"My dear readers". I was excited to hear Julie Andrews' voice again as the voice of Lady Whistledown. She is one of the reasons why I was able to finish watching the second season of the Bridgerton series.
When I read the second book of the Bridgerton series, it was actually an annoying experience for me. The book triggered my anger a lot, I must confess. Though at the end Hahah I comforted myself with the fact that the story was fictional and it was well written. I had high expectations for the season because, I thought since Shonda Rhimes was part of the executive producers, it would be bearable to watch but I was wrong. I was woefully disappointed with the second season of the Bridgerton series.
As we are aware, Bridgerton is an American historical fiction-romance TV series that is based on the book series written by Julia Quinn. This series is Shondaland's first scripted show distributed by Netflix. It was created by Chris Van Dusen which revolves mainly around the fictional story of a rich Noble family during the Regency era. An era where marriageable youth of nobility are launched into society to find their worthy spouse.
Each season of the Bridgerton series revolves around the story of each of the children of the Bridgerton family. In this second season, the story centered around Anthony, eldest son and the head of the Bridgeton family. Though this season also focused on the second daughter of the Bridgerton family Eloise who was introduced into society to search for her worthy spouse but she wasn't interested in searching for a spouse rather but she was obsessed about uncovering the real identity of Lady Whistledown.
The focus shifts from Eloise to her older brother, Anthony Bridgerton, as he decides to embarks on his quest for love and a worthy spouse. During this, Anthony was able to discover the world of romance and its complexity. Feeling more pressure from his family, he decided to make use of the social season to his advantage to find a suitable match for himself. Aiming at the newly named 'Diamond of the First Water', for the season by the queen, he met Edwina Sheffield, a young elegant young lady who possessed all the qualities he desires to find in a wife.
However, Anthony's plans to make Edwina his wife changed when he found himself drawn to Edwina's older sister, Kate Sheffield. Kate on the other hand, a sharp-mouth, pompous, and an independent woman wasn't impressed by Anthony's reputation and as a potential spouse match for her younger sister.
Trying to discourage her sister and Anthony from getting married, she instead developed a passionate connection with Anthony and made the biggest mistake of her life. Will Eloise discover the identity of Lady Whistledown? Will Kate succeed in destroying Edwina's spouse match? Will she recover from her mistake?
Characters
** Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton**
Jonathan's role as one of the characters in the series is one hell of a stressful character to watch for me. He was annoying to me, terrible at making choices and he was a coward. Yes he said he is a gentleman multiple times in the show but he is not. I will say he acted his part well and it was convincing that his character was unbearable for me to watch.
Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton
Claudia's character is one character I enjoyed watching. She is smart, intelligent and she doesn't believe that getting married increases her worth as a woman in society. Though she is always left to do her own thing, she wasn't affected by the attention she wasn't getting. I enjoyed her role so very much. For she was enjoyable to watch and her dark humor is why I love her character more.
Simone Ashley as Kate Sheffield.
Kate is one character I found annoying but her looks and physical features added to the grudge I had against her. Her character was enjoyable for me but she is a fictional character and I commend her for performance. In my opinion I wished someone else should have played her role, not her, maybe I wouldn't have been so annoyed with her character.
Charithra Chandran as Edwina Sharma
Edwina's character was very relatable. I connected with her well. Her character was this naive, young girl who just became a woman. She has an open heart and she is someone who believes in her own myopic mind that her own blood sister can't betrayal her. I was crushed when she was betrayed at the end of the season. Her performance was amazing and she excellently portrayed her character well.
Above all, the cast of this season didn't perform well except for some few one's like Queen Charlotte, Lady Cadbury, Penélope Featherington, and Lady Violet Bridgerton.
My Review And Rating.
Watching the second season of Bridgerton, it felt like I wasted my time watching because it was worse than the book which it was adapted from. It wasn't thrilling for me, I didn't enjoy it at all and I feel that it was restricted due to some non-existent precepts that Shonda had in mind. This second season was not fun for me.
The positive things I have to say about this season are the scene arrangements, the costumes, and the setting of both present and flashbacks. The scene arrangements were okay and manageable. The costumes were as usual elegant, colorful and beautiful. The setting was excellent; it introduced the viewers into Anthony's past which entails how he lost his father at a young age and how he has to step up as the head of the Bridgeton family.
One aspect I enjoyed about this season is that it explored strong themes that we see happening in our society today regardless of the time difference. Themes like; Self-discovery, identity, Secrets, betrayal, Personal freedom and Societal expectations. These were excellently portrayed in the show.
To be honest, my expectations were not met. I was unexpectedly disappointed and I think for now in the Bridgerton series, the first season is the best. Next I will watch Queen Charlotte's spin off and I hope I won't be disappointed too. Rating this show, I will give it 2.5 out 5 stars. It is not worth the time.
All images above are from the movie screenshots
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