Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 on Netflix, Where Colin and Penelope’s Relationship Takes Center Stage

Netflix’s Bridgerton series is back for a third season this week, and Lady Whistledown is the star of the show. Or, more accurately, her real-life identity Penelope Featherington is the star, as her relationship with Colin Bridgerton becomes one of the focal points of the show. Nicola Coughlan’s star has been ascending these past few years, and the timing of this season which places her front and center comes at the height of her success. The only question is whether the show will do right by Penelope and give her the satisfying story she deserves.

BRIDGERTON (SEASON 3): STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Regency era London bustles with energy; it’s the beginning of a new debutante season and many of the citizens have their noses buried in the newest letter penned by Lady Whistledown (a.k.a. Penelope Featherington, played by Nicola Coughlan), which lists, by name, all the most eligible young ladies who might just be Queen Charlotte’s newest diamond of the season.

The Gist: Another year, another Bridgerton entering society. This year, it’s Francesa Bridgerton’s turn to make her debut, but while she’s interested in the prospect of moving out of the Bridgerton home, she’s nonplussed by the idea of being presented to Queen Charlotte. (Francesca, you’ll note, is now played Hannah Dodd, who replaced Ruby Stokes on the show for scheduling reasons.)

But perhaps more important that Francesca’s debut is the fact that Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) has returned to London after traveling abroad, and despite the fact that Francesca should be the Bridgerton everyone has their eye on, all the young ladies are pining for Colin. Keeping a close eye on things is Penelope, of course, but from a distance. Last season, her feelings for Colin soured after she heard him disparaging her to his friends, and her relationship with her best friend Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) was essentially destroyed after Lady Whistledown’s gossip paper accused Eloise of political radicalism and the two haven’t spoken since Eloise found out Penelope was Lady Whistledown.

The Featheringtons are living well these days, after Lady Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) sent their scheming Cousin Jack packing after he tried to swindle money out of everyone they knew, including Colin. Lady Featherington kept most of Jack’s money for herself but is telling everyone that she inherited her new fortune from a dead aunt.

Unfortunately though, a new character this season, a lawyer named Walter Dundas, is threatening to shake things up for the now-financially-stable Featheringtons (and the Mondriches, too). Employed by the Crown, Dundas explains that he’s been tasked with making sure that society’s lines of succession are upheld. He confronts Portia with a document she forged stating that if one of her daughters gives birth to a male heir, their home and fortune can stay in the family, but his tone is one of doubt: he senses that Portia forged the document and plans to investigate the matter. Dundas also approaches Will and Alice Mondrich to reveal that an aunt of Alice’s bequeathed her fortune, estate, and a title on their son. This sounds like good news, but leaves the Mondriches utterly confused, as their son is now known as Lord Kent.

While things between Penelope and the Bridgertons are strained, things are even worse between Lady Whistledown and Queen Charlotte. In one of her newsletters, Whistledown accuses Charlotte of choosing her diamonds poorly, and Charlotte is not one to take criticism lightly, so she plans to prove Whistledown wrong this season.

It’s clear that both Eloise and Colin miss their dear friend Penelope. Eloise has been chumming it up with mean girl Cressida Cowper (which makes her miss Penelope), and Colin finally meets with Penelope to explain how regrettable his actions were last season. He apologizes and then offers to help Penelope find a husband during this debutante season (unaware that she would really love it if he would be her husband). She accepts his apology and his offer of what amounts to charm lessons, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s already sent her newest issue of her gossip rag to the press, where she rakes him over the coals. In the end, Colin is once again endeared to the real Pen, but he’s hell-bent on ruining Lady Whistledown, having no idea they’re one and the same.

Our Take: The third season of Bridgerton is based on the fourth book (Romancing Mister Bridgerton) in the Julia Quinn series, which puts Penelope and Colin in the spotlight. (The third book, Offer From A Gentleman, focused on Benedict Bridgerton, who will get his own season eventually, if the show really does last eight seasons as creators have suggested it will.) The fact that this season is focusing on Penelope and Colin is smart, as it capitalizes on the talents of Coughlan and Newton, whose success and popularity is at its peak, and the fact that their relationship is one of the show’s most compelling.

Now that Eloise knows that Penelope is Whistledown, that aspect of the show has also taken on a new life, as it creates a whole different relationship between those two women, one that could go any number of ways. While the show’s romances always tend to end up with the happy ending you expect (with a few dozen fights and complications along the way), it’s the other relationships – the friendships, the affairs, the scheming partnerships – that add a more unpredictable aspect to the show. This season, Eloise is still trying to figure out her romantic relationships which she feels powerless to do anything about, but when it comes to her relationship with Penelope, she actually holds all the cards and it’s a dynamic the show has been waiting for: finally, someone else who is complicit in, or at least aware of, Lady Whistledown’s identity.

This season also marks the return of Anthony and Kate Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley), which is a welcome one, partly because they’re giving us the most sex of anyone so far this season, but also simply because they’re still there, at least for a while. And while fans generally know what to expect from Bridgerton’s brand of soapy romance and period drama, season three has upped the stakes by making Lady Whistledown vulnerable to anything now that her identity isn’t a total secret.

Sex and Skin: Of course! This is Bridgerton, and everyone is practicing to make an heir somewhere, especially Anthony and Kate.

Parting Shot: When a new edition of Lady Whistledown’s newsletter arrives at the Bridgerton house, Colin reads it, only to learn that there’s a scathing section devoted to him. Penelope’s ill-will toward him comes out on the page, accusing him of changing his personality to get attention. Livid, he declares that he will be more than happy to bring down Lady Whistledown’s empire if he gets the chance, since she has ruined the lives of so many people he cares about. Eloise asks if he has any idea who Whistledown is, and he replies, “If I ever find out, I will make sure that it is her life that is ruined.” If only he knew!

Performance Worth Watching: I’ve never really understood Colin Bridgerton’s appeal, as he seemed nice but bland, but this season Luke Newton has outfitted him with a cocky, confident streak that makes me get the appeal.

Memorable Dialogue: “It just never occurred to me that you of all people could be so cruel,” Penelope tells Colin, confronting him about what she overheard him telling his friends last season, when he told them he would never, ever court Penelope. After months apart, Penelope finally tells Colin that she heard this, and how much it hurt her, and this sets the stage for their relationship this season.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Bridgerton season three is delivering on everything that we came to love about the first two seasons, but with Coughlan as the center of it all, grappling with her real self and her alter ego, there’s an additional layer of urgency to her story that feels new and dangerous, like her world could come crashing down at any moment.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.