A Deep Dive into Bridgerton: "An Unthinkable Fate" (S2, Ep. 5)
Matters between Anthony and Kate, and between several other characters, come to a head in the season's fifth episode.
Dearest gentle reader, I return to you with my deep dive into Bridgerton, this time focusing on the fifth episode of the second season, “An Unthinkable Fate.” This is, as one might expect, a hell of an episode, as many of the plot points developed so far come to their crisis point. Secrets are revealed, hearts are broken, and new opportunities (and potential pitfalls) slowly reveal themselves.
Of course, much of the energy in “An Unthinkable Fate” revolves around the response to Anthony’s proposal to Edwina. Queen Charlotte, of course, loves it, and she even goes so far as to offer to sponsor the nuptials. Others, however, aren’t nearly as enamored of the idea, and Lady Bridgerton in particular expresses a great deal of hesitation. As so often in this season, she shows her intense emotional intelligence, and she understands her eldest son even better than he understands himself. She knows and accepts, even if he doesn’t, that this match is not one he will ultimately find satisfying. It’s a reminder to him that he should follow his mother’s advice, since she is far wiser than he is.
Speaking of mothers…Lady Featherington continues to scheme to gain the respect she feels she deserves, this time by having Lord Featherington urge others to invest in his ruby mines in the Americas, even though they both know they’re worthless. It’s a powerful moment for this venerable and electrifying dowager, and Polly Walker gives her usual fierce performance. She manages to embody the contradictions of this extraordinary character. On the one hand, she truly does love her family and wants what’s best for them. At the same time, she remains driven by a years-long bitterness that she has always been looked down on by the rest of the ton. Because of Walker’s embodiment of Lady Featherington, we actually do come to sympathize with her a bit, if only because we’ve already seen just how brittle and empty and cynical and capricious the members of high society can be.
The centerpiece of this episode is the dinner party thrown by the redoubtable Lady Danbury, who invites the Sheffields to dinner in an attempt to smooth things over between the parents and their renegade child, Mary. Of course, things don’t go at all well, since her mother insists on berating her through the meal, leading to the revelation of their plan to have Edwina marry a man of quality in order to gain her inheritance which, in turn, leads to Anthony’s repudiation of the marriage. It’s an expertly-crafted scene, with a momentum that is as unsettling to us as it is to the characters, particularly Kate. It’s agonizing to watch her unfolding horror as the plan comes to light.
It’s the following scene, however, that is particularly wrenching, as Kate and Anthony have what is their most explicitly emotional encounter to date. Anthony, finally, admits his true feelings for her, and it is one of the most passionate outbursts we’ve ever seen from him. Everything about this scene, from the phantom heartbeat to the searing chemistry between Kate and Anthony, seems designed to sweep us up into the same seething cauldron of emotions that they are themselves feeling. It was one of the few times in my life where I’ve actually been invested in a straight romance, and thus it’s especially frustrating (in a good way) that he pulls away just before he kisses her.
For Anthony realizes something that Kate doesn’t: that he will spend the rest of his married life with Edwina in torment over his feelings for her. Say what you will about Anthony, but the man has his own moral code that he lives by, and if that means he has to forswear Edwina rather than subject her (or himself) to a marriage in which he cannot be loyal to her. The tragedy, however, lies in Kate’s unwillingness to see the truth, which leads her to beg him, with tears in her eyes, to marry her sister, assuring him that their passion will eventually fade away. Of course, we know it won’t, and I strongly suspect both Kate and Anthony know it, too. However, her desire to be a loyal sister to Edwina outweighs her desire for Antony, at least for the moment.
No review of this episode would be complete, however, without mentioning the scene in which Anthony takes a tumble into the lake and emerges, dripping, from the water. It’s a deliberate homage to Pride and Prejudice, but it also works on its own terms. What’s more, it’s in keeping with the rest of the episode’s attention to the nude male form, including that of Benedict (we are also treated to several moments of Anthony reclining in a bathtub). Bridgerton may have yet to introduce us to a diegetically queer male character, but it certainly delights in offering up its male leads to the delectation of the gay male, and female, gaze.
In some ways, this episode was all about competing loyalties, as Lady Whistledown’s concluding commentary makes clear: between family honor and personal whim; between loyalty to friends and loyalty to one’s heart. It’s not surprising that the scandal-monger would make this the centerpiece of her most recent newsletter, given Penelope’s dawning realization that Eloise has a life outside of their friendship, as the latter pursues both a potential romance with Theo and a potential career as a reformer. Though it seems very obvious that the series will find some way of reconciling these warring impulses in the Kate/Anthony storyline, it remains to be seen whether it will do the same with the other balls it has in the air at the present.
There are times when the entire artifice of Bridgerton can seem a bit silly and contrived. After all, does it really matter whether a young woman is found talking with a young man who isn’t her betrothed? Why can’t people just say how they feel about one another? The pleasure of a Regency romance, however, lies precisely in this delicate dance, this splendid confection of social rituals and niceties.
In other words, I can’t get enough of Bridgerton.
Until next time, dear reader. And, as always, don’t forget to subscribe!