Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 left us with memorable moments! One that will stay with us is the mirror scene; not only because of how beautiful it is, but for the message it sends to all the plus-size women who grew up learning to hate their appearance in front of the mirror. Ready?
Here we go!
Face the Mirror
Our editorial about plus-size women analyzes the message that women with non-normative bodies grew up with and now is the time to talk about one of the consequences: fear of facing a mirror.
I have just one full-length mirror in my house, right next to the entrance of the house. Surely, most people would use it to check their appearance before leaving, just to know that they are not a hair out of place. This is not my case.
I avoid looking every time I pass by it. In the bathroom, the mirror above the sink barely covers my waist, and, believe me, it’s more than enough. I look at myself in it but I avoid seeing me. This isn’t a coincidence.
As I shared with you, since I was little I was bombarded everywhere, from school or my house to my TV, with the message that there was something wrong with me. I had an ass that was too big, a face that was too round and dimpled too deeply, and a belly that had many extra pounds on it. My body was wrong. I was wrong. And this is a message that was burned into all plus-size women.
We are wrong. We are the problem.
That’s something that stays with you as you grow up. Especially, if your family, the people who are supposed to love you no matter what, keep repeating it to you and calling you nicknames like fat cow or fatso. If they see you as monstrous, how would others see you? It’s a tough question to ask yourself, but you can’t help but ask it. In the end, you grow up believing that you are a little less than a monster and there’s something wrong with you.
The mirror doesn’t lie and reflects how we see ourselves. Plus-size women have had our flaws emphasized so much that it’s the only thing we can see when we look in the mirror. We don’t see the light in our eyes, or our bright smile, or that wonderful shirt that looks amazing on us. We only see the face that is too round, the dimples that are too full, and the extra pounds we have.
Seeing yourself in a mirror becomes a way of being even more aware of all the defects that we have always been told we have and remembering situations that you prefer to forget. We hate what we see in the mirror.
So we choose, in most cases, to avoid them and, when we have to look at them, we make an effort not to see ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I put on makeup, put contact lenses in and out, brush my teeth…every day, so I look in the mirror every day. But I don’t see myself in it. I try hard not to.
A Reflection of Fear in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2
Because of this, I was very eager to see the mirror scene that was included in Bridgerton Season 3. This scene is not specifically included in the book, it’s only referenced but not fleshed out, so including it in the show was, not only a gift for the fans but an incredible opportunity to see how a plus-size woman faced a mirror and ended up being aware of her own power. And all before an audience of millions.
So to say I was looking forward to this scene is probably the understatement of the year. And Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 didn’t disappoint me, on the contrary, it made me cry with emotion.
I cried the first time I saw the mirror scene in Bridgerton 3×05 “Tick Tock.” And I have cried every time I have seen this scene. It’s the first time that I have felt seen, it is the first time that I have felt that women like me, like us, could feel powerful and beautiful in front of a mirror.
Penelope is the faithful reflection of both the circumstances and the fears, insecurities, and traumas that women like us have been suffering in silence for years. So I felt every emotion that Nicola Coughlan so brilliantly expressed as my own and I was tremendously aware of the importance of showing a scene like that, with such a powerful message, in a show seen by millions of people around the world.
At the beginning of the scene, Penelope can barely believe that Colin defended her so fiercely, but beyond that, she can barely believe in his love for her. Portia pricked every sensitive spot, exposing Penelope’s insecurities, her deepest wounds. Colin realizes that Penelope needs more than words to believe in him. She needs to see herself the way he sees her, only then Penelope will understand.
Colin turns her around and puts her in front of the mirror. Penelope’s breathing begins to come faster, and not because of Colin’s closeness. She can barely look at herself in the mirror without looking away. She was taught to hate what is reflected there. But Colin catches her with his words, with his movements, with his caresses… and prevents her from looking away from the mirror.
Thus, Penelope begins to be carried away by Colin’s words, by the way, his voice caresses her, by how he values her intelligence, her bravery, and the fact that she sees him when no one else does. Penelope begins to believe in the truth of all of Colin’s words. But the scene goes further. Colin points out how beautiful she looks with her hair down as he shows it to her and Penelope stares at them through the mirror.
The Power of the Mirror in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2
He tells her about the brightness of her eyes, the firmness of her thick lips, the softness of her skin… all of her skin. Colin not only wants Penelope, not only needs her, but he longs for her, Colin dreams of her.
Colin leaves not an inch of Penelope’s skin without caressing, not an inch untouched, as he makes sure she doesn’t look away from the mirror. Penelope follows his hands through the mirror, lets herself be carried away by the pleasure of his caresses… and begins to see what Colin sees when he looks at her.
Penelope begins to see how beautiful she is, she begins to feel beautiful and powerful for the first time seeing a reflection she was taught to despise. Colin is replacing all of Penelope’s bad memories with his touch and words. And Penelope can’t take it anymore, so she kisses him passionately, she needs more, more of his touch, more of his words, more of him, just more.
What Penelope doesn’t expect is for Colin to put her in front of the mirror again. Penelope’s heart begins to pound like a drum and a big part of why has nothing to do with Colin’s closeness. If not with fear. Despite Colin’s words and how she felt beautiful and let herself go, getting completely naked in front of the mirror, under his watchful gaze, is a completely different thing.
Penelope not only learned to despise her reflection but that there was something wrong with her. This makes Penelope feel ashamed of her body, of herself, and afraid that Colin will reject her. So Penelope is afraid to undress both physically and emotionally before Colin. That will leave her vulnerable and she can’t help but feel fear of his reaction. She trusts Colin but it’s impossible not to be afraid when all Penelope has known is rejection.
But Colin’s reaction to seeing her naked is nothing like Penelope thinks. He is hungrier than ever. His eyes, dark with passion and lust, and his hoarse voice full of desire speak for themselves.
Colin is hungry for her, he’s craving for her…he is going to devour her. And Penelope feels that she has nothing to be ashamed of, for the first time, she feels the desire, not the rejection before her nakedness. Penelope feels beautiful, truly beautiful. And this means a lot, that’s why she can’t help but kiss him.
And it was so easy, but so easy for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 to have hidden Nicola’s beautiful body during this entire scene. But they didn’t. Dear God, they didn’t and I’m crying with happiness.
The camera shots perfectly showed Nicola’s body and her curves. They showed her extra pounds, her belly, and her love handles. They showed the body of a plus-size woman without makeup or hiding it and we even see how Colin once again highlights how beautiful Penelope is.
And this, this entire scene, sends a tremendously powerful message. The scene is about standing in front of the mirror and facing the image you were taught to hate to end up valuing it, loving it, loving yourself. It’s about feeling good with our naked bodies reflected in a mirror for the first time, it’s about feeling desired, beautiful, and loved, and knowing that we deserve nothing less than that.
The scene is about showing that, contrary to what we were made to believe growing up, there is nothing wrong with us. We are not the problem, they are.
The Pleasure of Taking Control
The mirror scene in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 is also about showing us the power of taking control of our own pleasure. At the beginning of the scene, when Colin strips completely naked in front of her, Penelope feels shy and a little self-conscious but, at the same time, she can’t help but admire him in all his splendor, desiring and longing for him like never before.
Penelope wants to take an active role in what is happening between them. She wants to take control of her man’s pleasure and make sure Colin feels the same pleasure he made her feel. So she asks him to tell her what she should do.
Penelope begins to explore his limits, to explore him, to explore the pleasure that she can give him and what she feels caressing him, knowing that he is losing control because of what she is doing, because of her. Penelope’s caresses are becoming more confident and when she knows that he wants to enjoy her touch, to enjoy them as long as possible, Penelope feels powerful.
When Colin stops touching her, Penelope protests without imagining that there is much more, because she wants to continue pursuing that pleasure they are feeling together. And, in Bridgerton 3×08 “Into the Light,” we see how Penelope is confident and powerful enough to ride her husband, taking control of her pleasure and her man’s in the same way she took the reins of her own life.
Through these scenes, Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 shows us that we don’t have to wait for pleasure, we are powerful and bold enough to be able to take it.
The Importance of Consent in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2
The mirror scene in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 makes consent one of its central focuses. Colin verbally asks Penelope for her consent on several occasions. The first of them is after Penelope’s first encounter with the mirror. When she kisses him passionately, Colin makes sure she knows he can stop it if that’s what she wants.
Later, when they’re on the couch, Colin asks her permission to touch her and only when Penelope gives it to him, he caresses her and takes her to heaven, watching her enjoy it, making her pleasure his priority.
And Penelope’s pleasure is Colin’s priority at all times. Even when he’s about to thrust into her, he makes sure she knows that it’s going to hurt her and that if he could help it, if he could just give her pleasure without any pain, he would. Colin would do anything to keep her from hurting. He would take any pain so she would only feel pleasure. Then, he gets inside her delicately, with patience, with care, with all the love he feels for Penelope.
Penelope is afraid but trusts him. She trusts him completely. Penelope, who learned not to trust anyone, waiting for a blow, learned not to show herself vulnerable to anyone so as not to give them the power to harm her, trust Colin completely and shows it to him here, in this moment, when she lets him come into the deepest depths of her bowels.
For Colin, Penelope is his priority, so he doesn’t stop looking at her to make sure she’s okay, he doesn’t stop kissing her, making her feel all the love he feels for her while he is buried deep inside her. Colin makes sure that Penelope not only feels physical pleasure but that she feels loved and revered. And he gets it. Penelope is feeling it, she is feeling it all and she loves it, she loves seeing Colin like this, at her mercy, twisted with pleasure, for her.
Thus, united beyond the physical, Colin and Penelope end up together and, as it couldn’t be otherwise, Colin’s first words are for her, to know if she enjoyed it, if she’s fine. But Penelope felt better than that, she felt loved, and she felt accepted on a level she had never felt before.
Penelope felt that she could trust someone, that she can trust him, to be vulnerable, in every sense of the word. Colin makes her feel that her consent, her pleasure, and how she feels matters. And it does.
No matter what everyone around us would have us believe, we matter. The fact that millions of plus-size women around the world receive these positive messages matters. Representation matters.
One last time, Bridgerton Season 3 is for the wallflowers. Period.
Bridgerton season 3 Part 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
What do you think about the mirror scene in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2? Share it with us!
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
