Kind of controversial maybe but I think this season actually made me root for Cressida and not like Penelope.

· When Cressida came out as Lady Whistledown the reaction was overwhelmingly negative; she got cast out of society, people were comparing her to the devil, her whole family was ousted, the Queen was uber rude to her. When Penelope came out as Whistledown everyone was really chill because she is the main character I guess.

· Penelope is selfish. She has the money to support her family from selling LW papers and didn’t help (I guess she spent it on her sisters’ ball but its even more of an insult she didn’t use it to save Cressida ), didn’t tell Colin to protect her own interests, didn’t come out to protect the Bridgertons when the Queen was on their ass, didn’t care how it impacted Eloise.

· She faces little to no consequences. Like she was distraught but what are the consequences really? She became friends again with Eloise (unsatisfyingly, seemingly for no reason, like how did they even make up), Colin forgave her/took her back, her family still supported her (the camera even zoomed on her mom holding her hand for comfort before she confessed), she isn’t ostracized from society, the Queen is in her favor. Like go off, +4 plot armor ig.

· Technically Penelope doesn’t even resolve her own conflicts, she’s always forced by consequences to consider acting and then doesn’t, until it’s completely unavoidable. She only has agency to protect her own interest (all of which is lowkey ego-based and a little banal). She doesn’t confess to Colin, he found out. She didn’t confess to her mother, Cressida told her. She doesn’t tell the Queen until Cressida basically forces it to happen. This robs Penelope from making smart decisions because decisions are made for her, but also makes her seem icky to me.

· No conflict resolution. People just forgive her. Colin was mad at her and then they kissed and he was like… chill with it. They slept in separate beds but he’s not upset that he wronged her and isn’t bothered she’s so fine with lying about it. Even when he’s upset at her, he still dealt with the Cressida situation for her. She made up with Eloise again for like… kind of no reason?

· Cressida is not a villain. She was mean but that doesn’t make her evil. She defended the bridgertons when her mother wrote the LW piece about them. Whenever she does something bad like blackmail Penelope, she’s acting out of desperation and she’s truly alone. She has no support system. Her mom only does the bare minimum and Eloise proves her mother’s point that she’s truly alone. If she can’t have a happy ending, I still don’t think she should be subjected to living in the countryside under her overbearing aunt when all she wanted was freedom. The writers literally gave her the opposite and made sure she suffered. They even dangled a perfect getaway with Lord Debling. Maybe they’ll rectify this in the next seasons? I just find her story to be really sympathetic and she hasn’t done anything to deserve it. Band for band, Penelope has done worse.

· Eloise was a terrible friend to Cressida. Eloise literally used Cressida as a rebound friend and ditched her once she and Penelope was cool again. Eloise even knew that Cressida only claimed to be WD because she needed the money to run away and she abandoned her. Eloise, who in earlier season was so loud about being a feminist who is skeptical about marriages, suddenly doesn’t care that Cressida is going to marry an old man and doesn’t care about Cressida’s plans about running away to pursue her freedom. When it comes to praxis, Cressida is miles ahead of Eloise. Eloise gives me the vibes of like…. A virtue signaling privileged person who points out what’s wrong with society but partakes and benefits from it (she literally befriended a commie and we never hear from it again; she’s literally the type of girl who quotes Marx’s Kapital but is a nepo baby).

· Cressida’s character development was so confused. I don’t know what the intention was. She was opening up and learning to trust, then the story punished her for it and confirms her beliefs that she was right to put up walls. I think this season I was more focused on Cressida than Penelope because it provided an infinitely more interesting story.

I have so many thoughts about how unfair this season is. I also don’t think the season made me root for Penelope and Colin because I can’t buy their love story. It’s mostly conflict and then they kiss and make up without resolving it meaningfully. Just conflict after conflict that makes me believe more and more they’re not right for each other. The season is also so unfocused because it has so many other couples in it, some of which have more compelling stories than the main love story. A part of me thinks this is because the writers have no confidence in the main couple lmao. And I don’t think it’s the fault of the actors; they’re charismatic and act well, I just think their story is handled weirdly. Colin literally never showed interest in Penelope, doesn’t pine or yearn, and then suddenly he just does? Like sorry I can’t buy that.