‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Episode 6 Recap: The Cat’s Out of the Bag

It was only a matter of time before Colin (Luke Newton) found out that Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) was Lady Whistledown, and that time has finally come. In Bridgerton Season 3 Episode 6, it seemed like maybe Penelope would actually get away with never having to tell Colin about her alter ego, that she could just retire from writing and let Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) take credit as Whistledown, but the problem for Pen is that she’s too stubborn and too proud to let an inferior writer take credit for her life’s work, and that was ultimately her downfall.

The episode begins with the ton all abuzz at the news that Cressida is Whistledown. Sadly for Cressida, most people don’t actually believe she’s clever enough to be Whistledown, the Queen included, so when Cressida gets an audience in front of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), she’s faced with an ultimatum of sorts. Unless Cressida can provide a convincing new issue of her newsletter, she will not receive the Queen’s reward money. Cressida’s public reveal is already taking a toll on her and her family’s social standing, and Cressida (and her own mother) are both pretty sure she won’t be able to string two witty words together, let alone fill a column with actual society gossip. Cressida has quite the hedda hair, but Hedda Hopper she is not. (I really forced that and I’m sorry.) But you know who’s a secret writer at heart? Lady Araminta Cowper. She’s not about to let her daughter go down for this whole scandal, so she’s going to help her become Lady Whistledown 2.0.

Penelope is pretty sick at the idea that Cressida is taking credit for this empire she’s built, attempting to write a new issue that discredits Cressida, but ultimately, she’s conflicted about whether maybe it’s a good idea to let Cressida morph into Whistledown to take the heat off her. But Penelope is stubborn and doesn’t want to let it go, not to Cressida. She tells Eloise as much, saying, “Lady Whistledown is my name, not hers.” To which Eloise bluntly responds, “Your name is about to be Bridgerton. You cannot be both.” Penelope’s conflict over giving up Whistledown fluctuates through the episode, because while this moment with Eloise seems to change her, another conversation with the modiste makes her remember the joy that writing brings Pen and her audience, and she’s torn.

At Will and Alice Mondrich’s first big party of the season, their first as Lord and Lady in their new estate, their goal is to wow the Queen. While they manage to impress her with the reveal of a large floral centerpiece in the middle of the dance floor (always nice to see Charlotte genuinely approve of something, conveying her satisfaction to Alice with a nod and a wink), the party really makes its mark on the season when Cressida and her mother roll in uninvited. The Queen is displeased to see them, but Cressida reveals she has a gift for her; a new issue of Whistledown. Okay, it’s not actually an issue so much as a postcard, but it’s written in a convincing enough manner to buy Cressida some time to write a new one and convince the Queen she deserves her money. Everyone is actually impressed that the card actually reads as if Whistledown wrote it, and that’s when we see the ink smears all over Araminta Cowper’s arms, devilish minx that she is, she’s been hiding the fact that she’s got a way with words.

Penelope is truly threatened by this, and Eloise too is furious that Cressida is going through with the Whistledown ruse. They abscond to another room and hatch a plan (Peneloise is back, bb!) for Penelope to write one last Whistledown, a retirement letter that also discredits Cressida, and as she flees to the printer with the latest edition in hand, she runs into… none other than the one person who would be most hurt by her true identity, Colin. “You are Lady Whistledown?” he asks breathlessly. On the one hand, I’m sure he’s mad. On the other, makeup sex after learning your fiancée has a secret alter ego is probably going to be hot.

As for the rest of the episode…I need to offer Francesca Bridgerton an apology. Throughout most of my recaps of Bridgerton this season, I have admittedly focused on Pen and Colin’s relationship. Despite the fact that Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) is Queen Charlotte’s diamond of the season, the Polin dynamic is the one that’s on everyone’s lips, right? And while Francesca is not the type to court attention or approval, I realize I’ve been doing the same thing that her own mother Violet is doing, focusing on the bigger, splashier relationship, while trying to figure out Francesca’s deal-slash-ignoring her. Turns out, here are perks of being a wallflower, but drawbacks exist as well.

In this episode, Francesca and John Stirling get engaged, and while Stirling is warmly embraced by the Bridgerton brothers and they share a celebratory night of drinking to accept him into the family, Violet Bridgerton is less enthused, because Francesca wants her mother to inform the Queen of her betrothal. This is sticky because Stirling wasn’t on the Queen’s radar when she picked out Lord Samadani to be Francesca’s love match, and Violet risks upsetting the Queen with the news. But worse still, Violet herself is unsure how she feels about quiet, unassuming Francesca’s love match with a man whose best attribute is his ability to sit quietly. Francesca calls her mother on this lack of support while they’re at the Mondrich’s ball, and for once, Violet Bridgerton doesn’t know the best way to handle her children. As intuitive as she is as a mom, Violet’s mind simply doesn’t work in the same way that Francesca’s does, and she doesn’t see the connection with Stirling.

Seeing that Violet is upset, Lady Danbury’s brother Lord Anderson tries to chase after her because they’ve been exchanging looks for days now, and Lady Danbury stops him. The whole time that Anderson has been staying with Danbury, it’s been something of a mystery as to why she holds a grudge against him, and the truth finally comes out when she accuses him of stealing her happiness, and she has no intention of letting him now steal her friend. So how exactly did her brother steal her happiness? By having a hand in forcing her to marry her often much-older husband, Lord Danbury. (Though their backstory was explained more in season one and in the Queen Charlotte prequel, as a refresher, her husband died after a brief and often violent and sexually abusive marriage.) Danbury holds her brother partially responsible for her traumatic fate, so it finally makes sense whey she’s trying to steer him away from her closest confidante, Violet. But also… Violet is grown, let that woman have some fun!

Bonus Bridgertons

• Over in Challengers-land, it turns out that Benedict’s new girlfriend Lady Tilley has another man in her life, we’ll call him Hot Paul, because his name is Paul and he’s hot, and she wants to either pit them against each other or have a threesome. Actually, both. At first Benedict is threatened by Paul, but when Tilley and Paul invite him into their bed, he’s clearly confused. As sexually progressive as the Bridgerton brothers seem to be on this show, for Benedict, a guy-guy-girl threesome was a Bridgerton too far and he walks out.
• “Ladies do not have dreams, they have husbands.” Portia Featherington’s conversation with Penelope about marriage and security was probably the most honest one they’ve ever had, and it’s clear that it helped Pen see her mother in a new light. I’m enjoying their new, non-antagonizing dynamic and the havoc it’s wreaking on Philippa and Prudence.
• I think (far too often) of that scene in Friends where Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship if finally revealed and everyone is trying to play it off like they don’t know, leading Phoebe to say, “They don’t know that we know they know we know.” That is currently the vibe of Eloise and Cressida’s relationship, since Cressida doesn’t know that Eloise knows the true identity of Lady Whistledown, but Eloise does know that everything Cressida says is a lie. It’s a real chess game over here.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.