Well, it finally happened. After hemming and hawing about whether she should tell Colin (Luke Newton) that she’s Lady Whistledown (Julie Andrews), Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) secret is finally out. But if there’s one thing Bridgerton Season 3 has been doing, it’s keeping the story moving along at a decent clip with jam-packed episodes, so will we have to sit in Colin’s anger for much longer? Sort of. Let’s dive in.
Episode 7, “Joining of Hands,” picks up right where the last left off, outside of Penelope’s printer, with Colin now realizing the horrible truth that she’s been Lady Whistledown all along. I think we all knew the revelation would be explosive, but it doesn’t even have much chance to turn into a fight. Colin is devastated, his trust violated as he remembers everything Penelope ever wrote about his family. He vows never to forgive her — we’ll see how long that lasts — and leaves a devastated Penelope standing there in tears.
Cressida Is Caught in Her Lie in ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3, Episode 7
The next morning, the newest issue of Whistledown is circulated, only this time it feels a little… different. Where Penelope’s column was sharp and observant, Cressida’s (Jessica Madsen) is… very Cressida. She makes almost immediate mention of the good standing of her own house before pivoting instantly to the Bridgertons, commenting on how many of the kids in the family have had rushed engagements before going on to suggest that there are so many siblings because some might be illegitimate. Violet (Ruth Gemmell) looks like she’s about to pass out, though luckily no one else in the ton seems to be taking this all that seriously. Even they can tell this sounds less like observation, and more like someone being extraordinarily petty.
Luckily, a second Whistledown column arrives shortly after — the correct Whistledown column — which calls Cressida out directly for her lie, and follows that with the small observations she is so known for. The Queen (Golda Rosheuvel) is displeased and, needless to say, Cressida leaves the palace without the promised £5000. Lord Cowper (Dominic Coleman) makes good on his threat to send his daughter to Wales and locks her in her room until her aunt can come pick her up.
Portia (Polly Walker) is delighted that Cressida has been discredited, if only so everyone can focus on the upcoming wedding instead. Penelope can’t quite bring herself to share her mother’s joy after her fallout with Colin, but at the very least things with Eloise (Claudia Jesse) are somewhat on the mend. The two run into each other while out promenading, and Eloise congratulates Pen on discrediting Cressida. Pen can’t enjoy that much either and tells Eloise that Colin knows the truth now, and admits she doesn’t know what to do. Eloise tells her she doesn’t want to be caught in the middle anymore, suspecting she always has been, but Pen promises that though she met Colin first, Eloise has always been her best friend. That sweet sentiment notwithstanding, Eloise pulls away, leaving Penelope to resolve this on her own.
Cressida’s awful column about the Bridgertons might have been discredited, but that doesn’t mean Violet doesn’t have a ton on her mind — I swear the only person truly excited about this wedding is Portia. Violet visits Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) for tea and asks if it would be possible for her to speak to the Queen about Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and John’s (Victor Alli) engagement. Lady Danbury suggests Violet wait, as the Queen is disappointed that her search for Whistledown has hit another dead end. Violet can tell that Lady Danbury is feeling off, and senses it has something to do with Marcus (Daniel Francis). She assures her old friend that she does care about her beyond her ability to help her with her children.
Things Get Tense in ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3, Episode 7
Back at Bridgerton House, Colin confronts Eloise, demanding to know how long she’s known the truth about Whistledown. Eloise promises him she’s only known since the end of last season, and wanted Pen to tell him the truth until she realized that the news so broke her heart, she didn’t want Colin’s heart to break as well. Eloise tries to smooth things over by reminding him that Pen hasn’t written anything mean this season — until Colin reminds her that she was pretty nasty about him when he first returned to town. Never mind the fact that he rolled in from his gap year looking like everyone’s worst idea (or best idea, if you’re into that sort of thing) of a rake, but he also seems to have casually forgotten that he publicly declared to all his friends that he would never court Penelope. Of course her feelings were hurt. And now that I think about it, she did level that accusation at him early this season, but we haven’t actually seen him address why he said that, to begin with. Eloise tells Colin that she wants to forgive Penelope, and asks if he can do the same. Colin replies that Eloise is lucky she’s never been in love, a comment which lands with more sting than I think either of them expected.
Across the square, Portia brings Violet, Penelope, and Colin to see the massive room she has picked out for the wedding breakfast. Pen is glad Colin is there as it means he’s not avoiding her, but he tells her it’s only so his mother won’t be suspicious about why they’re not seeing each other. He promises that he won’t call off the wedding since they’ve already slept together, but also suggests that was part of her plan to entrap him. Penelope is better than me, I would have thrown a drink in his face. Penelope wonders at the state of their marriage, and he tells her that’s up to her and her future publishing plans. When she cannot decisively tell him that she will stop publishing, Colin shuts down. The air is so frosty that even their mothers notice something is off, though neither can figure out why.
Colin isn’t the only Bridgerton currently in relationship turmoil, as Benedict (Luke Thompson) receives a note from Tilley (Hannah New) offering to explain what happened at her place the other night. He takes her up on the offer, and she explains to him that she and Paul (Lucas Aurelio) have a casual relationship, like the one she has with Benedict. She then tells him that Paul is bisexual — though of course, not in those exact words — and Benedict tells her that while he’s met men who like other men before, this is the first time he’s ever felt attracted to a man himself. He looks ready to brush it off entirely until Tilley suggests that it’s not like his interest in women makes him interested in every woman he meets. Before Benedict can spiral into another round of self-loathing, or at least self-doubt, Tilley makes a very sweet speech about how, for all the wrong and unnatural things in the world, two people feeling attracted to one another is not one of those things. I’d wager most people watching this show have heard what she’s saying to an extent, but I, for one, never mind when a series states the obvious about something like this. Tilley leaves Benedict to ponder a new offer: they can continue as they were, just the two of them, or he can take advantage of the fact that her household staff are very discrete.
And speaking of discrete household staff, Violet has a visitor of her own, namely Lord Anderson. She catches him up on her news, and the fact that Francesca is currently barely speaking to her over her hesitation to speak with Queen Charlotte on her behalf. Marcus tries to offer some advice, but unfortunately for Violet, he does so while eating a piece of cake. If there’s one thing that’s going to distract literally any Bridgerton, it’s the object of their affections eating something sweet. Who knew that trait was genetic? Marcus then gets to the real reason for his visit, asking if Violet is interested in “exploring something” together. Looks like Violet’s garden has found a very eager gardener. She tells him she is interested, but that they can’t proceed until she sorts things out with her children, and he gets his own affairs sorted out, specifically the tension with Lady Danbury.
Elsewhere, Cressida languishes in her room, surrounded by nothing but her ridiculous dresses, when Lady Cowper (Joana Bobin) arrives to tell her that her aunt will be there in a week or two to get her. Cressida begs her mom to intervene, but Lady Cowper tells her that Lord Cowper threatened to send her away too if she did. She then turns the blame around on Cressida for befriending Eloise in the first place, and if you’re thinking that doesn’t track at all, you would be right. Cressida protests that they shouldn’t have written what they did about the Bridgertons, but her mother counters that not including them would have been suspicious — but given that the Bridgertons never feature in Whistledown in such a petty way, I’m thinking Lady Cowper’s comprehension skills are about on par with her daughter’s observational ones, which is to say, non-existent. Cressida says she regrets turning on Eloise, who was the only person who was ever really nice to her, and her mother reminds her that, especially for women, it’s everyone for themselves. Looks like the Cressida subplot is also coming home to roost, after a season of showing us that she’s just a victim of circumstance (and horrible parents). I’m having a hard time forgiving a bully, but it seems Cressida is a classic case of “hurt people hurt people.”
Colin and Penelope Have a Last Night of Freedom Before Marriage
The night before the wedding, Colin goes out drinking with Benedict, John, and Will Mondrich (Martins Imhangbe), maybe to celebrate, maybe to drown his sorrows, maybe a bit of both. But he isn’t the only sorrowful one, as John tells them all that Violet doesn’t like him. Benedict protests that she does, she’s simply biased toward the idea of a “great love story,” and that John should be bolder in his attentions to Francesca if he wants to win Violet over. John and Will leave soon after, John thinking over how he can be bolder, and Benedict follows soon after, leaving Colin to his own devices.
Meanwhile, Penelope goes to visit Genevieve (Kathryn Drysdale), the only friend she has who will fully understand her woes, and tells her Colin knows that she’s Lady Whistledown. Genevieve tells her that there’s no way to go back and undo what she’s done, all that matters is what she’s going to do in the future. She then asks if Pen plans to continue publishing, and Penelope replies that while she held off that week, it feels like there’s a part of her missing without it. Genevieve advises her to be true to herself no matter what. Pen leaves the shop just as Colin is walking home from the club, and the two run into each other. He assumes she’s in the middle of something shady, to be out alone so late, and she hurls the accusation right back at him, liquid courage now flowing in her veins.
After days of dancing around it, the two of them are finally ready to have it out. Penelope apologizes for all the damage she’s done, writing about Eloise, and about Marina (Ruby Barker). When he asks her why she wrote what she did about him, she counters that she barely recognized the man he was when he came back from his travels, and she wanted her friend back. She regrets not telling him any of this directly but says she now has the confidence to be more direct, thanks to Colin’s help. He takes this to mean she’s putting Whistledown aside, but Pen is still hesitant to do so, and still sees value in the column. He tells her that the worst part of all this is that he shared his dreams of being published to her, while she had been published all along. Colin, jealousy doesn’t suit you. He doesn’t understand why she even needs him if she’s so self-sufficient, and only after she shouts that she loves him does he grab her and kiss her. Unfortunately, we’re not about to get any hate sex up against the wall, as they’re interrupted by the arrival of her carriage, and he sends her home.
Once he finally makes it back to the house, it’s to find Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) waiting for him in the study. Violet called them in to give him some advice the night before his wedding, sensing the tension between him and Penelope. Neither of them believes that Colin is doing fine, though Colin is unwilling to share what exactly happened. Kate tells him that he’s been friends with her for so long, and that he should consider whether one incident is enough to undo everything he feels about her. She adds that all marriages take hard work, which Anthony takes extremely personally, but I would remind him he’s the one who fully walked down the aisle to someone else before admitting he had feelings for Kate, so maybe he needs a bit of perspective.
Wedding Days Are a Time for Celebration and Drama on ‘Bridgerton’
The morning of the wedding, Lady Danbury is preparing to leave when she finds Marcus in her drawing room. She’s ready to kick him out when he begs for a chance to explain himself after the accusation she threw his way. Yes, he told their father she was planning to run away, but he counters that he was only 10 years old and didn’t mean any of it maliciously, but only knew that it would be dangerous for a young woman out there alone. He shares that he has always admired his sister – even though he’s still a little scared of her — and that he regrets he never stood up to their father. I doubt the two will ever be very close, but at least they manage to patch things up between them, with Marcus telling his sister that he wants her to continue to play a part in his life.
Penelope prepares for her wedding with her mother and sisters Prudence (Bessie Carter) and Phillipa (Harriet Cains). While Phillipa doesn’t seem overly concerned either way, Prudence has been throwing funny looks at Penelope this whole time. It’s suspicious enough that even Phillipa noticed earlier in the week. Prudence offers her a sincere congratulations, one she doesn’t take back even after Portia moves away, and neither Pen nor Phillipa know quite what to make of this. Meanwhile, all the guests file into the church, including Will and Alice (Emma Naomi) Mondrich, who are now the talk of the ton after their ball was a smashing success.
Penelope arrives at the church looking radiant and even gets a little smile from Colin — who might be mad at her, but is also apparently taking Kate’s advice under consideration. The ceremony goes off without a hitch, and before long the two of them are named husband and wife. As the ceremony goes on, the couples in the Bridgerton family, namely Kate and Anthony, and Francesca and John share the sweetest looks, with Eloise looking very left out, more on that in a minute. (As a side note, it is super weird Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) aren’t here for the wedding, but I guess we can pretend they’re seated just off-camera.)
At the Featheringtons, Portia has set up an extremely elaborate breakfast, with a shocking number of guests. Benedict finds Eloise alone and tells her he saw her crying during the ceremony. She tries to brush it off, but Benedict tells her that no one’s affections are finite and that there’s room for her to love them both, even as they love each other. While I personally don’t want the series to follow Eloise’s eventual book plot that closely — the general gist is fine, the characters involved would be much trickier — I do like that the series is circling back around to Eloise’s state of mind in Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Once Colin and Penelope are married and the Whistledown secret is out, she feels truly alone for the first time as everyone in her life moves on. This is another of those moments the show does so well, capturing a contemporary sentiment in a historical setting. Eloise is stuck watching all her loved ones find happiness and move on, and much as she tells herself it’s a dire prospect, and one she doesn’t want for herself, her reactions say otherwise. Independence is great, desirable even. Loneliness is not. And now, it seems Eloise is finally learning to distinguish the two.
Elsewhere at the reception, Kate tells Anthony that she’s heard from Edwina, who is happily married in India. She shares that she’s homesick for their town, and he tells her he’d like to see it one day, sooner rather than later. Kate tells him they can’t go until the baby comes since they won’t make it back in time, and Anthony suggests that if they leave now, they’ll have time to prepare for her to give birth there instead. He wants their child to be connected to both parts of their heritage, and he wants to share that connection with them as well. Kate happily accepts his offer, and the whole thing is so romantic, I can’t even be mad that this is the show once again finding the smoothest possible way to write them out of the show for as long as they need to film other projects.
Penelope approaches Colin, tired of hovering by the walls, and asks him to step into the center with her to dance. Colin is scandalized as it’s still daytime, but Penelope doesn’t see the big deal, she wants to dance with her husband. I can’t believe Colin and Penelope Bridgerton invented the bride and groom’s first dance at a wedding reception. A few more couples join them, and John is inspired to ask Francesca to dance as well, a bold move that certainly captures Violet’s attention. Marcus approaches to talk to Violet, who says she’s just about got all her affairs sorted out, and the flirting is so obvious Anthony nearly reverts to his Season 1 overprotectiveness, though, thankfully, Kate is there to make sure cooler heads prevail.
While the Bridgertons, Featheringtons, and all their closest friends are at the wedding, Queen Charlotte has a long line of visitors, all of whom are attempting to give her enough information to claim the Lady Whistledown reward, since Cressida’s confession didn’t quite pan out. The Queen doesn’t have to sit through many of these though, as she consults the last two issues and draws her own conclusions. Armed with her discovery, she arrives at the wedding breakfast and banishes anyone who isn’t a Bridgerton from the room. She tells them she’s concluded that one of them is keeping a secret from her, and Francesca confesses that she’s engaged to John. I’m glad someone finally said it, but this isn’t what brought the Queen here — though she does give Francesca the go-ahead. Rather, Charlotte has sussed out, through her examination of the false Whistledown column and the real one, that the writer must be a Bridgerton since the real column came out just in time to do some damage control for what Cressida said. Anthony steps in and promises that the column is not coming from his family, or else he would have stopped it himself. Charlotte agrees to drop it for now, but there’s no way she’s done with this for good.
Once she leaves, Colin and Penelope step aside, and he tells her this is a sign for her to stop writing before the Queen finds her. Penelope fires back and says that the column is the only way for her to have a scrap of freedom as a woman in this society, something Colin “Gap Year” Bridgerton couldn’t possibly understand. He tells her he can’t accept her continuing the column, and that for now, he will be sleeping on the couch. Luckily Eloise is there, at last ready to be involved and comfort her friend.
Benedict has also reached a conclusion of his own and departs the reception for Tilley’s place. He finds her there with Paul and kisses them both, taking them up on their offer at last. I am so, so excited that the show is at last giving Benedict something to do. I know it’s the lot of second sons in Regency stories to be the ones without aim or purpose, but really after three seasons, it was high time Benedict had…any kind of meaningful subplot, even though we know any romantic entanglements a character has in a season that is not their own cannot possibly last.
Cressida might be down, but she’s not out. With help from her maid, she sneaks out of the house and heads down to the printer’s district, trying to find which shop printed her Whistledown column to collect the payment. After a few unsuccessful stops, one of the printer’s assistants tells her that while Whistledown never printed at that shop, he used to work for the man who handled the column, and says that all he knows about her identity is that she’s a redhead. Cressida asks him to tell her more, and she heads into the season finale armed with information that could change everything.
