Warning: The following contains spoilers for Bridgerton, now available on Netflix.
Bridgerton‘s first season had a few moments that emphasized the sadness that comes with romance. In Season 2, however, the characters’ motivations are based almost entirely on how they process death and mourning, echoing Simon’s development throughout Season 1. As Anthony and Kate get closer and the viewers are clued into how they function in their families and in society, the show pulls back the curtain to reveal why the characters feel so unattached to the concept of love in a world that demands it.
Given the development of the queen of England’s mourning throughout the show, the other characters almost have to follow her lead, and they most assuredly do. As love blooms, so too does trauma — and the many ways people process. Specifically, the characters in Season 2 of Bridgerton take trauma and mourning on as they try to evolve and find love, all within the span of a single season of courtship.
The Bridgerton, Sharma and Featherington Families All Lose A Father
Bridgerton manages a bit of a reverse-Disney curse, wherein nearly every father figure in the show has died or become excised from the series. The death of Simon’s father and the deathbed promise he made was the origin for the issues between the two primary protagonists of Season 1. At the end of the season, Lord Featherington died, leaving the Featheringtons, the other major family in Season 1, without a father figure.
Season 2 ups the stakes, revisiting the death of the original Lord Bridgerton while also featuring Kate Sharma’s loss of both her father and her mother, and Simon’s absence caused by Regé-Jean Page choosing not to return to the show (even though the change allowed Daphne to shine). As such, Anthony has to navigate his feelings alone until faced with a kindred spirit in Kate.
The Bridgertons Mourn Differently – And Separately
Though these losses are sad for the characters, they bring out some of the best story beats of the series. Anthony has to deal with the trauma of seeing his father die from something he was powerless to stop and having to immediately run his entire family’s large estate. What’s more, unlike the Featheringtons, Anthony loved his father, as did his mother. Watching her in pain after losing her husband made him see love as an incredible pain that can break a person.
He believes this with good reason, as Lady Bridgerton is indeed broken for quite some time after her husband’s death — and resentful of the fact that it’s Anthony at her side, and not her husband. Even though the present day Lady Bridgerton is a loving and kind matriarch, the mourning one was cold and pained, by her own admission barely putting on the pretense of leaving her bedroom.
Trauma Separates And Unites Kanthony, And Everyone Else
Anthony and Simon both had to fight through the trauma left by their dead fathers. Anthony promised to never marry someone he loved. Simon promised never to have children. Kate decided, too, that love and happiness were inconvenient, whilst securing a fortune was necessary to live the life her family wanted. Grief ultimately led to them losing faith in love in one form or another until they finally found someone who pulled them out of their pain.
This is one of the ways in which Bridgerton excels at tackling trauma and grief, as the feeling is sometimes quiet, often long-lived and deeply, debilitatingly felt by those whom it affects. It is also best conquered with love. Bridgerton is certainly about romance, but more than this, it is about love and what it can do to pull people out of the depths of mournful despair.
Bridgerton Season 2 Is Now Streaming on Netflix.
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