The real love story at the heart of ‘Bridgerton’ season three is the one between Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope and Claudia Jessie’s Eloise.

It’s the beloved romp through Regency-era London that has amassed a legion of loyal and adoring fans in part thanks to its starry cast, vertiginous wigs and capacious costumes and those orchestral covers of modern pop music (hello, string quartet version of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’). And as the final quartet of season three Bridgerton episodes are released today, it is this very coterie of fans that will no doubt take to Netflix to watch the unfolding of Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) love story.

Yes, the love story at the heart of the third season has been a sight to behold (be still our beating, Bridgerton and ‘Polin’-loving hearts), but those focussing on the sex scenes of the series are missing the point entirely. The real love story of season three, the one that’s less steamy but by no means less important, is the one between Penelope and her best friend Eloise (Claudia Jessie).

After all, now that Penelope and Colin are engaged to be married, the real question at the heart of this particular Bridgerton plotline, is how Penelope and Eloise intend to make amends in their will-they-won’t-they friendship, which is sure to be tested even further in the fourth season given that the pair are set to become sisters-in-law. Can they ever mend the friendship we came to love so much in Bridgerton‘s first season?

The warring between the two best friends began in the second season when Eloise learned of Penelope’s secret identity as Lady Whistledown and felt betrayed that her best friend could be so duplicitous. In riposte to learning of her friend’s pseudonymous identity, Eloise then befriended Penelope’s arch enemy, Cressida Cowper, leading to more friction between the friends, and it’s the simmering sadness of the breakdown of their relationship that is the most heartbreaking to watch as a fan of the show. In fact, of the love stories at the heart of Bridgerton‘s third season, the continued crumbling of ‘Peneloise’ – the name given to the pair by fans – is by far the hardest to watch.

What started life as an easy intimacy with one another has descended into an iciness that is palpable for viewers, and fans have flocked to X to share their dissatisfaction of the characters’ inability to reconcile. ‘Oh Eloise is going thru it! She’s 100% more frustrated w herself than she is w Pen. For her to have been friends w Pen for all those years but never having realized her bffl has always been in love w her brother? It’s definitely eating at her! oh my peneloise heart,’ one user wrote, while another stressed how difficult watching the two very nearly reconcile was. Another added, ‘just rewatched the peneloise scene again please please please bring my pretty best friends home.’ If there’s any storyline sure to strike a chord with viewers, it’s that of a friendship break-up.

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

And in sad news for those invested in the pair’s friendship, Bridgerton‘s showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed at the premiere of the season that it will take two years for the fourth season of the show to be completed, meaning that the two best friends will have to remain at war in the minds of fans. All is not lost though, as in a recent interview with TV Insider, Jessie urged fans not to lose hope in the friendship they hold so closely to their hearts. ‘More than anything, I think she [Eloise] is embarrassed,’ Jessie said, continuing ‘but Peneloise fans out there, I don’t want you to lose complete hope. But I think there’s going to be a bit of a battle before they’re skipping through the daffodil fields again.’

There may well be light at the end of the ‘Peneloise’ tunnel after all. Watch this space!