Episode 179: The Bridgerton series

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Today on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re excited to share our episode on all things Bridgerton.

In this episode, we touch on:

  • The book series that consists of the eight romance stories centered on the Bridgerton siblings (Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth) by Julia Quinn that started with the publication of The Duke and I in 2004

  • The Netflix Bridgerton TV series produced by Shondaland that started with the release of season 1 adaptation of The Duke and I in 2020 and season 2 adaption of The Viscount Who Loved Me in 2022

*Spoiler alert* - We try not to actively give away important twists in these stories, but there are some allusions to important plot points that we dig into within this conversation.

We each had different entry points into this series, which helped make for unique viewpoints on these stories. Fable entered this series through the books and has read the first five novels. The Verbivore discovered this series through the Netflix TV show and recently read the first four books after binge watching seasons 1 and 2 on their release days. 

We both feel that Bridgerton is a fascinating series to study as it does a fantastic job of grabbing your attention and pulling you through the story. It feels like a refreshing and often irreverent take on the regency era and is filled with witty banter, interesting and compelling characters, and scenes that crackle with interpersonal and external conflict. We also love the Whistledown society pages framing device and felt that the writing in the series improved significantly over time.

But it’s not without its flaws that can also teach us things from a craft perspective. We also feel that some of the original choices made by Julia Quinn when the books were released almost 20 years ago could use some interrogation and discussion - issues of consent and violence in language and action.

We also touch on:

  • A specific choice that a character makes in An Offer From a Gentleman (Book 3) and how that choice (especially the coercive way it’s framed) almost lost us as readers. We still read the book, but it significantly hurt that character in our eyes. 

  • Why our favorite Bridgerton novel so far is Romancing Mister Bridgerton. We feel that book 3 did a great job of setting up this story, establishing character dynamics, and making a promise to the reader of what they should expect and hope for. There are also several choices Julia Quinn made that we feel were brave and surprising, but paid off. 

  • Choices that the TV series adaptation makes that differ from the books  - especially in terms of scope and depth of the story as well as character development. There are many of the same ingredients, but they are used differently. The Verbivore talks about some of the specific choices and the ways she felt the TV show strengthened the stories they were telling by employing them.

We hope you enjoy this episode and would love to hear any of your thoughts on the Bridgerton books or TV series.

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Fable and the Verbivore reference an intimate scene in The Duke and I that reads like a rape, but where the consequences of that situation aren’t trully confronted and addressed. The TV series does a slightly better job of showing that this is a disturbing breach of trust, but the Verbivore mentions that she feels they could have gone farther to have the character Daphne understand and grapple with the impact her choice had on her partner Simon and have them work through it together. Here are a few articles that discuss some of this further:

The Verbivore mentions that season 3 of Bridgerton will be focusing on Penelope and Colin’s story. As of this episode, they are still in production and a release date has not yet been given. But, a prequel that focuses on Queen Charlotte’s original love story is releasing May 4th, 2023 on Netflix.

Here are a few videos and articles we referenced for this conversation:

Books and TV Series Mentioned:

 

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

book clubBethany Stedman