![]() But even as he swears off all that in his quest to find a wife, he cannot overcome the larger obstacles of Kate's hard-headed refusal to marry, equaled only by devotedness to securing a proper marriage for her sister, the Queen's "diamond" Edwina (Charithra Chandran).Īdding to all this frustration is Kate's professed resentment toward Anthony, which hatches after she overhears him telling his friends he wants to marry for quality and legacy, not for love. In the latest episodes Anthony's trysts with professionals are portrayed as maintenance, something as necessary to the head of a great house as managing the estate's financial affairs. For Anthony to be worthy of the high-spirited, independent-minded and fetching Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), he must prove his worth by simmering down before settling down. Still, even a lord with a frequent customer discount at the local brothel must prove himself worthy of the lady he sets his heart upon, to win over her family and, more to the point, the audience. Our first eyeful of his bare rump arrives barely three minutes into the "Bridgerton" series premiere, as he's railing his opera singer lass against a tree. "Bridgerton" creator Chris Van Dusen and his writers treat Anthony's first season dalliances with a note of comedy. Rumor alone can be enough.īut men have it differently 'twas ever thus. Austen's allure is in the exacting set of rules society of her time imposes on courtship it takes so little to sully a decent lady's reputation. ![]() Many adherents to Regency-era screen adaptations view the subgenre as one of the last bastions of chaste subtlety. ![]() Dialing it down in "Bridgerton" instead of ramping up makes less sense, until one accounts for the other major commonality the shows share, beyond their Austen influence: their fixer-upper leading men Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes).Īusten's allure is in the exacting set of rules. That drama's athletic displays never came close to its streaming contemporary's daring, but the mere glimpses of an old fashioned and one episode's brief but explicitly shown trip to pound town was enough to cause protestation.Įasing up on the boot-knocking is on brand for public television. RELATED: A less sexy "Sanditon" doesn't evolve the plot, but so what? That's not why people watch Those who read Julia Quinn's "sensual" novels expected no less, whereas Austenites and "Masterpiece" regulars were scandalized by the sex that turned up in "Sanditon," the public television adaption of Jane Austen's unfinished novel. Once married, the Duke and Duchess furiously dip biscuits into each other's tea at any given opportunity and without much in the way of erotic preamble. The first season makes the most of Regé-Jean Page's smoking bod by showing his 19th century stud Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, winning the heart and hand of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor). In no way is this development entirely unexpected, given how briskly Shonda Rhimes' Regency Era romp became the mood-lifting phenomenon of 2020. According to ratings released by the streamer, the second season of "Bridgerton" became the most-watched English-language in its history during that span of time. ![]() Jubilation ensued, especially among Netflix viewers, who proved over the weekend following the second season premiere that cutting back on the diddling did not adversely impact on the show's popularity. To the delight of the world's easily scandalized gentlefolk, " Bridgerton" and " Sanditon" returned for their respective second seasons with less sex and more balls, the kind that involves dancing.
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