I only ended up watching Bridgerton because my wife really wanted to and with all the hype around the second season, I thought there has to be something here. Well, the fact it took us the better part of two weeks to get through the two short seasons tells you that this was not a show that I enjoyed all that much.
How to Stream or Download Bridgerton
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like the show, you will certainly also fancy Downtown Abbey and Outlander.
The Movie Review
This is a Netflix show and it has been a huge hit for them, but for the love of me cannot figure out why. I get the impression that someone saw Downton Abby and read a few Jane Austin novels and thought that with a bit of tweaking Regency Era UK would make for a fun and “naughty” kind of show.
While I like the old-timey setting of the series, this is a “reimagining” so if you are expecting historical accuracy here, you will be disappointed. The idea of the show is that we have this young woman called Daphne Bridgerton of the Bridgerton family who is about to put herself out there for marriage and she hopes to capture the eye of a well-to-do and wealthy young man.
Things do not go exactly smooth for her and her brother dismisses many of the people that are interested in her. Enter into the fray a rather unique young man, The Duke of Hastings, Simon. These two want nothing to do with each other, but there is a clear attraction between them despite the two not appearing to be compatible.
I think the idea of the show is quite clever, to be honest with you and I kind of get a kick out of the way they have reimagined certain aspects of the time period. However, for me and this may just be the way that I took things, it comes across as more of a parody than anything else.
I swear that I am sure the actor, Regé-Jean Page who plays Simon is about a second from winking at the audience in many of the scenes that he is in! I get that after shows like Downton Abby seeing these “well to do” types acting like this is something people find interesting, but this just did not click with me at all.
The second season I think started a bit better where we had the eldest son, Anthony Bridgerton looking for a wife and the way he went about it was quite interesting at first. The lady he tries to court, Edwina is one of the better characters in the show, but the whole arc felt like it could have been wrapped up in a three-episode mini-series rather than a whole season!
As you can tell, Bridgerton was a show that was not for me. I can see why some people are eating this up, but I just found the whole thing so uninteresting that I am not sure I am sticking around for a third season or the rumored prequel series. By all means, give it a try as most people I know like this, but it just did not click with me and felt like it was a parody rather than a serious period drama!
