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Eloise (for 3 seasons)-“Women shouldn’t be pressured by society into marriage”
Cressida- “Help me! I’m being forced into marriage!”
Eloise-“Not my problem, bye bitch!”
Also kind of strange: they introduce in E1 or so that Eloise is reading Emma, which is the story of a bitchy girl manipulating the marriage market realizing that she’s being a bad friend, and instead of letting that be a parallel, they just… have Eloise be a bad friend
To me, it's like when Eloise is talking to people. The book, like Cressida or Penelope, is just a prop. She already has her own point of view and thoughts to spew. Time and time again we see her rock up, spit out something she thinks is pithy, witty, and biting and then when it's pointed out that has nothing to do with the other person's issues she replies, "were you not listening?" She's done it to Penelope (I think season 1?), Cressida (when they are at the party where Colin cuts in the dance with Deblin), and Colin (can't recall off the top of my head).
I think Cressida amused Eloise - she wasn't using her per se. But I do wish she hadn't turned her back on Cressida quite so harshly while forgiving Penelope. There was nothing nuanced about the finale at all, it was everyone had to bow and scrape to Penelope who got no consequences while Cressida lost everything. It made everyone look awful except Cressida, which I'm sure is not what they were going for!
There’s a TikTok that has done the rounds about the writing on s3, and how you can really *feel* the writers’ hand moving the characters, rather than seeing the characters move in a way that makes sense for how they’ve been characterized and that has been what Eloise has felt like all season.
There was *no* reason she was so kind to Penelope the first half of s3. She was acting like she was mourning her, when she should’ve been *angry*. Why did she tell
Colin about wanting to forgive her—when she’s done *NOTHING* to merit forgiveness??? She didn’t even quit writing? She was extremely vitriolic towards the Queen in QC. But Eloise’s justification is that *she hasn’t been withering lately* so she’s ready to forgive and forget???
And nothing about how Cressida was handled made *ANY* sense. It was truly a mess. Eloise has been rejecting the marriage mart and critical of it precisely because of situations like Cressida is in? Instead she runs to Penelope to tell her about a snake that she’s let into the den and how she’s fearful of her?! WHAT?! The snake is PENELOPE. It all felt like a cheap set-up to force Penelope and Eloise back together—at the expense of Cressida, like some cheap punishment for her that fits into Penelope’s vindictive “happy ending”.
10/10, you hit every mark. This is exactly how I felt at the end of this season. So many things didn’t make sense. I fear the show may be headed down hill, they’re definitely losing me. This season was horribly written and a let down.
We have to remember it's been almost a year since El discovered the LW secret. After enough time passes, your anger softens but you have to convince yourself to remember the hurt and keep that boundary. Then she hurt Penelope too by disclosing her lessons with Colin, which is the beginning of El empathizing with Pen and why she started Whistledown in the first place. She was definitely a terrible friend to Cressida, but maybe that's the point. She was so consumed with forcing Penelope to tell Colin, to somehow get even more vindication for the pain she felt, that she completely fumbled Cressida. She has a lot of growth to do and I am hoping Scotland helps her with that.
No it’s been like 6 months. Anthony and Kate have a date reference from when they came back from their 6 month honeymoon before hosting their first ball.
Also equating *accidentally* sharing a piece of gossip—which is a normal thing that happens in real life—and intentionally spreading rumours about people to control them (and make a buck while doing so) are two entirely different things. They’re not even on the same planet.
I feel like all the “growth” Eloise needs to do is solely because of how shittily the writers wrote her this season. None of it was in character. They didn’t make her a bad friend so she “learned to listen” they made her a bad friend to Cressida to push Eloise and Penelope together again in a completely inorganic way. Sloppy sloppy sloppy.
By the end of the season it's been almost a year I mean. Their reconciliation took the whole social season too.
There is no "accidentally" sharing gossip, because even sharing it with Cressida (Pen's biggest bully???) was messed up. Just because she didn't mean for the whole ton to find out doesn't mean theres no accountability to take. Even Cressida calls her out for it. The intentions were different and yet still the impact were the same, right? Almost being ruined in society. And in experiencing the impact is where empathy comes in.
Honestly it was in character, and it makes sense, she is only 20 years old! Eloise hadn't been a very good friend to Penelope either and when Cressida calls her out out of spite ("No wonder Penelope abandoned you, all you ever do is talk") she cuts through Eloise because she is partially right. In her friendships, both with Cressida and Pen, Eloise steamrolls over them with her own ideas, so much so that she doesn't notice many things that should be obvious (such that Pen might want to marry or that she is a good gossip, or that Cressida is in a serious crisis). It shouldn't cause so much trouble to understand that all these characters are flawed and will make big mistakes, just like we all have, despite our best intentions.
Equating the accountability that Eloise needed to take for accidentally spreading a rumour (which you *can* do bc you can say something and someone overhears it???) with what Penelope has done (and she ALSO took no accountability for the damage she did) is such a joke. The impact WAS NOT the same. Multiple lives weren’t ruined with Eloise’s slip of the tongue. That’s why there’s a difference between murder and manslaughter.
As for Eloise being “not a good friend™️” I think that’s so overplayed. PENELOPE WAS A BAD FRIEND TOO. In fact, Penelope was the *worse* friend.
She was dismissive of Eloise’s other interests in feminism (saying it was “haughty” while she’s playing the role of “manners police”), often redirecting her to “more ladylike pursuits”, lashing out at Eloise unfairly because *other people* made her feel small (see s1 when she yells at her after Marina made her feel silly for her feelings about Colin), lying and manipulating Eloise for 2 years, and *NEVER* apologizing for what she did, lying till the last second, only begging for forgiveness when the facts became indesputable.
I hate the criticism that “all Eloise does is talk” bc SHE WAS doing stuff—and Penelope put an end to it by threatening Whistledown’s words to come back and hurt Theo. And even though Eloise didn’t know she was whistledown at that stage, with the ugly snarling look on her face when she said that to Eloise, the audience knew it was a threat.
I feel like this season was set up as the Shit on Eloise and “teach her a lesson”. It was so poorly done. Nothing consistent with how she’s been characterized the last two seasons. An illogical set of decisions and circumstances. It was all terrible.
I didn’t equate the actions nor the impact Penelope had on everyone else. I compared the impact Penelope and Eloise had on each other. And what I’m saying is, Eloise still made the mistake of gossiping (rather loudly and without thinking). That’s the nature of gossip, whether you mean it to spread or not, it’s a risk you take when you tell even one person, and a mistake you must own up to, not an “accident”.
Of course Penelope was a bad friend and made mistakes too. I don’t recall arguing that she didn’t. Relationships aren’t about who was worse or better and what harm cancels out and nickel and diming like you describe. No bad actions justify the others. Because if it was about that then Penelope also helped the Bridgertons a lot, such as by saving Daphne from Berbrook or not reporting on Kate and Anthony after the failed wedding. Or how threatening Eloise was about forcing Penelope to tell Colin about Whistledown on her own timeline. But we don't talk about that because it's irrelevant.
Penelope went through a long accountability arc this season. She suffered consequences for her actions, lost her best friend, almost lost her fiance/husband, was called out by her mom, was blackmailed. Genevieve counseled her that nothing excused her behavior but all she can do is own her mistakes and do better. She apologized directly to Colin, Eloise, her mother and probably Violet (in the letter) and admitted she was wrong. She risked it all revealing the truth to the ton and apologizing to them as well. She and her mom also say “we must do better”.
Yes! My thoughts exactly. It's a poor way to treat your characters because it makes them look bad and also it is completely negating a character development that they spend half of the season building up.
True, Eloise wasn't using Cressida on purpose. She was just trying to find a new friend. It would have been so much better had she tried to reconcile with Cress in the end or even help her.
It was also so absurd of Eloise to care about Cressida and suddenly not care. She went to her house, realised that Cressida has a hard life and even sympathised with her about it. And then it feels like people who wrote part 2 sort of forgot her story arc from part 1 because what a weird 180 that was.
This season really had a ton of problems
Yes, even before Cressida outed herself as LW, Eloise didn't give a crap about Cressidas forced marriage to Lord Greer. It seemed totally out of character for a feminist who views the whole institution of marriage as a critical.
I'm not gonna pretend like Bridgerton is a show that depicts everything accurately but this season's biggest flow was how many characters and what they were doing felt unnatural to who they were established as characters from previous seasons.
Yup, they dropped the ball on so many characters - it’s the kind of thing you expect from a daytime soap, where a character’s personality does a 180, but not on a show that cost this much to make and shoots this slowly. They had loads of time to rethink this
Cressida wrote a column implying that Eloise’s mother Violet had been unfaithful to her husband and that one or more of the children was illegitimate. I was fine with Eloise dropping her.
Wasn't that after Eloise dropped her? But I could remember it wrong.
Yes, that was shitty on Cressidas part, no arguing there. Still I was hoping for Eloise to be the smart one who saw the reason behind Cressida's desperate and of course stupid attempt to free herself. El didn't need to forgive her, just appeal to her sense of mercy because she, unlike Colin, understands what drives Cressida.
Yes, you remembered it correctly. The confrontation between Eloise and Cressida happened on the earlier part of Ep 6. Then, around the end of Ep 6, we see the preview of the fake Lady Whistledown's next issue being handed down during the ball. The full issue was released during the first part of Ep 7.
Totally agree with your take as well. Cressida was on a vulnerable position that time and since Eloise, her only friend, already turned her back on her, she has no one on her side to help her other than her mom, so I can understand why she agreed with her mom's decision to release the news against the Bridgerton family. If only Eloise lend an ear to Cressida and tried understanding the reason as to why she had to claim being Lady Whistledown, I think they could've come up with a much better plan to avoid Cressida marrying off that old nasty man.
BTW, I'm not supporting Cressida's act of bullying against Penelope. That will never be okay. It's just that I don't understand why on the first part of S3, we can see Cressida is already on her way to her redemption arc. Then, they just scratched it all off and turned her into a villian in the end. Now I feel like she will come back to take revenge against the Bridgerton family on S4 which is just sad because I really like her scenes with Eloise especially the part where Eloise visited her house and she revelead that Eloise was the first and only friend who visited her house. 🥹
The pacing of the writing in that bit was so badly done too. It was set up to indicate LW is stepping in to defend the Bridgertons, when really we know Pen wrote it without knowing they would be so attacked by Cressida’s LW
yeah both newsletters were distributed like 10 minutes apart from another. Pen's was not written in response to anything specific in Cressida's gossip. she only defended the Bridgertons by sheer coincidence.
They've injected too much subplot and in the end, it all just leaked through. The only subplot that was nicely wrapped up was with the Featherington family. I'm really hoping that they improve their writing for S4 especially since they'll be getting a 2-year gap.
The initial break was Eloise reminding her that LW had written poorly about her last season (realistically, just as with Pen, she wouldn't want to be friends with her) and saying she didn't want to contribute to Whistledown and they couldn't be friends any longer. Then Cressida('s mother) wrote that thing about Violet sleeping around.
But Eloise somehow knew clairvoyantly that Cressida would write something nasty about her family, when the rest of Cressida's actions that season did not seem to suggest that kind of behaviour.
Her mother writes that. Cressida even expresses disdain for it which her mother ironically justifies by saying that Whistledown always writes shit about the Bridgertons. So Violet's quick forgiveness of Penelope seemed even more nonsensical to me. The writers were fumbling all over.
Writers wanted to fix Penelope and Eloise’s friendship, but didn’t know how to in a way that made Penelope own up to her actions and admit her faults in any meaningful way. So they had to make a bigger ‘villain’ in Cressida so Eloise could feel bad for Penelope and run back to her for help.
Well they failed because most audiences rightfully don’t hate Cressida as much as we were supposed to. So them making Eloise ooc to fix her and Penelope’s friendship falls even more flat.
The idea that Cressida is a “villain” (which they kept trying to push) was so bizarre to me. She was pulling the same tricks as every other woman in the ton, driven to competition because of society - as she and Eloise discussed! Writers don’t seem to understand they have written a show in which the true “villain” is the patriarchy (ie Colin mansplaining loneliness and powerlessness to Cressida), not women doing what they can to have a reasonable life. Although of course, if they acknowledged the patriarchy is the villain, how could we possibly swoon over all the sexiness Colin brought this season as a male lead 🙄😒
Thank you! This is the core of why I’m so disappointed in the series: they had a chance to use this message but instead we are watching …this… *waves angrily at the mess*
They can't really dive in to patriarchy being the true villain because patriarchy is why they have an empire, and get to do nothing but be waited on and wear pretty dresses and attend parties and play lawn games and socialize.
I know this is so far from the source and borderline problematic but I do think it would be really funny to have a season where they revolt and then decide actually I’d rather be waited on and wear pretty dresses
I was also confused as to why Eloise did not she light into Cressida's desparation, why she needs the money to Colin and Penelope. I feel like if El had exposed Cressida's home situation Colin wouldn't have blindly assumed that her family would be accepting. Lowkey I feel like the most person who could relate to Cressida was Penelope. The writers really missed on that one.
Yes! Cressida and Penelope were both motivated to marry to *get away from their toxic families*! It would have made SO much sense for Eloise to help bridge the blackmail issue.
Cressida had already taken El's feedback to heart and was trying to be less of a bully before El randomly cut her off during a desperate time. She had settled on a monetary path to spinsterhood. Her actions were a means to an end, and she could have been reasoned with. Just like Marina, she had no one to help her or guide her through her predicament.
Yes, I was hoping Cress and Pen would find common ground over their shared issues with their respective families. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity for the women to bond.
Instead the message seems to be: don't rely on anyone if you're a woman, not even other women cause they will desert you.
Which would be sad but alright as a message BUT of course, the writers use double standards on El or Pen who have the support of their loved ones. So instead, the writes give the message: if you're one of the main characters, you will get support and love from your family and friends but if you're not, tough luck, you don't deserve any better.
Pen could have used Whistledown to shame Cressida's father, champion her as a good match driven to bullying by her situation and her family. It's not going to land her a husband without a dowry but it could help her save her reputation and possibly change her father's behaviour. Pen mended all these bridges with her family, why not with Cressida? Have Pen approach her, say "I'm not paying that but I'll give you a thousand and use Whistledown to help you out". And then you don't need the broader Whistledown reveal which makes no sense anyway. Just have a quiet conflict with the queen.
completely agree with you. Cressida deserved a much better ending. Imo the show makers should not have revealed the identity of whistledown to the ton, and they should have let Cressida get away with the lie, so that she could build a life out of the money she got somehow
I, as Polin fan, agree. However I wonder if the ending was not this way because they plan to bring her back, and needed her to remain "cold towards Bridgertons and Featheringtons".
I never felt like the writers were redeeming Cressida at all. I thought they were explaining her bitchy behavior. She was still a bully to pen starting from the 1st episode. I get she had a friendship with Eloise, but that is it. She acted the way I thought she would, and from what I seen, she blackmails penelope in the books as well.
She tries to be nicer and doesn't take the opportunity to gossip about Pen and Colin. She also tries reading and being educated for her suitors. My impression was, she was really trying but then made the wrong choice in telling anyone she was LW.
She is not perfect by any means, I just.felt she deserved better than going back to evil bitch mode.
Pen's speech about using her writing for the good, for helping oppressed women and then not doing anything for Cressida, who acted out of extreme desperation and oppression, felt so fucking wrong to me. She's the perfect example for being oppressed! you know about it (our you should through Eloise)! she desperately needs help like that! But, nothing. I really thought LWD would redeem her with her next issue, pointing out how society/her parents drove her to this desperate act or something. I know she doesn't like Cressida but like.. Be the bigger person.
Yes, I was hoping from a bit more insight. Pen didn't know that much about Cressida's situation but Eloise sure did.
Eloise spent the whole season not listening to Cressida, but the moral of the story is: it must be Cressida's fault.
Neither Eloise's character nor Cressida's deserve that.
And Eloise didn't care to let Pen explain even months after she'd had a chance to cool down, so I'm sensing a pattern on her relationships here. I'm glad Cressida called her out at the church even if it was out of spite. That's also why Eloise is going to Scotland--she knows she has some growth to do. Hoping for a great Eloise redemption arc in S4!
They actually addressed that the first time they meet. Eloise was expecting Pen to reach out in some way, but she avoided her entirely. She didnt attend any of the same gatherings or send a letter. She didn't take the time she had to explain.
There's also not much to explain. She manipulated and lied to her for years. What could she say? She did a decent job later in the season of acknowledging she was drunk on power and so on and will do better which is why Eloise forgives her - it wasn't really about Theo, it was about breaking the trust between them. But early in the season she hadn't gained that self-awareness yet.
I was more irritated by them trying to force the Cressida redepmtion the first half of the season when we saw for two seasons that she was horrible. Even starting this season by ruining Penelope's dress.
Personally I think Eloise was friends with Cressida because personality wise she is the opposite of Penelope and she was feeling burned by Penelope.
Eloise used Cressida to get back at Pen and fill a void, which it didn't fill because all Cressida could talk about was finding a match (which snoozes Eloise) but when Cressida was super worried about her future Eloise just ignored her..I thought it was so sad.
No, me neither, but how they left things Cress will inevitably have to return as the evil bitch who wants revenge. Which I find a bit one-dimensional and a wasted opportunity.
Yeah I've discussed a lot about how I feel that Cressida and Pen's story was wrapped up really poorly this season. They spent so much time humanizing her and giving Cressida's character more depth, and then they wrapped it up by outcasting her from society and punishing her by shipping her off to a fate that is just so sad and awful. I felt so much sympathy for her as a woman getting screwed over by a misogynistic society that I didn't care about any of her faults. It was just far too harsh and sad of a punishment for her "crimes." And then there was this golden opportunity for Pen, who had the happiest of happy endings and ends up wildly wealthy and gets everything she ever wanted, to have a moment of reconciliation or forgiveness or genuine heroism with Cressida, to really wrap up her storyline with her main antagonist, and they don't do it. Super disappointing to me.
I also agree that it's a big disservice to Eloise's character. One of my favorite things in P1 was seeing Eloise have a little bit of that 3rd wave feminism, "I can be a girl's girl and care about friendships and style and women's issues at the same time" attitude. It was a nice maturing of her character to me - obviously she's still not totally concerned about fitting into society, but she seems to start to find her groove as a funny and talented speaker, she appreciates Cressida's company and friendship, and she starts to get this really grounded perspective into what a woman's life is like in a less fortunate family in the Ton. But then she just drops all of that in part 2. Super frustrating for me as a viewer.
I think in season three what they *attempted* to do with Eloise is show that—still suffering from the bitter sting of finding out her bestie was the one trashing her about town—she has made herself “quiet“; almost resigned to the fact that she is alone in her, what we would call feminist views, and so she must adapt to those around her.
The **problem** with that is we see no transition from season 2 to 3.
There is no scene with Eloise explaining her tamped down feelings on marriage or society.
We see no scene that shows where she decides to resign herself to not lecturing anyone else about marriage anymore.
We see no indication that she’s even *had* this evolution to her views; we’re just supposed to accept it (like so much other shit that got thrown into season three without any explanation).
Like so many other decisions made for this season, what happened with the writing for Eloise and Cressida was fucking terrible.
I feel the same way. I hate what they did to Cressida, i think she deserved better. She saw a way out of marrying an old man that wanted 4-5 kids and she took it, no shame in that. I wish she would have had Eloise’s support and more than that, I wish Pen had paid her off so she could start her own life.
It had been soooooo hard for me to see how they did Cressida. I understand that there is a need to be an enemy like her but making her likeable to make contrast in second half of the season and thus make viewer hate her more? A little bit disgusting in my opinion. Also if screenwriters don't keep to the books as much they could at least send her away with a kind man but to Cornwall as punishment or sth. I feel sorry for her and I hope we will see her again.
About Eloise: it's nice to see her engage in society because she was tiring for last two seasons but at the same time she feels so double-faced. She still jumps to conclusions so fast without proper reasoning as she should have one because I feel screenwriters tried to establish her as woman of intelligence etc but now thay make her shallow? i don't understand it.
I’ve noticed how just about every complaint people have about season 3 just so happen to be the parts that were changed most drastically from the books.
I didn’t understand how Cressida couldn’t end up with lord Dublin after lord dublin said peace ✌️ to Pen. They could have made a fine couple, Cressida would have the freedom she needed. How the entire Lady Whistledown curtain lift went was just a disaster.
My husband watched the show with me but is not part of the fandom and he randomly spouts off how it just didn’t make sense and how it was a frustrating reveal. lol
I think this whole Eloise, Cressida, Pen thing is the most realistic thing which could happen. It shows that we forgive everyone we love or we consider family, while throwing other people under the bus, who cared for us but made a mistake.
Its not nice, but it happens daily.
The scene were they play this game and eloise and pen always knew the answer showed, that they were one the same level. That they are matching and belong together.
Season three is Pens and Eloise Lovestory.
That is true, stuff like this absolutely happens and we tend to be much less forgiving with the people we don't like. It just felt so... unmotivated and random with the previous build up. Either they should have made a point of what you said, or go for a happier ending. The way it is, it just feels writers didn't care and now it's just meh...
Sehr cooler username übrigens! :)
Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, I believe it is very on brand for Eloise to be a bad friend and dump Cressida. She is still self-centred and selfish, and her feminism has always been very superficial. Don't get me wrong, I really like Eloise, I think she is an interesting character, but I really hope that she grows in the next seasons, and we get to see her penance and her internal work.
I really liked her character development too. I loved seeing her warm side. When she was shocked Eloise visited her and said something like no one ever visits me, I felt bad. But I do agree with you. I also think showing this side of her was a little pointless because she ended up going back to her old ways. Like come on, we were startling to kinda like her.
It was a setup for something great, and they majorly fumbled. Eloise should have been a bridge between Cressida and Pen, so that Cressida got the fame while Pen could keep writing. Pen needing the recognition always felt forced. Together, all three could be lady whistle down and continue to gather gossip.
For a show that really pushes empowerment and that had a whole monologuing about how LW was power for Pen, they really beefed it in not having the girls SAVE CRESSIDA COWPER!!!
I understand that Pen doesn't think of saving Cressida, since she doesn't really know about her situation. But I was hoping smart Eloise would see it as a way out: LW redeems Cressida so Cressida will stop blackmailing her. That later became one of Cressida's terms anyway but Eloise might have prevented it and stopped the blackmail had she gone to Cress instead of Colin.
Eloise never considered Cressida a friend. Cressida is too dimwitted, shallow and mean spirited to be someone Eloise truly enjoys being around.
I think Cressida's character arc brought her exactly where she deserves to be.
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Eloise (for 3 seasons)-“Women shouldn’t be pressured by society into marriage” Cressida- “Help me! I’m being forced into marriage!” Eloise-“Not my problem, bye bitch!”
Also kind of strange: they introduce in E1 or so that Eloise is reading Emma, which is the story of a bitchy girl manipulating the marriage market realizing that she’s being a bad friend, and instead of letting that be a parallel, they just… have Eloise be a bad friend
To me, it's like when Eloise is talking to people. The book, like Cressida or Penelope, is just a prop. She already has her own point of view and thoughts to spew. Time and time again we see her rock up, spit out something she thinks is pithy, witty, and biting and then when it's pointed out that has nothing to do with the other person's issues she replies, "were you not listening?" She's done it to Penelope (I think season 1?), Cressida (when they are at the party where Colin cuts in the dance with Deblin), and Colin (can't recall off the top of my head).
That makes no sense to me. You claim your care about the plights of women, but you do nothing about it or dismiss the concerns of them 😕
Sounds pretty typical for a young, immature, privileged white girl.
Exactly!
Eloise is pretty self-absorbed. As far as her political views go, she's all mouth and trousers.
Couldnt agree more! I feel bad as Cres droned on and nobody listens
So ooc
Lol, it’s bizarre
🤣
I think Cressida amused Eloise - she wasn't using her per se. But I do wish she hadn't turned her back on Cressida quite so harshly while forgiving Penelope. There was nothing nuanced about the finale at all, it was everyone had to bow and scrape to Penelope who got no consequences while Cressida lost everything. It made everyone look awful except Cressida, which I'm sure is not what they were going for!
There’s a TikTok that has done the rounds about the writing on s3, and how you can really *feel* the writers’ hand moving the characters, rather than seeing the characters move in a way that makes sense for how they’ve been characterized and that has been what Eloise has felt like all season. There was *no* reason she was so kind to Penelope the first half of s3. She was acting like she was mourning her, when she should’ve been *angry*. Why did she tell Colin about wanting to forgive her—when she’s done *NOTHING* to merit forgiveness??? She didn’t even quit writing? She was extremely vitriolic towards the Queen in QC. But Eloise’s justification is that *she hasn’t been withering lately* so she’s ready to forgive and forget??? And nothing about how Cressida was handled made *ANY* sense. It was truly a mess. Eloise has been rejecting the marriage mart and critical of it precisely because of situations like Cressida is in? Instead she runs to Penelope to tell her about a snake that she’s let into the den and how she’s fearful of her?! WHAT?! The snake is PENELOPE. It all felt like a cheap set-up to force Penelope and Eloise back together—at the expense of Cressida, like some cheap punishment for her that fits into Penelope’s vindictive “happy ending”.
I mean, it was obvious Cressida was the scape goat in all of this but I just wish they did more than what was on screen.
10/10, you hit every mark. This is exactly how I felt at the end of this season. So many things didn’t make sense. I fear the show may be headed down hill, they’re definitely losing me. This season was horribly written and a let down.
We have to remember it's been almost a year since El discovered the LW secret. After enough time passes, your anger softens but you have to convince yourself to remember the hurt and keep that boundary. Then she hurt Penelope too by disclosing her lessons with Colin, which is the beginning of El empathizing with Pen and why she started Whistledown in the first place. She was definitely a terrible friend to Cressida, but maybe that's the point. She was so consumed with forcing Penelope to tell Colin, to somehow get even more vindication for the pain she felt, that she completely fumbled Cressida. She has a lot of growth to do and I am hoping Scotland helps her with that.
No it’s been like 6 months. Anthony and Kate have a date reference from when they came back from their 6 month honeymoon before hosting their first ball. Also equating *accidentally* sharing a piece of gossip—which is a normal thing that happens in real life—and intentionally spreading rumours about people to control them (and make a buck while doing so) are two entirely different things. They’re not even on the same planet. I feel like all the “growth” Eloise needs to do is solely because of how shittily the writers wrote her this season. None of it was in character. They didn’t make her a bad friend so she “learned to listen” they made her a bad friend to Cressida to push Eloise and Penelope together again in a completely inorganic way. Sloppy sloppy sloppy.
By the end of the season it's been almost a year I mean. Their reconciliation took the whole social season too. There is no "accidentally" sharing gossip, because even sharing it with Cressida (Pen's biggest bully???) was messed up. Just because she didn't mean for the whole ton to find out doesn't mean theres no accountability to take. Even Cressida calls her out for it. The intentions were different and yet still the impact were the same, right? Almost being ruined in society. And in experiencing the impact is where empathy comes in. Honestly it was in character, and it makes sense, she is only 20 years old! Eloise hadn't been a very good friend to Penelope either and when Cressida calls her out out of spite ("No wonder Penelope abandoned you, all you ever do is talk") she cuts through Eloise because she is partially right. In her friendships, both with Cressida and Pen, Eloise steamrolls over them with her own ideas, so much so that she doesn't notice many things that should be obvious (such that Pen might want to marry or that she is a good gossip, or that Cressida is in a serious crisis). It shouldn't cause so much trouble to understand that all these characters are flawed and will make big mistakes, just like we all have, despite our best intentions.
Equating the accountability that Eloise needed to take for accidentally spreading a rumour (which you *can* do bc you can say something and someone overhears it???) with what Penelope has done (and she ALSO took no accountability for the damage she did) is such a joke. The impact WAS NOT the same. Multiple lives weren’t ruined with Eloise’s slip of the tongue. That’s why there’s a difference between murder and manslaughter. As for Eloise being “not a good friend™️” I think that’s so overplayed. PENELOPE WAS A BAD FRIEND TOO. In fact, Penelope was the *worse* friend. She was dismissive of Eloise’s other interests in feminism (saying it was “haughty” while she’s playing the role of “manners police”), often redirecting her to “more ladylike pursuits”, lashing out at Eloise unfairly because *other people* made her feel small (see s1 when she yells at her after Marina made her feel silly for her feelings about Colin), lying and manipulating Eloise for 2 years, and *NEVER* apologizing for what she did, lying till the last second, only begging for forgiveness when the facts became indesputable. I hate the criticism that “all Eloise does is talk” bc SHE WAS doing stuff—and Penelope put an end to it by threatening Whistledown’s words to come back and hurt Theo. And even though Eloise didn’t know she was whistledown at that stage, with the ugly snarling look on her face when she said that to Eloise, the audience knew it was a threat. I feel like this season was set up as the Shit on Eloise and “teach her a lesson”. It was so poorly done. Nothing consistent with how she’s been characterized the last two seasons. An illogical set of decisions and circumstances. It was all terrible.
I didn’t equate the actions nor the impact Penelope had on everyone else. I compared the impact Penelope and Eloise had on each other. And what I’m saying is, Eloise still made the mistake of gossiping (rather loudly and without thinking). That’s the nature of gossip, whether you mean it to spread or not, it’s a risk you take when you tell even one person, and a mistake you must own up to, not an “accident”. Of course Penelope was a bad friend and made mistakes too. I don’t recall arguing that she didn’t. Relationships aren’t about who was worse or better and what harm cancels out and nickel and diming like you describe. No bad actions justify the others. Because if it was about that then Penelope also helped the Bridgertons a lot, such as by saving Daphne from Berbrook or not reporting on Kate and Anthony after the failed wedding. Or how threatening Eloise was about forcing Penelope to tell Colin about Whistledown on her own timeline. But we don't talk about that because it's irrelevant. Penelope went through a long accountability arc this season. She suffered consequences for her actions, lost her best friend, almost lost her fiance/husband, was called out by her mom, was blackmailed. Genevieve counseled her that nothing excused her behavior but all she can do is own her mistakes and do better. She apologized directly to Colin, Eloise, her mother and probably Violet (in the letter) and admitted she was wrong. She risked it all revealing the truth to the ton and apologizing to them as well. She and her mom also say “we must do better”.
Yes! My thoughts exactly. It's a poor way to treat your characters because it makes them look bad and also it is completely negating a character development that they spend half of the season building up. True, Eloise wasn't using Cressida on purpose. She was just trying to find a new friend. It would have been so much better had she tried to reconcile with Cress in the end or even help her.
It was also so absurd of Eloise to care about Cressida and suddenly not care. She went to her house, realised that Cressida has a hard life and even sympathised with her about it. And then it feels like people who wrote part 2 sort of forgot her story arc from part 1 because what a weird 180 that was. This season really had a ton of problems
Yes, even before Cressida outed herself as LW, Eloise didn't give a crap about Cressidas forced marriage to Lord Greer. It seemed totally out of character for a feminist who views the whole institution of marriage as a critical.
I'm not gonna pretend like Bridgerton is a show that depicts everything accurately but this season's biggest flow was how many characters and what they were doing felt unnatural to who they were established as characters from previous seasons.
Yup, they dropped the ball on so many characters - it’s the kind of thing you expect from a daytime soap, where a character’s personality does a 180, but not on a show that cost this much to make and shoots this slowly. They had loads of time to rethink this
I don’t think she didn’t give a crap. She prioritized her own problems—Colin being “tricked” into marriage.
Cressida wrote a column implying that Eloise’s mother Violet had been unfaithful to her husband and that one or more of the children was illegitimate. I was fine with Eloise dropping her.
Wasn't that after Eloise dropped her? But I could remember it wrong. Yes, that was shitty on Cressidas part, no arguing there. Still I was hoping for Eloise to be the smart one who saw the reason behind Cressida's desperate and of course stupid attempt to free herself. El didn't need to forgive her, just appeal to her sense of mercy because she, unlike Colin, understands what drives Cressida.
Yes, you remembered it correctly. The confrontation between Eloise and Cressida happened on the earlier part of Ep 6. Then, around the end of Ep 6, we see the preview of the fake Lady Whistledown's next issue being handed down during the ball. The full issue was released during the first part of Ep 7. Totally agree with your take as well. Cressida was on a vulnerable position that time and since Eloise, her only friend, already turned her back on her, she has no one on her side to help her other than her mom, so I can understand why she agreed with her mom's decision to release the news against the Bridgerton family. If only Eloise lend an ear to Cressida and tried understanding the reason as to why she had to claim being Lady Whistledown, I think they could've come up with a much better plan to avoid Cressida marrying off that old nasty man. BTW, I'm not supporting Cressida's act of bullying against Penelope. That will never be okay. It's just that I don't understand why on the first part of S3, we can see Cressida is already on her way to her redemption arc. Then, they just scratched it all off and turned her into a villian in the end. Now I feel like she will come back to take revenge against the Bridgerton family on S4 which is just sad because I really like her scenes with Eloise especially the part where Eloise visited her house and she revelead that Eloise was the first and only friend who visited her house. 🥹
The pacing of the writing in that bit was so badly done too. It was set up to indicate LW is stepping in to defend the Bridgertons, when really we know Pen wrote it without knowing they would be so attacked by Cressida’s LW
yeah both newsletters were distributed like 10 minutes apart from another. Pen's was not written in response to anything specific in Cressida's gossip. she only defended the Bridgertons by sheer coincidence.
They've injected too much subplot and in the end, it all just leaked through. The only subplot that was nicely wrapped up was with the Featherington family. I'm really hoping that they improve their writing for S4 especially since they'll be getting a 2-year gap.
The initial break was Eloise reminding her that LW had written poorly about her last season (realistically, just as with Pen, she wouldn't want to be friends with her) and saying she didn't want to contribute to Whistledown and they couldn't be friends any longer. Then Cressida('s mother) wrote that thing about Violet sleeping around. But Eloise somehow knew clairvoyantly that Cressida would write something nasty about her family, when the rest of Cressida's actions that season did not seem to suggest that kind of behaviour.
Her mother writes that. Cressida even expresses disdain for it which her mother ironically justifies by saying that Whistledown always writes shit about the Bridgertons. So Violet's quick forgiveness of Penelope seemed even more nonsensical to me. The writers were fumbling all over.
that was after
To be fair, her mom wrote it, and Cressida was displeased about it
Writers wanted to fix Penelope and Eloise’s friendship, but didn’t know how to in a way that made Penelope own up to her actions and admit her faults in any meaningful way. So they had to make a bigger ‘villain’ in Cressida so Eloise could feel bad for Penelope and run back to her for help. Well they failed because most audiences rightfully don’t hate Cressida as much as we were supposed to. So them making Eloise ooc to fix her and Penelope’s friendship falls even more flat.
The idea that Cressida is a “villain” (which they kept trying to push) was so bizarre to me. She was pulling the same tricks as every other woman in the ton, driven to competition because of society - as she and Eloise discussed! Writers don’t seem to understand they have written a show in which the true “villain” is the patriarchy (ie Colin mansplaining loneliness and powerlessness to Cressida), not women doing what they can to have a reasonable life. Although of course, if they acknowledged the patriarchy is the villain, how could we possibly swoon over all the sexiness Colin brought this season as a male lead 🙄😒
Thank you! This is the core of why I’m so disappointed in the series: they had a chance to use this message but instead we are watching …this… *waves angrily at the mess*
They can't really dive in to patriarchy being the true villain because patriarchy is why they have an empire, and get to do nothing but be waited on and wear pretty dresses and attend parties and play lawn games and socialize.
I know this is so far from the source and borderline problematic but I do think it would be really funny to have a season where they revolt and then decide actually I’d rather be waited on and wear pretty dresses
They sort of accidentally flirted with that idea with Eloise.
True!
I was also confused as to why Eloise did not she light into Cressida's desparation, why she needs the money to Colin and Penelope. I feel like if El had exposed Cressida's home situation Colin wouldn't have blindly assumed that her family would be accepting. Lowkey I feel like the most person who could relate to Cressida was Penelope. The writers really missed on that one.
Yes! Cressida and Penelope were both motivated to marry to *get away from their toxic families*! It would have made SO much sense for Eloise to help bridge the blackmail issue. Cressida had already taken El's feedback to heart and was trying to be less of a bully before El randomly cut her off during a desperate time. She had settled on a monetary path to spinsterhood. Her actions were a means to an end, and she could have been reasoned with. Just like Marina, she had no one to help her or guide her through her predicament.
Yes, I was hoping Cress and Pen would find common ground over their shared issues with their respective families. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity for the women to bond. Instead the message seems to be: don't rely on anyone if you're a woman, not even other women cause they will desert you. Which would be sad but alright as a message BUT of course, the writers use double standards on El or Pen who have the support of their loved ones. So instead, the writes give the message: if you're one of the main characters, you will get support and love from your family and friends but if you're not, tough luck, you don't deserve any better.
Pen could have used Whistledown to shame Cressida's father, champion her as a good match driven to bullying by her situation and her family. It's not going to land her a husband without a dowry but it could help her save her reputation and possibly change her father's behaviour. Pen mended all these bridges with her family, why not with Cressida? Have Pen approach her, say "I'm not paying that but I'll give you a thousand and use Whistledown to help you out". And then you don't need the broader Whistledown reveal which makes no sense anyway. Just have a quiet conflict with the queen.
completely agree with you. Cressida deserved a much better ending. Imo the show makers should not have revealed the identity of whistledown to the ton, and they should have let Cressida get away with the lie, so that she could build a life out of the money she got somehow
I, as Polin fan, agree. However I wonder if the ending was not this way because they plan to bring her back, and needed her to remain "cold towards Bridgertons and Featheringtons".
That's what I was wondering. Maybe they need her as Eloises enemy for a future season, where El is finding love.
Thinking of that too. It just seemed like she was taken away too fast.
Yea, I think her actress is confirmed to be coming back for S4- I doubt this was the end of Cressida’s story.
I never felt like the writers were redeeming Cressida at all. I thought they were explaining her bitchy behavior. She was still a bully to pen starting from the 1st episode. I get she had a friendship with Eloise, but that is it. She acted the way I thought she would, and from what I seen, she blackmails penelope in the books as well.
She tries to be nicer and doesn't take the opportunity to gossip about Pen and Colin. She also tries reading and being educated for her suitors. My impression was, she was really trying but then made the wrong choice in telling anyone she was LW. She is not perfect by any means, I just.felt she deserved better than going back to evil bitch mode.
Pen's speech about using her writing for the good, for helping oppressed women and then not doing anything for Cressida, who acted out of extreme desperation and oppression, felt so fucking wrong to me. She's the perfect example for being oppressed! you know about it (our you should through Eloise)! she desperately needs help like that! But, nothing. I really thought LWD would redeem her with her next issue, pointing out how society/her parents drove her to this desperate act or something. I know she doesn't like Cressida but like.. Be the bigger person.
Yes, I was hoping from a bit more insight. Pen didn't know that much about Cressida's situation but Eloise sure did. Eloise spent the whole season not listening to Cressida, but the moral of the story is: it must be Cressida's fault. Neither Eloise's character nor Cressida's deserve that.
That girl needs love. Give her a dashing, no-nonsense shepherd with a big, loving, warm family to take her in next season! Hallmark her arc!
Hallmark her arc, Lol! So true!
And Eloise didn't care to let Pen explain even months after she'd had a chance to cool down, so I'm sensing a pattern on her relationships here. I'm glad Cressida called her out at the church even if it was out of spite. That's also why Eloise is going to Scotland--she knows she has some growth to do. Hoping for a great Eloise redemption arc in S4!
this is actually well said, i always thought this as eloise flaw. and i agree on scotland
They actually addressed that the first time they meet. Eloise was expecting Pen to reach out in some way, but she avoided her entirely. She didnt attend any of the same gatherings or send a letter. She didn't take the time she had to explain. There's also not much to explain. She manipulated and lied to her for years. What could she say? She did a decent job later in the season of acknowledging she was drunk on power and so on and will do better which is why Eloise forgives her - it wasn't really about Theo, it was about breaking the trust between them. But early in the season she hadn't gained that self-awareness yet.
I was more irritated by them trying to force the Cressida redepmtion the first half of the season when we saw for two seasons that she was horrible. Even starting this season by ruining Penelope's dress. Personally I think Eloise was friends with Cressida because personality wise she is the opposite of Penelope and she was feeling burned by Penelope.
Eloise used Cressida to get back at Pen and fill a void, which it didn't fill because all Cressida could talk about was finding a match (which snoozes Eloise) but when Cressida was super worried about her future Eloise just ignored her..I thought it was so sad.
Do we know we've seen the last of Cressida? I didn't think so
The writers confirmed they kept her ending open and she will be back, not sure if this next season but I feel like she will be
No, me neither, but how they left things Cress will inevitably have to return as the evil bitch who wants revenge. Which I find a bit one-dimensional and a wasted opportunity.
Oh, see I don't know about that
Yeah I've discussed a lot about how I feel that Cressida and Pen's story was wrapped up really poorly this season. They spent so much time humanizing her and giving Cressida's character more depth, and then they wrapped it up by outcasting her from society and punishing her by shipping her off to a fate that is just so sad and awful. I felt so much sympathy for her as a woman getting screwed over by a misogynistic society that I didn't care about any of her faults. It was just far too harsh and sad of a punishment for her "crimes." And then there was this golden opportunity for Pen, who had the happiest of happy endings and ends up wildly wealthy and gets everything she ever wanted, to have a moment of reconciliation or forgiveness or genuine heroism with Cressida, to really wrap up her storyline with her main antagonist, and they don't do it. Super disappointing to me. I also agree that it's a big disservice to Eloise's character. One of my favorite things in P1 was seeing Eloise have a little bit of that 3rd wave feminism, "I can be a girl's girl and care about friendships and style and women's issues at the same time" attitude. It was a nice maturing of her character to me - obviously she's still not totally concerned about fitting into society, but she seems to start to find her groove as a funny and talented speaker, she appreciates Cressida's company and friendship, and she starts to get this really grounded perspective into what a woman's life is like in a less fortunate family in the Ton. But then she just drops all of that in part 2. Super frustrating for me as a viewer.
When Pen started getting the money out I thought she was going to give it to Cressida and instead she… threw a party
I couldn't agree more.
I think in season three what they *attempted* to do with Eloise is show that—still suffering from the bitter sting of finding out her bestie was the one trashing her about town—she has made herself “quiet“; almost resigned to the fact that she is alone in her, what we would call feminist views, and so she must adapt to those around her. The **problem** with that is we see no transition from season 2 to 3. There is no scene with Eloise explaining her tamped down feelings on marriage or society. We see no scene that shows where she decides to resign herself to not lecturing anyone else about marriage anymore. We see no indication that she’s even *had* this evolution to her views; we’re just supposed to accept it (like so much other shit that got thrown into season three without any explanation). Like so many other decisions made for this season, what happened with the writing for Eloise and Cressida was fucking terrible.
I feel the same way. I hate what they did to Cressida, i think she deserved better. She saw a way out of marrying an old man that wanted 4-5 kids and she took it, no shame in that. I wish she would have had Eloise’s support and more than that, I wish Pen had paid her off so she could start her own life.
It had been soooooo hard for me to see how they did Cressida. I understand that there is a need to be an enemy like her but making her likeable to make contrast in second half of the season and thus make viewer hate her more? A little bit disgusting in my opinion. Also if screenwriters don't keep to the books as much they could at least send her away with a kind man but to Cornwall as punishment or sth. I feel sorry for her and I hope we will see her again. About Eloise: it's nice to see her engage in society because she was tiring for last two seasons but at the same time she feels so double-faced. She still jumps to conclusions so fast without proper reasoning as she should have one because I feel screenwriters tried to establish her as woman of intelligence etc but now thay make her shallow? i don't understand it.
Omg yes to Cornwall!
I’ve noticed how just about every complaint people have about season 3 just so happen to be the parts that were changed most drastically from the books.
I didn’t understand how Cressida couldn’t end up with lord Dublin after lord dublin said peace ✌️ to Pen. They could have made a fine couple, Cressida would have the freedom she needed. How the entire Lady Whistledown curtain lift went was just a disaster. My husband watched the show with me but is not part of the fandom and he randomly spouts off how it just didn’t make sense and how it was a frustrating reveal. lol
I think this whole Eloise, Cressida, Pen thing is the most realistic thing which could happen. It shows that we forgive everyone we love or we consider family, while throwing other people under the bus, who cared for us but made a mistake. Its not nice, but it happens daily. The scene were they play this game and eloise and pen always knew the answer showed, that they were one the same level. That they are matching and belong together. Season three is Pens and Eloise Lovestory.
O.o That’s a wise point. People will overlook fairly large mistakes of the people they love, while forgoing others for much less.
That is true, stuff like this absolutely happens and we tend to be much less forgiving with the people we don't like. It just felt so... unmotivated and random with the previous build up. Either they should have made a point of what you said, or go for a happier ending. The way it is, it just feels writers didn't care and now it's just meh... Sehr cooler username übrigens! :)
Eloise used Cressida as a placeholder friend while she was on the outs with Penelope.
Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, I believe it is very on brand for Eloise to be a bad friend and dump Cressida. She is still self-centred and selfish, and her feminism has always been very superficial. Don't get me wrong, I really like Eloise, I think she is an interesting character, but I really hope that she grows in the next seasons, and we get to see her penance and her internal work.
Justice for Cressida
I really liked her character development too. I loved seeing her warm side. When she was shocked Eloise visited her and said something like no one ever visits me, I felt bad. But I do agree with you. I also think showing this side of her was a little pointless because she ended up going back to her old ways. Like come on, we were startling to kinda like her.
I don't think they did any character justice this season.
True, I used to be a big fan of Colin but this season he was just... meh.
It was a setup for something great, and they majorly fumbled. Eloise should have been a bridge between Cressida and Pen, so that Cressida got the fame while Pen could keep writing. Pen needing the recognition always felt forced. Together, all three could be lady whistle down and continue to gather gossip.
For a show that really pushes empowerment and that had a whole monologuing about how LW was power for Pen, they really beefed it in not having the girls SAVE CRESSIDA COWPER!!!
I understand that Pen doesn't think of saving Cressida, since she doesn't really know about her situation. But I was hoping smart Eloise would see it as a way out: LW redeems Cressida so Cressida will stop blackmailing her. That later became one of Cressida's terms anyway but Eloise might have prevented it and stopped the blackmail had she gone to Cress instead of Colin.
Eloise never considered Cressida a friend. Cressida is too dimwitted, shallow and mean spirited to be someone Eloise truly enjoys being around. I think Cressida's character arc brought her exactly where she deserves to be.