A Deep Dive into Bridgerton: "Victory" (S2, Ep. 4)

In the season's midpoint, characters make some choices that will have profound consequences, and the melodrama grows more heightened.

Dearest readers, I come to you again with a careful reading of an episode of our beloved Bridgerton. This time, our focus will be on the fourth episode of the second season, “Victory.” And, given that it occurs at the midpoint of the season it is, unsurprisingly, a rich and compelling episode, filled with all of the melodrama and soap we all love so dearly.

Matters between Anthony and Kate have become ever more tense, secluded as they are at the Bridgerton family estate, and they only grow more so as their obvious attraction for one another comes to a head with a heated encounter in the library. Ultimately, however, Anthony takes the plunge and proposes to Edwina. Meanwhile, Lady Featherington finally manipulates Lord Featherington into proposing to Prudence only to discover his own penurious state, thus inadvertently sentencing her family to the very pennilessness she was trying to avoid.

Let’s start, as always, with Lady Featherington. Portia remains one of this series’ most compelling and complicated characters. At first glance, she seems to be the villain of the piece, a scheming and manipulative harpy who will stop at nothing to secure her family’s fortunes and who, it must be said, is often quite vicious to her children (particularly Penelope). However, as was the case in the first season, Polly Walker’s magnificent performance keeps her from becoming little more than a stereotype. Yes, she can be abrupt and often cutting, but this is because she realizes and accepts (perhaps more than any other character), that this is the reality of the ton. If she doesn’t give her daughters the tough love they need, then their beautiful yet cruel society will do it for her.

Hence her plan to have Prudence meet Lord Featherington in the orangery, where they are conveniently “discovered” by Portia and a retinue of the ton, a neat little trick which leads to a betrothal. Unfortunately for Lady Featherington, she becomes a victim of her own cleverness, for the heir is, in fact, quite penurious, and he needed a good marriage to secure their collective fortunes. It’s a neat little melodramatic turn in the series, to punish the seemingly iniquitous Portia for her scheming, though it seems a bit unfair, given the fact she’s just following the same rules as everyone else. If the first season is any guide, however, she’ll find some way to salvage her fortunes.

What is especially compelling about this entire storyline, however, is the position in which puts Penelope, especially considering just how juicy this little piece of gossip will be for Lady Whistledown’s newsletter. Given how toxic her exchange was with her sister Prudence, it seems pretty clear that, sooner or later, she’s going to turn that wicked pen of her against own family.

Of course, given the fact that this season is focused on the fraught courtship of Anthony and Kate, many of the episode’s best episodes were those focusing on their physical intimacy. At several key points—while out hunting and, of course, in the library—they very nearly consummate their obvious passions, but each time they’re interrupted (because of course they are). First, by the arrival of the other members of the hunt and then, even more fatefully, by Daphne, who can’t quite believe what she’s seen. One suspects it’s his sister’s witnessing of this vulnerable moment which spurs Anthony to finally propose to Edwina, even if doing so seems certain to break his own heart and Kate’s.

Anthony’s and Kate’s courtship, even more than that of Simon and Daphne in the first season, exists under the shadow of the social strictures of the ton. As Lady Featherington’s case makes abundantly clear, there’s a great deal to be gained and a great deal to be lost in the marriage market. And, of course, all of this is rendered even more complicated due to Anthony’s unresolved issues regarding his father’s death. In fact, one of the most touching elements of his scenes with Kate is her recognition of his own pain and trauma. It’s the clearest sign yet that, however much they might irritate and annoy one another, they truly are a match, as Daphne herself indirectly observes when she remarks that she always envisioned her brother brother with someone more like him in temperament. There’s no question that Kate is far more dynamic and independently-minded than her younger sister, Edwina.

In all of this romantic mess, there are two other secondary characters who really seem able to grasp the truth of the world as it is rather than as they would like it to be. One of these, it probably goes without saying, is Lady Danbury, who remains as insightful as ever. She seems to gently (or not-so-gently) nudge Kate to admit, to herself it to no one else, her true feelings toward Anthony. She’s no fool, and she’s lived long enough to know that feelings like those the two obviously feel for one another cannot be avoided for long.

The other character who understands the nature of this Regency world is Marina, who makes her first appearance since the last season. Safely married and with children, she she’s not entirely happy but, as she tells Colin when he pays her an unexpected visit, she’s not unhappy, either. Of all of the character arcs from the first season, hers was arguably the most tragic, and so there’s a bit of comfort to be had in seeing her so settled in her new life. Most notably, she takes the younger Bridgerton to task for living in a fantasy world, one built out of a past that can never be fulfilled. It’s striking for a whole host of reasons, not leas in its implied criticism of the entire Bridgerton project. For what else is the show but an elaborate fantasy set in the past? It is, I think, a lovely little moment of self-awareness and self-critique, made all the more remarkable by the fact that we don’t normally expect such a thing from a series like Bridgerton.

I know I say this every, but I truly do think this is the best episode of the series so far. You can see how the series has matured since it began, and you can also observe how it is sowing the seeds of future seasons. I know that I, gentle reader, cannot wait to see what happens next.

Thank you, dears, for reading, and I hope you’ll consider subscribing. Think of me as your own personal Lady Whistledown!