Rating: 2 out of 5

Starring: Johnathan Bailey, Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, Claudia Jessie, Luke Newton and Julia Andrews (voice over)

Streaming on: Netflix

To watch or not to watch: Recommended to watch in extenuating circumstances where one is a glutton for punishment

Bridgerton is an 8 part series which follows the Bridgerton siblings through their life-partner finding journey.

The first season is based on Daphne’s quest to finding a husband. She comes from a large family with 4 brothers and 3 sisters. She wants a love match just like her parents had, but the only man interested in her is Nigel Berbrooke (we are supposed to know it is a laughing point). In comes Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings who has returned to England because his father is on his death bed and there are formalities to be taken care of in the inheritance of the dukedom. There is no love lost between father and son and the toxic relationship has left lasting effects on Simon’s mind – he doesn’t want to get married and have kids. Simon and Daphne literally run into each other at a ball and they decide to hatch a mutually beneficial plan – they will pretend to court each other so that Daphne is more in the notice of the men of the ton and Simon is saved from the mothers of unmarried ladies of England. As with all best laid plans, this also falls apart when Simon and Daphne are found in the garden in a compromising position and had to get married. Knowing full well Simon’s resolve to not have kids, Daphne gets married to Simon, as the other choices were limited and she was falling for him.

They embark on their married life and all is going well in the beginning till Daphne starts finding out more about Simon’s childhood and his reasons for resolving to never father any kids. This drives a wedge between the loving couple and the rest of the story follows the story of how the conflict is resolved.

Along with the main plot, there are many sub-plots which don’t seem to have much significance on the face of it. There is the family of Featheringtons who are also trying to be successful on the marriage mart but the patriarch has gambled away the dowries of the daughters. The Featheringtons have a guest Maria, who has a sketchy past (according to the times) and is looking to catch Colin Bridgerton, who in turn is deeply loved by Penelope Featherington. There is also Eloise Bridgerton who is forward thinking and challenges the societal norms with her best friend Penelope. Benedict Bridgerton is also trying to find a place in life by challenging society and getting in with the artist crowd, honing his sketching skills.

This is something which is easily missed, unless one really hates oneself. There is no steady storyline and whatever is there is highly unbelievable. The sub-plots seem out of place with no significance at all. The timeline is also all over the place. At some points the series looks hurried and at others it moves at a leisurely pace. There are quite a few explicit scenes for nothing but shock value. The conflict resolution is also flat without any real discussion, it just happens because the protagonists need to have a happily-ever-after, which isn’t very surprising as there is no character arc and whatever character build-up is there, it lacks any strength.

The series would have been well served if it had stayed true to the original books as they are much better and infinitely more entertaining. There is an element of wit among all the Bridgerton siblings and allied familied. Lady Danbury and Lady Bridgerton are mighty females on their own, and if the creators had stayed true to them, it would have resolved many women repression issues they were trying to address in the series. Just goes to show, change for the sake of change is rarely ever beneficial.

Highly recommend to miss this one. Let the sub-par output be not glorified and treated rightly. This series has been renewed for the second season, unfortunately.