Is Eloise the Villain of ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3?

If you were one of the millions of people who binge-watched Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 on Netflix this weekend, you were probably delighted with Penelope Featherington’s (Nicola Coughlan) long-awaited glow up, enchanted by Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) shy sweetness, and totally taken aback to sort of like…Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen)? However one character development that sort of rankled (me, at least) had to do with one Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie). Sure, she’s always been a bit of a square peg struggling to fit into the confines of genteel Regency era society, but now she’s assumed a position of power within it. There’s no pressure on her to marry, so she can attend balls as a wallflower, sniping her fellow debutantes to their faces and showing off her sharp wit. While the other young ladies seem to shrug her rude comments off, I couldn’t help but notice a mean streak in Eloise this season I hadn’t seen before.

Throughout Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1, we see Eloise rudely shun former bestie Penelope, ignore the emotional needs of new BFF Cressida, and genuinely enjoy putting others down to their faces. Eloise also is loose with potentially harmful gossip, spilling Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s secret charm lessons to Cressida for fun. While Cressida shockingly keeps Eloise’s confidence, it is El’s own gabbing that makes it impossible for the secret to stay, well, secret!

Nevertheless, there’s a theme emerging in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 and it’s that Eloise might sort of, kind of, be the worst?

Look, there’s a lot about Eloise Bridgerton to love. She’s intelligent, plucky, funny, and quick to realize that Jane Austen’s Emma is a banger. Eloise has the misfortune of being an incredibly modern woman confined to a culture that’s not ready for women to have ambitions outside of being wives and mothers. There’s a reason why she’s physically buzzing with frustration at every moment. She’s trapped.

However, for all the ways in which Eloise is streets ahead of her contemporaries, she’s also lagging behind. When Cressida confides in Eloise that her father is now promising to marry her to “one of his aged friends,” El quips that it sounds like “German literature,” ignoring the pain that Cressida is obviously going through. There’s an immaturity to Eloise that sort of excuses a lot of her behavior. The question is whether or not she can outgrow this era.

The good news is Eloise eventually clocks that her friend was upset and visits Cressida the next day. By visiting Cowper House, which Cressida herself compares to a “mausoleum,” and eavesdropping on Cressida’s cruel father forbidding the girls’ friendship, El begins to realize not everyone has the hunky dory, warm and fuzzy security of the Bridgertons. As Bridgerton star Jessica Madsen herself told Decider, “There’s a trust there and they’re curious about each other because they are so different and Eloise learns a lot through her about how different her life is.”

So it might not be simply that Eloise is the villain of Bridgerton now, but that she’s simply experiencing a period of growing pains. Ironically, had she and Penelope not had their falling out, Eloise might never have befriended Cressida, placing her on this path to self-betterment.

That said…if you’ve seen the trailer for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 that Netflix unveiled on its site, you’ll note that Eloise is positioned as the greatest threat to Penelope and Colin’s happily ever after. While we see Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) and the rest of the Bridgertons celebrate the engagement, Eloise fumes at Penelope that she cannot marry Colin. Sure, Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) is offering a £5000 reward for whomever can root out the identity of Lady Whistledown, but Eloise has that knowledge and holds it over Pen’s head. She hatefully says that if Penelope does not reveal the truth to Colin by midnight, she will!

Of course, that’s just information that’s been shared in a trailer. We don’t yet know the context of those conversations. But it definitely looks like Eloise could spell trouble for Bridgerton Season 3’s lovebirds. Even if her intentions are noble, her energy feels vindictive towards Penelope. (Or maybe I’m just reading into the footage because I’m rooting for Colin and Pen?)

Bridgerton Season 3 feels like a potential turning point for Eloise Bridgerton. Sure, she lowered her hems last season, but the lessons she’s learned in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 are those of maturity. Here’s hoping she continues on that path in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2. There’s nothing I hate girl than rooting against a Bridgerton.

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 premieres on Netflix on Thursday, June 13.