Dowager Viscountess Violet Bridgerton and Lord Marcus Anderson take the next step in their relationship in Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1. After a spinoff season exploring how Violet’s garden is in bloom, it blossoms. After a flagship season of flirtation, a spark becomes something more. Even at its weaker points, Violet and Marcus’s relationship is complex, honest, and optimistic. The season’s themes of fantasy clashing and melting into reality weave themselves through this story.
However, they are most strongly observed from Violet’s perspective. Exploring her relationship with Marcus means reflecting on her true love match with Edmund. Therefore, Bridgerton puts its spin on tropes like “love after loss” and “second chance at love” as a widow and a widower come together. Again, those angles work most favorably for Violet. Therefore, while unfavored by some, Violet and Marcus’s relationship is overwhelmingly charming and constructive.
MORE: Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 Trailer Faces Reality with Benophie
Violet and Marcus as a Couple
First and foremost, Bridgerton has been building to some level of development with Violet and Marcus’s relationship for years. Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 1, “The Waltz,” even continues the rather slow burn. The Masquerade Ball and its costumes become the perfect cover for Violet and Marcus to entertain a more public relationship. Marcus kissing Violet’s wrist is incredibly intimate! That tension only escalates at the garden party in Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 3, “The Fields Next to the Other Road.” Things intensify when Marcus asks, “There is nothing like a garden in full bloom, is there?”
While he has no idea about the motif, her reaction reiterates that Violet (and the audience) certainly does. They’re becoming more publicly fliratious. Even so, they respect each other’s boundaries and agree on the speed at which their relationship should advance. It’s also romantic to see Marcus listen to Violet when she tells him what she wants from the relationship. It’s sweet that every time she thinks she does or says too much, Marcus assures her of the opposite. He quite literally says, “I want you. If possible, I want you more.” How swoon-worthy!
In these first four episodes, Marcus comes across as such a good match for Violet. Therefore, it’s unfortunate that Marcus’s character and perspective aren’t as clearly defined. Most notably, the third season explored some of his relationship with his sister, Lady Agatha Danbury. It mentioned a few details about his life as a widower, but included little information about his wife and children. Even their names and personal anecdotes about them remain a mystery. Maybe, hopefully, more of that characterization awaits Marcus in Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2. He’s a great character, and it would only benefit him and all of his dynamics for Bridgerton to explore as much.
MORE: Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 Is a Win for Faithful Romance Adaptations
Edmund Is Violet’s Incomparable
Knowing so little about Marcus doesn’t help the comparisons that may be made between him and Edmund. In fairness, there is also very little characterization of Edmund in the show. Still, Edmund’s place is clearly defined in the fabric of the Bridgerton family. It’s possible to infer plenty about him from how cherished he was – and still is – by those who knew him. So, any real comparison to Edmund is unfair. Violet essentially says as much when she blurts out that having sex with another man can’t possibly be the way that it was with Edmund. He was her true love match, and he died in her arms. How could anyone be the same?
This relationship is different, which seems to be (part of) the point. Edmund and Marcus are different people with different lived experiences and different relationships to Violet in different parts of her life. It’s likely that Violet will never love anyone again, not like she loved Edmund. She tells Benedict as much when encouraging him to follow his heart to a new spark in Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 4, “An Offer From a Gentleman.” She says, “No, we all chase the imagined to some extent. I am still expecting to see your father around every corner. But I also know that reality is where love grows. Reality feeds your heart.”
If anyone can understand that, it’s Marcus, who loved and lost, too. He likely knows that it takes time to want to be with someone else in any capacity. Therefore, it may be interesting for the two to talk – with each other or otherwise – about navigating that ever-evolving grief. There can be an advantage for the characters to unpack any feelings of betrayal about finding companionship and sexual fulfillment again.
MORE: Bridgerton Season 4 Needs the Offer from the Gentleman
Violet Bridgerton Deserves to Be Happy
It’s not a betrayal; it’s human, and comparison is the thief of joy. As Mrs. Wilson says, “Everyone drinks tea,” and there’s no shame in that. Bridgerton Season 4 is at its strongest when explaining what that means for Violet. Ruth Gemmell portrays every beat so honestly. For example, Violet’s visible excitement when she realizes she’ll get to spend time with Marcus when Benedict escorts Eloise in Bridgerton Season 4, Episode 2, “Time Transfixed,” is so sweet. It’s complementary to her Dowager Duchess era that Violet is starting to take more time for herself, to be selfish.
Consequently, she can give Benedict advice about reality and finding a spark with someone else because she’s lived it. The positive effects of taking that chance on herself (and someone else) are visible. Because, through her relationship with Marcus, Violet learns more about herself and what she wants. That scene where she looks at herself in the mirror and gradually accepts herself, after telling Marcus that her body is different after having eight children, is beyond impactful. After all, self-love is important at any age and any phase of life.
It may seem simple for Bridgerton to explore that, but it’s far from it. It’s showing the ripples of romance. She isn’t the lead, but Violet’s story impacts Benedict and Sophie’s romance and vice versa. It’s all intertwined into this beautiful story that values love in all of its forms and in every chapter of life. Violet and Marcus’s romance may not tick every box of the “love after loss” trope, but it is in conversation with it. This relationship doesn’t have to be one of love for Violet (and Marcus) to have meaning. These episodes earn the pinnacle when Violet finds happiness with Marcus, but also with herself.
MORE: Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 Review: A Fairy Tale Come True for Benophie Fans
—
