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A FEAST FOR THE EYES

All the delicious visuals that is Bridgerton season 4.

I was very late to the Bridgerton party.

I've never read the books, and it's been over a decade since I've read anything romantic (or smutty), and romance has never been my genre of choice. I was a hopeless romantic in my youth, and as a highly imaginative person with a very bad relationship track record, I believed romance only poisoned my mind with unrequited fantasies, so I did away with the genre completely.

And then I lost my job.

Desperate to distract myself from my sorrows (and since my younger days, I can say that I am no longer a hopeless romantic as my views on love have changed), I thought it was time to reopen this forgotten chapter. I was also curious about all this "Bridgerton" buzz.

I turned on Netflix and watched season 1 in one sitting. The tension! The yearning! I wanted more. So I watched season 2. Season 3 hadn't come out yet, so I watched "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story." While I didn't deem myself a Bridgerton fan, I had finally healed from my disdain for the romance genre. A year later, after watching "K-Pop Demon Hunters," I would also succumb to Korean dramas, but that's a story for another day.


My favorite season

I binged season 4 last Saturday. I don't know if it was because I was sad or what, but I enjoyed this season more than the other ones. Maybe I'm biased and I liked that I saw so many East Asians as main characters and not just background actors. But what particularly stood out to me was showing the contrasts between the social classes.

I really enjoyed watching how the scenery and colors changed when moving from class to class. There was just so much variety, from the opulent balls and frivolously decorated rooms of the rich, to the warm brown tones of the servants working in the kitchens. I also liked seeing the differences in maid uniforms between the different houses.

As a visual person, it was a feast for my eyes, and this season ate.


Spoilers ahead! Read at your own risk.

Let us feast together

Note: I painstakingly screencapped all the images and brightened them a bit, so we can see all the pretty details!

I remember hearing how fans were disappointed that it wasn't accurate to the period, but those haters either dropped the show or came around. (This is all conjecture, by the way.) So, by season 4, if you are still watching, then you've accepted the creative liberties that the showrunners have taken, and they know this, because I feel that each season gets more fantastical.

Case in point, the Queen's otherworldly wigs.

After binging the season, I watched a bunch of behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube. The hair artist, Nic Collins, explains how every element is actually made with hair. Sculpting with hair! What a job, and an amazing job they did.

This dress. I had to laugh. I found it so creative, how they merged a modern concept to fit the Regency period. Historically accurate? No. But as Luke Thompson, the actor who plays Benedict Bridgerton, said:

"...I think you can, as an actor, spend too much time trying to do a museum piece, and that sucks the life out of it... But it also probably makes it less fun to watch because it's not a history lesson." (Source)


I've never wanted to go to a ball until I saw this scene. It was so fun. I loved the diversity of costumes, from historical figures like Joan of Arc and Cleopatra, to fantasy ones like Zeus (male and female), and even some honorable mentions from the background actors, like the lady with the swan head.


Finally, the rooms.

How I love a delectably decorated interior,* and this season gave us a buffet to choose from:

* This is probably why I adored Wes Anderson movies in the past, because he focused so much on the interior design.

Bridgerton parlor room

I mostly want to rewatch the series now to see if this was the first time we caught glimpse of this room. The dusty pink against the pale blue is perfection, as is the beautiful trompe l'œil painting of what looks like Ticino, haha! They should have just filmed every scene in this room, because goddamn. I want to live here.

Queen's world conservatory

I didn't pay much attention to this room while watching the show. Instead, I learned about it in this Architectural Digest behind-the-scenes. The inspiration was bringing the garden indoors. I love everything about it. Let's just take a moment to admire this work of art.

Kitchens

We see a lot of kitchens this season, and I loved that they were treated with the same attention to detail as the upperclass rooms. My Cottage's kitchen is small and cozy, as Mrs. Crabtree probably runs it by herself. Meanwhile, Bridgerton House's kitchen is a large, well-oiled machine, with the best equipment and signature pastel blue walls. You can tell that the Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton treats her staff well.

Penwood House, before and after

While not my style, I really enjoyed seeing the transformation of Penwood House when Araminta lived there versus when Cressida moved in. Perhaps an homage to her Cantonese heritage, Araminta's Penwood House had jade walls and dark lacquered wooden furniture common in classical Chinese furniture. Meanwhile, Cressida's version was simply pink. Everywhere. (And got increasingly more pink the longer she lived there.)


A second helping

I'm rewatching season 4 again as my visual treat to get me through this week in between my important tasks (such as this very important blog post). I might rewatch the first two seasons again too because it's been a while, and I want to see how much the show has grown. My least favorites were The Queen Charlotte spin-off and season 3, so I'll probably skip those†.

† I found the spin-off to be the most boring and season 3's romance was disappointing as it was eclipsed by the Whistledown drama, which stressed me out!

Somehow, I end up finding this show during my most depressing days. But that's what this series is for me:

An escape from reality, where the dramas are juicy, the romance is spicy, and the backdrop is the cherry on top.

I'd like another round, please.

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