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»Bridgerton« Season 2 on Netflix: soft porn into the early 19th century

2022-03-25T04:22:46.740Z


The first season was a huge success for Netflix, now there are new episodes of »Bridgerton«. The costume dramedy stages female desire - and shows that men also suffer from toxic masculinity.


Enlarge image

Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) really like each other - but it's not just their egos that get in the way of their love

Photo:

Liam Daniel / NETFLIX

To avoid disappointment, the most important information comes right at the beginning: No, the handsome Duke Simon (Regé-Jean Page) will not be seen in the second season of »Bridgerton«, which airs on Netflix from Friday.

Not even short.

Or in the background.

He will not lick spoons or body parts.

He's just not there.

Must have business to attend to – or he just stays away from the Bridgerton family, who still have to get their children under the hood.

As in season one, things aren't going well.

So who could blame him for staying away from this stress and putting his feet up on his country estate?

Just.

Now to the follow-up question: Is the second season of this counterfactual tabloid dramedy still worth it?

There are already what feels like a hundred seasons of »Downton Abbey«.

And if you're into a gossip wearing the high society down with rumours, you might as well just watch the reboot of »Gossip Girl«.

In short, the unsatisfactory answer: yes.

Loving and suffering in pre-Victorian London

Of course, if you're wondering what that's all about, who the hell the Bridgertons are, and what the gossip is all about, you can either watch the first season or read what it's about here.

Synopsis: Inspired by the novels of Julia Quinn, the series follows the eponymous siblings of the prestigious and wealthy Bridgerton family on their often thorny journey to marriage.

After Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) has already been introduced into society, i.e. thrown onto the wedding market, the next offspring is now being chased down the aisle, her older brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey).

»Bridgerton« tells in the usual manner about love and suffering in pre-Victorian London, there is a lot of horseback riding and even fencing, whiskeys are tipped down frighteningly quickly, infatuated ladies are twirled across dance floors, corsets are hooked and unhooked (yes, it also comes to Sex without Duke Simon's involvement).

The Jane Austen parallels are also emphasized even more clearly in the second season: Not only is the new episode about a lot of pride and prejudice, the protagonist Anthony is also a passable Mr. Darcy.

After he falls into a lake, for example, he lifts his muscular upper body, emphasized by his soaking wet white shirt, out of the water under the gaze of female admirers.

As a meme, this scene definitely has the potential to replace the spoon-licking Duke, as this is about staging the »female gaze«, i.e. female desire.

This succeeds again in a carefully soft-porn style.

And, sure, that's why so many people like this show.

However, you shouldn't expect more than a bare male nipple.

So the Bridgerton creators, showrunner Chris van Dusen and producer Shonda Rhimes, went to great lengths to seamlessly connect to season one.

After all, she gave them and Netflix a gigantic success last winter.

The costume series was one of the most popular on the platform.

Those who loved her won't get out of the second season either.

And yet the new episodes fall a little behind the start.

On the one hand, this is actually due to the absence of the duke.

Not because Regé-Jean Page played the role so subtly and sensitively, the opposite is the case, but because one liked to follow one's love story.

It is unusual for a dramedy like this that he is not shown after his happy ending, after all, popular characters are rarely left out, the audience is supposed to tune in again.

So maybe you miss him because you've gotten used to this narrative principle.

Obstacles become mountains

On the other hand, you have to be very attached to a loving couple in order to overcome countless hurdles and eight roughly one-hour episodes with them.

And in this case you have to be prepared for the fact that the hurdles will become mountains.

Because rigid power structures, egos and pride tower up seemingly insurmountable barriers in front of this couple, Anthony and Kate (Simone Ashley).

So you need a lot of staying power and the belief that at least one lid fits on every pot.

If that's too antiquated, if you don't like this heart- and soul-eating version of »one true love«, maybe even see the whole concept as patriarchal and freedom-robbing (which it sometimes is here), you don't have to tune in.

However, those who do so may be surprised.

And by the men.

So far the focus has been on making it clear to viewers how hard life was for women in the early 19th century, after all their existence mainly depended on marrying a rich man yoked by this unequal, hierarchical society.

Because although history is told counterfactually here, which led to discussions (the Queen is black, the London elite is diverse), not all forms of discrimination have been eradicated.

Fat women are smiled at, poor people are ignored, disabled people don't even feature.

And all groan under gender stereotypes and the expectations the world has of them.

more on the subject

  • Bridgerton Creator Shonda Rhimes: I'm the highest paid showrunner on TV.

    And I deserve it« By Elisa von Hof

  • Bridgerton Actress Coughlan: If You Have An Opinion About My Body, Please Don't Share It With Me

  • Netflix series »Bridgerton«: As if Jane Austen had written »Gossip Girl«By Elisa von Hof

Among them is Anthony, who has been struggling since his youth to replace his dead father as head of the Bridgerton family.

Jonathan Bailey plays his rather toxic masculinity, the unsolicited and encroaching decisions about the lives of others, the failure of emotions, the painful fulfillment of duty, with such sadly tried doe eyes that one would like to free him from all the ballast.

Toxic masculinity, as »Bridgerton« shows well, can also be toxic for men.

Source: spiegel

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