They’re literally the only longterm married couple we get to see on the show

Look, I’m going out on a limb here to say something a little bit controversial, but that needs to be said (please don’t sharpen your pitch forks.) Alice and Will Mondrich are the far superior Bridgerton couple. There. I said it.

While there’s a lot to love for leading Bridgerton couples Kate and Anthony (their sex scenes this season are pure flames), and Colin and Penelope (justice for the wallflowers), Alice and Will’s love story just gets me right in the feels.

The long-time married couple and parents to three adorable children have been a mainstay since season one. Their first appearance in the show was as friends of the Duke, before opening their own gentlemen’s club in season two. And now, in season three, their lives have changed once again, after their son inherited the late Lady Kent’s estate, seeing them move into a grand and swanky house.

Yet, despite all of this, and the couple being friendly with both the Bridgerton clan and Lady Danbury, as well as members of the ton in their own right, viewers of the show have slammed their storylines for taking up too much air time. Some fans have complained that it distracts from Polin’s romance, and is a pointless addition to season three.

Um? Are you guys OK?

Netflix

Alice and Will are essentially the only married couple we properly get to see in Bridgerton. The majority of the show is about the build up of various romances, with all three seasons focused on what happens before a couple say “I do”. Sure, we saw Daphne and The Duke, and Kate and Anthony tie the knot in seasons one and two, but since then both couples have essentially disappeared off our screens. And the majority of the other storylines are about love lost, with Violet Bridgerton often reminiscing about her husband following his death.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m all about the build up of a romance, with lingering glances, secret rendezvous and pent up emotions *finally* being released. But it’s so refreshing to see what happens after a wedding, and how a relationship unfolds after years of marriage, which we only really get to see with Alice and Will.

While we all love the unrealistic and high fantasy nature of Bridgerton, not everything can be sunshine and rainbows, and it feels realistic to watch Alice and Will go through problems and debate how to solve them, like many a married couple would.

This season, after finding out their son Nicky is to an inherit an estate, they debate over whether to close Will’s club. While Alice encourages him to do it because it will make them fit in with the rest of the ton more, Will is reluctant. He worked so hard to build it, why should he give it away for something he didn’t earn? The couple’s scenes are honest and don’t gloss over the realities of how money, pride and business can impact a relationship.

It’s also lovely to watch how a relationship at least a decade in is still keeping the romance alive. Some of the best scenes in season three have been the couple’s awkwardness and disappointment at discovering they couldn’t sleep in the same room any more, to then see them in their separate beds clearly longing for the other, and then of course the subsequent reunion when they decide to sleep in the same room going forward.

The combination showed how deep love and intimacy can develop after so many years together; something we miss by not seeing the other couples further along in their marriages.

And romance aside, can we just discuss how they have such an interesting storyline this season? We’re literally watching an entire working class family move into high society and learn how to navigate the social rules, while figuring out to remain true to themselves and how they carve out space for themselves within that space.

Sorry, but you’re all sleeping on the Mondrichs, and I’ll be taking no further questions at this time.

Bridgerton season three part one is available on Netflix now