r/Bridgerton

It feels like every season they gave a subplot where she's just a punching bag for other characters where the writers have Eloise somehow doing something or saying something that offends a particular character who has to "call her out" for being "selfish" "rude" "self centered" and then Eloise has to be the one to apologize for it at the end and the same cycle continues the following season.

1. Season One - She butted heads with Daphne over their different views of the future with Eloise telling her that she doesn't want to be like her and dream of finding a husband and having children and wanting women to have more purpose than being wives and mothers but Daphne told her off for thinking this way, saying she only thinks of herself and then Eloise had to "humble herself" at the end of the season.
2. Season Two - She fought with Theo who said she's no different from every other young lady of the ton, called her out on her privilege​, said she is a woman who never endured any difficulty in her life and that she doesn't consider what her actions will do to other people who aren't as fortunate and Eloise just stood there and took it with tears in her eyes as she tried to apologize to him. Then she fought with Penelope about the LW secret and Penelope said all she does is "talk" about doing something great and she was just jealous of Penelope making a name for herself and that she's always thinking about herself.
3. 3. Season Three - She had the same fight with Cressida who said the same thing verbatim to her that Penelope said but spiced it up by calling her out for not caring about her needs and only caring about herself for daring to want something different for the women of society and believing women shouldn't only focus only on marriage.
4. 4. Season Four - Then she gets called out by Hyacinth for being "self centered" and only thinking of herself when Eloise showed little interest in Hyacinths excitement to debut into society and dreams of being a wife one day and attending balls and society functions and hosting and Eloise had to then do some self reflection and come to the realization that she wasn't considering her younger sister's feelings and apologized to her in the end. Then she also apologized to Cressida for not taking her feelings into account about how important it is to marry well and acknowledged that she was too self interested in her own mind she never considered others and apologized for that as well.

Now I'm not saying these moments do not serve a narrative purpose in Eloise's arc and growth as a character. It's good character development for Eloise to realize where she went wrong, grow from it and become a better person for it.

But it seems like Eloise is the ONLY character on the show who has to "grow up" every season. Every opinion she has is treated like it's "immaturity" talking and nobody actually takes what she says seriously.

It's no wonder that she doesn't take others seriously when everyone keeps telling her to "grow up" and invalidates her beliefs. ​​

I have a nuanced view to Eloise. I understand her deeply on a cellular level because I relate to her. It's not easily living in a society where your opinions are not heard or appreciated so how are you supposed to show support to others if they don't show you any support and respect?

But also... I understand why others might find Eloise annoying and rude to people's desires and dreams because they're different to hers and that's not right either.

But I just don't like that they keep giving her the same storyline where she has to be the one to apologize and learn and grow. Why can't anyone learn from her? Why can't she be appreciated for who she is as a person?

That's why I wanted her to be S5 because at least she could find someone who would appreciate her mind and her opinions and won't have to apologize for having such strong beliefs.

Eloise needs to have someone in her corner who will root for her and not put her down at every second.

She doesn't need to apologize every time for being who she is, my goodness. I need Phillip to be the one to embrace her radical, progressive mind and allow her to be loud, proud, and headstrong.

The writers are putting her through a humiliation ritual every seaosn. I'm so terrified what they'll do to her next season.

It seems like she's always making growth every season but then the next season she takes ten steps back and is back to square one where she now has to "learn" and be "taught a lesson".

It's exhausting. ​​​

I hope S5 doesn't have Eloise complaining about the marriage mart, fighting with her siblings, looking down on debutantes, having people call her out on being "selfish" or whatever and then having her have to LEARN from someone who told her off for having an opinion 🙄

Just please give her a worthy storyline where she is doing something empowering for her and doesn't involve anyone else.

In the show, Sophie is eating dinner and Benedict laughs at her. I honestly didn’t understand why, since she was just eating normally.

In the book, Sophie was so hungry that she basically devoured the food, and Benedict got upset at her former employers for not feeding her properly. That context is completely missing in the show. I really wish they had kept it the way it was in the book

All the Bridgerton daughters except Eloise has a black spouse.(Simon, Michaela/John,Gareth)

Eloise was already asleep ig😭Nawwt the comments calling Eloise out for messing the brand up.

Fran heard it and thought I could do better by bringing in a black woman.

Ps:-This is just a joke and not a jab towards any race

I don't think everyone else is in Sunday best, maybe smart casual? Benedict would be like in trakkies and a singlet?

I am utterly confused by so much of the discourse around Benedict.

When did he say he didn't believe in monogamy? When did he say he wanted an open marriage? When was he ever shown to cheat on a partner?

Never. Never. And NEVER.

But, people still insist he should be polyamorous or in an open marriage or that he will eventually cheat on Sophie.

I rarely see these comments about the other male characters. Simon was never in a monogamous relationship before Daphne. He considered taking Siena as a mistress and was shown to be sleeping with prostitutes. He didn't want marriage and didn't want kids. Anthony is a rake with a capital R who said he should've taken Colin to brothels and had a mistress he claimed to love, but dumped. Colin wrote journals about the international sex he was having and was paying women to have threesomes at brothels.

None of the men are depicted as saints.

Yet, no one say they are cheaters who cannot commit. Benedict is no different from them. The only difference is he is bisexual. Benedict never claimed to love anyone, never cheated, never lied, didn't really go to brothels, but had consensual sexual relationships with women he admired and liked.

And the minute Benedict met Sophie... HE WAS CELIBATE. He found love. He found what he didn't know he was searching for. He lost interest in the orgies and sleeping around. It lost value for him. He was going to give up his family for her. He was depicted as being loyal and committed during the ENTIRE SEASON.

Im New to Bridgerton due to hearing so much great things about, however im stuck on deciding.. should I read this book first before watching the series?

By your experience what's the best to do first ? Is one also better than the other ?

Thanks in advance!

I know there are still so many people who are salty over the fact that Penelope gave up Lady Whistledown and that it was now taken up by someone else but I think this is exactly what needed to happen.

In the books, Penelope gives up LW after a decade when she reveals herself as LW and then chooses to start becoming a novelist instead so she was fairly anonymous for a decade.

The show has made so many changes and one of the big changes was revealing that Penelope was LW at the end of S1 and that was a big mistake in retrospect because it killed any suspense and mystery from the story and once Penelope revealed herself, it took away the little excitement and mystery LW had.

The mystique was gone.

LW wasn't fun anymore when everyone in the ton knew who she was and her reporting would always be considered biased against or for certain individuals and everyone would never be happy and realistically nobody would want to gossip around her in fear that she would write about them.

She had to give up LW in S4.

It makes sense for her arc.

And it makes sense that someone else takes up the mantle.

Lady Whistledown is so ingrained in the DNA of the show.

In the books we transitioned from LW opening every chapter, to no LW presence in Eloise's book and onwards ​​​and it was much easier for the audience to digest but Julie Andrews narration is synonymous to Bridgerton so they wouldn't ever give that up.

God willing, Julie has to be narrating the show until the very end because get voiceover is too iconic.

So to make it worthwhile, they should not reveal the new Lady Whistledown until the very last season.

Keep LW as a constant mystery to everyone in the ton until the end.

Have red herrings for sure, but don't reveal LW until the end.

And LW being someone new allows for more salacious stories to be written without any bias so in other words, I think I would love to see a more evil and ruthless LW who goes after EVERYONE with no remorse or fear.

Go after the Bridgertons. Go after The Queen. Go after Lady Danbury. Go after everyone!

Make it super fun, exhilarating, spicy, infuriating and suspenseful.

And then do an epic reveal in the final episode of S8 where Lady Whistledown is revealed to be... DAN HUMPHREY!