Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 Sticks the Landing & Sets Up Something Even Better (Review)

After three seasons that completely enraptured me (along with millions of Netflix subscribers, clearly), Bridgerton Season 4, Part 1 didn’t quite hit the mark, but the return of the streamer’s flagship romance pulled me back. It has heartbreak, belated heroic returns, sex, and the mystery element that’s been missing since Penelope was revealed to be Lady Whistledown. It’s far from perfect, and has one of the most unforgivable story fumbles in the series’ history to date, but the four-episode drop is another gold star for Shondaland.

After Bridgerton Season 4, Part 1 set up an escalation in Benedict and Sophie’s romance with the “offer from a gentleman,” and Violet and Lord Anderson enjoyed some tea together, Part 2 is all about consolidation. Well, for Benedict and Sophie at least. Without going into spoilers, the choice of how the second half of the season treats the blossoming storyline between Violet and her new lover is enough to remove a star from my review score alone. I remain outraged. Part 2 also introduces one of the Bridgerton book series’ most profound tragedies, and the fallout from that takes up quite a lot of space. Given the requirement to introduce that and also balance several other subplots, it all comes together very well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Benedict and Sophie’s Storyline Ends Very Well

Obviously, Benedict and Sophie’s story in Bridgerton Season 4 isn’t exactly unfamiliar: it’s a dressed-up redo of Cinderella, and that’s totally fine. For the first part, their chemistry felt a little stunted – perhaps because they were given only 4 episodes to build, given the release strategy – but Part 2 delivers on all fronts far better. They have more to compete with as a couple, even if their eventual fate feels very inevitable, but as ever, expected outcomes in this universe don’t mean anything feels rote.

They’re not my favorite couple, and Benedict definitely lost something of himself in settling down, but it would be impossible to balance his more liberal approach to romance with marriage. And his relationship with Sophie – and how they overcome their conflict (thanks to a fiendishly plotted intellectual heist) – balances what we’ve all lost. It helps that the couple get their steamy moment (compared, like all such things to the carriage scene for Pen and Colin) with the bathtub scene that Netflix baited fans on weeks ahead of release. It’s very good, and the change from the original in the books arguably makes it even better.

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 Nails a Near Impossible Balance

There is… a lot of story in Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2. The Benedict and Sophie storyline is obviously the headline, and that also has the embedded subplot of Sophie’s past and her relationship with her wicked stepmother, alongside the forbidden romance. That all alone could have driven the season’s story without anything else, but then you have to reckon with Violet and Lord Anderson; Francesca, John, and Michaela; Eloise’s failure to launch as a debutante, and Hyacinth’s desire to break out early; the Queen and Lady Danbury’s conflict over the latter’s attempts to retire from society; and then also the fumes of Penelope’s Lady Whistledown duties. Somehow, it’s pretty much all well handled, and balanced well.

I will say, if you’re expecting Anthony and Kate’s much-publicised return to be up to much, put those hopes aside. It’s nice to have them back, even temporarily, but it’s very clear that there were clearly some schedule restrictions and, like me, you might be a little annoyed by the lack of sticking power. Particularly because Anthony is the head of the household and now cannot actually deliver on that responsibility. It’s perhaps a little unfair to complain about a couple not being involved who could undermine everyone else’s stories (because they’re so loved), but Anthony and Kate remain a highlight, and it’s not a problem that’s going to go away.

Bridgerton Season 4’s Ending Sets Up A Great Future

If you’re reading this before watching Bridgerton, do not skip out of the final episode early: there’s a mid-credits scene that ties things up, but weirdly rather ignores the biggest thing about the ending that happens just before the credits first role. In that ending scene, we get a tease of what will be the defining storyline of Season 5 – and remarkably, it’s nothing to do with which sibling will step up into the leading role. For what it’s worth, I suspect that will be Eloise and Francesca, because of where the story goes for the latter, and where it doesn’t for the former. And the mid-credits scene does drop hints for both (as well as teasing more for Violet, thankfully).

That’s not vagueness for the sake of it: I can’t really go into Francesca without too many spoilers, but the seeds of her possible romance with John’s sister Michaela Stirling are further encouraged, and we obviously need her full season at some point, even with the necessary divergence from the book. The point with Eloise is that she’s arguably the most underserved character in Season 4, which makes the whole thing inevitably poorer, and there’s not really a scrap of a tease of a hint of her ever getting involved in the silliness of romance. It will take more than a couple of episodes to set that up, and I can see Bridgerton doing that in the background of Francesca’s season.

Still, the final moments of Bridgerton Season 4 (before the credits) will, inevitably, bulldoze everything that comes before it because of what it means for the future. Dear and gentle reader, that’s all I can possibly say, but we’re getting something of the old Bridgerton back, and how heavily the intrigue relied on nobody knowing Whistledown’s identity. And that’s a good thing. However, I am rather confused why the thing that happens at the end of the episode isn’t the thing they held for the credits scene, and vice versa. Still, can’t have everything.

All eight episodes of Bridgerton Season 4 are now streaming on Netflix. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!