Bridgerton Season 3 will focus on one of the ton’s most illustrious women: Penelope Featherington, who happens to be Lady Whistledown. That irrefutable fact drives a sizable wedge between Penelope and her best friend, Eloise Bridgerton, by the end of Bridgerton Season 2. The upcoming season’s promotional details reveal that, while Penelope’s love story unfolds with Colin Bridgerton, Eloise will find friendship in an unexpected person. The Season 3 Part 1 trailer all but says that this new alliance will be between Eloise and Cressida Cowper, which cuts deep for Penelope because of the three young women’s storied past. However, Bridgerton Season 3 has a better, more underrated sisterhood to explore – that which exists between Eloise and Kate, the new Viscountess Bridgerton.
The two female characters only barely cross paths during the romance show’s sophomore season, but they leave an impression when they do. Eloise and Kate’s first in-person meeting comes at Lady Danbury’s poetry reading in Bridgerton 2×02, “Off to the Races.” They immediately hit it off, with Kate telling Eloise, “The fact the Viscount is your relation almost makes me think better of him.” From their introduction, there’s a mutual respect that is impossible to miss. At the start of the season, Kate and Eloise couldn’t be more similar. They both wish to avoid marriage and see their defiance of societal norms for women as more than a rebellion but a fabric of their being. Claudia Jessie, who portrays Eloise, even spoke about as much for her character in a Shondaland video from 2022.
“I think what I love about Season 2 and Eloise is that it’s not a joke. Like Eloise isn’t a joke. It’s not a novelty. She’s like, “This is who I am, and I’m not Daphne,”” Jessie said. Jessie explains that Eloise may perhaps be the most explicit version of feminism on the show. Still, Eloise isn’t the only one because various feminist narratives exist within the Bridgerverse. Jessie explains that Eloise “feels like a f**ck up. Cause she’s not going to be able to do it in the same way that Daphne did. She can’t. She’s not built that way.”
The female characters constantly converse with the patriarchal society in which they exist. Part of Bridgerton’s allure is how it uses a matriarchical lens in its approach; the women dominate the ton. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story even details how the limited series’ titular character redefined it alongside pivotal figures like Lady Agatha Danbury.
Coincidentally (or not), Kate admires Lady Danbury in that same episode. Kate sees Lady Danbury’s life as an option once she’s secured her sister, Edwina Sharma, a marriage that happens to be a love match that saves their family from financial ruin. Kate and Lady Danbury have some of the best conversations, and they truly begin in “Off to the Races.” Lady Danbury tells Kate that she has earned the life she lives “Because I have lived a life.” Despite Kate’s best intentions to present as otherwise, Lady Danbury does not believe that Kate wants to be alone. It’s a beautiful scene that finds its mirror in Bridgerton 2×04, “Victory.” In the same episode when Eloise reminds Violet Bridgerton that her rebellion is a part of her, Lady Danbury urges Kate to be honest with herself about her feelings.
Bridgerton Season 2 finds Kate and Eloise on opposite ends of a similar spectrum.
Kate must confront how her independence can change but not diminish in light of forming an honest and true attachment with Anthony. Meanwhile, Eloise, who has yet to feel that kind of romance and has no interest in finding it yet, wonders if the life she leads is as awful as society tells her. That internal conflict makes Eloise and Kate’s exchange in Bridgerton 2×03, “Bee in Your Bonnet,” such a brilliant case for why Season 3 should significantly feature their underrated sisterhood.
Kate tells Eloise, “The world is not exactly welcoming to an unmarried woman. There seems to be no place in society for us, except at the edge of things.” But Bridgerton shows how much a woman can do just there — living on the edge. Lady Danbury never remarries, and she is one of the most powerful women on the show. So, Eloise is right to respond, “That rather seems to be society’s flaw, not a woman’s.” Equally, Bridgerton exemplifies how a woman’s worth does not need to lessen because of marriage. Her mind does not need to melt; her spirits do not need to falter. Eloise will undoubtedly see that in Kate when Season 3 Part 1 premieres and shows Kate and Anthony happily married.
During Bridgerton Season 1, Eloise believes that once a woman marries, her life is over. In the upcoming season, Eloise will see the opposite as accurate through Kate. Eloise likely already sees it through her older sister Daphne and her marriage to Simon. In that Shondaland video, Claudia Jessie describes Daphne’s arc as the character’s “version of a feminist narrative. She wants real love, and she wants what her parents had.” Simone Ashley speaks about the power of a woman’s choice, adding, “You know, women are independent, and it’s also a choice to be dependent — whatever you want to do.”
Maybe – just maybe – those sentiments embodied by some of the most influential women in Eloise’s life will give her some solace amid her second season on the marriage mart. Eloise won’t be able to hug the walls at balls with Penelope anymore. Moreover, her new connection with Cressida seems like a direct response to that rift with Penelope rather than a genuine friendship – at least for now. Since pivotal friendships are not interchangeable or replaceable, Bridgerton Season 3 won’t be able to fill the void left by this Peneloise break-up – until the two, hopefully, mend fences. In the meantime, the romance series can feature another important female friendship – Kate and Eloise’s.
Kate is now Viscountess Bridgerton. She will be more involved in securing marriages for the Bridgerton siblings, handling family affairs, and participating in various events during the social season. As Bridgerton continues in what will ideally be at least an eight-season series, Eloise’s love story from Julia Quinn’s To Sir Phillip, With Love gets closer to becoming an on-screen reality. Eloise will one day see her feelings towards marriage shift, assuming the series doesn’t make any endgame-altering changes. Even so, Eloise won’t lose her rebellion; it is an unalterable part of her, after all. Of course, Eloise will likely turn to her mother for guidance. But Eloise should find another shoulder to lean on in Kate.
It’s genuinely refreshing that Bridgerton has no shortage of multi-faceted female friendships: Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte, Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton, Penelope and Eloise, and now Eloise and Cressida. Who’s to say that Season 3 can’t expand Eloise and Kate’s dynamic? If anything, Bridgerton Season 2 underscores why not doing so would be an absolute letdown. Thankfully, there isn’t much time left to wait and see what awaits Eloise and Kate Bridgerton in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1.
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Do you want to see more of Eloise and Kate’s underrated sisterhood? Let us know in the comments below!
Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 premieres on Thursday, May 16, on Netflix!
I truly wish they would make them closer! Kate needs to be more than just an extension of Anthony and they connected in the last season so I hope we get something significant!