We’ve reached the end of the mid-season! Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” closes this branch of episodes with Polin’s long-awaited reunion. When everything seemed to separate them, they met halfway to find out what more means… in a carriage. Ready?
Here we go!
Sometimes One Look is Enough in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
Colin begins Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” determined to forget what he feels for Penelope, but it won’t be that easy. When he walks into a room, he immediately looks for her, it’s like there is only her, her, and her. And he tries to get her out of his head anyway.
For her part, Penelope also looks for him around the room and their eyes end up hooking. As always, it’s like a magnet brings them together…but she’s also determined to get him out of her head. It’s time to stop dreaming about Colin Bridgerton and something that will never happen. It’s time to keep going forward.
However, it’s significant that when Debling is practically asking Penelope to marry him, she dodges the question… Colin is still too present in her head and in her heart. The same fate awaits Colin who, unlike what happened in episode 2, has two beautiful women at his disposal and he can’t do anything with them. His mind and his heart are too full of Penelope. He can’t stop thinking about her.
Debling, however, remains oblivious to what happens between Polin in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” and is quick to ask Portia’s permission to marry Penelope. And this is just what Penelope wanted, what she had resigned herself to, something comfortable, without love, that would allow her independence and freedom. But those last days with Colin…made her want to burn with passion, with love, to feel alive, to feel loved.
Of course, Portia doesn’t understand this point and can’t conceive that Penelope is considering passing up this opportunity for something like this. Portia was taught that love was a utopia and that it would fade sooner or later. So it’s better not to have banal illusions about it or wait for it. Power and influence is the only thing that lasts over time, along with family. And it’s not like Penelope has more options.
Penelope knows that her mother is partly right. Debling is the only suitor interested in her and the man she loves will never look at her as anything more than a friend. It would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to have a comfortable and independent future, as well as form a family in which she truly feels included, for a dream. So Penelope finally resigns herself to leaving those childhood dreams behind and prepares for the night that will give way to a comfortable, but empty life. A half-life.
Decisions That Change a Life
For his part, Colin licks his wounds alone in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” Even though he let Penelope go, he can’t see her by Debling’s side, it’s torture. And Violet arrives at just the right time to save the day. She knows her son. On the surface, he is the funniest, most charismatic, and charming of them all but, deep down, he is the most sensitive, even though he pretends not to please others.
So with Violet, it doesn’t matter that Colin pretends that he doesn’t love Penelope or that he isn’t dying inside by giving up his true happiness without a fight. She sees through it. However, Colin is nothing if he isn’t stubborn and won’t admit the truth in his mother’s words… until she informs him that Penelope will be engaged that night.
Hearing that makes Colin aware that it’s now or never, if he doesn’t do anything, he will lose Penelope for real. The thought that she might marry another almost paralyzes him with fear. So his mind is a whirlwind. He can’t stop thinking, remembering how it felt to touch her skin for the first time, how soft it was, how he wants to touch it again… and then, suddenly, Colin stands up, determined to fight for his happiness, for his Penelope.
Meanwhile, in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends,” Penelope tries to figure out if love will be a real possibility in her marriage to Debling. Now it’s too early, but maybe in time…however, Debling’s response is disappointing and Penelope realizes that, with him, she will have nothing more than comforts and appearances. And she has no choice but to settle for that because her true dreams will never come true.
A Window is Worth a Thousand Words in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
Colin interrupts them to the dismay of Penelope and the entire Ton. She knows this may jeopardize her marriage with Debling. But that’s precisely what Colin wants, Debling will be gone for years, he’ll abandon her, he’ll leave her alone, and Penelope deserves better than that, she deserves better than settling, she deserves everything.
But Penelope is the only one who can make that decision, and she has already decided. Colin can’t let her do this, make this mistake…and everything would be so simple if he told the real reason why he can’t allow or stand Penelope marrying Debling…but Colin decided to make it difficult and confront Penelope as if he had some right to decide about her life and Penelope can’t stand that.
However, the damage has already been done in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” Debling finds out what Penelope feels for Colin, even if she tries to deny it. Penelope may not believe that Colin really has feelings for her but to Debling that’s not the point, the point is that Penelope wants them to be more… and she’s only settling with him because she thinks there’s no chance of that happening.
Penelope can’t deny it but she is determined to leave her childhood dreams about Colin in the past, just like that, like an impossible dream that will never come true no matter how much she wants it — and she can’t deny that it’s what she wants most in the world — and start a new life with Debling.
But that is not enough for him, he cannot condemn them both to a life in which they will be unhappy. He doesn’t hold a grudge against Penelope, no one chooses who loves and Debling truly hopes that she finds what she’s really looking for. And we love this character just for this, just for being a true gentleman.
Hope Can Mean Happiness
For her part, Colin goes in search of Penelope as soon as she runs away in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” He’s not going to let her escape, not again. So he stops her carriage and he ends up convincing Penelope to let him in. He needs to know if it’s too late and Debling asked her to marry him, he needs to know that he didn’t lose her and make sure that he still has time to fight for her.
Penelope is outraged, she doesn’t understand why Colin is doing this to her, of all people, playing with her head and her heart in such a cruel way when she had already decided to leave him behind and settle for a pleasant, although extremely empty, life. But that’s better than a hope that will end with her heart breaking.
But Colin can’t let Penelope make that mistake, she is a lively woman, full of life, and passion… and she will wither next to a man as boring as Debling who will abandon her as soon as the wedding is over. He doesn’t deserve her, he’s no good for her. Penelope finally confirms that Debling didn’t formally propose to her, there is no point in denying it. And even less so when it was his fault, for making Debling think through his actions that he had feelings for her, when that is impossible.
So Colin managed to ruin Penelope’s life in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends,” again, and now she just wants him to leave her alone. But he can’t. Not because…what if he had feelings for her? What would happen if it weren’t so impossible, or absurd? Thus, approaching Penelope and taking her hand, Colin confesses everything he feels about her, everything he has been struggling to tell her for weeks without daring to do so.
Pleasurable Tortures in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
Colin always wanted to pretend that he wasn’t as sensitive as he is, putting on a mask for Ton’s sake, but during those weeks only Penelope occupied his mind and his heart, full of confusing feelings, and internal struggles… but, in the end, everything It ended in that kiss and her, dreaming of her, waiting for the night to come to find her among the refuge that only dreams provide. During those weeks, everything has come down to her. Penelope, his friend. Penelope, his more. And yes, it’s torture, but one that he cannot and doesn’t want to give up.
Penelope can’t believe what Colin is telling her, she’s been waiting for this for too many years, too many years dreaming of Colin saying these same words to her, and she was just accepting that this was never going to happen, she can’t hope again for her heart to end same as always: so broken she can barely fix it. But Colin is speaking from his heart, that’s all he wanted to say to her for weeks. Penelope clings to the last thread of sanity she has left, they are friends and they are supposed to be nothing more than that…
These words affect Colin in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” Penelope is rejecting him, she doesn’t want more, so he gets the message and all he has to do is go back and ask for forgiveness like a gentleman would do. But Penelope is no longer willing to back down. She has been wanting to be more than friends for years, much more… and she doesn’t take long to let him know.
That leads them to kiss for the second time, this time sure of what they feel, without fear, without inhibitions, with the same passion that burns them. And they repeat it over and over again, they can’t get enough of each other. Penelope dares for the first time to caress his face freely, almost to make sure that what is happening is real, that he is real, while Colin enjoys her touch…and his hunger multiplies by two. He can’t hide that hunger from his eyes.
And so, they touch, caress, kiss, discover, and explore each other for the first time. Quickly, urgently, they’ve been waiting too long to do just this and now they don’t have enough. They are not close enough, they don’t touch enough skin, and they need more.
“For God’s Sake, Penelope Featherington, Are You Going to Marry Me or Not?”
And suddenly, the clothes bother them. It prevents them from touching skin to skin, it prevents them from truly feeling each other, it prevents them from being closer…so Colin, on his knees, looks her in the eyes, asking her permission to take everything one step further while he hikes up her dress and Penelope consents, she doesn’t want anyone there except him.
And Colin does it, right there, taking her to heaven while he feels Penelope faint with pleasure, how she falls apart like putty in her hands. It’s all about her and her pleasure, he wants her to feel it, he wants her to enjoy it, he wants her to know how she makes him feel.
It all ends too soon when the carriage stops in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” The steamy scene is full of intimacy, but what truly feels intimate is that shared laughter, the way Colin looks at her when the laughter ends, with that mixture of hunger for her and a love so intense that he can barely understand, and that kiss they share at the end, sealing the promise their bodies have just signed. That’s even more intimate than everything else that happened in that carriage.
Colin gently pulls up his dress, determined. Penelope assumes he doesn’t want a scandal to commit them to marriage, not right now, at least. But she couldn’t be more wrong. Penelope is the woman he loves and the only one he wants to share the rest of his days with, why does he have to wait? It took seconds for Colin to decide he needed to marry Penelope, not court her, not take a single second longer to make her completely his.
To Marry or Not to Marry? That’s the Question in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” — and the first part of the season — ends with Penelope’s face shining, resplendent, with happiness, unable to believe what is happening, unable to believe that she is living what she dreamed of so much. How can she not marry him if they love each other? How can she not do it if they both feel more?
Playing devil’s advocate here, the most sensible thing would be for Penelope to answer “no” because she is Lady Whistledown and Colin hates Lady Whistledown. Apart from the fact that, if they get engaged, he would have to know that secret and Penelope could lose Colin anyway, marrying Colin seems almost incompatible with continuing to be Lady Whistledown, and she, her alter ego, is the only thing Penelope created for herself, and it’s not fair for her to give it up.
But, on the other hand, Penelope is living the dream of her life, her greatest desires are being fulfilled right before her eyes. The man she loved for years has just confessed that he loves her back and, not only that, but he wants to share the rest of his life with her. Everything she ever wanted was there, just a “yes” away. And, putting ourselves in Penelope’s shoes, it would be very difficult to say “no” and give up everything she has always wanted, everything she has always dreamed of.
So we think that Penelope is going to say “yes” to this proposal, without being able to think about the consequences that this may have for her and her work as Lady Whistledown. And we understand Penelope because, surely, we would do the same.
Complicated Mothers
Analyzing another aspect of Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friend,” we can’t stand Portia and the way she treats Penelope, as if she is worth so little that she had to jump around because someone like Debling noticed her and was pushing her luck for want more. Portia treats Penelope more like a pawn in the chess game of power than her daughter.
No comments about the way Portia sees Penelope crying, broken, and blames her for everything. And this moment is the first time we see Penelope bite her mother, letting her see part of what she thinks about her. But what surprised us most was seeing Portia want to follow her…does Portia love Penelope? Well, we think so, but in her twisted, wrong way.
Portia would like Penelope to be more like her or her sisters, more practical, less dreamy, more pragmatic, and less romantic, and Portia tries to change her without wanting to be aware of the damage she inflicts on Penelope in the process.
The Spark of Music in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
Francesca finds herself at a crossroads in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends.” On the one hand, there is the suitor that the Queen has chosen for her, and, on the other, John, the man who was found in silence and who feels that he understands her on a level that no one else can.
She doesn’t feel the sparks that her brothers felt, that captivating love, it’s something calmer, more peaceful, it’s a deep connection that Francesca feels unites them. And she decides to go for it, even though she still doesn’t fully know how to get away from the Queen’s suitor.
That’s why Francesca gets so offended when he leaves her with the word in her mouth. Maybe she confused the signs…but it can’t be. John doesn’t talk about her, but the way he went to look for her at her house, the way he looks at her… that’s not something Francesca made up. So it’s simply that John is a coward…and she’s not going to lift a finger for someone who doesn’t consider her important enough to seriously court her.
So in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” Francesca tries to forget John and strives to feel a minimum of connection with the suitor chosen for her, without success. However, John is not only willing to lift a finger for her but mountains if necessary and gives her something deep and meaningful, showing her that she is not alone in this and that he understands her, because only someone who truly does could know how special that arrangement of music would be to her. And so, Francesca makes a choice.
A choice that Violet doesn’t like too much. She doesn’t want Francesca to settle for the suitor the Queen chose for her, but she doesn’t like John too much either because she doesn’t feel like there are sparks between them like there were between her and Edmund or between Kate and Anthony…and that’s just what Violet wants for Francesca.
Despite that, when Francesca is talking about the musical arrangement that Jhon prepared for her, there is an unusual gleam in her eyes that Violet can’t miss. So that shine is enough for Violet…for now.
The Cunning of Survival
In Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” we discover a little more about Cressida’s life and the more we discover, the more we understand where that accumulated anger and pain comes from — although we don’t justify her actions. Her similarities to Penelope are further highlighted, although Portia didn’t force Penelope to marry someone undesirable, we’ll give her that.
Apart from forcing her to marry, Cressida’s parents don’t want to see her near Eloise. Eloise may be a Bridgerton but she is famous for being troublesome, and rebellious, and for her disdain for society’s norms. But that problematic woman is the only person Cressida can consider her friend — and that’s Cressida’s fault, if she tried not to be so cruel maybe she would have more friends…— so she doesn’t plan to give that up, even if it means defying her parents.
Cressida not only considers Eloise as her friend, but she also admires her because Eloise dares to stand in front of society, show herself as she is, and choose her own life, without caring what they think of her.
In Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends” Eloise already sees herself accompanied by Cressida in her singleness, ignoring, how she did with Penelope, that that is not what Cressida wants and, even if she did, she wouldn’t have that option. Unlike Eloise, Cressida doesn’t have a family that lets her choose. That’s why she goes to Debling’s side as soon as she sees him alone.
And we don’t blame her. At this moment, Cressida is not doing it to spite Penelope or to hurt her, for Cressida it’s a matter of survival. If she fails to get Debling’s attention to court her, her parents will force her to marry a man much older than her, so she has no choice but to try until the end. We would have done the same.
Other Stuff in Bridgerton 3×04 “Old Friends”
- It’s clear that Lady Danbury can’t stand her brother Marcus and doesn’t like seeing him around Violet. And we can’t wait to know why. We understand that Marcus is a rake and Lady Danbury is protective enough of the daughter of the love of her life to not want to see her suffer for it, but this seems deeper, more… personal.
- The Modrichs live firsthand the pressure of the Ton. And we’re team Will in this. We don’t understand why he has to give up everything they achieved in his life with his work to do…nothing. We’re surprised that Lady Danbury agrees to this and doesn’t give them an alternative solution. Why the hell can’t they own the club even if they no longer work in it? Is it worth giving up everything they have achieved, everything they are, to fit into the Ton?
- We can’t put into words how much we hate this Benedict and Lady Tilley storyline. We swear, of all the things they could have told us about Benedict…
- Penelope’s sisters still dare to make fun of her, underestimating her, and believing that she couldn’t have conquered Debling on her own…we’re dying to see their faces when they discover that Penelope not only conquered Debling but also Colin Bridgerton himself.
- A window is worth a thousand words…
- Colin trying to fit in but not being able to because he could never talk like that about women, like an unimportant conquest, and then call that assholes out, CINEMA.
- Colin’s friends are jerks, which is why we needed Anthony here. He and Benedict would have been ideal for Colin to talk to, they would have given him advice.
- We love when Colin walks past those assholes to go after his Penelope. They can remain to be pathetic.
- We weren’t supposed to love John, knowing what would happen to him next.
- Colin Junior doesn’t work if he’s not with Penelope. Puppy in love…
- THE SAME WORDS AS IN THE BOOK!!
- Penelope feels desired and gets what she really wants for the first time… chef’s kiss!
- Violet knows how to get her kids going.
- While in season 1 the consent was, to say the least, dubious, here we have clear consent. We love the glow-up!
- The carriage scene is the best of the three seasons. We said what we said.
- Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan understood the assignment.
- We need part 2 NOW!
And we finish our Bridgerton season 3 Part 1 reviews here. Stay tuned for all the features to come while we wait for Part 2!
Bridgerton season 3 part 1 is available to stream on Netflix.
Love everything you said! I do wonder what Tilly’s purpose is thous in the story…she will either teach Ben something or be the reason he does something meaningful. Can’t wait to see what. But my god she is gonna eat him alive in the process. He is way too soft for her.