Shonda Rhimes shows are known for their Easter eggs and attention to detail, and the Netflix
hit Bridgerton is no exception.
While many viewers were caught up in the steamier scenes between Simon and Daphne, there are
hidden depths and little details to this relationship you just may have missed.
Costuming can play an integral role in any show, and Bridgerton is no exception.
The series' costume department had 7,500 articles of clothing that eventually led to the creation
of 6,000 different costumes!
"Everything you see is bespoke, everything you see is made for the show."
Additionally, not only did Daphne wear some incredible dresses throughout the show, but
one of Bridgerton's costume designers, Ellen Mirojnick, explained that Daphne's clothing
represented her transition from innocent jewel to Simon's love interest.
Mirojnick said in an interview with Buzzfeed,
"Daphne always wore blue, that was her favorite color in the beginning, in her innocence stage.
Her colors changed as she evolved and as she became the Duchess, a married woman with her
own ideas.
We actually deepened the palette a little bit, made it a little dustier, a bit richer
and deeper.
And that helped us kind of arc the story a bit without changing the silhouette."
Simon's childhood was told in a series of flashbacks, and when Bridgerton showed Simon's
birth and his father's horrific response, people were taken aback.
Simon's mother died shortly after giving birth, and his father was only interested in whether
or not the baby was a son so the family line would continue.
The flashback scene is dark, cold, and tragic — not at all like Daphne's circumstances
when she gave birth to her and Simon's child at the end of Bridgerton's first season.
But despite the difference in tone, there are some similarities. when watching Daphne's
labor scene more closely, parallels between it and Simon's birth are evident.
Both Daphne and Simon's mother give birth not only in the same house, but the same room,
attended to by a similar crowd of nurses, even laying on what seems to be the same pillow.
Simon is obviously present for both births, but while his own arrival on Earth was painful,
as an adult, he's helping his wife feel supported as their child comes into the world.
Large parts of the London social scene depicted in Bridgerton take place at lavish balls and
parties.
And with any good ball comes dancing, and according to the actor who plays Simon, Regé-Jean
Page, it was during scenes in which Simon and Daphne danced together that their true
feelings were allowed to come to the surface.
And it's not surprising: the dances allowed for a physical connection, intense eye contact,
and subtle flirting between the two characters.
Page told Esquire,
"The dancing was a gift.
Once you start dancing, you get to be honest.
I think that's why dances are so central to these stories.
They're not frivolous; they're the real heart and soul of the story, because everything
else is a two-level dialogue where you say one thing and mean another."
He also added that these sequences help the audience learn more about the characters in
vivid detail, because on the dance floor, there's nowhere to hide.
Just as Daphne's wardrobe gave massive insight into her innocence, her character development,
and her relationship with Simon throughout Bridgerton, so did Simon's.
Based on his appearance alone, viewers should have picked up on the fact that Simon wasn't
going to be a traditional suitor of Daphne's — but we don't blame you for focusing on
his face and not his outfits.
Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick told BuzzFeed,
"He was an independent spirit.
He was a rogue.
He was dashing, and he had traveled.
Traveling the world, and wherever he landed during that time, gave him the opportunity
to see and feel different things and go against convention."
While Daphne's unsuccessful suitors all wore dress shirts buttoned all the way up, coat
tails, top hats, and carried themselves with pompous arrogance, Simon was the exact opposite
-- confident, cocky, but hardly pompous.
From early on in Bridgerton, both Simon and Daphne were targets of London's biggest gossip
hound, Lady Whistledown.
When Lady Whistledown's identity was revealed to be none other than Penelope Featherington,
the way in which their romance was skewered in the headlines started making a lot more
sense.
Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen has spoken about the hints the series dropped that Penelope
was listening, lurking at the fringes of Simon and Daphne's relationship.
He told The Wrap,
"It was really Nicola's idea... she would always suggest, 'Well, why doesn't Penelope
just hang out over here, just slightly off camera,' 'Perhaps she could cross right here
and we could just get a glimpse of her.'
I thought that was so genius to really put these little snippets and clips of Penelope
that on a second watch, you'll hopefully go back and see."
Van Dusen pointed out one pivotal scene in particular, saying,
"When Daphne and Simon first meet, if you look closely, you'll see Penelope's eyes in
the corner of the screen watching this go down."
In the era of high society Bridgerton depicts, women didn't have much in the way of influence
or agency.
But Bridgerton's first season goes out of its way to give its female characters some
empowering moments.
Bridgerton's intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, told Vulture that Daphne's choice to take
down her hair during one intimate scene with Simon was a much bigger character moment than
an audience with modern-day sensibilities might recognize.
According to Talbot, letting her hair down was an indication that Daphne was taking control
of her body, decisions, and marriage — a sentiment that was far from the norm in the
time period being depicted.
She explained,
"It's Daphne who takes her own hair out of the braids, and it's Daphne who pushes him
away so he can see her.
She is leading it in a way that perhaps she hasn't done before.
Phoebe wanted to remove her hair from the braids herself, because it's an empowering
moment and so much is tied up in women's hair at that time."
How much can a tiny bee have anything to do with Simon and Daphne?
Well, maybe a lot, actually.
Any viewer with a beady eye deduced that bees were a symbol throughout the show, and while
most of us were celebrating when Daphne and Simon welcomed their baby, a lot of us missed
a massive clue.
In the final moments of the birth scene, which is also the end of the season, the camera
pans over to a bee on the windowsill, perching, full of mystery.
So what does it all mean?
In Julia Quinn's books on which the series is based, it's revealed that Daphne's late
father was killed by a bee sting, making her older brother Anthony the new Viscount and
head of the family.
The second season of Bridgerton could say a partial goodbye to the drama that is Simon
and Daphne, and pay more attention to Anthony and his life as the Viscount.
Or, the bee could even portend tragedy to come in the couple's future.
While we certainly hope not, we'll also bee on the lookout for further developments when
the series comes back for more.
As far as most people are concerned, the bigger the bed is, the better.
But that's not the case in Bridgerton -- even in the scenes where a bigger bed would have
really come in handy.
Bed size was not only an interesting production problem in Bridgerton, but it was a small
aspect of Simon and Daphne's relationship that some viewers missed.
The show's intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, told Vulture that the beds used for the show
were "Regency size," which is to say, they were historically accurate and really tiny.
She revealed,
"We had to work really hard to make sure that if there's ever any rolling action — which
happens quite a lot in these scenes — that they didn't accidentally roll off the bed.
These beds were not built for someone as tall as Reǵe, and he'd be hanging off the bed.
That's honestly where some of the key choreography comes from, is positioning people on beds."
We all know that Simon and Daphne stole some glances, shared some very steamy scenes, and
had magnetic chemistry in Bridgerton, but the tension between them during one scene
was easy to miss given the circumstances.
Before their romance really kicked off, Simon and Daphne were seated at the Bridgerton's
dinner table, surrounded by Daphne's family and siblings.
Given the family dynamic and the joy that the scene depicted, the very apparent tension
not only between Simon and Daphne, but coming from Simon himself, was easy to brush over.
So what was going on with the Duke?
Regé-Jean Page has a theory.
Speaking in an interview with Esquire, Page said,
"One of the most exciting things about this project was to deconstruct what's perceived
as masculine strength.
Simon holds an utterly self-destructive grudge, and the only way to defeat that is to release
vulnerability.
We're still trying to figure out how to let men be vulnerable, to realize there's strength
in vulnerability, and that it's how you fill out the circle of masculinity."
In other words, someone tell Simon to breathe, relax his shoulders, and enjoy being around
good people.
"You must forgive this rather unruly debate, Your Grace."
"Nonsense, I find it entertaining."
The producers behind Bridgerton obviously did not skimp out when it came to the show's
opulent sets, the insanely lavish costumes, and of course, the balls.
But one pivotal part of Simon and Daphne's relationship that wasn't over-the-top was
their wedding ceremony.
According to the show's production designer, the small size was intentional.
Will Hughes-Jones said in an interview with Brides that he didn't think the new couple
wanted to make a big statement with their wedding.
Instead, it was a day for them.
As he described,
"[The wedding was] a much more intimate moment.
We wanted to create that beautiful floral world in a much more subtle way."
For all the throwback glitz and glam that the rest of Bridgerton included, the wedding
ceremony was much more stripped down.
The only exception, according to Hughes-Jones, was the massive wedding cake.
So what did the toned down wedding accomplish for Simon and Daphne?
We think it could have something to do with just how dramatic their marriage turned out
to be — a thematic contrast, in a way, that foreshadowed just how dark things would become
between them.
It's all-too-easy easy to get caught up in the obvious aspects of Bridgerton's lush production
-- the colorful costumes, the elaborately-decorated sets, the artful dialogue.
But one detail about Simon and Daphne's relationship that some viewers may have missed involved
the ways in which the sound of their relationship evolved throughout the show.
The score that accompanied the couple's marriage and development changed along with them, in
ways you might have noticed on an emotional level even if you weren't specifically paying
attention to it.
Music composer Kris Bowers told BuzzFeed,
"The theme, the first time we hear it, it's really mysterious and very romantic, and sexy,
and dark.
The only time early in the season that we hear it in a really optimistic form is that
final dance scene at the end of episode 1.
[...] But from that point, the theme goes into all these twists and turns."
Bowers said that the theme doesn't take on an optimistic note again until the end of
the season.
Up until then, the theme evoked feelings of uncertainty and distance, striking a tone
very much in parallel with their rocky nature as a couple, but by the end of the season,
things were finally looking up.
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