Eight close-knit siblings of the powerful Bridgerton family strive to find love during the Regency era in England. At the end of March, the Viscount and his new love interest will be added to your queue.
Season 2 of Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton‘ features more glitzy scandals and perilous romances set in Regent’s-era London high society, as inspired by Julia Quinn’s novels. This time, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest Bridgerton sibling, is on a mission to find a good mate. Instead, he finds a suitable competitor in Kate Sharma, a newly arrived, similarly headstrong woman (Simone Ashley).
Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte devises her own scheme to discover the identity of the infamous Lady Whistledown, even as the witty raconteur begins to cast doubt on the Ton’s religious observances.
Season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’ provides us with even more of what we love about the show, so let’s go into its luxurious gilded depths and disentangle the stormy romances at its core.
Recap of Season 2 of Bridgerton
The Viscount, Anthony Bridgerton, begins Season 2 on a journey to find himself a suitable bride. The subject of love isn’t even mentioned on his list of prerequisites for the new Lady Bridgerton, who must be lovely, gregarious, have childbearing hips, and have a smidgeon of intelligence.
When the Queen chooses Edwina Sharma, a young lady from Bombay who is being hosted by Lady Danbury, as the season’s diamond, Anthony believes he has found his perfect match.
Every rose, as the Viscount puts it, has its thorn, and the thorn, in this case, is Edwina’s cantankerous older sister, Kate Sharma. Kate, who is a spinster by choice and passionately protective of Edwina, dislikes Anthony’s entitled, slightly chauvinistic worldview from away.
When Anthony continues to seek Edwina, while Kate realises Anthony is marrying out of duty rather than love, she becomes even more adamant about ending their courtship.
Of course, neither Anthony nor Kate expect to fall in love, and things get even more scandalous when Edwina and Anthony get engaged. At the same time, Anthony is tormented by affections for his bride-to-older be’s sister.
A genuinely terrible wedding occurs, culminating in Edwina’s realisation of the true romance at hand and her abandonment of Anthony at the altar.
Meanwhile, Eloise is summoned by the Queen and assigned a top-secret mission to discover Lady Whisltedown’s identity. Penelope Featherington, Bridgerton’s dearest friend, is a legendary gossip pamphlet writer, unbeknownst to the young Bridgerton.
Unfortunately, Eloise becomes a suspect herself, and Penelope (as Whistledown) publishes an especially caustic post about the Bridgertons, accusing Eloise of socialising with political radicals, in an attempt to save her.
Do Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma Get Together at the End of Season 2 of Bridgerton?
The Bridgerton and Sharma families are both subjected to the Ton’s critical glare in the season 2 finale. Even as the Featheringtons, who have been affluent by Lord Jack Featherington’s underhanded strategy of selling imitation rubies, throw the season’s last ball, no one shows up to the ball held by the families.
The Queen (together with Anthony and Kate) attends, and seeing the pair so completely in love, she grants them the matriarch’s approval, restoring the families’ social position.
Darker storylines brew elsewhere, as Eloise terminates her association with Lady Whistledown after finally discovering that she is Lady Whistledown, leaving her bitter and heartbroken.
The Bridgertons, Sharmas, and Lady Danbury are collected at Aubrey Hall six months after the events of the wedding season. Kate and Anthony are in love and don’t need to disguise their feelings now that they’ve returned from their trip together.
The robust rivalry that has defined their interaction since the beginning is evident in the last scenes, when the two families join together in a game of pall mall.
As was the case with his sister Daphne, Anthony Bridgerton marries the woman he loves rather than the bride society expects him to marry. Kate, too, finally accepts the guy she loves, despite all obstacles and even her own goals.
Kate and Anthony are last seen madly in love and unable to keep their hands off each other, and it is Edwina who eventually pushes them to be together.
Anthony and Kate are now married and have spent the last six months travelling, according to a brief discussion in the final minutes of season 2. Though that doesn’t appear to be long enough for them to go to Kate’s home country of India, their adventure appears to have drawn the two closer together.
It’s also encouraging to observe that their contentious dynamic, in which the two are always “vexed” by each other and is evident in their relationship.
Bridgerton Season 2 Ending Explained: Lady Whistledown Still Writing?
Lady Whistledown, one of the show’s most recognisable characters, is likewise killed off in Season 2. At the conclusion of Season 1, it is discovered that the sassy gossip writer is none other than Penelope Featherington, who has gone mostly unnoticed.
Only a few people know who she is, with the exception of Madame Delacroix, the owner of the Modiste, who begins assisting Penelope in delivering her rough notes to the printers.
Penelope’s generally easy publishing process, which has kept her other identity hidden for so long, is thrown into disarray when her best friend, Eloise, becomes involved in the investigation into Lady Whistledown’s identity.
Things to a climax when Eloise herself is named as a suspect, and the Queen threatens to ruin the Bridgertons unless she starts to side with the monarchy. Penelope is then forced into the awkward situation of needing to save her buddy by revealing obscene information about her.
If stares could speak, we would have an entire series of novels. #Bridgerton Season 2 is now streaming only on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/AL02alss7U
— Bridgerton (@bridgerton) March 25, 2022
As a result, the season’s final Whistledown leaflet (falsely) says that Eloise is associated with political radicals, which explains why the Bridgertons‘ ball is empty. Penelope is pushed to cease publishing her popular booklet altogether after destroying her friend’s image.
Combined with Eloise’s constant critiques of how Whistledown only covers the shallow events of high society while disregarding serious concerns women confront.
In the season 2 finale, Penelope is rejected as a friend by Eloise, causing her great anguish at the loss of her sole friend. Penelope then overhears Colin, whom she has a crush on, telling his pals that he would never consider courting her.
Heartbroken and alone, the jilted youngest Featherington picks up the quill and resumes writing her acidic pamphlet to round out the season.
As a result, Lady Whistledown persists! The show’s legendary narrator and source of scandalous gossip are back after an almost two-week hiatus that made the Ton nervous due to an absence of a written story.
Of course, whether Eloise tells Whistledown who she is or keeps the explosive information about her former best friend, a secret remains to be seen. Even the Queen, despite her efforts to find and eradicate Whistledown, appears to miss the columnist, and there is little doubt that the writer will return braver than ever, her quill sharpened by heartbreak.
Bridgerton Season 2 is now on Netflix!! pic.twitter.com/lcEzIKxLdT
— Netflix (@netflix) March 25, 2022
Season 2 of Bridgerton will release on Netflix on March 25 in its entirety.