Ocean’s Apart
Daphne and Simon continue to dance around their problems as episode 7 of Bridgerton begins. Daphne decides to move out from Simon’s room while Lady Whistledown’s gossip rag reaches her at Clyedon. There, she learns about Colin’s woes and hurries back to the Bridgerton household immediately. Given how much power Whistledown has in this society, Eloise wonders whether they can turn their fortunes and spin something positive from this. Marina’s deception finds herself shunned while Colin is forced to stay away from the girl by his family. Daphne suddenly shows up and reveals that the Queen has an upcoming luncheon. It’s the perfect opportunity for her and Simon to steal the spotlight away from this current scandal and provide some much needed respite. As Colin leaves the room, Daphne follows and they talk about the marriage. Colin admits that he loves Marina, despite spending around 30 minutes of screen-time with her. Colin senses something is up with his sister and tries to press his sister on what this may be. However, Daphne remains distant and refuses to speak to him about Simon. That evening, Daphne echoes her plan to Simon who shows up late after fighting with Will in the ring. As they discuss their marriage, Simon decides they should be married in name only. He no longer trusts her and things are estranged between them. Marina and Colin finally come face to face and confront one another about what’s happened. Daphne happens to be watching this take place from across the room and realizes their situation rings far too true to her own. As Colin mentions communication (ah, that key word again remember!) the irony here is that he would have married her if she’d just admitted the truth. The Queen’s luncheon goes ahead as Eloise is taken aside by the Queen to reveal Whistledown’s identity. Queen Charlotte is not happy at her indecision though and wants an answer. Elsewhere, Lady Danbury arrives and greets the Duke and Duchess. She invites Daphne along to an upcoming party for females only, which she graciously accepts. They’re all interrupted by the shamed Featherington family arriving. Unfortunately Lady Featherington is shunned by all and eventually forced to leave. Later that evening, Daphne arrives at the Featherington household and speaks to Marina. She apologizes to the girl and understands why she deceived Colin. Daphne turns her attention to George and decides to help her rectify his “crime” for not replying back to the letters and leaving her pregnant. She’s going to get in touch with the General and try to find out what happened to him. Meanwhile, Lord Featherington approaches Will and propositions him with throwing his next fight. If he does, then it would set both of them up for life and they’ll share the winnings. Daphne arrives at Lady Danbury’s den of iniquity. As she begins gambling with the others, we cut across to Simon and Anthony sitting together with the other men, drinking in a civilized manner. In a way, this juxtaposition is quite reminisce of that scene on Titanic where Jack and Rose danced away in third class while the 1st class patrons sniffily discuss business. Anyway, Simon and Anthony come to blows again, with the sore subject of Simon’s Father brought into the limelight and causing them both to skirmish across the room and through a glass table. Eventually their venomous words are enough to spark the others into action and separate them. Back home Simon patches up his wounds while Daphne arrives to greet him. Finally these two talk openly about their issues as Simon reveals the truth about his Father and what he promised him on his death. Simon is determined to follow through with his promise, given his hatred, as Daphne walks away. Meanwhile, Eloise and Pen begin narrowing down the suspects surrounding who Lady Whistledown could be. Together, they deduce that it can’t be a servant but quite who else it could be, remains a mystery. Eloise gets dressed up and heads along to the Ball that evening with all the usual suspects. There, Benedict understands Henry’s woes as he takes him aside and talks about courage and how he’s living outside society’s norms. It gives him a lot to think about too as the pair head back to the party. Elsewhere, Queen Charlotte recruits a team of her own investigators to figure out who Lady Whistledown is and quieten the girl down. Eloise walks away, unhappy that she’s being taken off the case. There, she stumbles straight into Benedict’s path, who takes her outside before picking up Genevieve Delacroix on the way. As they sit together, Eloise believes she may actually be Lady Whistledown. While Marina drugs herself and tries to abort the baby, Daphne takes herself away from the concert as she starts bleeding. Sobbing, her Mother hurries to comfort Daphne as it turns out she’s not pregnant after all.
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode of Bridgerton sets things up for the finale which promises to be quite dramatic. I’ve said it before but the key word here is communication and finally Simon and Daphne speak openly. While this could have happened 5 or 6 episodes earlier, they’re at least on the same page now as the truth about Simon’s dark past comes tumbling out. While it’s devastating for Daphne to learn she’s not pregnant, having a child based on deception is never a healthy foundation to raise kids. I’d imagine in the finale we’ll see Simon let go of his hateful vengeance toward his Father and decide openly to have children, possibly with a happily-ever-after montage with Daphne at the end. We shall see. Meanwhile, the rest of the supporting cast are just sort of… here. There’s an old adage reading “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle” and I can’t help but feel that sums up Bridgerton to a tee. While the main romance between Simon and Daphne consumes most of the series, everything else feels so underdeveloped and half-baked that it betrays the long run-time for each episode. The Eloise investigation into Lady Whistledown for example, could have been a fun little Sherlock Holmes mystery but instead it feels like padding. Marina, Colin and Penelope’s love triangle of sorts ends before it even begins while the Featherington scandal and money woes is given next to no time. The issues involving the boxing ring just come out of nowhere despite an episode prior involving Lord Featherington despairing about money. Still, an extended 75 minute finale is up next – hopefully that extra time can do some justice with these disappointingly under-developed plot lines.
