Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Emmy Catch-Up: Bridgerton

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year. 

Bridgerton: Season 1, Episode 2 “Shock and Delight” (B+)

I had long delayed my inevitable watching of this series since I wasn’t completely certain back when the year-end awards were being handed out that this was going to be a serious player. I knew that it would by the time that I completed my Emmy predictions, but I had been putting off starting this series since I just wasn’t sure I wanted to watch it. Fortunately, I’m happy to report that it is immensely watchable, and even if I didn’t feel like it was something I had to be watching at any point in the past, I’m perfectly fine to sit down and make my way through the remaining six episodes now. I wasn’t about to go back and watch the pilot that I screened at the end of December, but there’s more than enough gossip on this show to help remind what antics are going on at any moment. I enjoyed seeing the power dynamic in the Bridgerton family and particularly how Violet asserted her ability to lead and represent the family to Anthony, who means very well but does participate in the era’s chauvinistic way of thinking that Simon has no interest in continuing to hold up. While there were some newsworthy events involving the sniveling Lord Berbrooke, this episode was most memorable for the backstory it offered on Simon, whose father was an absolutely despicable man who wanted nothing to do with his son and who is the reason that Simon has vowed never to marry, so that he can deprive his late father of the bloodline that he held so dear and completely failed to appreciate while he had it.

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