When I first saw the first season of Netflix’s Bridgerton Series, I was captivated almost immediately. Will the second season be able to maintain the same level of enchantment and magic? Here is Bridgerton (2022) Series Review.
Bridgerton (2022) Series Review
The second season of Bridgerton follows Lord Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest Bridgerton sibling and Viscount, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony’s search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate and her younger sister Edwina Sharma arrive from India. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate discovers the true nature of his intentions and decides to do everything in her power to stop the union. But in doing so, Kate and Anthony’s verbal sparring matches only bring them closer together, complicating matters on both sides.
So this season doesn’t follow Dafty and Simon, but instead chooses the eldest brother, Anthony as the focus. That’s an interesting proposition because Anthony isn’t always the easiest character to like, and when his story is the main driver, that can be a challenge.
The second season took a bit to get warmed up to. I mean, it didn’t feel like it initially had the same energy as that first season. Maybe that’s just because the focus had shifted in my brain and heart were trying to catch up.
By the second episode, though, I was invested, especially as we’re introduced in this season to a few new characters who have a huge impact on the story.
The addition of Kate and Edwina to the mix is a frustratingly good one. I think the arc is pretty predictable, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. There’s this mixed up love story here.
As I had said in the synopsis, Anthony is courting Edwina, but because of his personality, her sister Kate is very protective and then the sparks that fly between Kate and Anthony are wonderfully obvious.
I enjoyed the tension that this triangle creates. Edwina is a wonderful character. I mean, she’s sweet, intelligent and somebody that I was rooting for to find love and happiness.
Kate, while Brisbane, is also filled with awesome qualities. She’s witty, smart, fiercely protective and isn’t some wilting flower, which is a challenge for Antony, who’s pretty much exactly like her.
While the courtship of Anthony and Edwina is sweet, what I was really rooting for is Antony and Kate to just throw caution to the wind and really speak their feelings for each other, and their banter is frustrating and it’s incredibly engaging.
They’re almost like two cats who can’t get enough of each other but will also go Ham on the other if the slightest misstep is made. Their dynamic is exactly what I love about this show.
The writing sucks me in, even if it’s cheesy or overly dramatic in spots. I’m drawn to the Roman ants and the relationships. But it’s not just the relationship between Anthony, Edwina, and Kate that I enjoyed this season.
We get to see so much into what makes Anthony tick, why he’s so driven and is almost cruel at times with his dedication to responsibility.
I love the insight that comes from conversations between Anthony and his mom, Daphne and Benedict. They provide so much character development and depth on him. I don’t always like Anthony, especially when he was pig-headed and arrogant, but I at least understood why he was the way that he was.
I also enjoyed how we get to know Lady Bridgerton more. She’s not the central focus, but as the story goes along, we get some good development on her, which then flows to her motivations and her behaviors.
And while Anthony is the main Bridgerton that the story focuses on, we still get arcs with Benedict, Eloise and even Colin, and these storylines help to build out their characters so that when future seasons come into play, we’ll be even more engaged with their stories.
Now I don’t know about you, but I was bummed at the end of season one when Lady Whistle Down’s identity was shown. I loved not knowing who it was and then the mystery that that provided. I got to say though, that I like how they take her story and then create drama around it in this second season.
Just because we know who Whistle Down is doesn’t mean the rest of the time do, which then makes for some really good drama.
The Queen who sports some just awesome wigs this season. She’s very keen on finding out the identity and at the same time Eloise is also determined to discover who is behind lady to Whistle Down’s gossip report.
This causes some great friction between Eloise and Penelope because we know it’s Penn who’s tattling on the elite. So to watch those misdirects and the attempts at dissuasion, they just become fun to watch.
There’s so much drama this season and the show is the lengthy one.There are eight episodes with the shortest one being 53 minutes and the majority of them being over an hour. Now I like this since it allowed me to spend so much more time in the world.
There are some points that do feel a little slower and they seem a bit redundant, but on the whole the story keeps progressing forward, giving us drama, romance, hope and frustration all along the way.
The Featheringtons also have a story arc in this season that becomes pretty engaging. There are even points where I actually felt a little bit of sympathy for them.
I mean, generally they’re just a scheming family, but there are moments where I sort of rooted for them. I didn’t have overarching love for them because, I mean, come on, mostly they dig their own holes to fall in, but in small moments I wanted them to succeed and regardless if I’m loving or hating them, I’m invested in them and I’m drawn to what they contribute to the narrative.
Something I loved in the first season and I’m really happy that they’ve continued in the second is the use of modern songs done classically by Vitamin String Quartet. I mean, some are very obvious of what the songs are now, others took me just a bit, but I think if you’re a fan of pop music, the reimagining as classical is awesome.
The sets and costumes also continue to be spectacular. I’d love to see an actual closet at some point because the amount of clothes that most of these characters have, I think is just astounding. They are constantly changing outfits, which also seems very tiring.
But the attention to detail to create exquisite gowns and suits I think is wonderful and the varieties of colors and patterns that are shown make the show visually intriguing.
I think this season is more dramatic than the first. I mean, I remember the first being pretty whimsical while still including engaging drama.
Now here it’s the drama that takes precedence and the whimsy and comedy are just small interjections. That’s not a complaint, it’s just something I noticed. I think it’s also a needed change. The series is maturing and so the storytelling needs to do as well.
We’re also thrust into the story faster in this season because we already know the majority of the players, so we’re not spending an episode or two establishing all of them.
Something that I really enjoyed was a small sense of self awareness that the show has. While the characters refer to the time of balls and courtship as a season, the dialogue was also using it subtly to talk about the actual show season.
They called out small differences as a wink to us and then brought us into the conversation without having to break the fourth wall. And this didn’t happen often, but when it did, I enjoyed it.
Now there is so much more that I could talk about when it comes to the story. There’s also this massive list of topics that I’m just not allowed to bring up by Netflix.
So overall, the second season of Bridgeton is different than the first. I mean, it’s more dramatic, yet retains so much of the romance charm and of course, the gossip that made the first so enjoyable.
The dynamic of Anthony, Edwina and Kate is a powerful driver that creates a compelling narrative that I was fully invested in and enjoyably frustrated with for almost all of it.
But I’m also drawn to the growth so many of the characters experience. They are certainly not static and this growth and maturity provide for some engaging storylines.
The costumes, settings and the music all continue to wow me as they’re all created with just magnificent beauty. The intersecting and divergent storylines build out the world even more this season and they bring us characters that we love and hate and sometimes they’re one and the same.
Now the show is a time investment, but it’s never dragging. I became sucked in and then lost a lot of sleep to continue the bench. So beware because it may happen to you as well.
There’s sex nudity not really any profanity and just maybe a tiny bit of violence.
I am going to give season two of Bridgerton (2022) 4/5.
So who’s your favorite character in the show? I really love Eloise but Kate became a new favorite of mine this season. Let me know who yours is in the comments below.
Guys thank you for reading the Bridgerton (2022) Series Review. See you next time.
Bridgerton (2022) Series Trailer
Here is the trailer of Bridgerton (2022).
https://youtu.be/qYNCws-a6CQ
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