On paper, “Bridgerton” season three was a roaring success for Netflix, breaking viewership records, driving the social-media conversation, and cementing the romantic drama’s status as one of the streamer’s most popular series ever.

But on the internet, the reception hasn’t been entirely positive.

While many were pleased with the conclusion to the long-simmering friends-to-lovers romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), some took to platforms like TikTok and Reddit to air their grievances with how Polin’s romance was handled and the way writers changed key plot points from the source material. They’ve even started Change.org petitions to rectify some of the “mistakes” they believe the Netflix drama has made.

A few are specifically pointing the finger at Jess Brownell, who took over showrunning duties for the first time this season (series creator Chris Van Dusen was at the helm for seasons one and two). The outcry, particularly over the decision to gender-swap Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) eventual love interest, was so intense it even prompted Julia Quinn, the writer of the original book series, to step in and defend the show.

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Of course, some dissent is to be expected from any property with a huge and fervent fan base — particularly one that includes book fans who have been attached to these characters long before we watched Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page steam up our screens in 2020.

But could this growing dissatisfaction jeopardize the show? Here’s what to know.

A two-part release schedule sidelined Colin and Penelope’s story for other character arcs

Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington on season three, episode two of “Bridgerton.” Liam Daniel/Netflix

While “Bridgerton” season one, which focused on the lustful love story between Simon Basset (Page) and Daphne Bridgerton (Dynevor), and season two, centered on Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma’s (Simone Ashley) simmering enemies-to-lovers dynamic, were both released in full on their respective premiere dates in 2020 and 2022, Netflix decided to split season three into two parts.

Breadcrumbing Penelope and Colin’s romantic payoff by splitting the season in half with two release dates a month apart had a domino effect on the rest of the season. Not only did it disrupt the couple’s momentum in the eyes of fans, but it increased their anticipation of something sexy and spectacular happening in part two to arguably unrealistic levels.

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There’s no shortage of disgruntled TikTokers poking fun at themselves for getting hyped over part two, only to be massively let down.

“I’m so disappointed honestly by ‘Bridgerton’ season three, part two,” TikToker @lightfrommars said in one video that’s been viewed over 770,000 times. “I just felt like it was all so rushed.”

“This new showrunner… she dropped the ball. She heavily dropped the ball, in my opinion,” she added.

It didn’t help that part one, which comprised four episodes, required the writers to juggle multiple narrative balls and set the stage for other storylines.

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Large portions of the first half were dedicated to setting up Francesca’s burgeoning love story with John Stirling (Victor Alli), Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) flirtation with spicy widow Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New), and Anthony and Kate making up for that lack of sex in season two by getting busy all over Bridgerton house — not to mention matriarch Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) making eyes at Lady Danbury’s long-lost, invented-for-the-show brother, Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis).

While it’s certainly true that more attention was given to subplots this season than in seasons past, there’s a reason for that.

Unlike the two love stories featured in the earlier seasons, where one-half of each central couple was a new cast member, Penelope and Colin have both been major characters from the beginning. Though largely in the background, we’ve watched Penelope pine for Colin (and Colin be an oblivious doof about it) since season one. The show didn’t need to spend time introducing and building up their dynamic in season three because it already had.

On top of that, the Lady Whistledown drama — a major part of “Romancing Mister Bridgerton,” the book season three was based on — was also adapted before season three, freeing up space for Brownell and the writers to bring in more prominent romantic subplots for the other characters this season.

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The Whistledown reveal was changed (and arguably improved) from how it plays out in the book to accommodate this reordering. Viewers learned Penelope’s secret identity way back in season one; Eloise Bridgerton found out in season two, which led to the implosion of their friendship. Here, Colin doesn’t find out the truth until one of the last episodes of the season. This reordering means we don’t get any of the sexual tension present in the book — like Colin being very upset with Penelope, but also extremely horny — that precipitates his proposal of marriage.

In the show, it’s reversed; the carriage hookup happens before the Whistledown discovery, as does their first time having sex (the famous mirror scene), essentially making Colin contractually obligated to marry Penelope even though he’s miffed at her.

Part two does have the big mirror scene (a furniture-breaking romp that was well-received by fans). But other than that, there were no other sex scenes for the main pairing.