TheOtherOne

Penelope didn't do anything wrong, so there's nothing to whitewash. Others seem to be attempting to justify Marina's actions as "she had no choice." You know how you can tell when someone has no choice? When their actions cost them something, they have to do something they don't want, and it's not just other people being screwed over for their actions. If she had married an old man in a blatant business transaction, it would be believable that she had no choice. But that would have cost her something, and she was too selfish for that. Marrying Colin would have cost her nothing. It would have cost him--in having to give his name to a child that wasn't his, in having to be married to someone who didn't love him--and his family, if the truth came out. But she would have gotten everything she wanted at no cost to herself. A person who decides to screw over someone else rather than have to give up anything or deal with a situation of their own making (a lady in 1813 certainly knows better than to give it up before getting a ring.) has no excuses. By revealing Marina's pregnancy as Whistledown, Penelope hurt her family's reputation--and since she's part of that family, she hurt herself. She didn't just sacrifice Marina's reputation, she sacrificed her own--and her own future prospects, as far as she knew. She did it to save someone she has no reason to believe she has any future with, and who she knows doesn't love her, from an unjust marriage. Because she loved him. Doing something that costs you, for someone who doesn't even return your feelings--that's love. That's someone who has no choice. It's something the self-absorbed, selfish, and completely awful Marina (my lover's brother is offering to marry me and take care of my child and I? Waaaaaah! No way! I don't wuv him! Pout pout, mope mope) would never understand.

Count me in with those who thought Marina was trash. She got a far happier ending than she deserved, and Penelope was absolutely right in everything she did. Marina's devastated face when Whistledown revealed the truth made me laugh out loud. Just thinking about it now made me laugh again. Dumb asshole had it coming. The whole "She didn't have any other options for this time period" argument...? Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense. The fact that she turned down her dead lover's brother at first when he offered to marry her showed that this wasn't a woman who was doing things because she had no choice. If so, she would have jumped at that offer, grabbed his arm and raced him to his carriage to get in front of a minister ASAP. Or if it was really all about having no other options, she would have jumped at the first match she could find, instead of moping and whining about it. (Realistically, if she's going to trick someone into marriage because she had "no choice" to secure the future of herself and her child, marriage to that old man--or any old man--would have been a better bet that marriage to a third son. At least if she'd married an old man, he would have been unlikely to have any illusions about her loving him, so tricking him would have felt more like the game of the time being played. A young, beautiful woman who's the toast of the town at her debut ends up with a crusty old man--everyone involved would know that's nothing more than a financial transaction. He likely would have dropped dead in a few years, leaving her a wealthy woman to spend the rest of her life doing as she pleased, and her child would have been better off than anything Colin could have provided. But no, waaaaaah. She didn't want someone like that. So much for not having any choice!) She was doing things because she was a selfish asshole who was holding out for loooooooove, even though she clearly had no idea what love was (Uh, if you're lying to somebody about who you are, they don't really love you, because they don't know you.). Any idiot who was willing to let herself and her child starve in the street rather than marry her lover's brother--and who actually had to be talked into it--doesn't deserve any sympathy. The only thing Penelope did wrong was not covering that as "Dumb whore gets marriage proposal from man who knows she's pregnant and is willing to marry her anyway...and turns it down! Is she the stupidest woman who ever lived?" Penelope was willing to sacrifice her family's reputation to save the man she loved. The fact that he didn't love her made it even more selfless--doing something for someone you love when they don't love you=selfless. Marina didn't love Colin. Until she finally made a smart move at the very end, her actions showed she didn't really love her child. She loved only herself.

I don't know. Maybe that's true in the other books, but I saw none of that in Romancing Mr. Bridgerton--there weren't many scenes with his brothers (Gregory was at school, I'm not sure Benedict ever appeared on the page--maybe at the final ball?--and Anthony's appearances were brief), and he wasn't particularly funny. (I did notice him constantly stuffing his face, which I guess was his schtick.) Several of the reviews on GR do mention that he was better in the other books, and more than one thought he was disappointing in his own. I know that Quinn kept saying how charming he was, but based on this book alone, I never would have believed it.

I think Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series would lend itself well to an adaptation. A lot of books, a lot of characters, plenty of drama and plots with a lot of action.

So I bought Romancing Mister Bridgerton after finishing the show because I wanted to see Penelope/Colin's story... Geez, that was boring. The opening chapter was utterly charming...and then it just went into one repetitive conversation about Lady Whistledown after another (who is she? Is it you? No, it's her! No, it's somebody else! Let's talk about her some more! Everybody talk about her!). Even if I hadn't been clued in by the show, it would have been obvious who it had to be; there would have been no payoff in the story if it wasn't one of the two main characters, because that much fixation on a secondary character when there was really nothing else going on with the main ones would have been a waste of time. I liked that both of them were relatively untortured, especially as romance novel characters go (the back cover says she "stumbles upon his deepest secret;" what--that he writes journals? Pffft.). I generally liked how the Whistledown part played out in the second half post-reveal...but they had little chemistry, I had no idea when the falling in love happened on his side (she asks him to kiss her...then they fool around in his carriage, so they have to get married, and...that's it? He's in love with her now?), and there was no real plot (halfway through I was thinking, "Is anything ever going to happen???"). I assume they're going to have do a major rewrite for the show, and come up with an actual story where the characters...have things to do. Hopefully that one isn't representative of the quality of the rest of the books (though I see on Goodreads it has a very high rating, presumably because of readers' affection for Penelope).

That part is a paraphrase by the article's author, not any direct quote from Jenkins herself (which is why I followed the link back to the previous article to provide the actual quote). Even if we believe it's true, that still omits BvS from the previous continuity they're adhering to, because, as Gadot noted in her comment, the BvS comment makes no sense for how the character was later portrayed.

No, she said she knew where Diana ends up at the end of Snyder's Justice League so WW84 could follow from that. ("The only thing I have done, and have always tried to do, is -- I knew, when Zack was doing Justice League, where she sort of ends up.") I haven't seen any comments that anything was mapped out going as far back as BvS (unless you have a link for that). Meanwhile, Gadot had this to say. “None of us knew exactly, exactly, the back story of Wonder Woman. And once they decided to shoot the solo movie for Wonder Woman and we started to dig in to understand the core of this character, we realized that, actually, there is no way that Wonder Woman would ever give up on mankind,” Gadot explained. “The reason why she left the island was because she wanted to make their lives better and safer—they are her calling. So, I’m giving you a very honest answer, but it was—sometimes in a creative process, you establish something that is not necessarily the right decision, but then you can always correct it and change it. So Wonder Woman will always be there, as far as she’s concerned, for mankind,” she added.

I'm too lazy to do a search, but everything I've read from Gadot and Jenkins on the subject makes it sound like they're ignoring that bit from BvS, because it was stupid.

I loved that the prince was genuinely nice and decent. The final conversation with him and Daphne was my favorite part of the episode.

Yep, you have it right. Color conscious, not color blind. They talk about it in the NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/arts/television/bridgerton-netflix-shonda-rhimes.html "Van Dusen’s idea was to base the show in an alternative history in which Queen Charlotte’s mixed race heritage was not only well-established but was transformative for Black people and other people of color in England. “It made me wonder what that could have looked like,” he said. “Could she have used her power to elevate other people of color in society? Could she have given them titles and lands and dukedoms?” When Netflix began releasing news about “Bridgerton” and its cast, many referred to the approach as colorblind casting, which was irksome to the creators. “That would imply that color and race were never considered,” Van Dusen said, “when color and race are part of the show.”"

Great finale. Pulled everything together perfectly so it had a satisfying ending if the series doesn't continue, but with plenty to explore if it does. Got my Philipa and Finch reunion, which was what I wanted. I didn't think I cared about Anthony, but the final scene with Sienna was nicely emotional and well done. I loved the pragmatism and agency of all the women, really. Especially Lady Featherington, who was a well-developed character over the course of the 8 episodes and showed a lot of nuance in her final scene with Marina. And of course, every moment with Pen was wonderful. Colin looked really young to me for most of the series, but in that final scene between the two of them he looked dashing. The final Whistledown reveal was well-played. I went to Amazon and one-clicked on Penelope's book. Even if it's different from how the show plays out, I can't wait for a second season for more of them. The epilogue/birth scene was so very romance novel-y, in the best way. Epilogue with babies is something I'm usually tired of in actual romance novels at this point, but since it's less often seen in movies/TV shows, I was willing to go with it here. It was actually nice to see something so quintessentially romance novel on screen (if that makes sense). Good series. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Okay, so I have to accept the gay/bi plot I was hoping for isn't happening, and the gays are just there so serve as an object lesson for another aristocrat-in-love-with-an-unacceptable-woman plot (did we really need a second one of those for the family?). Oh well. Can't be disappointed when I shouldn't have expected anything more. A decent episode, but not as exciting as the last few, IMO.

Another good one, though it also confirmed that Simon and Daphne are still the least interesting part for me. Some nice moments as she learned about his past and got to know the village/villagers and how things worked, but the scenes focused on just the two of them did the least for me (though that's probably because, while I haven't read these particular books, I've certainly read enough romance novels that it felt like something I've seen a lot before--broody guy with daddy issues and plucky, good-hearted, personality-free woman breaking down his walls--and feels really drawn out. But nice to see really see a romance novel brought to life, I suppose). Everything else though was juicy as hell. Everything with Penelope and Colin and her family... Gold. I know the main couple has to be here to properly adapt a romance novel series...but I'm really here for everything else.

I was enjoying the show well enough, though it wasn't completely holding my attention, but this is the one where it got me. So much goodness. I'm all in. - That moment when Mr. Finch came to call on Philipa might be my favorite in the whole thing thus far. It bothered me in the first episode how Berbrooke came calling and of course he had to be awkward and...not conventionally attractive to show how inappropriate he was for the beautiful people, even before he turned out to be evil. So when Finch showed up and also was not conventionally attractive, I braced myself for him to be yet another joke...but he wasn't, and he was sincere, and Philipa was genuinely happy to receive him. Sigh. I'm all about stories where somebody doesn't have to be one of the beautiful people to find love (and non-beautiful people aren't just jokes or evil). - Penelope's heartbreak when Marina set her sights on Colin...devastating. - The servant lady laughing in Eloise's face at the idea any servant would have time to be Lady Whistledown...perfect. - The homoeroticism of the Benedict/Granville scenes...I haven't read the books, but I highly doubt Benedict would have been gay or bi in a series published when this one was (though I'd happily be proven wrong). So the suggestion that they might go there...yeah, I'm on board. - Lady Featherington seemed irredeemable after the last episode, and she may well be, but I was loving the fierceness and determination in this one. And making her husband cry. - All the big emotions in the Simon/Daphne plot...yes. To be honest, they may be my least favorite part of any of this, and were a large part of why I was losing interest the last couple episodes. The fact that I was involved and invested in their scenes says something about how well they were done here.

Based on the NYT article, it doesn't sound like she's involved much in the writing. "With its speedy pacing, fervent monologues and strong matriarchal characters, “Bridgerton” bears Rhimes’s unmistakable imprint. But the person tasked with bringing the show to life was her protégé, the showrunner Chris Van Dusen, who started as Rhimes’s assistant on “Grey’s Anatomy” 15 years ago and eventually rose to co-executive producer of “Scandal.” When “Scandal” was in its final season, Rhimes recalled, she handed the first “Bridgerton” novel, “The Duke and I,” to Van Dusen and said, “Make this into a series.” So he did, wrapping the filming just a couple of weeks before the coronavirus pandemic shut down television production across the globe."

I understand criticism about actresses smiling/not smiling in real life being tiresome. What's tiresome about criticism of any actor doing something that is completely out of character for the person they're portraying when they're performing that role? Nothing about the big, dumb, mooney smile she had on her face through the movie looked like someone trying to hold it together. This morning I saw a screenshot from the movie and cringed all over again at her expression. It looked like someone who was being poorly directed, or who simply didn't understand what was happening in the scene, certainly not someone experiencing the level of trauma being directed at the character in the story.

The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau clarifies what The Book of Boba Fett is "We didn't want to spoil the surprise during the big Kathleen Kennedy announcement of all the shows [during Investor Day earlier this month], so they let me keep this one a secret, " Favreau says. "So this is actually separate from The Mandalorian season 3. But what we didn't say in that announcement is the next show coming up — what Kathy called 'the next chapter' — is going to be The Book of Boba Fett, and then we go into production right after that on The Mandalorian, back with the main character that we all know and love ... pretty soon following that.

I like this article. It makes a good point about how the season's earlier episodes led to the finale. The Mandalorian Let Baby Yoda Be a Baby, and It Was Good

I really didn't need to start my day by crying, but I did. So much. 😭😭😭

I get that they wanted more diversity in the cast, but that's the one character that shouldn't have changed. The character as written (and they didn't rewrite it at all after Washington was cast) was very much a white Karen. As someone who grew up in the Midwest and very much knew women like that (shudder), that kind of small town Midwestern religious fanatic/entitled and demanding woman needs to be played by a white actress. The Angie character could have been played by a black woman (I don't know how much of a dancer Washington is, but she couldn't have been any worse than Kidman. I thought it was funny how, in the dance break in "It's Not About Me," it was Barry and Angie who backed up Dee Dee on Broadway--which makes sense because Angie's supposed to be a dancer...but in the movie they stuck Angie (the dancer!) in the background with the cowbell and had Barry and Trent as the backup dancers). The Trent character could have been played by a black man (Tituss Burgess, anyone? I know Rannells is claiming he played Trent as a straight man...but come on). When Awkwafina dropped out, they could have continued with the original idea of gender (and race) swapping the publicist rather than reverting him back to a white man. I could even see POC as Dee Dee and Barry. But Washington's casting seemed wrong to me when it was announced and seeing her play it just confirmed it. Mrs. Greene is a Karen. Apologies to anyone offended by the term, but...that character is a very specific type of person whose brand of menace is aided by her whiteness. (Ariana DeBose still could have played her daughter. A white woman with a non-white child still being a bigot? Not unbelievable.) The movie wasn't as bad as I feared, but not good either. It was fun at times, but was too Ryan Murphy-ized--too over-directed, the songs too processed (Glee-ified?), too glossy in a way that killed some of the heart and charm. I'm just going to leave this here. This is the Broadway cast doing "It's Not About Me." The timing is better on the jokes (the movie rushes over the not-knowing-Emma's-name bit); the actress playing Emma is reacting with confusion that's natural for the situation, not standing there with a big, dumb grin on her face; Leavel is letting most of the lyrics speak for themselves instead of acting them out (Meryl acting out "blind, deaf, and dumb" was so cheesy). (Also compare this Mrs. Greene demanding the principal get them out of there vs. Washington's version. One is infinitely scarier. Karen's gotta Karen.)

According to this interview, Krista Vernoff wrote most of the George scenes, but the last one, and the rest of the episode, was written by Julie Wong.

Maybe this belongs here instead of the episode thread. That Time I Walked Princess Diana Through the Henry Street Settlement in 1989

It was announced yesterday he signed on for a recurring role on the new Walker Texas Ranger series (with a character who sounds like another dick), so maybe he'll finally leave (though since it's just a recurring role, maybe he could do both. But Walker is filming in Texas, so...) eta: I see Avabelle beat me to it. I need to type faster.

How Grey's Anatomy's Ellen Pompeo and (Spoiler) Teamed Up to Deliver That 'Fan Candy' in Season Premiere Deadline's Full interview with EP, KV and (spoiler)

Here's the original article on Popsugar PageSix is referring to: SNL Had 85 Minutes to Re-Create Kamala Harris's White Pantsuit For Maya Rudolph — Here's How They Did It