May 16, 2024 is a special day, dear readers, because after two long years, fans with a Netflix subscription are now, finally, able to watch the first half of Bridgerton Season 3! Oh, sure, during the many months after the #Kanthony filled longing of Season 2, we’ve been teased with looks at the glow up of Penelope and Colin, and titillated with talk of stars Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton hanging around naked on set, but now…NOW we get to see what all of their effort and our patience was worth. Well, critics have seen the new episodes, and while they all agree that Coughlan steals the show, they also have similar thoughts about what’s not so great.
What Are Critics Saying About Nicola Coughlan And Bridgerton Season 3?
Of all the Bridgerton main characters across the two full seasons we’ve seen so far, it’s possible that no one has deserved to have her love story told more than Penelope Featherington. Dear ol’ Pen’s love for Colin Bridgerton has been longstanding, but the wallflower has only been seen as a dear friend to him. But, Penelope and Colin are the main couple of Season 3, and critics seem to agree that star Nicola Coughlan steals the show.
Kelly Lawler of USA Today thinks that while newer seasons “will never recreate the magic of its first” the third outing ranks higher than Season 2, and gives the bulk of the credit to the Big Mood actress, saying:
Season 3 is better. It's funnier, the sex is more frequent (if not hotter), and it makes Coughlan a bona fide star…The skill in this genre is titillating and intriguing the audience along the way to happily ever after. The burden of that task falls squarely on Coughlan, and she carries the season in her delicately gloved hands…Coughlan is immensely talented, but the poor woman shouldn't have to be working this hard. Newton may have a good smoldering look, but in most scenes, he gives her absolutely nothing. Less than nothing. Coughlan may as well be putting on a one-woman show, but I'd still buy a ticket.
The review also notes that it’s the Derry Girls star who “makes Penelope and Colin worth your emotional investment” with “sheer will and a lot of meaningful glances,” and thinks that dedicated fans of the series will definitely find lots to love in it, despite some overall issues (which we’ll dive into later).
Meanwhile, Alyssa Mora of IGN had an even more favorable view of the episodes available to screen, and noted that they felt the chemistry between and performances of both Coughland and Newton led to them “beautifully portraying the knife’s edge balance on which Penelope and Colin’s relationship sits” and saw them “excel” at being the main couple. In addition:
When Coughlan and Newton do share scenes alone, their chemistry is giddy and surprisingly playful. These episodes remind us that Penelope and Colin are lifelong friends, something that’s gotten lost after two seasons of unrequited pining. Coughlan channels her comedic chops and Newton brings more internal life to Colin than we’ve seen in seasons previous.
The critic also said that the first half of the season “nails” the one aspect of this story they were most looking forward to — “portraying Penelope’s desire” — and that Pen’s “pleasure has its own breathtaking crescendo” which “is a stirring emotional precursor to Part 2” of the season. David Opie of Empire was also high on Coughlan, and said:
It's finally the turn of Penelope to take center stage, a change that's most welcome indeed. Coughlan has always been a scene-stealer and she continues in that fashion here, as Penelope begins to prioritize her own happiness over the lives of others.
However, even with the glory of Coughlan’s performance, there are a few things bugging critics about Bridgerton Season 3.
What Critics Are Saying Isn’t So Great About Bridgerton Season 3
It’s incredibly rare for everyone who checks out a particular series to love every single part of it, and the reviews I looked at all put the spotlight on a few things being not so great about Bridgerton’s third season, even leading Opie to add that “fun is surprisingly lacking” this time around.
One big complaint about Season 2 was that there weren’t enough sexytimes in it, and while we’d certainly heard that the sex scenes in this sexually explicit Netflix project had increased for Season 3, it sounds like all that boinking might not result in the fulfillment of viewer needs. According to USA Today “loading up the sex and nudity” this time around wasn’t the best decision:
New executive producer Jess Brownell and the writers seem to come from the Game of Thrones school of ‘any sex makes a scene better,’ without thinking too hard about what makes sex compelling in a drama. There are too many half-naked prostitutes and not enough romantic tension-building.
Empire’s critic concurred, even saying that the now-married Kate and Anthony have more sexual tension “than there is in Penelope and Colin's entire relationship,” and continued:
The same goes for Colin's lifeless threesomes, crammed in to keep the show's signature lust intact while the inevitable will they/won't they between him and Penelope drags on. Everyone knows exactly where their story is going...That might not have been so much of an issue with a chance to binge the season as a whole, but as it stands, this new split does Bridgerton no favors, with a severe lack of surprises heading into Part 2.
Many also said that the first part of the season feels “overstuffed,” with IGN’s critic adding that much of it still comes off as “simultaneously inconsequential” because the audience can tell the progression of the main romance is being held back, while we tiptoe through numerous other romantic stories that aren’t given enough time to carry any real depth.
This brings me to one of the most surprising complaints that people seem to have with the first four episodes, and that’s that the broken friendship between Penelope and Eloise is really the heart of the season, not the burgeoning romance of Colin and Pen. Vox's Aja Romano said "the resulting angst [from Pen and Eloise's ruptured friendship] yields the best season yet," while THR’s Angie Han said that this is the first season where “the formula feels more familiar than thrilling,” and added:
The most poignant love story is the one between Penelope and Colin’s little sister Eloise, childhood besties whose bond was destroyed last season…Yet neither woman seems able to get the other off her mind. When Penelope unveils her makeover at a party, it’s Eloise, not Colin, who can’t tear her eyes away. When Penelope sets her sights on Colin, it’s Eloise, not [new character Lord Debling], who reacts with the anguish of a jilted lover. It’s enough to make one wonder what a Bridgerton bold enough to break from Julia Quinn’s source material could have been.
It’s hard to deny that the praise and problems that have been noted for the third season of Bridgerton are intriguing, which might just make watching even more exciting than fans were expecting it to be.
