A new day, a new review! Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” is a full Polin episode. We see them get closer until something happens…and changes everything. Meanwhile, Eloise is forced to reflect on her own mistakes. Ready?
Here we go!
The Bad Best Friends in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon”
Eloise and Penelope continue to break our hearts in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” They follow separate paths but there are too many ties that still unite them for it to be so easy to move forward without each other. But in this episode, we see for the first time how Eloise feels beyond anger. It’s no coincidence that she told Colin not to leave Penelope alone and asked him about her.
Eloise still thinks about Penelope and still worries about her, but she doesn’t want to see Penelope in her house because her home is her refuge and it’s too painful to see Penelope there. Eloise likes to know that Penelope is okay but, at the same time, it feels like a sting in her heart that Penelope seems to be moving on without her as if nothing had happened, although nothing could be further from the truth. If these two only TALK…
However, Eloise makes sure that Penelope doesn’t see any suitor in Colin in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” And we don’t like that too much. Is she asking this just to make sure that someone like her brother, who has no serious intentions, is not going to play with Penelope… or is she asking that question because she really doesn’t believe that someone like Penelope could hope to win over someone like her brother?
The course of the conversation doesn’t exactly help us sympathize with Eloise. She doesn’t want to believe that Penelope is looking for a husband it offends her because she feels it is like a betrayal. Eloise feels that this is another secret that Penelope was keeping from her and that Penelope lied to her about this silent pact of being spinsters together, all without realizing that Penelope never told her that she wanted to be a spinster. And Eloise never cared enough to ask.
Act Without Thinking About The Consequences
That unjustified anger, that childish tantrum makes Eloise too reckless when she sees Penelope and Colin share a moment in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” Seeing them together rekindles her fury and she confides Penelope’s secret to Cressida in front of a few other people. And we don’t have words to describe how much we despise Eloise right now.
She had no right to air Penelope’s secret to Cressida of all people, a secret that she knows would not only mean humiliation before the entire Ton, but it will ruin her. For once, Cressida behaves decently—we assume because she really wants to count Eloise as her friend since her family isn’t easy on her either—but that doesn’t prevent disaster. And it’s all Eloise’s fault.
Yes, she didn’t mean to do that much harm but that’s the point. Eloise is so immature and lives in a bubble so full of privilege that she has no idea how the world she lives in works and she also doesn’t make an effort to know or understand that not everyone around her has the same privileges as her. Not everyone has a family that loves them and will support them no matter what, not everyone has the last name Bridgerton and can make up for every scandal.
So Eloise does things without thinking about the consequences — and without any real bad intentions — because she never had to worry about them and she’s too immature to realize it. Finally, Eloise realizes what she did in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” but it’s too late. Penelope is already ruined. Neither her regret nor Colin’s fury at her — which we love to see, this protective Colin is hot — can change that.
However, Eloise is still unable to take her own responsibility for this and blames Cressida, while Cressida makes her look in a mirror. It was Eloise who blurted out Penelope’s secret in front of a crowd without thinking about the consequences, it was Eloise who didn’t have enough self-control and class to keep her mouth shut no matter how angry she was, it was Eloise who betrayed Colin’s trust revealing that secret.
Eloise is to blame for Penelope’s humiliation, so if anyone was cruel in this situation, it wasn’t Cressida. And it’s time for Eloise to stop banging on about other people’s mistakes and start thinking about her own. We said what we said.
Changes in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon”
For their part, the Modrichs begin to navigate their new status in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” Unlike what happens with their peers, who only pretend to follow the rules due to social conventions, they insist on truly following them to the letter. Even refusing to spend money from their vast new fortune to create a new wardrobe.
This all comes from fear. The Modrichs know that the Ton doesn’t consider them worthy of being there, they think that someone like them doesn’t belong there. Yes, they will treat them well in public and pretend to respect them as social convention dictates, but in private they will despise them for being upstarts.
So they try to control the uncontrollable by trying not to make too much noise, afraid of what they might say, afraid of doing something wrong and losing everything. It’s Benedict who makes them see that they don’t have to do it. They won’t be able to stop the criticism but no one will be able to take away what they have.
The rules keep the elitist society in which they live functioning, but when you have money and, above all, you are already married, you can simply afford to ignore the rules of the Ton, as everyone else does. No consequences. Although we fear few things in life don’t have consequences, and such a drastic life change is bound to come with some.
The Danger of Conforming…and Meddling
Francesca, for her part, continues to deal with the vicissitudes of the marriage market in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon,” with the interference of her mother and Lady Danbury. Francesca only wants to marry a man who shares her passions and with whom she can have a quiet and pleasant life. She is not looking for love, but neither is she looking for attention or passion. And Violet is worried.
She doesn’t want to put too much pressure on Francesca, but she’s afraid that letting her make decisions about courtship and her suitors alone will mean she’ll settle. And she doesn’t want that for her daughter, she wants her to be happy. But the brilliant happiness that her parents and her siblings now have is not something Francesca wants, any more than she wants to be the center of attention.
Francesca doesn’t want to feel like a porcelain doll being coached to say the right thing, do the right thing, and be completely perfect to impress the Queen so she will give her attention and favor. Francesca wants something much simpler. She just meets someone with whom she can be herself and who understands her, she doesn’t care if she has a great title or a great fortune, just that her future is pleasant.
However, Lady Danbury’s interference thwarts Francesca’s plans in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” She makes the Queen see her and it surprises her but not enough to name Francesca Diamond of the Season. For now. Will she end up naming her Diamond? We don’t know, the only thing we know for sure about the Queen is that, if her look with Brimsley is any indication, she has a plan against Lady Whistledown and that has us biting our nails!
The First Touch is the Most Special in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon”
Speaking of Lady Whistledown, in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon,” Penelope and Colin are even closer than before, with the only exception that Colin hates Whistledown more every day and Penelope doesn’t know where to go every time the topic comes up, which is the beginning of what will be the great conflict between them.
If we ignore the storm clouds that are forming on that front, we love all this, this whole market scene, between stalls, smiles and laughter, we love how they remembered the day they met and how they are themselves and feel so free only when they are together. But what stays with us is the intimacy that is felt between them even when they are surrounded by people.
And we melted when Colin cared enough to know where Penelope felt most comfortable, considering her. And so, courting classes begin and, as expected, prove to be too dangerous for Penelope…and, unexpectedly, for Colin. He’s just trying to instill confidence in her but, suddenly, Penelope looks at him with those beautiful, bright eyes and talks to him so beautifully that he can’t think, he can’t speak, he can only swallow. That was…intense. They need to break the moment for various reasons, but they are unable to walk away.
Penelope needs to break it because her heart races too fast when she’s with Colin and she’s dangerously close to hope, a hope that she knows is pointless and isn’t going to go anywhere. And Colin needs to break that moment because he doesn’t understand what’s happening. But something happened, he felt a spark, a connection… and he fought with himself because he didn’t understand, she was Penelope, the same as always, the one he had known since they were children.
In the end, in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” the arrival of someone decides for them and Penelope ends up with Colin’s diary in her hands, in a scene that we love from the book. When Colin sees her, it’s the first time he’s mad at her, but it’s not really because Penelope has invaded his privacy, but because he’s ashamed of what he wrote because he doesn’t think it’s good enough.
So when Colin’s fury causes him to cut himself off, he rejects Penelope’s help, he rejects her. Penelope manages to heal him and it’s the first time they touch each other like this, skin to skin. It’s intimate, it’s almost…erotic to feel their skin touching and caressing, feeling each other for the first time, while they don’t look away from each other.
Again, they are stuck with each other, aware that they must move away, that what they are doing is not appropriate, but unable to separate, unable to separate from that connection… until reality manages to set them in motion and try to shake off what they felt at that moment.
“You are Penelope Featherington, Don’t Forget That”
Later, at the ball, Colin can no longer stay angry with her, not after that shared moment that feels so forbidden, so unique, so them. But what we love most about this is the way Colin highlights Penelope in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.”
“You are Penelope Featherington, don’t forget that.” Penelope is used to being put down, but here is Colin, telling her that she is enough and that she can get any man she wants just by being herself. That fills Penelope with the confidence she needs and we don’t care if everything goes wrong when we see, again, the intimacy that Polin shares. The freedom they feel to be themselves, to laugh without fear at something inappropriate has us on the floor!
Penelope’s new confidence ends up not falling on deaf ears in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” and Colin begins to feel something new. In theory, that was the goal, for Penelope to talk and flirt with other men, but seeing her talk to another, smile with another, laugh with another, and knowing that he is going to visit her the next day makes Colin jealous. Colin doesn’t understand what he feels and he doesn’t want to feel it…but he can’t help but feel it.
But he hasn’t time to say anything because the rumor about what they are doing is already spreading throughout the Ton and, as always, women are the most harmed in these cases. While for the Ton, Colin is kind and self-sacrificing, Penelope is pathetic and desperate. All of Penelope’s new hopes are shattered in a moment. And, suddenly, the whispers return, the veiled mockery, the taunts, the laughter… and Penelope needs to get out of there before they see her cry, before giving the entire Ton the satisfaction of knowing how affected she is.
“Dear Gentle Reader…”
But the worst is yet to come for Penelope. She must write everything in Lady Whistledown. Her humiliation was too public not to, so to rub salt in the wound, she must throw herself under the bus, repeating all the taunts she knows the Ton is saying about her.
And, as always, Penelope’s “mother” humiliates and belittles her. She is not angry at Penelope’s boldness but at her naivety. Women like her can’t find a husband, especially not a Bridgerton. Penelope accepts the insult stoically, as always, but there is something else we see in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.”
Penelope feels defeated and resigned. She is used to her mother’s insults, but she always tries not to think about them or give them importance, now, Penelope’s attitude is different, it’s as if she were punishing herself for having been so stupid to have had hope when Portia was always right.
Portia also senses this strange energy from Penelope and tries to comfort her in her way. And we can’t help but notice that this is the first time she’s directed her words at Penelope to do anything other than belittle and underestimate her, even if they aren’t the right words. But we still hate Portia with all our hearts.
Colin is the only person who seems to truly care about how Penelope feels, so that’s why she doesn’t hesitate to open up to him in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” There’s no point in pretending with him, he knows her too well. Penelope feels powerless, she was stupid to think that someone like her had any chance. Colin hates that she talks about herself like that, that she thinks such horrible things about herself, and he just wants to make Penelope see herself the way he sees her.
But Penelope is unable to do it. Her whole life she has been made to feel like she was worthless and now she just found out that all of that was true. She can’t believe Colin’s words, she knows that he says it because he’s her friend, so he doesn’t mean it — although nothing could be further from the truth. The ridicule and humiliation she has endured for as long as she can remember scream louder in Penelope’s head than Colin’s words.
The Peril of Hope in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon”
So Penelope already resigned. She is determined to return to the shadows and accept her destiny of being a spinster who will take care of her horrible mother until she dies. But she can’t do that, she doesn’t want to begin her sentence without feeling what it would be like to be kissed by a man, the man she loves. Of course, Penelope is not deceived in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” and she knows that for Colin it would only be about friendship, even pity, and she wouldn’t expect or want anything from Colin after that.
But Penelope wants to feel that kiss, she needs to feel that kiss. It’s the only thing she asks Colin after years of silently loving him. A kiss, a memory, an illusion that will warm her on the coldest nights. She begs him and Colin wants to say no but he can’t take his eyes off her. Somehow, he feels that that kiss will change everything, although he can’t imagine how much. Colin approaches her, caresses her face, and brushes her lips against his.
It’s just a clash of lips. Brief, wet, just feeling each other, tasting each other’s taste for the first time. They both look at each other and can’t, for their life, break the moment, and they kiss again. This time more passionately, more intensely, urgently, wanting to drink into each other, melt into one, as if they couldn’t get enough of the other. But they need air to breathe, and they separate only a few millimeters, just enough to take a breath.
Colin wants more, desires more, needs more…but it’s Penelope who pulls away. The haze of desire and the intensity of her feelings for Colin has lifted and reality has returned. She becomes aware that that passion she felt in Colin’s response, that connection, was just an illusion, a lie. For Colin it’s not real, she’s just doing it because she asked him to.
But Penelope doesn’t know how wrong she is in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon.” That kiss, that connection, that passion, and that intimacy is the most real thing Colin felt in his life. Not all the trips, not all the landscapes, not all the women in the world made him feel what Penelope did in those precious moments… and he cannot stop looking at her as Penelope disappears into the night, feeling that, just as he feared, everything has changed after that kiss. In a BIG way.
Love Competitions
In Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon” we discover that the competition between the Featherington sisters is not as far from over as it seemed. They don’t have an idea about what is expected of them once they’re married and her mother doesn’t exactly help them much.
As Harriet Cains discussed with us, this ignorance was very common at the time the show is based on. Women didn’t have a minimum of sexual education and couldn’t inform themselves in any way, due to how indecorous the topic was considered. So, even though this is comic relief in the series, it’s pretty accurate.
Now, both Featheringtons got down to business—for real, this time—at the end of the episode, so who will have the first heir? Wouldn’t it be poetic if it were Penelope, who was always looked down upon and whom no one believed had a chance, who ended up winning this kind of competition? (Wink, wink).
Other Stuff in Bridgerton 3×02 “How Bright the Moon”
- We suffer a lot from Penelope’s poor attempts at flirting but it seems realistic to us. She’s never had to deal with interacting with a suitor, and she doesn’t have the confidence to do so either, it wouldn’t be believable if everything was wonderful to her.
- Luke Newton was a little over the top about that scene in this episode. It was too unpleasant to see, but fortunately, it passed quickly.
- Apart from seeing Benedict dance with some women without being interested in any of them, he is missing. They’re wasting this character and it’s sad because they have too much plot for him.
- Benedict ended up leaving his passion at the end of the previous season and he wasn’t in a very good personal moment, and yet in this season, we are not dealing with any of that. Benedict, the most possible leader of the next season, is blurred in this one.
- Who is that mysterious visitor who will arrive at Lady Danbury’s house? She didn’t seem to like the visit too much…
- Colin hates feeling like Penelope is settling for someone he has a good time with, she deserves more. She must aspire for more. And we love that!
- Penelope daring to ask for what she really wants for the first time brought tears to our eyes. FINALLY.
Bridgerton season 3 part 1 is available to stream on Netflix.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
CATCH UP ON ALL OUR SEASON THREE COVERAGE
REVIEWS
- EPISODE 1 REVIEW
- EPISODE 2 REVIEW
- EPISODE 3 REVIEW
- EPISODE 4 REVIEW
- EPISODE 5 REVIEW
- EPISODE 6 REVIEW
- EPISODE 7 REVIEW
- EPISODE 8 REVIEW
EDITORIALS
- PLUS-SIZE WOMAN PORTRAYAL
- MIRROR SCENE
- PENELOISE CONFLICT
- PLUS-SIZE WOMEN WOUNDS
- CRESSIDA
- QUEEN CHARLOTTE & BRIMSELY
- FRANCESCA REINTRODUCTION
- LORD DEBLING OR COLIN BRIDGERTON?
- LORD DEBLING
- BENOPHIE SEASON 4
INTERVIEWS
