Occasionally, a villain undergoes a redemption arc that makes viewers begin to sympathize with them even after they’ve done bad things. In Bridgerton‘s case, Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) had the opportunity to show her true colors by the end of Season 3, proving that underneath the scheming lies a character who wants the best for her family. Although the ways that she has expressed her love and care for her daughters often feel disconcerting, especially when it comes to her interactions with Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), Portia has learned from her mistakes and repaired a lot of her bad habits.
With so much growth by the end of Season 3, viewers can’t help but wish the best for Lady Featherington now that she is finally free from the stressors that have plagued her since Season 1. With her finances under control and no more daughters left to be wed, it is time for Bridgerton to allow the character to experience the true love match that she never had. Different from Violet (Ruth Gemmell), and even Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), Portia’s never fallen in love, and she deserves to have some romance in her life on the right terms.
Portia’s Marriage Was Loveless and Financially Unstable
In Season 1 of Bridgerton, Portia is introduced as an intrusive and manipulative mother, who happens to pressure all her daughters into joining the marriage mart at the same time. She is also married to Archibald Featherington (Ben Miller), a man who is more interested in gambling than being cordial to his own wife. Lord Featherington is far from what a young girl would want from a suitor, yet, as Portia later admits in Season 3, she chose to be with him for security, and he wasn’t even able to accomplish that. After his debts lead to his death, Portia is left by herself with three daughters awaiting marriage and no money. Spiraling over what will happen to the family’s estate, all that she hopes for is that her husband’s distant cousin is better at managing finances than he ever was.
The Character’s Scheming Shows That She Only Wishes the Best for Her Daughters
Once again, at the hands of another man, Portia sees her home being invaded by Jack’s (Rupert Young) arrival as the new heir to the Featherington property. Uncertain of what could happen to her or her daughters, Portia resorts to what she does best, which is to scheme. She decides to push Prudence (Bessie Carter) into Jack’s arms, hoping that if he married within the family, she would be protected from losing everything she has. When that doesn’t work out, given that he was also broke, the character manipulates the situation by teaming up with him to get people from the ton to invest in his mines as a way to raise money. It is through their deceitful plan that Jack begins to be attracted to Portia, who is not at all interested in being with someone that she doesn’t trust and who doesn’t care for her daughters. In a sense, the cousin becomes the closest thing to a love interest that Portia has ever had in the series, and their relationship is completely one-sided. Lady Featherington wasn’t interested in him and only continued to be his ally until she was able to bribe him to escape and leave behind part of the fortune they were able to make from fooling the ton.
Through continued attempts to maintain her stature in society, in Season 3, Portia goes from pressuring Prudence and Philippa (Harriet Cains) to produce a male heir to being vocal about Penelope getting settled with Lord Debling (Sam Philips). These actions are later shown as the characters’ way of caring for and protecting the family. As flawed as they may be, her actions were what she believed to be the only way to navigate these struggles as a woman. In a candid conversation with Penelope later on in the season, it became clear that all that Portia had ever done was to make sure that her daughters didn’t suffer the same fate that she did when marrying Lord Featherington for security instead of love. She feels more than happy to know that all of her daughters have found matches that are genuinely interested in their well-being and who love them wholeheartedly. Her children were more fortunate than she ever was, and Portia is proud to know that she prevented them from enduring the hardships she had in a loveless marriage tormented by financial difficulties.
With Her Daughters Happily Married, This Is the Perfect Moment for ‘Bridgerton’ to Introduce a Love Match for Portia
As seen in the Bridgerton Season 3, Part 2 finale, all the Featheringtons are now mothers and Penelope’s son is the one who will carry on the family’s legacy and inherit the estate. With no more reasons to scheme, Portia is finally free from distress and deserves to secure a happy ending for herself. With Violet finding a second chance at love through her connection with Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), it seems nothing but fitting for Lady Featherington to fall in love for the first time with a man who is affectionate and responsible. After so many years ensuring that her daughters would be able to get married and have a better future than she did, Portia deserves to relax and find romance that will not put her through all the challenges she’s endured in the past. Although Bridgerton Season 4 will likely take a few years to come out and will focus on another Bridgerton sibling getting married, it would be nice to see Portia have a subplot where she can indulge in a loving, even steamy, relationship.
Seasons 1-3 of Bridgerton are available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
