Hello there.
We are the stars of the Netflix series Bridgerton.
Well, not all the stars, but a bunch of them.
And with season two fast approaching,
we thought it would be prudent to provide you all
with a quick recap of what has transpired thus far.
So, without any further pomp
or circumstance, let's begin.
Right.
So, the series follows the story of the Bridgerton family,
which is a rather large, aristocratic family
living in early 19th century Britain.
You've got Lady Violet Bridgerton and her eight,
yes eight, children who are all named in alphabetical order.
Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise,
Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth.
I play Anthony, by the way.
And I play Colin.
I play Eloise.
And there's also the Featherington family.
And their daughters, Prudence, Philippa, and Penelope.
The older girls from both families
are entering the social season,
which is an endeavor for the very wealthy
and fancy of society.
And they're looking for husbands.
Now, typically the social season
is enough excitement for the London elite.
This year however, there's someone shaking things up a bit.
Lady Whistledown, an anonymous gossip columnist,
has everyone up in arms.
Of course, everyone wants to know
who Lady Whistledown is, for obvious reasons.
Including the Queen, who has devoted many resources
to uncovering the gossip monger.
Anyway, at the first ball of the season,
Daphne meets a dashing bachelor
who also happens to be a duke named Simon.
Simon is quite dreamy.
But Daphne's brother is very protective
and intends to marry her to Lord Nigel Berbrooke,
who is not, her cup of tea, shall we say.
Sorry, Daph.
You've always amused me, Miss Bridgerton.
Ever since I was a schoolboy and you were...
All but five?
Anywho, Daphne and Simon set out
a plan to pretend to date,
getting everyone off their respective backs.
Because Daphne wants to play the field a bit,
especially the non-Berbrooke field.
And Simon doesn't want marriage
or children for his own reasons.
A classic rom-com scenario, if we're being honest.
Whatever should you have to lose.
And let's not forget,
there are many scandals brewing in London.
Marina, one of the Featherington's cousins,
is revealed to be pregnant.
When Lord Featherington hears of this,
when your own papa hears of this.
Please.
And Anthony Bridgerton has found himself
smitten with a working class woman, Sienna.
But Anthony breaks things off with Sienna
because of his “duty to his family.”
Unsurprisingly, protective big brother Anthony
is not a fan of the thought of his best friend
and sister being together.
He doesn't know it's a fake relationship.
But he does know that Simon intends
to never marry or bear an heir.
As it turns out, Simon had a terrible father
and vowed to never produce an heir
to his father on his death bed.
Meanwhile, Penelope and Eloise
find out about Marina's secret pregnancy.
But, because neither knows what sex is,
they are rightfully confused as to how an unmarried person
could find themselves with child.
What a debacle.
So, the social season marches onward.
Except now, Daphne has developed actual feelings
for her supposedly fake suitor, Simon.
She's even set up with an eligible prince
by the Queen herself,
but ditches him to go spend more time with Simon.
This girl has caught real feelings.
Simon realizes he's standing in the way
of Daphne finding a real match,
and that he's also maybe caught some feelings.
And decides to call the whole thing
off before it goes any further.
So Daphne, sad and alone,
tries her hand at Prince Friedrich,
and they quickly become the talk of the town.
I mean, he's literally a prince.
I get it.
Meanwhile, as if the Featherington’s
didn't have enough on their plate,
Lord Featherington's been gambling all their money away.
Lady Featherington is actively trying to get Marina
back out into the dating scene,
hoping she can find her a suitor
before her secret pregnancy begins to show.
Well, things are going so well with Daphne
and the Prince at this point,
and things seem to move quite fast back then.
So the prince tries to propose to Daphne,
who runs away and kisses Simon instead.
Daphne's brother Anthony sees this
and is so enraged that he challenges Simon to a duel,
which was super illegal by the way.
Anthony goes to Sienna and asks her
to flee the country with him if he survives.
So, Simon and Anthony set up to duel, guns and everything.
But, Daphne shows up to put a stop to the proceedings
and tells Simon they must marry
because someone else saw them kissing.
Plus, what would Lady Whistledown write if she were to hear?
The Duke and I are to be married.
At this point, viewers at home
all know the two are swooning for each other.
But Daphne and Simon remain aloof to each other's feelings.
As we've mentioned before,
everything moved crazy fast back then.
So Daphne and Simon get married almost immediately.
Like so, so fast.
But wonderful news, on their first night together
they finally reveal that they both care deeply
for one another and then proceed to have sex.
Which again, Daphne did not know about until now.
Somehow...
While the happy couple is on their honeymoon,
the rest of society continues with their lives.
Anthony royally screws up with Sienna after the duel.
And Marina becomes engaged to Colin.
But since he's younger, his mother and Anthony insist
on a long engagement, which could put a wrench
into her plans to tell him that her baby is his.
But, the celebrations don't last for long
because Lady Whistledown reveals that Marina is pregnant
and the child is not Colin's.
Now, how would she have heard that?
While scandal is erupting for the Bridgerton family,
far, far away in Simon's duke-dom,
Daphne and Simon are just doing it all over the place.
Like absolutely everywhere.
That is until Daphne discovers that Simon
has been purposely preventing them from having children.
And let's just say he wasn't being the most honest
about the rationale behind his actions.
Simon and Daphne get into an enormous fight
when she finds out the truth,
which we have of course known all along.
It's not that he can't have children,
he won't have children.
What is to become of us?
After their argument, Simon tells Daphne
that they are basically done.
And while he will take care of her,
they will never return to the way things were.
But, they are hosting the final Gala
of the 1813 Social Season.
So the Duke and Duchess put on a good face for the crowds
and the party begins.
By the way, remember when Anthony
royally screwed up with Sienna?
Well, they make up and he intends to bring her
to the Duke and Duchess's ball.
It's a huge deal given his nobility and her social standing.
But when Anthony goes to pick up Sienna,
she turns him down and basically tells him
this will never work,
leaving Anthony absolutely heartbroken.
Talk about heartbroken, just when you thought
the season couldn't get any worse for Marina,
the father of her baby's brother
shows up and informs her, one: the father is dead.
And, two: he, the brother, will marry her.
I do not know this man.
I do not love this man
At first, Marina turns this down.
But realizing her prospects, eventually acquiesces.
Honestly, a really rough end to season one for Marina.
And with Marina's exit from society,
Colin decides he too needs a break.
He informs his family of his plans to depart for Greece.
He’ll spend the off-season traveling by himself.
While all of London is basically
having their hearts broken, the events of the ball,
and some encouragement from Lady Bridgerton,
allow Daphne and Simon to see each other in a new light.
And they decide to work on their marriage together,
and start a family, which eventually
leads to the birth of their first son.
It's a beautiful end to our story.
Well, not quite.
See, remember Lord Featherington's gambling problem?
Well, just when the Featherington’s
were getting back in the good graces of society,
Lord F makes a risky gambling choice
that ends up getting him killed.
Leaving the Featherington ladies in real dicey waters.
And don't think we've forgotten about you,
Lady Whistledown.
Lots of characters have been searching
for the secret gossip columnist for some time now,
including the unlikely pairing
of the Queen and Eloise Bridgerton.
And who is Lady Whistledown, you may ask?
It turns out, she is none other than Penelope Featherington.
I know, right?
Of course, the only people who know this
are you, the viewers.
The rest of us, we have no clue.
Well, that brings us to the end of season one.
The Duke and Duchess are happily married.
Marina has left to live in the country.
Colin is on his way to Greece.
The Featherington’s are without a head of house.
And Anthony, well...
By the end of the social season,
Anthony is completely heartbroken.
But he knows he's getting to the age
where he has to settle down.
So, he's decided to do what any normal,
emotionally intelligent person would do,
remove love from the equation.
Whatever could go wrong?
I suppose you'll have to tune in
to season two and find out.