Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bridgerton season 3.
Say what you will about how the first half of Bridgerton‘s third season has played out so far. Whether your gripes lie with the cumbersome number of storylines or the underutilization of Benedict, there’s one aspect of this third turn around the ton that stands as an unquestionable truth: Bridgerton has never known so mighty a crucible as Penelope Featherington.
She may not boast the eponymous surname, but now that she’s found herself as the leading lady of a Bridgerton season, the incontestable strength of her characterization is springing to life like never before ⏤ so much so that if the show’s latest trailer is being as honest with us as we hope it is, the best and most poignant from the show’s writing team may be still to come. This includes, but is not limited to, the idea that something big is about to happen with Lady Whistledown that could quite literally change her fate forever.
Penelope might be in for a rude awakening in season 3, part 2
Character relationships are a staple of any good television series, but Bridgerton‘s status as a romantic period drama means that those relationships carry an extra thematic weight, with the ton’s various pairings and families directly tackling the nature of love itself as well as what happens when such a thing is beholden to the watchful eyes of your dubiously-intentioned neighbors.
This is taken to a whole new level with Penelope, particularly now that her longtime friendship with Colin has (finally) blossomed into a marriage proposal as of season 3, episode 4. It’s no coincidence that Penelope ⏤ the perennial wallflower and thinker ⏤ has carved out her foothold in society in an unconventional manner, especially considering all the strings she’s been pulling as Lady Whistledown this whole time. She’s always proven herself capable of putting the “Pen” in “penmanship,” and now she seems primed to put the “elope” in… well, “elope.”
Here’s the problem: Colin houses rather scathing contempt for Lady Whistledown, and Penelope doesn’t seem prepared to leave behind the power that she has as the secret scribbler. Moreover, hiding the truth from Colin isn’t an option for Penelope, as Eloise seems to have every intention of ensuring that her brother is receiving nothing but the truth from his soon-to-be-wife. What we have here is a thematic rainbow in Penelope and a series of secrets and desires that could very well change the social landscape of the ton. This could very well be a formula for some of the most sensational, unprecedented, and irrevocable drama we’ve ever seen in Bridgerton ⏤ and we have a few ideas of what shape it could take.
It all goes back to Eloise, Penelope’s first friend (and first love)
As Penelope points out in the season 3, part 2 trailer, “Whistledown is power.” The cost of this power is that anyone who knows Pen’s secret has similar sovereignty over her. Enter Eloise, whose allegiances and principles only get more mercurial as Bridgerton’s seasons unfold. On the one hand, Eloise has every right to want honesty for Colin from Penelope, but on the other, she’s well aware of the ramifications unveiling Whistledown’s identity would have on the ton, its gender politics, and most importantly Penelope, for whom Eloise still harbors compassion despite their currently strained relationship.
It’s hard to imagine that Eloise would go the nuclear route by outing Penelope as Whistledown, which would effectively devolve into a total narrative fail-state that would dissolve her and Pen’s friendship for good. It’s less hard, however, to imagine Eloise using all of these nuances to her advantage. In the trailer, we see that a Whistledown pamphlet is being passed around at a ball, which Penelope regards with marked surprise. One could take this to mean that it wasn’t Penelope’s work (assuming she’s not just putting on an act for Colin here) and that the pamphlet was written by someone else. That’s right ⏤ a rogue Whistledown could be at play here, and that rogue Whistledown could be Eloise.
Think about it: Whistledown is power, but if Penelope is to be married to a Whistledown hater, that power would downgrade significantly to the point that it would be a total burden for Penelope. For Eloise, however, her undying contempt for society and marriage more or less ensures that Whistledown will forever and always be her power, and what better way to protect her brother from Pen’s lies and deception than by threatening to take the power of Whistledown away from Pen (which she could easily do with the help of one Theo Sharpe).
Sans whatever infighting this would cause between her and Penelope, Eloise’s acclimation to Whistledown would be a total win for her. Such an event would likely either result in Penelope agreeing to disclose the truth to Colin ⏤ so long as Eloise stops publishing under Lady Whistledown ⏤ or Penelope will agree to pass the Whistledown mantle to Eloise so that it’s no longer a secret she must actively keep from Colin (which could in turn make it much easier for Penelope to arrive at happily ever after). No matter how you swing it, Eloise wins, whether it’s in the form of honesty for Colin or a pamphlet that houses a new sense of purpose for her.
That said, gentle reader, we’ve saved the most earth-shattering possibility for last: what if, after the dust has settled, Pen and Eloise decide to become Lady Whistledown together? Pen hasn’t been operating in true secrecy ever since Madame Delacroix discovered her truth in season 2, and with Eloise now in the know, “Lady Whistledown” has the opportunity to become something more than just a secret ⏤ it can become a movement, an enterprise, not just with one woman behind the quill, but many. Even if the rest of society doesn’t know that their favorite gossip columnist is now the Ladies Whistledown, something tells this author that the Bridgerton fan base would positively ink at the prospect of a female brigade keeping the ton on its toes.
The long and short of it is that the ton’s relationship to Lady Whistledown just might be due for a major metamorphosis, not to mention Whistledown herself. And Polin ⏤ rather than being the celestial body that the drama swirls around ⏤ might ultimately be the tiny spark for a brand new era for all involved; an era defined by the once-in-a-lifetime relationship between Penelope and Eloise, because love ⏤ in all its joys and devastations ⏤ doesn’t just live in romance.