Bridgerton basically lived on Netflix’s Top 10 List for months after it was released back in December, and fans have been chomping at the bit for more of Shondaland’s scandalous period drama. While there’s definitely more of the series in our future, fans may want to shift their eyes over to Amazon Prime as Lily James’ new BBC mini series The Pursuit of Love dropped to the streaming service, and it is sounding like the show may be just what Bridgerton fans need while painfully awaiting Season 2.
Reviewers of the newly-dropped The Pursuit of Love are noticing some major similarities to Bridgerton, and it totally doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Yohana Desta of Vanity Fair has noticed that the two series have a number of things in common at first glance, and suggests that The Pursuit of Love is exactly the kind of show Bridgerton fans “get swept up in” if they check it out:
Those waiting for Bridgerton’s second season are precisely the type to get swept up in a new offering about a lovesick, high-society heroine: The Pursuit of Love….On the surface, it bears plenty of similarities to Bridgerton—both have godly narrators, bullish male figures, modern music, high-society scandals, and above all else, a devotion to romance.
While the modernization of a period drama is not a totally new thing, hearing a classical rendition of a Taylor Swift song on Bridgerton was certainly iconic for the show. Fans who have had the song on repeat awaiting more hybrid bops in Season 2 can expect some similar of the out-of-period touches in The Pursuit of Love. The Chicago Sun Times’ Richard Roeper describes the new BBC series as a snack in preparation of the meal that is Bridgerton’s Season 2 for fans, saying just this:
The Pursuit of Love is a delicious albeit minor snack that will at least temporarily appease the appetites of the legions of Bridgerton fans awaiting Season 2. While nowhere near as lush and vibrant and sexy as that Netflix sensation, this cheeky and often darkly funny series features some of the same touches, e.g, the dialogue has sprinkles of anachronistic touches, and we hear the sounds of British acts such as New Order, Bryan Ferry and T. Rex on the soundtrack.
While both series take place in another time, Pursuit of Love gives us a look into the time before World War 2, over 100 years after the time that Bridgerton is set. For those who loved the Netflix series for the elaborate sets that elegantly transport the viewer through time, they’ll love the same about Pursuit of Love - just with a different period. Zoomer’s Nathalie Atkinson describes a different kind of elegant in her review of the new mini series:
Swap Bridgerton’s stylized wisteria-dripping Georgian mansions and ballroom set pieces for flocked velvet wallpapers, tables laden with cream teas and earthy country living and you’re smack in the middle of The Pursuit of Love.
It’s clear there will be many reminders of Bridgerton for fans who catch Lily James in the new period piece, but there is also enough of a difference to keep fans plenty interested in the new story of The Pursuit of Love. If anything, Amazon's new miniseries will satiate the ravenous Bridgerton fans as they wait for more word from Lady Whistledown.
Besides, the Bridgerton world won't be back with new episodes any time soon, as the show only started production on Season 2 in the late spring, and recently ran into the same kind of delay that kept The Witcher off Netflix for far longer than anticipated. The Pursuit of Love could whet the appetite of fans dying for a similar kind of period drama, even if the Bridgerton characters won't be in the mix.
