‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Gets Back to Steamy, Dreamy Basics While Letting Nicola Coughlan Shine

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 is an absolute pleasure bomb of a viewing experience. From the first moments of the new season — in which Dame Julie Andrews‘s warm voiceover welcomes us back to world of Lady Whistledown’s gossip pages — to the Episode 4’s euphoric end of a cliffhanger, the first chunk of episodes in Bridgerton Season 3 are an ecstatic delight. Bridgerton might have a new showrunner in long-time writer Jess Brownell, but the world is still as enchanting and romantic as ever. In its third installment, the Netflix show continues to deliver steamy, dreamy escapism while expanding the scope of the series to feel more like a true ensemble drama. Nevertheless, this season is truly a showcase for new leading lady Nicola Coughlan. The Irish actress absolutely sparkles as wallflower-turned-heroine Penelope Featherington, while her counterpart Luke Newton gamely embraces his role as Bridgerton‘s latest hunk, Colin. Bridgerton is back and it’s still Netflix‘s most absolutely charming franchise.

Netflix’s Bridgerton is based on the Julia Quinn series of romance novels that follow the eight Bridgerton siblings as they search for true love in the mercenary marriage mart of Regency era London. The first two seasons followed eldest Bridgerton sister Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and then oldest brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), per the order of Quinn’s books. Bridgerton Season 3, however, shakes things up by jumping ahead to Book 4, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. This season is about Bridgerton family friend (and secret Lady Whistledown author) Penelope Featherington finally stepping into the spotlight and winning the heart of her long-time crush, Colin Bridgerton.

Bridgerton Season 3 opens with the fashionable members of the Ton returning to London after a spell relaxing in their country homes. The shy, bookish Penelope is more ostracized than ever. Her friendship with Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) collapsed at the end of Season 2 when El discovered that Pen had been Lady Whistledown the whole time. We learn that Eloise has now become besties with Penelope’s tormentor, Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen), while Penelope is stuck with the realization that one of her two unbearable, married sisters will control her fate as soon as one of them bears a Featherington heir.

Penelope decides she must take fate into her own hands and find a husband so she can run her own household and continue as Whistledown in secret. She commissions a makeover from modiste Madame Delacroix (Kathryn Drysdale) and is soon turning heads at balls. The problem, though, is that Pen lacks the confidence to charm male suitors with her sharp wit and ginger curls. Colin Bridgerton comes to her rescue and offers to tutor her on charisma as an apology for scoffing at the idea of courting her last season.

Romance fans know this set up all too well. Through role-playing the beats of courtship and spending time together in secret, Colin will catch feelings and soon yearn to move from friends to lovers with Pen. However, the appeal of romances like Bridgerton isn’t watching to see what will happen, but how it will happen. It’s in the way the actors make intense eye contact or how two hands touching can feel like an orgasmic explosion. Bridgerton Season 3 delivers these moments in spades — and not just from Penelope and Colin.

Bridgerton Season 3 is the #Polin Season, but it’s also interested in expanding the show’s focus on other members of the Ton. One of the sweetest subplots concerns quiet beauty Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) debut season and her personal struggles dealing with the attention placed upon her. Eloise’s new friendship with Cressida becomes equally fascinating, as it reveals Miss Cowper may not be the cartoonish villain earlier seasons made her out to be. The Bridgerton family matriarch, Violet (Ruth Gemmell), gets to explore a flirtation of her own and the Mondriches finally have more to do than hover on the sidelines. And, of course, Season 2 leads Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony are still steaming the screen up in the horny haze of their honeymoon.

If the slow burn of Bridgerton Season 2 was not your speed, rest assured that Bridgerton Season 3 returns to Season 1 levels of steam. Colin Bridgerton is barely back from his months abroad on the continent before he doffs his flouncy Regency garb and shows off his new abs. Anthony cannot stop himself from making love to his wife, giving us a peek at all the passion we may have missed out on last season. Benedict gets a new love interest in sexy widow Tilly Arnold (Hannah New) and, of course, Colin and Pen take a very hot and heavy carriage ride.

The first four episodes that comprise Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 take viewers on an idyllic adventure to the Shondaland show’s candy-colored fantasy world. This version of Regency England never existed, but that’s the point. Bridgerton is a show that encourages its fans to dream of a world where everyone deserves a happily ever after, especially the wallflowers. And Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 does just that.