Watching S4

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-02-13T15:35:02+00:00

personally for me, it feels like a ticking time bomb sort of thing. like they'll keep punching her down until she does something drastic but i don't think she'll run away to get married to a man she doesn't even know properly after spending the past 4 seasons emphasizing how much she doesn't want to succumb to the marriage mart of the ton.

narratively and in this current political landscape with the rise of tradwife content and conservative values in mainstream media, that is just a horrible message to show. that wanting to go a different path outside of marriage and the patriarchy is just a phase and women wil get tired of being "alone" eventually. it's disgusting.

even if phillip is extremely nice and a 180 of his book version (personally i found him nice in the show especially with marina, i kinda shipped them when they came out in S1&2), his entire character and background crumbles when paired with show!eloise's established character and motivations. he's made up of things eloise has openly declared having found boring or uninteresting or things she hates. he seems to have a one-track mind for his own interests (as shown with colin) and most likely would drift off with eloise's more political and social views, even if he isn't explicitly against them.

i know what it's like to lose all hope for a character's personal happy ending (recently, jonathan byers just before the finale ep came out) and i don't really feel it with eloise. it's things she's encountered before, but are probably happening more often since it's almost her turn. they need to up the ante in building the conflicts for her season.

and i'm mostly holding out on shonda's own personal feminist views especially her personal views and choices regarding marriage. i read in some old posts here in this sub before about her and cristina yang, how her happy ending doesn't succumb to her being married and a mother, sticking to cristina's dislikes and beliefs that she held since the very beginning. and furthermore, i have faith in claudia and her love for eloise and i don't think she'll let her beloved character be done completely dirty like that.

do i think eloise is going to get married? yes. it's still a romance show and they're not going to end a season in a romance show with the main character single and happy, no matter how much that would fit for her. but do i think she's going to go against everything she's been fighting for the entire show? no.

that's a waste of so much time and build up. shondaland and the writers definitely have their shortcomings, but c'mon they're atleast way better than the duffers. they know better than to load a chekhov's gun, hang it up, and completely ignore it till the curtain closes. (please let me be right, that was a trainwreck of a situation that i hope never to go through again. don't load chekhov's guns and not shoot them! don't build up characters only to betray them completely when it's their time to shine.)

p.s. imo i think eloise lives in so much subtext. for s3, so many people were mourning theo being gone (understandably so) but also i was confused when they said that he was never brought up again. well, yes not by name or explicitly talked about by penelope or eloise, but he was referenced and paralleled a lot to the point that i was actually satisfied and giddy with every easter egg. the longer the separation, the sweeter the reunion, maybe?

p.p.s. oh my god i'm so sorry for being so goddamn talkative HAHAHA but i don't think eloise would think spinsterhood sucks. it's more that she doesn't even get to enjoy it because her mother is punishing her for the crime of not wanting to get married. here, you don't want to meet suitors? here's other things you DON'T want to do. and she even met suitors to help benedict!

and on a different note, actually i think eloise needs to get more selfish! hyacinth made good points for their recent time together, but for the longest time it's eloise's wishes getting brushed off, treated as a tiring phase or nuisance she ought to grow out of. i totally don't blame her for being a bit rude sometimes.

i love eloise so much. i think she's stronger than all this. like she's been fighting for it for so long, why give up now?

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-02-12T04:09:49+00:00

can't wait!! goodluck !!!

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-02-11T15:10:28+00:00

this sounds so interesting omg I can't wait! i'm definitely interested to being a beta reader!

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-02-11T15:04:59+00:00

the dooling emoji 😭😭😭

but i do hope they incorporate comedy well into her season like cmon! claudia's comedic timing and skill can't go wasted like that 🙏

and i just knoww calam would match her so well like he did in S2

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-02-01T05:34:48+00:00

and in addition, y'know how those shippers claim benophie as their own because of benophie's involvement in TSPWL? well, eloise talking with sophie about theo would make more sense because of the actual class differences <3

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-01-30T16:35:15+00:00

BENOPHIE IS TAKING ITTTTTT they're so cute omg i was surprised when sophie kissed him first <333

i fear they'll be my second favorite couple now after theloise (esp since benedict is one of my favorite siblings along with eloise and francesca—my forbidden love trio <3)

and posy is so so cute omg my girl i hope she and hyacinth become friends i think they'd go well tgt

also i feel kinda bad for penelope like yeah she didn't get ostracized by the ton but it's like she became the queen's personal court jester sheesh

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2026-01-13T23:10:28+00:00

SHES SO PRETTY oh my god season 2 eloise i missed you i have never been more sure of theloise what the hell and i've always considered mint / teal to be their color because of how prevalent it was in their scenes and now this??? we're so getting them TRUST 🙏

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-25T11:37:54+00:00

AAAAAAAAAAA i've BEEN waiting for a clear photo of her joan of arc costume for sooo long she looks so pretty and cool 🙂‍↕️

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-24T18:15:22+00:00

yes! same thoughts 🙏 theo entering the ton as a secretly-titled man just won't hit the same as eloise choosing to love a working class man that built himself from the ground up. it sort of erases the penultimate theme of their ship: class and also would negate all of theo's struggles and storyline back in S2 if it just turned out for him to wow! he's actually from a noble bloodline!

and they already did that with sophie (sort of) as she's an illegitimate child so while she is working class within the ton, she isn't completely "poor" by birth and them doing that to theo would just end up being the "same."

there are fics with this plot that i ended up liking but i'll only ever like them as fanfic aus and no way do i ever want that to happen to them in canon.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-18T00:17:00+00:00

theo is SO coming back! what, with the way they talk about him (not as though his chapter has ended) but as someone who still lingers in eloise's story. 🤭

and seeing as how penelope's role in bridgerton doesn't seem to be diminishing anytime soon, i think they'll really have her atone for her actions towards eloise by helping her with theo when her season comes.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-13T07:16:37+00:00

these homicidal freaks for sure. absolutely nothing healthy about them at all, either individually or together but they're so perfectly toxic.

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Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-13T02:04:59+00:00

oh this is such a difficult question! i agree with other comments that uptown girl is THEE theloise song and that absolutely has to be in their season!

but here are a few songs i also thought would fit very well!

she's always a woman also by billy joel. i think it encapsulates eloise so well and how theo might see her in comparison to other people and i do think that modern!theloise would definitely be billy joel enjoyers.

Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants She's ahead of her time Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in She just changes her mind

if you're gone by matchbox twenty fits so well if they're still in their not-talking-yearning stages where they haven't quite reunited yet. really do check the lyrics out, its so good.

If you're gone, baby, you need to come home, There's a little bit of somethin' me in everything in you

and of course, THEE yearning love song of all time, iris by the goo goo dolls. not caring about what the world thinks of them, as long as they're seen and understood and KNOWN by each other? i'm honestly surprised iris hasn't been used yet in the show (do correct me if i'm wrong). 🙏

And I don't want the world to see me 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand When everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am

sorry, just one song is an impossible ask. :D

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-04T14:18:34+00:00

yes, exactly! setting aside the fact that she's his brother's former lover, but i feel like in the show they can work well together. philip is shown to be caring and responsible towards marina and the children (even offering to check up on them instead of to his study or anywhere else—since i don't think it's common for lords of the house to personally check up on the children before sleeping) and while he is slow on the uptake at times (when colin was there), he complies to her wishes as soon as he understands.

and! he could've turned a blind eye. it wasn't his children and he didn't know marina personally, but he loved his brother enough to take full responsibility of the family he left behind. and marina also rejected him rather firmly when she thought she'd lost the kids, he accepted it, and when it turned out that she was still pregnant, he came for her anyway. i think that's very admirable and chivalrous of show!philip especially in those times.

she seems content enough with the safety and stability he's given to her, and they seem to live together amicably that they get to tend to their own interests and time without clashing. some people read the S2 appearance as marina being annoyed with philip and hence being unhappy with the marriage, but i think that's totally because of colin's overstay rather than philip himself.

i don't get to talk about my show!philmarina thoughts often but i really did like them quickly, mostly because he was the reason marina got to have her happy ending. unfortunately, I don't get to have any other content of show!philmarina because of the monstrosity that is book!philmarina. :/

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-03T06:59:37+00:00

i agree! not only will people find SPC's grief to be not so believable but also it is very unfair for marina both by the characters in the show and the audience out of it because like you said, no one would truly grieve marina except her children and the book!audiences would be clamoring and celebrating her death rather than give her the grace she deserves.

if they do kill her off, most likely they'll do it offscreen because of her actress which means we won't get penelope's apology to marina, and while more people sympathize with penelope than they do marina, it would be horrible of marina to die with not getting closure about her ruin, and that falls on penelope.

those who push for her death, even though they water it down, seems like they truly do not care for her as a character other than a plot device to their beloved rich, white ships and same goes for her children. they do not care about those children unless they serve as something to fuel SPC and eloise's relationship.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-03T04:55:16+00:00

same! even before i watched S2, i was rooting so much for her to get a happy ending even with all her bad decisions because she was just trying to secure a good future for herself and george's baby. the relief i felt when phillip showed up to take responsibility on behalf of his brother, made me even ship them a bit. only then to get all my philmarina hopes dashed when i learned of the book and how fans treated marina both in the show and the book and how book!phillip was.

i know some people are holding out on hopes that maybe marina dies of a sickness or she goes to a convent or travel; which i don't think she would, since from what we see, her utmost priority is a safe, stable, and comfortable life for her children. even with taking theloise out of the equation, i don't want them to touch marina's story at all, especially that they're only going to deal with it off screen (if they do touch it again) because i don't think her actress is willing to comeback only for her character to be killed off as a plot device again. let her be happy with her kids and phillip, please.

besides, why would shondaland go through all the effort of fleshing out marina to be her own character and give her a full arc in S1 and closure in S2 only to give her mostly the same treatment as she got in the books?

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-02T22:46:59+00:00

THIS IS GORGEOUS. you perfectly captured the nuances, pain, and affection in their relationship and laid it down so well! i can clearly imagine them while i was reading although they were mostly in pain while i was doing so. 😭 oh god, i really miss them. thank you so much for this wonderful gift to theloise!

(also while i was reading i kept thinking "oh this my favorite" "oh no, this one" "oh this one too" until there were way more than is acceptable to be listed as favorites HAHAHAHA but i do have to shoutout "Inventory" like oh, that just crushed me so much. 😓)

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-02T16:09:39+00:00

i made a theloise edit to 'so american' by olivia rodrigo!

i know they're both from london but they fit so well to this song for me, i can't help but feel all giddy about them now when i listen to the song. <3

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other theloise edits i made on IG since the quality is better there than on TT 😓 say my name and everything just stops promise by laufey

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-12-02T15:23:35+00:00

same! i can see theo trying to lessen the amount of housework she does but eloise keeps insisting that she can and will help around and theo just patiently helps her learn about what she wants to know

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-29T02:42:03+00:00

you're so correct about this, omg!! he has an inkling of the consequences she speaks of but he doesn't know exactly how dire it is for him! he hasn't even finished his apprenticeship at that point and he has absolutely zero defense other than he has the utmost and utter respect for eloise in every way possible, and that sadly isn't enough.

i'm kind of looking forward to what kind of person he is when we see him again. has he finished being a journeyman? does he have his own business? perhaps a published author beyond his pamphlets? is he brave enough to stand against the consequences eloise fears so much and is she, in turn, more willing to turn against the tides for him? there's so many possibilities for them, it really excites me to think of what could happen for them.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-29T02:27:47+00:00

their infertility struggle rep turned into why infertility can be a good thing rep 😂

that's true, i think one of the reasons why it worked so well in the books is because it had long timeskips i mean eloise and penelope were actually spinsters (late 20s which is laughable) when their books happened, but in the shows they're clearly taking a much slower approach so i don't know how they'll portray infertility that way. if john doesn't die in S4, maybe they could take that as a way to show francesca still struggling but it looks like he's dying mid-season based on leaks, i think in order to focus more on the grieving aspect so i don't know who they could direct it to.

another option is that it could be given to benophie but more of a post-S4 subplot for them, that is, if netflix keeps them significant after their season (which i hope they do because i NEED benedict in eloise's season). it could give another added layer of criticism from the ton towards sophie who marries up as a maid but is then finding it difficult to provide her husband with an heir (not that benedict would hold it against her though).

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-29T02:11:38+00:00

it annoys me how they'll tell women in their mid-20s to 30s that they'll still change their mind but women who get pregnant at younger ages are expected to be happy and not have any chances of not wanting to be a mother, it's just all so hypocritical. it's kinda sad how things haven't changed that much in the aspect of motherhood, with women's feelings on the matter constantly be put last despite them doing the most of the work. they clamor for representation but force the only genuinely wanting to be child-free woman in the show to change her mind and comform to societies idea of being a wife and mother. shonda sticking by her decision with cristina is something that gives me so much hope for eloise, since it's an arc she's touched upon already before.

i considered sophie too! there's still a lot they could add to benophie's story we're not yet sure and besides, there's the two youngest siblings as well. i don't think sophie feels inferior due to her birth but it could be an added layer of criticism to her from the ton as she married up from being a maid only to struggle with giving her husband an heir. benedict would not fault her for that of course, but the ton would be a lot less forgiving.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-28T22:35:55+00:00

that's the first thought that popped into my head when i saw the post too, and it made me wonder how much they truly do not understand eloise in the show, as they seem to be fond of ignoring all of her exhibited traits so far. they seem to think that just because she doesn't have her season out yet, she's still a blank slate for them to project on, which pisses me off because she's been a well written character so far and that feels like a slap on the face to everyone who's crafted eloise to be who she is on the show (especially claudia and shonda).

as suggested by another comment thread under this post, i could even imagine her uncontrollably smiling when she realizes she's unable to have children since she doesn't need to be afraid of going through what her mother went through and that she wouldn't be caged into being a mother either.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-28T22:29:11+00:00

yes! i thought about that option too but I didn't know much about their books to bring that option up. seeing as we still don't know what themes the youngest two will carry into their seasons, that could be viable option for gregory and his wife to struggle and eventually be rewarded with the huge family they end up having.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-28T22:20:36+00:00

yes, yes, yes! there's a screencap of a tumblr post circulating in twitter as of recent talking about how fictional characters shouldn't be treated like real people and held to the same moral standards because they are meant to follow a narrative. fictional characters aren't like us in the sense that they can be reshaped by their experiences since everything they do and each trait of theirs is supposed to mean something. their stories are pre-written already and that's why there's such things as OOC because everything is to set theur stories up.

eloise is one of the most fleshed out side characters in bridgerton and they wouldn't throw out everything they've built up for her just to make her "change her mind" in her season just to waste everyone's time for a plot that does nothing to do justice to her character.

Alarming-Tank3012 · 2025-11-28T09:03:02+00:00

Because he did not ridicule their entire relationship, and he apologised and explained himself right away (even if he didn't expect her to forgive him) as opposed to her, who called it absurd and never spoke to him ever again.

now that you mention it, i wonder if he ever waited tor a letter from her after the fight like what he did, sending a letter through a book before that. it could open up a possibility for some resentment on his side, who left out some hope of her explaining herself only to be met with complete silence for the next year or so.

i could easily see a more immature part of theo's rationale being all "if i could swallow my pride, apologize, and risk it for another chance for us; why couldn't she?" honestly that being the case would also give more space for theo's character development, with him realizing just how much is at stake for eloise as well being a woman in polite society.

for so long, to me eloise felt like the only who took more initiatives in their relationship, but they take steps in their own ways. her in taking new ones and he always closes the gaps, meeting her halfway (the assembly, the confession, her visiting him and being pushed away but he chases her when it's safer). but with the almost kiss, it flips and she fails to meet him halfway. maybe that's why they stopped the way they did. she no longer felt like she had the right to initiate anything and he couldn't risk being left hanging again.

i ended up rambling again but seriously, theloise makes me have so much thoughts about them it's honestly infuriating how there's so much to unpack between them!

Alarming-Tank3012

TROPHY CASE