‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: A Recipe for Disaster

Rejoice, gentle readers, for we are back at last with Season 2 of Bridgerton. This season, we take our cues from the second book in Julia Quinn’s romance novel series, The Viscount Who Loved Me, and shift our focus to the eldest sibling, Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). You may remember him as the jackass who tried to marry Daphne off to the wretched Nigel Berbrooke and who handled his affair with opera singer Siena Rosso very poorly, indeed. When we last saw Anthony, he was pledging to excise love from the process of finding a wife, and now, in the season of 1814, he is determined to wed, though not to a woman he actually loves. This episode, titled “Capital R Rake” after the way Lady Whistledown (once again voiced by Julie Andrews) describes Anthony, is written by Chris Van Dusen and directed by Tricia Brock.

If there is a theme for Bridgerton Season 2, perhaps it is agendas, as this episode establishes multiple competing agendas across the ton. There is Anthony’s agenda, of course, to find a “suitable” bride in as bloodless and emotionless a method as possible. There is Lady Featherington (Polly Walker), cash-strapped yet still scheming to maintain control even as the new Lord Featherington (Rupert Young) is due to arrive any moment. There is also Lady Danbury’s agenda, as she is sponsoring two debutantes for the season, the daughters of an old friend. Lady Mary Sharma (Shelley Conn) has returned to London after leaving years ago following her own rather scandalous marriage—she “married down” in the language of the day, the daughter of an earl “settling” for a mere clerk, who already had another child! 

With the errant Mr. Sharma deceased, Lady D (Adjoa Andoh) is stepping in to sponsor the Sharmas in London, including elder daughter Kate (Simone Ashley) and younger daughter Edwina (Charithra Chandran). Lady D would like to get both Sharma sisters settled, but Kate has her own agenda. Due to cruel stipulations of Lady Mary’s parents, Edwina marry to a man of the nobility, and it MUST be Edwina, because she is their granddaughter, not Kate. (Book readers, brace yourselves, because Kate’s motivation to invest so much in Edwina’s marriage prospects is only the first significant change from the book.)

More agendas abound, though. The queen (Golda Rosheuvel) is unimpressed by the season’s crop of debutantes until Edwina’s charm and a frankly unsubtle push from Lady D prompts her to declare Edwina “her diamond” of the season. But Lady Whistledown wonders if the whole “diamond” thing isn’t a bit stupid, and if women should be judged for more than just their smiles and dancing skills. Eloise (Claudia Jessie) is as fidgety and uncomfortable as ever in her own skin, but she has also discovered the proto-feminist writings of Mary Wollstonecraft during the off-season and is now politically engaged and less interested in ton gossip. Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) is a little stung by her friend’s sudden indifference, and this pushes her to use her pen as Lady W to essentially declare a contest with the queen, to find more substance in the women of the ton. The pressure is now on Edwina to not just marry well enough to satisfy her grandparents, but to justify the queen’s interest in her. Meanwhile, Newton just wants to be a Very Good Boy and get lots of pats and maybe drool on Lady D’s chair.

All these agendas establish our main characters at cross-purposes, and Kate, particularly, seems to have a truth problem further complicating matters. It is understandable that Kate wants to protect Edwina from the callous demands her grandparents have made, to give her a chance to find a love match among the ton, but Lady D is also right that Kate keeping secrets from her sister isn’t a good look. She should be honest, even if that honesty is difficult or painful. But Kate is overprotective, and obviously isn’t going to do that. Equally obvious, though, is that she and Anthony have an instant connection and mutual interest as strong as their mutual dislike.

From their first unofficial meeting on horseback, to their final moments at Lady D’s ball, Anthony is captivated, and Kate is not indifferent. But Kate has her agenda, and it doesn’t involve her falling for a stuck-up rake of a lord, and the spark Anthony feels for Kate is exactly the kind of emotion he’s trying to avoid. But the heart’s is the greatest agenda of all, and it’s clear whatever Kate and Anthony may intend for themselves, their hearts have another plan. The stage is set, the players have all been introduced, intentions have been stated, and the gossip and the games of the ton are underway. Competing agendas, a dash of dishonesty—this is a recipe for disaster. 

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Sarah Marrs is a film critic and the deputy editor of LaineyGossip.com, and a programmer for the Chicago Critics Film Festival. She also has bylines at Pajiba, SYFY Fangrrls, and Consequence of Sound. She can be yelled at on Twitter @Cinesnark. Sometimes she goes places and does things.