Season 3, Episode 5: 'Her, I saw straight away.'
The introverted John Sterling, Earl of Kilmartin, struggled to verbally express his feelings while courting Francesca in Bridgerton’s third season. He nearly fumbled their romance at one point when he walked away from their chat mid-sentence. Later, he made up for it by revealing he had the music she critiqued rearranged to her liking.
He won us over in Episode 5 with a seemingly innocuous story that packed one heck of punch. In conversation with Kate, Anthony, Francesca and Violet, Lord Kilmartin relayed the tale of the “suspicious streak of mud” that had made its way into his house.
“Even as servants tried to clean it, more spots appeared as if from phantom. As I reached the end of my rope, I finally looked down to discover the phantom was, in fact, me chasing the mud with my own boots,” he explained.
“All that to say, sometimes I miss what is right in front of me. But not Miss Francesca. Her, I saw straight away.”
For a man of few words, he sure knew how to use them.
These are all pretty great scenes (epic declarations of love are pretty much the whole point of this show, after all). But this seems like a very reasonable order, if they had to be ranked.
Ehhhhh……I’d flip 2 and 3. I enjoyed all of these stories, but a man telling a woman that he loves every part of her should be ranked higher. Especially while at the same time falling on his sword, dropping his ego, and admitting his envy. Then rounding it off with a declaration that he’s happy with his only purpose in life being to love her. And, this was the second love declaration.
I’d agree that Colin’s declaration is the more eloquent and meaningful, but that’s because it’s also more rational and thoughtfully composed.
Anthony’s confession is messy and desperately passionate, which I think gives it a justifiable advantage.
Really a matter of personal preference – do you place more weight on the sentiments expressed, or the feeling behind their delivery?
I think I lean more towards the sentiment. The article did ask which resonates with you. That one resonates more. I love all of them, but they’re all different because the characters that are involved are different. I also take into account the toxicity of things going on in the relationship overall when these declarations were made. So as passionate as Anthony’s declaration was, it was also a bit absurd, aggressive, and layered in this ridiculous plan to marry Edwina. Like you said, it’s all personal preference.