bonus chapter: bridgerton (revisited)

dearest gentle listeners,

it is with the greatest pleasure that we invite you to revisit the latest chapter of the bridgerton saga in this special episode of our esteemed podcast. in this episode, we peel back the layers of bridgerton season three: part two, and examine its every scandal, intrigue, and triumph.

we touch on important points such as the success or failure of the promised bridgerton glow-up, colin brigerton's hairline, the cortisol levels of penelope featherington and whether or not we will, indeed, need to fight julia quinn on the beaches of malibu.

will fate be kind to our perceptions of this once illustrious show, or does destiny hold darker designs? brace yourselves for revelations that could shake society to its core.

yours in anticipation,
bridget & laura 

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Transcript

Laura 0:00

The reveal of Penelope being Lady Bridgeton. Whistled. Oh yeah. Imagine I'm your mother. Hello and welcome to a Talk Lit Get Hit bonus chapter. The little book chats in between the big ones. We'll talk about reading, authors, and have discussions with people who, like us, can't shut up about books. We might get sidetracked and talk about literally anything else. But this is a bonus chapter we wrote just for you. Hello and welcome to the Bridgetton bonus chapter Revisited. You're joined by Talklit Get Hit hosts Bridget and Laura. Hi Bridget. Hi Laura. Today we are once again talking about Bridgetton. Earlier this year we made some pretty bold assertions ahead of the release of season three, part one, and we've had some messages from people wanting us to weigh in now that the season is over. So here we are. I think we did actually make a singular comment about it in one of our episodes, and we said it was a show. Yeah. And that we had seen it. Oh, that is right. So I mean, take what you will from that comment, but we love to keep it mysterious. If you don't want the plot of the Bridgetton books or the TV show spoiled, it's best if you tune out now. We don't know what will come out of our mouths. This is just a blanket warning for the whole series. Likewise, listener discretion is advised for this episode. We will be discussing scenes of a sexual nature and men's chest hair. As we are revising our last episode, I think we need to address a few of the elephants in the room, our predictions, our concerns for season three. So first thing on my list was we were worried that we wouldn't like it. How do you feel, Laura, about that? Did you like it? It was a show. Oh man. I mean, we watched the last episode or last couple of episodes together last night, and I have to say I had a lot more fun watching it with someone than I did by myself. So I wouldn't say it's completely unredeemable, but I don't know if we were enjoying it for the right reasons. I would agree with that. So I watched part one with Maddie, and that was enjoyable. And then I watched the whole of part two by myself and I re-watched them with you yesterday, and that was much better. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it, but I could have also just had it on in the background and not given a shit if I missed a single minute of it. I think I would have been happy just to watch highlights on TikTok. That sums it up. Yeah. Second agenda item is that we were worried about Colin and his potential glow-up. How do you feel? I every time Colin came on screen, I felt like throwing shoes, books, bricks at the TV. I hate the character of Colin so much. Get rid of him. I never want to see him again. Yeah, I kind of feel the same. I don't think they delivered upon the promise of the Bridget and Glow Up for him. I am so confused because he's not an unattractive man. Like in the press for this, he looked great. And I remember in season one, Anthony had some really whack hair, and then in season two it was fixed and he looked way more attractive. Colin's hair, if anything, became worse. They've given him this like really puffy, like backcombed receding hairline. Plus the scene. It looks a bit like Jimmy Carr, but also slappy from Goosebumps. I don't know what went wrong, but I don't know. I don't think I was ever gonna like him because he's just the worst. And he's just a boring character with no arc. I kind of feel a little bit as though he's a child actor. You know, when you hire a child actor and then when we are notoriously out on the streets, you look like you got a potential kid. Here's my card. I'm thinking of the Harry Potter kids, I guess. Some of them grew up to be good adult actors, and some of them didn't quite get there. And I think this that's what his performance was kind of giving me. Like he just couldn't quite deliver what the others were capable of. Because maybe when they hired him, he was filling a minor role and they couldn't anticipate the success of the show, and now he just maybe doesn't quite have what it takes for this particular role. Yeah, and I also think the script was really giving you nothing to work with either. I would say that for all of them. It just didn't have that same I don't know, yeah as the last two. How did you feel about the Lady Whistledown plot? I think I said in the last episode that I didn't really want it to follow the same line as the book. I like the mystery of Lady Whistledown, and I didn't want it to be exposed, and I didn't want Penelope to have to share a secret because I feel like that's like one of the best bits of the show. I agree with that. It deviated a little tiny bit, but not in the way that we were hoping. I guess I was thinking it would be cool if her and Colin kind of teamed up in some way, you know, if he came to respect her and he was like, Wow, you're amazing. I support what you do, keep doing it. And it was like their little secret. I don't know, just some sort of like not having any shame attached to it would be great. I felt that the tension was unbelievable. For most of the season, I was like, Why does he care? I just couldn't remember anything that had happened with him and Whistledown because he's so boring. Then he said, Don't you remember what she wrote about me? And I was like, Oh, okay. Is that your beef? Right, okay. I think it would have been great for him to support sooner than the last 30 seconds of the show when he was like, Oh, I've realized that you are her, you and Body Whistledown. Well, they just had to squeeze it in because I had like two seconds of screen time together in the whole season, so and this brings me on to the final agenda item from our last meeting, which is nothing bad will ever happen to the Bridgerton family. I said in the episode that everybody will find out and nothing will happen. And it's true, the queen was there out for blood. She was like, She will speak, and then she spoke, and she was like, Okay, cool, bye. Okay, kinda ate. Yeah. Everyone was like, Wow, that was a great speech. Butterflies, no repercussions, what a surprise. Bridgetins come out unscathed yet again. Yeah, I think that's true. It's just such a tensionless viewing experience. It's like, uh, I really just couldn't muster energy to really care about the plot because I just knew everything would w work out. When we were watching it together, I was joking, oh, maybe Francesca and John like die in a carriage. I mean, that's a hilarious joke that I made. But like we're trying to think of ways to make things a bit more exciting. Yeah. Um so much angst for no reason, so much heavy breathing, so many tortured facial expressions. I did feel sad for Penelope that her wedding was sort of overshadowed by I don't know, just her feelings of like utter panic. But that was sort of all I cared about. She did not have a moment of peace this whole time I feel sad for her because she's got everything she wanted. She got the man, she got Eloise's friendship back. She got the respect of her family, finally had some relationship with her mother and her sisters, but just too busy hyperventilating at any time to enjoy any of it. Poor little Penelope. Her cortisol levels are through the roof. Um, so the word on the street was that this was going to be Colin and Penelope's season. But I have receipts courtesy of a TikTok user named Ari. They have tallied the total pollen screen time for the first half of season three, and it is so staggering. So episode one, five minutes and seventeen seconds out of fifty-five minutes. Episode two, thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds out of fifty minutes. Episode three, six minutes and seven seconds out of fifty minutes, and episode four, eight minutes and nine seconds out of fifty minutes. So in the first half of the show, they were on screen for 33 minutes out of three hours and 25 minutes in a season that's meant to be their own. Honestly, too much time is given to them, in my opinion. I did see a stat somewhere that they had maybe like an hour and a half tops in the whole season. It was like 15% of the screen time. So if I find where I read that, I will include it in the show notes. I just cannot track back to it. And I deleted the watch history last night, sadly, by accident. I thought it was the search history, which had like Jod and Ricky, Jordan Ricky montage, beetroot juice recipe. I was ashamed, okay. Put Beetroot in Blender, turn blender on. Done. Wow. So lifelike. I feel like another thing that people were disappointed by was the lack of sex scenes or the calibre of sex scenes. I don't know. I feel like we spent more time watching Benedict and his two friends than we did Colin and Penelope. And then when we did see Colin and Penelope, I don't know, something just felt a bit off. And I'm not quite sure what it is. The mirror scene, as suspected, in the book it was a letdown. Again, I feel like there was so much promo around the mirror scene and nothing really happened. They just looked in the mirror for like 30 seconds. I have seen some people say that there was deleted scenes that maybe were meant to be included that might have had a bit more intimacy, but I'm not too sure. I agree. I can't quite put my finger on it as well. I think the actors off-screen have a lot of chemistry, but it didn't translate over to their characters. And like you said before, like they're not really working with much. Colin's script is like go to Barcelona, try to brood, come back, say pen Penelope. All the time. Yeah. And then Penelope is like half puff, freak out, Colin, Colin, Colin. Apologize. Oh, so sorry. And neither of them are just generating much tension or like yearning. There's it's like the sex scene happened, but there wasn't, in my opinion, that much that led up to it. There's no almost kiss, there's no like we can't really see how much these characters love one another before they're together. I did quite enjoy the carriage scene because I one like the soundtrack. Also, it felt like there was that tension there because the curtains were a little bit open and you know, we're nearly at Bridgeton House. And after spending the whole of the first four episodes being like, Oh my god, shut up. This is so boring, blah blah blah. When he got out of the carriage and said, Are you coming? And then she was like, What? And he's like, Well, are you gonna marry me or what? I actually was like tearing up. I was so happy that they were getting married, it was so cute. I just I liked that sort of banter, that like jokiness, and it felt nice for them to have something before the inevitable, why didn't you tell me? I was trying to protect you, like stuff, so that was nice, but then I also liked when they were arguing in the street the night before their wedding, and then they just had their sneaky little kiss in the doorway because I do love a I'm so angry, I'm gonna kiss you sort of scene. I like that too, and I agree. I think the carriage scene was better than the mirror scene, and I did like those little moments of jokes and kind of lightheartedness between them because they're meant to be friends, and it's not really something that you even see in the books either. So, again, in their defense, not good source material, but nobody is Penelope's friend, except for Eloise, but I feel that the relationship she has with Colin should be more like silly and lighthearted, and it should be the opposite of all of her other interactions. He puts her in a box just like everybody else. Yeah, there's pressure on her to act a certain way, I think, as well. I don't think they're ever truly equal in their friendship. No. I do normally love a story of you know, she was there the whole time. I was too ignorant to see, but I really was so underwhelmed by Colin's journey to that realization. There was never really any sort of like confession of love. I mean, he said he loved her, but it just was so boring or I don't know, stakeless. I don't know, that's not a word, but compared to the other seasons, it was just not enough. There was no torment. Yes, he had that like one dream. And then he was like, Oh, I love her. And I did see a TikTok creator, Danny reads books, and she was sort of talking about what went wrong with the season. Something she said was, Where's the line? Where's the line that is going to be viral on TikTok? The line that is like, Yeah, and I burn for you and whatever else. Like, there's there wasn't that big scene that sticks in your mind. And so it's himself where. Well, that's actually what I want to talk about. One of the only storylines I was interested in were the Featheringtons. They were so good in this season. And I'm so glad because if there were no Featheringtons, the sisters were so funny, the mother was so great. I don't know what would have been left. I agree. I really enjoyed their storyline as well. There are a couple of conversations that Penelope had with her mum that made me so intrigued as to her backstory. Like, I want a Queen Charlotte spin-off of Lady Featington because the way that she was talking, like when she was telling Penelope, you know, only men have power or your job is to help men achieve their dreams. But she was saying it in this really regretful, tortured bitter kind of way. Made me so interested to know more about her. I think her role in season two as well was really interesting, the way that she sort of handled that cousin Jack storyline. But I would have liked a bit more. And I mean, I have a suggestion. If we could get rid of the Mondrich storyline, that would be great. Thank you. Are they there? I mean, surely they're gonna, you know, they're setting something up for the future. I don't care. I don't care, and they've set it up so poorly that if they ever do a spin-off or their own season, everyone's gonna be like, Well, I didn't want to see them when they were in the Bridgerton show, so why would I watch a whole show about it? In my notes, I just have I wish the modicures would piss off. The only thing I remember them doing is that big box thing that opened up at the party, and everyone was like, Whoa. I remember him being like, I don't want I don't wish to sell my tavern and everyone being like, sell it. And he's like, But what will I do if I'm not polishing glasses every evening? I don't care about this. Go away. The season was just padded out with so many stories that we didn't see and stuff that we didn't care about that it felt like it was dragging, but at the same time the story was progressing in such a fast and confusing way. I was constantly confused about the timeline of how long this was meant to be going for because Anthony and Kate sort of like popping in and out, and it sort of seemed to me as if they'd been gone for quite a while, but there was no evidence of passing of time, or you know, we'll be married in a week, or we'll be married in two weeks, unless I missed it. Also, the pregnancies seem to be at times stagnant and then progressing really fast. And like one second, no baby bump, next second, baby bump. That's so true. I didn't even think about that. So, yeah, we find out in this season, which I thought took place over a couple of weeks, that the sister's pregnant, but then she does have a baby bump showing. And same with Kate, we find out she's pregnant, and then at their wedding, she seems to be clutching like a baby bump. She's nursing her stomach a lot, whatever that suggests. Another crazy thing that happened with Kate and Anthony was they were like, Let's go to India. I was like, You're pregnant, you're gonna be on a ship for months. Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to be on a ship where you're pregnant? You might die. As we discussed in our Song of Achilles episode, sea travel takes some time. I mean, Kate and Anthony though, I mean, I just don't know what it is. I can't tell what it is that sets them apart, but they were doing absolutely nothing in this season. But I ate up every moment of screen time. They gave us their all. Yeah. And I don't know if it's just residual excitement, you know, like a little treat for me after seeing them in season two, why I love them so much. Or if whatever those characters have is just better than what Penelope and Colin have. Anyone else. I mean, even Francesca and John Sterling or Lord, whatever his name was. Kilpatrick. They didn't even say anything, but they were more intriguing than our main characters this season. I would agree. Also, every time Francesca came on the screen, I was like, oh my god, is how is it possible for someone to be so beautiful? My self-esteem took a real dive. Her beautiful eyes. So beautiful. You know, I could say the same thing about Penelope. Yeah. That's the only thing I could focus on was her beautiful skin, her beautiful eyes, beautiful dresses she was wearing. Amazing. She looked gorgeous, and her hair was immaculate every single scene. And I, for one, support her claims that she is a woman with perfect breasts. In the scene at the end, like at her sister's ball, when she walks in in that like blue dress, red lip, I had like a visceral reaction. I was like, Oh, oh my god, she is so beautiful. I think you were crying a little bit when we watched it. I was. It was a few times I was crying. I was crying at the proposal when they got out of the carriage, when they were dancing to snow on the beach. Oh, the wedding. I definitely was like tearing up at the wedding. When he nods at her. Oh my god, the nod. Yeah. Because that was so beautiful. He obviously knew how nervous she was and they were having their problems, but he was like, no, this is good, we're doing this. But we've been on a journey with Penelope, and I think like you can get a little bit emotionally invested in her storyline because for me, she's a character I want to see happy, and I think she deserves to be happy. But Colin doesn't go on any arc. I saw a comment on TikTok from somebody named Runesome, where they were talking about Colin's lack of arc in this season. And in season one, the Duke learns to put happiness over hatred. And in season two, Anthony seemingly learns to put happiness over duty slash perfectionism. But what is Colin learning here? Like, what was his obstacle he had to overcome? His own self-obsession, perhaps? And I thought that his character is always meant to be this like Colin Bridgetton, he's so upbeaten, like such a nice boy, and nothing ever bothers him. It was awfully portrayed in the books and still not very well portrayed in the show. He's just not that warm or friendly or easygoing at all. I would give that title to Benedict. Like Benedict is always happy, smiling, like having a good time. Colin, I mean, the only thing I remember from Colin in the books was how many biscuits he would eat and how they always talked about him eating biscuits. It was a unit for biscuits. I don't get his character at all. I think there were like a few little funny bits that I really enjoyed. I enjoyed the toast at their like engagement party when Eloise was sort of like, and I'm gonna say this. And I'm gonna say this. And Penelope's mum was getting involved as well. That was funny. And then I also really enjoyed the tension of the countdown to midnight when Eloise was gonna tell Colin and the charades game that was happening was so funny. Anthony was the real star of that scene. Once again, Anthony, Alex, he was so competitive about this stupid game. I do love those scenes where we see the whole family. Even like when Benedict was sitting with Hyacinth and Gregory and they were eating like the macarons. Yes. And they were like, no, I want the chocolate ones. Even like those little things is so funny to me. Also, just like little things that Eloise would do. I do love her, and I wish that she had her little man from the last season. Because I enjoyed that a lot. Me too. And I do want to know more, but I don't want to read anymore, I don't think. No. Not not right now, anyway. No, they're so boring, and they're such a rinse and repeat, like you said last time. And I also feel like any sort of intrigue, I mean, I could be wrong, but I've seen a lot of people be like, ooh, whose season's going to be next? And I just think it's obviously going to be Benedict. There's just no subtlety in the show at all. Like he said at the end when they were swanging around on those swings, him and Eloise, oh, the next thing to happen to me will change me forever, I fear. And it's like, okay, well, he's obviously gonna fall in love. Maybe he'll have a foresome. Maybe, maybe we'll have to watch another 20 minutes of that. Oh my god. So boring. But then also when he's saying goodbye to Eloise when she's off to go live with Francesca, they make reference to Mama's masquerade ball, and that's where he meets his law. Yeah. The poor Cinderella retelling. Bad Cinderella? I mean, I loved the Hillary Duff Threesome and Gossip Girl. Um, and I could smell this one happening a mile away in Bridgeton. You've got your nose tuned into threesome, dialed into threesome o'clock. And I did not care to see it. I it's not that I'm opposed. It's just that why are we getting so much focus on this on Benedict, who's a side character, and this was slated to be the sexiest season ever, or like the steamiest season ever. I don't know who was saying that. Maybe it was just us, maybe it was just the fans, and maybe we're to blame. But it just kept happening. It happened so much. Also, there was a threeset with Colin and those two women. Yeah, that's right. And I just sort of feel like the shock factor is what made. Season one popular. Like the shock of wow, people are having sex and we're watching them and everyone's watching it. And I feel like it's sort of run its course, especially when they're gonna do the same thing over and over again. I feel like this thing with Benedict was like hinted at last season and nothing sort of eventuated from it then. I didn't care for it then, when he was at his little art school going to those crazy parties. And I don't care about it now. And I think just the way that the seasons are formulated around like each sibling and their one true love, it really makes you not care about whatever's happening to them in that point because you know it's all like gonna be basically erased and moved aside for their actual story. And so, like all of its interactions with that widow and the man, I was like, well, I don't really care because I know they won't be around next season, probably. And I also don't care because it just shits me that these men, these Bridgerton men, can do whatever they please with whomever they please. But the second that a girl, like one of their sisters, does something slightly scandalous, like goes for a walk in the garden, they're like ready to fight. Yeah. And like Anthony being like, What's that man doing talking to our mother? Like, excuse me, you, you cannot talk. I just it obviously a different time period, a made-up time period where the women can't do it, but I just sick of seeing these men, these Bridgetan men do whatever they can and then go on and on about their honour and how they're gentlemen. And I just it makes me mad. I don't want to say it anymore. And of all the like historical inaccuracies that are in the show, could they have taken a little bit of creative liberty and let women have a little bit more freedom for retreats? Only if they're poor can they do that. Yeah, I think. Like if if if they're rich, no. We don't expect too much from the poor people. So I guess to end that sort of part of the discussion, I also have to declare my hatred for Gregory. I hate him. Once again, actually hating a child. Yeah. And you know what, Hyacinth, not far off. But she's growing on me. Why do you hate Gregory? Because he's a little rat. He's so annoying. And he's like, oh, Colin, I can't believe you're getting married. I was hoping we would go to one tavern before you got married. Oh, shut up. Oh I hate him so much. I do have to say though, the day that we're recording this, we're recording another book. And I have been living in a constant state of hatred. So watching this this week might have poisoned it for me, but I just I'm in a negative state of mind and I can't get out of it. I say it was actually the most awful combination of literature and screen viewing that we possibly it actually was hell. And I'm so glad that we get to spill it all out today in a therapy session and never think about it ever again. So I apologize. Who do I need to apologize to? Colin, Gregory, Hyacinth, Penelope, I guess. Sorry. Yeah, and I want to make it clear that I'm sad that I didn't enjoy it. I wanted so badly to enjoy it, and I just, it just I was so flippin' bothered by everything I was seeing on screen. It was irritating, and I do think I would have had that reaction anyway. You know what I did after I finished the last episode? I immediately put on Dairy Girls because I love Nicola and I want to support, but I just I couldn't do it. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna watch something that's good. That's a good remedy. Yeah. When we were re-watching this last night, I was trying to think about what my director's cut would be if I had a little edit of this season. And I think I would obviously take out anything about Mondrich. I would spend more time on Eloise and Penelope because when they were sort of waiting for Colin to get back from Cressida's house and they were just sitting on that couch, and she said, Tell me what you were reading. I felt so happy. It was such a sweet moment, and I love them. Even when they're fighting, love them. Obviously, cut out any Colin scenes, and I would cut out any scenes with the queen. I'm over the queen. But Lady Danbury, love top of the lip. I love her little meddling schemes, cannot get enough. Her eyebrow acting and her cane acting is out of this world. The way she contorts her body with that thang is like she's amazing. She's like in a constant state of motion, she's like body rolling wherever she goes. It's like she's one of those people that are like on stilts, but they're an animal and they're like walking on four-legged stilts. She sort of also reminds me of one of those wavy tube men at the front of car dealerships. Like that's she's always just sort of rolling around. And I love her. Lady Danbury brought me so much joy. Every time she was on screen, I never knew what direction she was gonna go in. She was making some seriously Nicolas Cage-esque acting choices, just like beezil, duh! Like everything was an absurd. I just I just never knew what was gonna come out of her mouth. I genuinely love it so much. Get rid of the brother though. I don't care about him. I was a bit confused there. I think you said it might have been something that was kind of a hangover storyline from Queen Charlotte. Well, I think that she had an affair with Violet's father. Oh, that's saucy. I was a bit confused at some point. I don't know facts. Once again, I could be wrong. I could have done without the brother. I'm not opposed to Violet having a relationship with him. I just think in a season that's meant to be Colin Penelope, let's just focus on Colin and Penelope. The storylines that were interesting could have been given so much more depth as well by the removal of so many other characters, like Cressida. Her character was so interesting, and there was all of that stuff happening with her family. Her dad was a psychopath, her mum clearly had some issues. And we don't need to know everything, but we never really got to find out much more about her home life. Every time they were just sitting in that room telling her what a piece of shit she is, and she was really going through some internal struggles. Last night when we were watching it, you said she was so close, so close to being an interesting or like a good character. But then they just turned it around and they're like, Yep, she's a villain after all. Straight back to what she used to be. And I really enjoyed her friendship with Eloise. I enjoyed the conversations that they were having, and I enjoyed that she wasn't the one who told Penelope's secret in the first half of the season. I thought that was quite a lovely, I don't know, change for her character. Like she actually valued her friendship with Eloise, and I guess we did see a little bit from her mother about why she sort of has those, I don't know, inclinations to just be a mean girl, but it would have been nice to see a little bit more and a little bit more growth at the end. And I was quite sad when she was shipped off. But I don't know if that will be the last we see of her. Some part of me was like, just give her the money. Yeah. Let her go. You're rich. I am not necessarily looking for redemption for her, but it would have been nice to see some sort of understanding or mutual respect or whatever between her and Penelope, because I think that they don't come from dissimilar home environments or are treated with the same level of regard or respect by their families. This is something that we normally reserve for our usual monthly episodes, but I think we can't end our discussion of Bridgetton without talking about our favourite and least favourite characters and assigning it a little shit rating. Bridget, favourite character? This is hard, actually. I mean, I love Eloise, but she didn't really do much. I think I'm gonna have to say Lady Featherington. Me too. Yeah, but I love Penelope as well. I really want to like Penelope, but I just think she wasn't as interesting in this season as she was in other seasons. Again, she was just huffing and puffing and just being so helpless so much of the time. Yeah. I think she had a lot of sort of independence and decisiveness in the other seasons. I agree, and I don't think we're gonna see much more from her, so I feel like this is the end of her story. Who's your least favourite? I mean, it feels so easy to say Colin. Yeah. But he was a genuinely negative aspect of this show. He didn't give Penelope the romance she deserved. He wasn't that interesting in the way he engaged with the other characters. He didn't provide good tension or any one-liners. He wasn't funny. Just kind of a flop. I I guess he's not like the worst character. But I think the the way Colin's character has been written is a major contributing factor to why I didn't enjoy this season. I mean, I've got a list really of my least favourite. Colin, Gregory, Mr. Suarez was a creepy little man. Who was that? The threesome man. I didn't like him. I don't know. He was just a bit too. Yeah, he had his all his motives on his sleeve. Yeah, and I don't know who these two men are, but the two men in the first half of the season that Penelope talked to, or maybe there were three men, just any of the men that Penelope talked to in the first half of the season. Rude. Yeah, it takes two to tango. Not a fan. You could have asked her any question. I'd know. I can't believe we haven't even talked about the balloon scene, but I mean, it's just too ridiculous to even lose it, honestly. I thought of something else I can't believe we haven't even talked about as well. The reveal of Penelope being Lady Whistledown to Colin was so underwhelming. I was actually cackling. It's like Lady Whistledown, and he's just behind her, like looking spectral. And he had his little tears running down his face. And his hair was looking more windswept than ever. It was like it got half blown off his head. Like his hairline was looking insane. And then it was just so funny because when it started the next episode, it restarted at the exact same scene, exact like almost identical framing, but just like flipped to the other, like yes, the other side. It was so stupid and so underwhelming. Yes. What a shame. Okay, underwhelming. Little shit. I think it's shit. I think it's shit, but that doesn't mean I won't watch the next one. Yeah. And I feel like it's not, it's not like a hundred percent shit. No, it's not. I did still mostly enjoy myself. A lot of the time I was like, why am I watching this? Why am I putting myself through this? But whenever Colin wasn't on screen, I was having a pretty good time. I wanted so badly to enjoy it, and I feel so bad for the actors that I didn't enjoy it. Because I don't think it's exclusively, I don't think it's even like 5% their fault that I didn't enjoy it. I don't think so either. It's it's the plot and the dialogue and the costuming for Colin. Give him a wig. Give that man a wig. Give him some little curly get rid of his. You know what it is? Because everyone says he's got a lip flip or he's mewing or he's got the bold glamour filter on, and he does look pretty insane. But I think he has quite a chiseled face already, and then they've given him those sidebones that tuck down underneath his cheekbones, and then his hairline goes back so far, and it just makes his face look insane. I think he needed to have a less manicured hairstyle, and he would have looked great. Because there were some moments where he had like his little waistcoat undone and his hair was just a bit more messy. Yes. And he looked really good. Yes. I feel really bad. I I mean, I really hope none of this ever gets back to the to the actors. But honestly, I'm laying full blame on Julia Quinn. Yeah. It comes back to Weakest Link. She is the Weakest Link. Goodbye. And we will see you on the Malibu Beaches. In our next episode, we are reading Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. Have your say on what we read next by keeping an eye on the link in our show notes and on our socials. Make sure you subscribe to the show, and if you want to be on the same page as us, follow us at talklit.get on Instagram and TikTok.