Netflix’s gentle viewers know it’s a universal concession of the “Bridgerton” universe that “reformed rakes make the best husbands.” This truism will be put to the test during Season 4 of the streamer’s period romance, which follows, arguably, the Bridgerton family’s most rakish brother, Benedict (Luke Thompson), as he embarks on his own unexpected fairy tale.
This season’s Cinderella story begins in our favorite drawing room on Grosvenor Square, where the servants are busy opening the curtains, uncovering the furniture and staging the tea service to welcome back Francesca (Hannah Dodd), her new husband, John (Victor Alli), and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) from Scotland. Of course, there’s also family matriarch Violet (Ruth Gemmell) overseeing the bustle of preparations for her children’s reunion.
After three seasons and a spinoff, the entire scene feels delightfully familiar. That is, until Violet gracefully hovers her hand above a plate of scones that are no longer warm, prompting Mrs. Wilson (Geraldine Alexander) to offer to retrieve some fresh from the oven. This is when it becomes evident that this season of “Bridgerton” will be different. The camera follows the family’s housekeeper as she carries the cold pastries down the stairs and into the kitchen, laundry and servants’ quarters.
While “Bridgerton” has always delved into the social constraints and class expectations of its leading ladies, it has rarely juxtaposed those society stories with the experiences of the servants who make the family’s idyllic life of leisure possible. The show has never had an upstairs-downstairs dynamic like other period favorites, such as “Downton Abbey” or “The Gilded Age.” The closest it’s gotten is the rare upward mobility of Will (Martins Imhangbe) and Alice (Emma Naomi) Mondrich.
That changes this season as “Bridgerton” continues to build its universe through the cross-class love story of the rakish brother poised as least likely to become television’s next great “yearning man,” but who will eventually pine as deeply as “The Summer I Turned Pretty’s” Conrad Fisher and “Heated Rivalry’s” Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander.
In the season’s opening scene, as the siblings reunite over tea and coo over the new baby of Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin (Luke Newton), there is one noticeable imperfection — Benedict’s absence — and Violet requests a carriage to go and collect her son. She arrives at his bachelor’s quarters to find the artistic nonconformist who recently explored his bisexuality in Season 3 in an inebriated and naked slumber with not one but two unchaperoned ladies.
What follows is one of Violet’s maternal yet authoritative conversations in which she firmly tells another one of her boys that it is time to find a wife and become a respectable member of the ton, the upper echelon of society. Benedict disagrees. While lovely, he finds that those ladies “display no true animation, no zest for life, no personality.” He declares that he will probably never marry.
However, as fans of the show know, a Bridgerton man discounting marriage is one who doth protest too much and is about to have his worldview shaken. For Benedict, this happens at the first ball of the season, a masquerade, where he meets a self-possessed “Lady in Silver” who cannot dance and speaks her mind. At midnight, she rushes home, leaving Benedict without her name but with a single glove. He is besotted.
Pining greatly, Benedict draws sketch after sketch of the woman who enchanted him, but he is unable to capture her face. What ensues is a ton-wide search for his silver ingénue, but this search becomes complicated when his path crosses with Sophie (Yerin Ha), a maid to whom he feels inexplicably drawn when they are stuck together at his cottage (fans of the book will be excited to know that, yes, there is The Lake Scene, and fans of “Heated Rivalry” are sure to enjoy the way this cottage also plays a crucial role in the plot).
Suddenly, the Benedict brother who has never been interested in taking a wife finds himself torn, longing for the fantasy of the mystery lady he met at the ball and pining for the reality of a lower-class maid who he cannot be with in any real way. This is the romance that underpins Season 4, and I found its unfolding delightful.
After Season 3, there was widespread criticism that “Bridgerton” was becoming too cliched and stale, but I argued that the show uses the traditional tropes of romantic storytelling to amplify women’s voices through a genre that is usually dismissed for its content, especially its inclusion of sex that prioritizes female pleasure. Also, as the recent success of a show like “Heated Rivalry” about a same-sex hockey romance and the continued popularity of a series like “Bridgerton” prove, love stories — especially the sensual ones — have cultural power.
Season 4 of “Bridgerton” is just further proof of how a personal Cinderella story can point to larger political truths about the stratification of a society and the roles people are always forced to take on.
This is highlighted in this season’s subplots. Violet’s garden has been “in bloom” since “Queen Charlotte” premiered in 2023, and she wonders if she can set aside her role as mother long enough to tend it. Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) is ready to claim a future that will test her sharp social acumen in the present. Francesca is discovering the different levels of desire and intimacy one experiences within the confines of a marriage. Penelope is facing the social pressure and power of being known by all as Lady Whistledown. Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) is itching to enter society, while Eloise, as always, wishes she could escape it. In addition to these “upstairs” storylines, there are also multiple “downstairs” subplots involving the maids in multiple households and what they want for themselves. There’s also the addition of a new family to the ton — the Penwoods — who create conflict for everyone because of Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung) and her high social aspirations for both herself and her daughters, Rosamund Li (Michelle Mao) and Posey Li (Isabella Wei).
Ultimately, the first four episodes of this season are about these larger delineations — the markers that separate the suitors from the suitable, the “upstairs” from the “downstairs,” the socially relevant from the socially striving, and the ladies from the queen upon whom they wait.
What makes these storylines come to life is that they are grounded in deeply felt love stories with complex stakes, which is what has always set Shonda Rhimes’ shows apart. Season 4 of “Bridgerton” excels in this space, and I am excited to see how the love story of Benedict, arguably my most favorite reformed rake, ends when Season 4 returns with its final four episodes on Feb. 26.
“Bridgerton” Season 4, Part 1 is streaming on Netflix.
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