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Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) is to be introduced into the company
Photo: Liam Daniel / Netflix
Love, death, fear, shame, anger, honor, betrayal, friendship, betrayal.
It's all about.
Unfortunately, I'm not supposed to tell you exactly what.
Netflix would like you to see for yourself what happens in the eight episodes of the Bridgerton series.
At least that's how the streaming service puts it and added a detailed list of spoilers that shouldn't be reported on.
The fact that journalists should remain silent about certain content from books, series or films is new.
If I were the gossip Lady Whistledown, who is the driving force behind the events in Bridgerton, I wouldn't stick to it.
Because Lady Whistledown, the Gossip Girl of pre-Victorian England, of whom nobody knows who she actually is, reports in her gossip leaflet about the secrets of London's high society in the early 19th century that any spoiler embargo would have spurred her on.
But of course I don't want to anticipate anyone who gets pregnant unintentionally, gets married, gambled away their fortune, has an affair, throws sex parties (London in 1813 is by no means as prudish as you thought!), Dies, suffers from lovesickness, is racing with jealousy or simply quarreling with his life.
You can already see from this unspoiled spoiler list: A lot is happening in the high-ranking people who are part of "Bridgerton" for a ball season.
The series, which is inspired by the novels of Julia Quinn, begins with the eponymous siblings of the Bridgerton family.
The respected and wealthy father of the family is already dead, his wife is looking after the eight children, more than half of whom are already very adults.
Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) is now about to be introduced into society.
That means: thrown on the marriage market, as it was common for women at the time.
Because she is considered to be extraordinarily beautiful, i.e. very thin and delicate and rose-faced, she has a good chance there.
I am not supposed to tell you to what extent this is true.
Perhaps so much: If it all went as easily as the Bouleveard queen Lady Whistledown initially assumes, it would not have had to be shot eight episodes.
Everything is artificial
The series is also worth seeing for other entertainment reasons: Anyone who sighs and rolls their eyes at the thought of pre-Victorian material shouldn't switch off.
Sure, everything in this setting is artificial: the buildings, the furnishings, the gardens.
It's always spring, there's always a ball.
The lilac blooms so strikingly purple that it stings in the eyes.
And the clothes of the unfortunate Featherington sisters are so budgie yellow and canary green that even people without synesthesia can hear them screaming.
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Simon Basset (Jean Page) returns to court after years in the series
Photo: Netflix
But that's fun.
Because this effect deconstructs this world, it shows how ridiculous it is not just the look of towers of hair, pearl necklaces and feathers, but also the rules by which this immobile, hierarchical society functions - where people never count, but only the reputation, the fortune, the facade.
That it rots behind it is covered with make-up.
This is really tough stuff, not just for women.
But also for men.
They stumble through the frilly backdrops as if the rigid concept of masculinity (yes, not too many feelings! Whiskey! Fistfight!) Were constantly throwing clubs between their legs - and as if the responsibility for the fate of their family and their own lives lay like one A sack of flour weighing a cent on her shoulders.
That’s worth seeing.
So you don't have to be a detective to see parallels with today's debates.
And yet there is a crucial difference: in the series, gender and social milieu determine the course of a life, but not skin color.
Because the Queen herself is black.
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Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh): That it rots is covered with make-up
Photo: Liam Daniel / Netflix
Because the white king, it is said, fell in love with a black woman, he destroyed the previously existing, racist structure of society.
And it enables black people to become dukes, princes and queens.
Producer Shonda Rhimes and her series creator Chris Van Dusen, with whom she already worked on her successful productions "Greys Anatomy" and "Scandal", tell their historical series in a counterfactual and thus diverse - at the same time they also show the contradictions of progressive politics: That the queen is black does not automatically lead to equality for all.
On the other hand, one should not hope for sensitive dialogues and complex, less stereotypical characters.
Women with a distinctive nose are coded as spiteful, women with big eyes as naive.
And if you have a body that does not conform to the norm, you will immediately become invisible on the dance floor.
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Scene from "Bridgerton": One should not hope for complex characters
Photo: Liam Daniel / Netflix
Rhimes has borrowed so much from other successful novels, films and series for the series that the characters are sometimes drowned in the vortex of "Jane Austen", "Peaky Blinders", "Shades of Gray" and "Gossip Girl".
And yet you really want to know how things will go with the Bridgertons - and who is behind the pseudonym Lady Whistledown.
I know it.
The fact that I won't reveal it at this point is not due to Netflix guidelines.
Rather, it is best to find out for yourself.
"Bridgerton," on Netflix
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