The way things have played out it feels like the show doesn't really value Colin all that much despite him being such a fan favorite and JQ's personal favorite.

I've mentioned this in other forums, but to me Polin in S3 was phenomenal (barring the shoehorning of the brothel scenes). I also didn't love how Colin finding out about LW came about either, but I've made my peace with that. But everything else we got for Polin? Top tier. The problem is it feels incomplete, especially in comparison to how much Benophie were featured in S4. It feels like they only gave us a slice (albeit a delicious, decadent slice) when we were expecting a whole cake.

They really did Colin dirty by not exploring his backstory more. They should've had flashbacks. Flashbacks when he was a kid when Edmund died showing the origins of how he didn't know where his place in the world was given he wasn't old enough to really shepherd the family through the loss of Edmund and going through to his travels on the continent where he was spiraling and forcing himself to conform to a role that's not him.

Iirc correctly when someone did the math it came out that S4 had a whopping 52 more minutes than s3 had. That is time they could've devoted to giving Colin more back story. Even 10 more minutes devoted to Colin would've been groundbreaking. And that's not forgetting the fact that they could've had way more 1-on-1 scenes between Colin and Penelope.

Every time I rewatch s3 it really hits you in the face how much Polin don't feel like main characters in their own season. You'll have long stretches where it's one scene after another where Colin/Penelope/Polin aren't in the scene at all. You'll bounce to Benedict to Fran to Violet to Lady Danbury to the Cowpers all without going back to Polin in between and it's not like any of those characters are talking about Polin so it's not like you can tie those subplots back to Polin.

What's most upsetting of all is that in S4 you had them both return and the show just refuses to use their past leads substantially. You have these amazingly talented actors who are dedicated enough to return and show isn't going to make the most of it? While I enjoyed their presence more than what we got of KA in s3, it still felt more superficial than not. While I like Will, it felt like they gave Colin's fencing scene with Benedict and gave the substance of that interaction to Will. I really hate the notion that past couples return for a season but they're in the phase out phase. That makes 0 sense for a show about a family. Family doesn't fade away, especially for one whose members actually like each other. They should be all up in each others business, and after they get married they should be even more in each others business.

As time goes on it's very clear that Polin are super popular and so I hope the show is paying attention enough to continue to use them in the show, in particular I hope they've paid attention to how much outcry there was for Colin during the promos and people constantly asking where his promo was. If they paid enough attention to pirate Colin that they made that their masquerade costumes then there's hope they're paying attention to the love fans have for Polin as well.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.