My how things change fast in the ton, and I’m not just talking about the introduction of Michaela Stirling. Penelope and Colin seem on the verge of collapse after he discovers that his fiancée is also Lady Whistledown at the beginning of the seventh episode of Bridgerton season 3. (“I will never forgive you!” he says.) But just 40 minutes later, they’re walking down the aisle.
Of course, it’s not the wedding day either Colin (Luke Newton) or Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) had planned. Sure, Pen’s secret is now out in the open with Colin, but he says he’s only going through with the wedding because he’s a man of honor and they were already intimate. When Colin asks Pen if she’s going to stop publishing her newsletter, and she can’t give him a definitive yes.… Let’s just say he doesn’t take well to that.
But then, after Colin finds Penelope outside of the modiste on the night before the wedding, a shouting match gives way to a passionate makeout session and the two appear on their way to reconciliation, even if major obstacles remain.
The wedding goes off without a hitch, even if it’s not the blissful day either of them dreamed of just days earlier. At least they’re not at rock bottom like they were at the start of the episode.
The church features a color palette of pale yellows, blues, and greens as a supportive Portia Featherington walks her daughter down the aisle in a blush-colored silk gown that’s both simple and stunning. Colin nods to his future wife, as if to say, “I know this is not how we wanted to start off our new life, but we’ll get through this together.” It’s so moving that even Eloise sheds a tear. (“Simply tears at losing another friend to marriage. Or maybe it was dust,” she says, as usual delivering the best lines.)
It’s a quick vow exchange, but the important moments are bountiful, including one big Easter egg in the form of Polin’s walk-down-the-aisle song choice. Below, showrunner and executive producer Jess Brownell breaks it down—including the hidden meaning behind Penelope’s dress—as well as the reason for that surprise reveal (at least for book fans) at the end of the episode that seemingly sets up season 4.
Glamour: Penelope and Colin’s first dance at their wedding was an orchestral version of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” Why was that the right song choice for that moment?
Jess Brownell: Thematically and lyrically, it makes so much sense for them. These characters have so many years together, and it’s not a newer relationship. It’s something that has been in the making forever. There is that sense of fate with these two. It just worked really well.
What about other Easter eggs from their wedding?
They walk down the aisle to Coldplay’s “Yellow,” which is a nod to Featherington yellows and the colors there. Our costume designer John Glaser designed a very simple silhouette for Penelope that was in some ways a nod to her being this powerful career woman. She is not super fussy in that moment. It’s a very strong silhouette.
Penelope and Colin are now parents to a baby boy. In the book, their first child is a girl. How does having a boy fit into their narrative?
Yeah, in the book, they have a baby girl first, who they name after Lady Danbury. The book features Lady Danbury much more than we were able to in the show, though we did try to pay homage to it in certain moments. It felt like for us in season 3, it was the perfect ending to that heir race to have Penelope win over her sisters after everything she’s been through. The fact that she’s had the boy also means that she’s now the mother of the heir, which means she gets to move into Featherington House. And practically speaking for us, we get to keep our sets. So it kills many birds with one stone.
Shonda Rhimes said she cried during the finale, which is easy to understand given the magnitude of so many developments and personal interactions. What stood out to you?
Even though I wrote it, I cried seeing Luke Newton deliver the final speech where he tells Penelope that her Whistledown reveal was bloody brilliant. Everything he says, and the moment where he’s like, “If my only purpose in life is to be the man behind the woman, then so be it.” That to me is, especially as a career woman, the dream thing you want someone to say to you.
Yes. And finally, when Penelope says to him, “I do not need you to save me. I just need you to stand by me, to hold me, to kiss me,” I immediately thought, Is this a nod to Grey’s Anatomy when Meredith tells Derek, “Pick me, choose me, love me”?
Oh, no. It wasn’t intentionally.
See, this is what happens when you consume so much TV!
Yeah. [Laughs.]