Lady Whistledenouement Comes Not With a Bang, But a Whimper

Unpacking Bridgerton's Season 3 finale.

It’s been a long, wild road through the third season of Bridgerton, and at times a fairly successful one. They did a nice job making me like Francesca and John Stirling, chiefly by giving him fun scenes with Will and some Bridgerton brothers. Eloise may have been written inconsistently, but Claudia Jessie’s comic timing is so sharp, and she and Jessica Madsen even me care about Evil Cressida Cowpie. Benedict cemented himself as the most charming of the male Bridgertons, and Nicola Coughlan was a wonderful leading lady. From Derry Girls we know she can do comedy, and in Bridgerton she did all the rest; if the sky is not the limit for her, then this ton is worthless. And I cannot overstate the comfort of watching something where we know it’s going to turn out okay. I can and will nitpick the things I wish they’d done differently, but that doesn’t mean I’m not very grateful and happy that they’re doing it at all. What a treat.

I’m going to recap this in the classic way, since it’s essenti…