Another Bridgerton season has come and gone, with Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington (now Bridgerton) getting their happy ending. One of the biggest thorns in their side – or at least Lady Whistledown’s side – was Cressida Cowper, portrayed by Jessica Madsen. The ton’s resident “mean girl” takes a more prominent role in the romance’s third season to further the plot and show there is much more to Cressida.

Bridgerton Season 3 contains a nuanced character study of Cressida Cowper that goes beyond that limited perception of her. The season finale even teases her as part of the show’s future, despite that dreaded move to Wales with Aunt Joanna.

In fairness, Bridgerton’s third season has a lot of lost time to make up for with Cressida, who only appears in a supporting role throughout the first two seasons. There is so little insight into her character (for those who aren’t readers of Julia Quinn’s novels) that Bridgerton 3×01, “Out of the Shadows,” essentially works as a reintroduction to Cressida Cowper, as it does Hannah Dodd’s iteration of Francesca Bridgerton.
Bridgerton. (L to R) Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton, Jessica Madsen as Cressida Cowper in episode 303 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024

The season premiere opts to begin to do so through a newfound friendship between Cressida and Eloise Bridgerton. Considering the past two seasons only highlight Cressida’s unkindness towards mostly Penelope, who before the end of Season 2 is Eloise’s best friend, Bridgerton must showcase the kindness Eloise says Cressida showed her.

A single flashback would be a solid foundation from which Cressida could build, but Cressida works from familiar, “cruel and unnecessary” patterns to progress toward the flattering portrait Eloise paints. Admittedly, the best path to understanding Cressida comes from her home life and relationship with her parents, not her friendship with Eloise. After all, the two female characters’ dynamic fizzles out quite quickly and with great cause. Most notably, Eloise doesn’t hear Cressida out about her obscene arranged marriage when Cressida spends much of Season 3 listening to Eloise talk about Penelope.

The blocking in specific scenes makes it apparent that Eloise’s unresolved tension with Penelope creates a visible distance between Eloise and Cressida. In Bridgerton 3×05, “Tick Tock,” Cressida stands by herself, like in the library earlier in the season, when Colin makes his speech at the engagement party, and she’s far removed from the group – and Eloise – when everyone plays charades. Those visual clues speak to the disconnected nature of Cressida and Eloise’s friendship.

Bridgerton. (L to R) Jessica Madsen as Cressida Cowper, Joanna Bobin as Lady Cowper in episode 304 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024
Understandably, Bridgerton doesn’t want to show its hand too early with Eloise, giving her critical development that will undoubtedly occur during her season (whenever that may be). So, of course, the third season makes Cressida more self-aware of her selfish motivations than it does with Eloise. Also, as a non-Bridgerton, Cressida’s arc must fit around the leads’ stories, so it’s logical for the season to lead from Cressida’s albeit thin connection with Eloise, who is so intricately connected to Colin and Penelope.

Still, Bridgerton’s strongest narrative with Cressida involves her parents and the freedom of Lady Whistledown. Readers of Quinn’s Romancing Mister Bridgerton will have seen Cressida claiming to be the writer coming. Still, the show has to make the motivation believable, too, and it does so through a vested interest in Cressida’s home life.

With this season being Cressida’s third on the marriage mart, her parents are becoming listless with their daughter’s lack of options. Bridgerton Season 3 introduces a breath of fresh air through Lord Debling. While his interest in Cressida and Penelope fades halfway through this season, it is imperative that Cressida finally meets someone with whom she relates. After all, Debling and Cressida, unlike Colin and Eloise, do not have the best or most supportive relationships with their families.
Bridgerton. Jessica Madsen as Cressida Cowper in episode 307 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024

Bridgerton 3×04, “Old Friends,” has one of the most telling representations of how Cressida and the Cowpers stand apart from the Bridgertons. While everything at Bridgerton House is united in that iconic Bridgerton Blue, Cressida’s attire stands out in a house she describes as “like a mausoleum.” Not only does Cressida not have a good relationship with her parents, but she visibly does not fit in with them. Unlike the Bridgertons, the Cowpers aren’t supportive; they’re stifling.

Cressida’s ticket to freedom from all of it (the ton, the marriage mart, her parents, a betrothal to a man “on death’s doorstep”) becomes the reward money for pretending to be or identifying the true Whistledown. Understanding her desperation doesn’t excuse Cressida’s actions, which Bridgerton 3×08, “Into the Light,” briefly addresses, but it makes for anything other than a one-note villain. Cressida becomes so much more than that precisely when the show needs her to be.

Bridgerton has Mayfair and its social season (or at least as represented in the first three seasons) in its rearview mirror. Francesca, Eloise, John Stirling, and his cousin Michaela Stirling are on their way to Scotland. Cressida Cowper is en route to Wales, which certainly isn’t Vienna. Nevertheless, investing in that journey is plausible now that Bridgerton evolves Cressida into a three-dimensional character. So, even though she does not have the financial independence to live a life of her own (yet!), it is exciting that Cressida has the opportunity to start anew. It sounds like Bridgerton Season 4 will do the same as it presumably expands its stories to new locations beyond the ton.