered a friend, saying 'I need to save myself. Run with me. Write with me. Help me.' only for that friend to turn her back on her, and talked ill of her for the rest of her time in her society. a woman who tried to claw her way out of a horrible circumstance, only to be told she's too stupid to do so. a woman who's mother wrote the article that insulted her friend's family, an article she still regretted. a woman who tried to save herself and was then sent off to an aunt even less warm than the circumstances she'd grown up in.

what was Cressida meant to do? she had no one to turn to, and when she tried, she was turned away. she had no options left to her, she exhausted all of them. yes, blackmailing Penelope was harsh, but I would have done almost anything to save myself from sexual assault at the hands of a husband old enough to be my father twice over who was clearly intending on mistreating me, especially if I was dropped by the only person I ever considered a friend.

But if Penelope, after having spread gossip, most of them quite convenient for her interests, and used her influence as lady Whistledown to ridicule people and destroyed many relationships, gets to be absolved, all her wrongdoings forgotten, so must Cressida.

Cressida Cowper was a very ordinary bully compared to that. And still, the narrative gave more information on why she acts like that (and they are valid reasons!), had her reflect on herself, and get many consequences for her actions. Far more than for Penelope, who only got a tap on the fingers and only decided to give up her chronicles because it lessened her comfort.

Thus, Penelope's holier-than-thou attitude gets irritating when the narrative gives her everything without she ever giving back, or try to understand other women.

It becomes a problem when the one that is supposed to be a mean girl seems more mature and sympathetic than the one that is supposed to be the favorite.

ISABELLA WEI as POSY LI

Please do not write about this.

Bridgerton 04x08 Dance in the Country

This is like saying, "Here's a story that's like a thriller, but I FIXED it by having the serial killer go to therapy instead of trapping victims in his evil maze and dismembering them."

.

The thing a lot of people don't seem to get is that the entire appeal of a Regency romance is watching a deeply repressed, perfectly controlled, buttoned up, straight-laced person who has never expressed an emotion before fall so hard for someone that something in them just breaks and they come completely unhinged.

It's a very specific kink that this genre is tapping into.