‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Review: Less Intoxicating, Less Sex, But Still a ‘Ton of Fun

Bridgerton Season 1 wooed the world into submission with its frothy, fun, sexy ways back in December 2020. Now the Netflix juggernaut is back with a season focused on a whole new Bridgerton sibling and even more lavish spectacles. While the core charms of Bridgerton remain untouched, this new season is missing something. Sex. The Netflix show that made headlines for its steamy sex scenes in Season 1 is playing the tease in its sophomore season. Instead of embracing the full out fantasy of happy humping in a Regency-set rom-com, Bridgerton Season 2’s main romance is a tortured affair that takes way too long to seal the deal. Bridgerton is still an enchanting bit of escapism, but fans might not fall as hard for its love story this time around. (Through no fault of the show’s leads.)

Based on the best-selling romance novels by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton takes place in a fantasy version of Regency era England, where racism doesn’t really exist and true love conquers all. The show’s first season followed a naive ingenue named Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) who manufactures a fake romance with the rakish Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) in order to manipulate other gentlemen into chasing her. Naturally, Daphne and her Duke fall head over heels for each other. The problem was the Duke had sworn to never marry or have children to spite his abusive father. The main tension of Season 1 wasn’t whether or not the Duke and Daphne loved each other, but if they could learn to communicate with one another. They wed mid-season, giving audiences the vapors with their enthusiastic love-making. The back half of the season dealt with the couple’s many emotional time bombs.

Bridgerton Season 2 follows the lead of Quinn’s books and shifts focus to Daphne’s eldest brother Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). Fresh off having his heart stomped on by his mistress in Season 1, Anthony has resolved to finally find his perfect bride. He reasons he just needs to take love out of the equation. Unfortunately, he is immediately smitten by a mysterious maiden he meets horseback riding in the park. The problem is that woman, Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), happens to be the overprotective elder sister of the gentle Edwina (Charithra Chandran). The marriage-minded Anthony is stubbornly set on winning Edwina no matter what, but Kate wants true love for her sister.

The Sharmas and Anthony in Bridgerton Season 2
Photo: Netflix

Quinn’s novel lets the Anthony/Kate/Edwina love triangle play out like a Hepburn/Tracy comedy. The tension has nothing to do with which sister Anthony will choose, but whether or not Anthony can learn to finally be vulnerable enough to admit his feelings. Bridgerton Season 2 is more interested in prolonging this tension, turning Quinn’s blithe rom-com into a tormented love triangle that becomes more uncomfortable to watch the further the characters get in over their heads. Because of this, we don’t get the euphoric honeymoon sequences that helped make Bridgerton Season 1 a hit. This is a shame not only because Bridgerton‘s brand is supposed to be shameless sensuality, but also because two of the season’s leads have palpable chemistry with each other. It’s hard to watch Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey act opposite each other and not scream, “Kiss already!!!” at the screen.

This isn’t to say Bridgerton Season 2 is a complete disaster. Far from it. The writing simply does much better by the show’s ensemble than it does its central love story. The Bridgerton family subplots — matriarch Violet (Ruth Gemmell) facing her failings, rebel Eloise (Claudia Jessie) struggling to fit in, and bohemian Benedict (Luke Thompson) pursuing his artistic aspirations — are all wonderfully engaging. After the explosive reveal of Lady Whistledown’s true identity in the Season 1 finale, we now get to watch her alter ego, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), struggle to keep her secret secure. There are perfectly choreographed sequences — including the Bridgerton family’s cutthroat Pall Mall match — that will delight Season 1 fans looking to lose themselves once more in the show’s opulence. Bridgerton Season 2 is quite good, but not quite great.

The Bridgertons in Bridgerton Season 2
Photo: Netflix

Bridgerton remains a superb adaptation of Julia Quinn’s novels as a whole, weaving in teases of plot lines to come and expanding on characters otherwise left behind on the page, but Season 2 seems a tad embarrassed by its own licentious reputation. It’s as if the show has overthought the Anthony/Kate/Edwina love triangle rather than embrace the stupid joy of the romance genre. A huge part of that joy is its horniness. The romance genre doesn’t shame readers for wanting characters to steal secret kisses, rip off bodices, or stumble to the altar under ridiculous pretenses. Bridgerton Season 1 totally nailed this vibe. Bridgerton Season 2 seems to have slightly missed the mark.

The silver lining is that the actors give it their all. Jonathan Bailey seems to relish playing Anthony’s roguish blend of emotionally-repressed gentleman and cocksure rake. Simone Ashley’s Kate uses poise as armor and her wit like a weapon when dealing with Anthony (and most of the ton). Charithra Chandran’s Edwina, the diamond of the season, is an effervescently charming ray of sunshine. This trio plays their roles to perfection. The script just flinches away from fun mid-season, taking these characters down a weirdly dark path.

Netflix’s Bridgerton is still worth tuning in for the soap opera of the ton and the characters we fell in love with in Season 1. Bridgerton Season 2’s love story, however, isn’t nearly as intoxicating as that as Daphne and her Duke.

Bridgerton Season 2 premieres on Netflix on Friday, March 25.

Watch Bridgerton on Netflix

source: nypost.com