Daphne and Simon finally made it down the aisle in “The Duke and I,” episode 5 of Bridgerton. But the road to their wedding was not a smooth one, and misunderstandings almost mar their wedding night.
Bridgerton Family
Though “The Duke and I” was primarily about Daphne’s wedding to Simon, there were some good Bridgerton family moments in it.
Benedict continues his path toward debauchery by having a three-some at the artist’s house, which involved everyone’s favorite modiste. This is setting his future season up nicely. No spoilers, but Benedict’s future relationship is one that society would not approve of. So, all of this is starting him down that path of finding his own way. We love one sensitive artist boy and can’t wait to see more of his story.
It was nice to see Daphne interact with each of them. Hyacinth’s personality was more evident in “The Duke and I” after she followed her sister around, peppering her with questions. And she spied on Daphne’s conversation with the prince.
Our favorite scene of the “The Duke and I” was when Daphne said goodbye to her family after the wedding. It showed just how close the family truly is. And she even shared moments with the siblings she had the most drama with – Anthony and Eloise. She told Anthony she would miss even him. And after giving Eloise her room, the moment between the sisters was very sweet.
Queen Charlotte
“The Duke and I” gave us some insight into Queen Charlotte, and humanized her a bit beyond the party queen who loves to stir up drama. While she was disappointed that her nephew lost Daphne’s hand to Simon, by the end of the episode she let the matter go. It was revealed that the king has dementia, and the scene where he was lucid and then lost it was heartbreaking to watch.
Perhaps that was why in the end she softened toward Simon and Daphne, praising the duke for his recognition of how important it is to marry ones best friend. We hope Lady Whistledown isn’t made known to her for a very long time, because who knows what the queen will do when she finds out.
Marina and Colin
Look, we liked Marina and felt for her before this episode, even if we did not ship her with Colin. She is funny and was friends with Penelope. And we hated how her pregnancy basically ruined her entire life and Lady Featherington tried to force her to wed disgusting old men.
But Marina lost some of our goodwill in “The Duke and I” when she hatched a plan to seduce Colin and make him think her baby was his. We know her situation is desperate, but manipulating him in this way is wrong. Especially when Colin proves himself to be a good man who cares about her honor.
He still proposes, but Marina will have to decide what to do now that he wants a long engagement.
Best Friends
One of the themes of this show continues to be “marry your best friend.” When Simon went before the queen, that’s what he called Daphne. We loved his speech about how she makes conversations easy and her laughter brings him joy.
But then they avoided each other like the plague in the week leading up to the wedding and during the celebrations after. This is typical romance conflict and we loved it. Simon was wracked with guilt that he trapped Daphne into a marriage where she couldn’t have children. Daphne thought she was the one who trapped him.
It was tough to see Daphne’s face every time in the “The Duke and I” when people said, “Oh he’s going to make a wonderful father,” or, “You two will have lovely children.” This is something that still happens to this day for couples going through infertility. Though people don’t often give it much thought, but every time someone asks an infertile couple “oh, how many kids do you guys have” it’s like a blow to the chest. The show did a good job portraying Daphne’s pain on the subject.
Finally, Daphne vented her frustration over Simon getting them separate rooms for their wedding night. The “I ache for you.” conversation was a love confession scene that dreams are made of and gave us all the butterflies in our stomachs.
Awkward Sex Talks
While we love Violet Bridgerton, she failed spectacularly during the sex talk with her daughter on her wedding day. Daphne has no clue what she is getting into. This is actually a scene that happens quite a bit in romance novels, but hasn’t been put to screen that often, so it was interesting to watch.
We got the first sex scene between Simon and Daphne, which was hot, even though she had no idea what she was doing. We will admit that our notes for this scene were basically “abs, ass.” But honestly, all the endless buttons and ties on Regency clothing and the subsequent undoing of them is super sexy.
The close-up of their faces in this scene represents not only the physical intimacy growing between them, but the emotional intimacy as well. We are looking forward to the next episode and the rest of their honeymoon.
Favorite Quotes
There were many amazing moments in this episode, including the sex scene! But here are a few of our favorite quotes in “The Duke and I.”
- “I do not need to be paid to marry Daphne, it is frankly an insulting custom in my judgment.” – Simon on the topic of dowries
- “To meet a beautiful woman is one thing, but to meet your best friend in the most beautiful of women is something entirely apart.” – Simon about Daphne
- “You are wise, or perhaps unusually lucky to understand friendship to be the best foundation a marriage can have.” – Queen Charlotte
- “If it is this difficult to discuss, how difficult it must be to perform?” – Daphne, during the sex talk with her mom
- “I know we cannot be any more different, but there is one thing we do share. The certainty that you will make your own way in this world.” – Daphne to Eloise
Bridgerton is now available to stream on Netflix.
