Bridgerton Season 4, Part 1 ends breathlessly — literally. In the final scenes of Episode 4, star-crossed lovers Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) finally succumb to their long-simmering passion. Although the pair have kissed, their clandestine meeting on the staircase in Bridgerton House is more explosive. The moment culminates with those three little words no woman expects to hear: “Be my mistress.”
Benedict — who observed a seemingly successful mistress relationship earlier in the midseason finale — believes he has made the best offer possible amid the restrictions of the ton. Sophie, however, merely blinks at her aristocratic lover and flees. Benedict wonders if Sophie will accept his proposal — the same proposal that gives Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman (the novel that inspires this season of Bridgerton) its name.
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell can offer some insight into Sophie’s mindset at the close of Episode 4. “For Sophie, the idea of being a mistress is the worst possible thing she could be asked,” Brownell says. As we learn in Part 1, Sophie is the product of a proposition like Benedict’s in Regency-era London. Sophie’s father was a lord and her mother was a maid turned mistress — an arrangement that left Sophie without status or security after their deaths. Instead, Sophie was put under the thumb of her punishing stepmother, Araminta (Katie Leung).
“Sophie really doesn’t want to ever put a child in the situation she was in,” Brownell says. “Despite societal rules, there is a part of Sophie that’s hoping that Benedict could see beyond [the ton] and that what they have is so special it could overcome the obstacles of class.”
So will Sophie say yes to Benedict’s offer, despite her misgivings? What’s afoot for the rest of the Bridgerton family? And the ton? You’ll have to wait until Part 2 debuts on Feb. 26 to find out. As Violet (Ruth Gemmell) says in the Season 4 lookahead clip, everything hinges on Benedict’s choices. Until Part 2 premieres, Brownell, Thompson, and Ha are ready to answer all your Bridgerton Season 4 questions.
Who is the Lady in Silver? And why does she hide her identity?
Apologies to Miss Hollis (Alice Mann) — but Sophie Baek is Benedict’s mysterious “Silver Lady.” When viewers first see the Lady in Silver at Season 4’s masquerade ball, they — like Benedict — have no idea who she is. It’s only afterward, when Sophie returns home to Penwood House and changes into her maid uniform, that her identity is revealed.
As we learn in flashbacks, Sophie’s colleagues Irma (Fiona Marr) and Alfie (David Moorst) urge her to attend Violet’s ball. The trio unearths Sophie’s aunt’s dress, snags a pair of Araminta’s shoes, and employs a leftover mask.
Benedict is taken with the Lady in Silver and whisks her off to the Bridgertons’ private terrace for an unforgettable dance lesson. But she disappears as the clock strikes midnight. When a chance meeting allows Sophie to get to know Benedict as herself, she doesn’t bring up her fantastical alter ego.
“I don’t think Sophie can even fathom the idea of Benedict changing his feelings, because she is someone who wears an apron and not someone in a silver gown,” Ha says. “That would be the most heartbreaking thing for her.”
What is Sophie’s history? Who are her mother and father?
Sophie is the illegitimate daughter of the late Lord Penwood (Arthur Lee) and his unnamed maid. Araminta says Sophie’s mother died without money, title, or a husband because of her status as a mistress. Despite this tragedy, flashbacks of Sophie’s childhood in Episode 2 reveal she was given as happy a youth as possible. She was brought up as Lord Penwood’s “ward,” which came with all the trappings of aristocracy: Young Sophie (Chloe Park) enjoyed fine clothes, an excellent education, and her father’s love.
Everything changed when Araminta — a widow with two young daughters — wed Lord Penwood and moved into the household. Sophie hoped Araminta would be a mother to her, but Araminta saw her new husband’s child as an affront. When Sophie was a teenager, Lord Penwood died, leaving no one to shield her from her stepmother. Lady Penwood reveals he left nothing for Sophie in his will, and offers her a maid position for “protection.” Sophie, seeing no other way to survive, accepts.
“Penwood House was Sophie’s home when she grew up. She has such a sentimental attachment to that place. But then it’s taken over by this cruel woman,” Ha says. “[Sophie knows] she could be on the street with no money. It all manifests in this deep trauma, and that’s why she has her guard up. She doesn’t trust anyone who says, ‘I promise this for you,’ because that has never been true for Sophie.”
Will Sophie become Benedict’s mistress?
You’ll have to tune in to Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 to find out. But Thompson’s visit to Bridgerton: The Official Podcast, now streaming on Netflix in the United States, shed some light on the problems between his character and Sophie.
“He just wants to have his cake and eat it [too. … He’s] trying to section out his life, which is surprising because we don’t think of Benedict as someone who does that. Deep down, I think he is,” Thompson says. “He doesn’t like to sort of go anywhere too serious or too committed.”
Ha explains that despite being pulled toward Benedict, Sophie also carries a reminder of what his offer could mean — her mother’s necklace. “There’s a certain point where I think she realizes she wears it not to kind of remember her by but to remember her mistakes and to be like, ‘I will never become this woman.’ ” Ha explains. “She doesn’t want that for anybody.”
The lookahead clip that plays after Episode 4 reveals both Benedict and Sophie will battle their feelings for one another in Part 2. Benedict will contemplate what it means for his social standing to love a maid, and Sophie will consider the long-term viability of her position at Bridgerton House.
Is Araminta moving next door to the Bridgertons?
At the beginning of Episode 4, the Bridgerton staff speculate on who could be moving into the neighboring estate in Grosvenor Square. Some wonder whether it could be a “well-to-do mistress,” which strikes a chord with Sophie. But the truth is so much worse: Araminta is the new lady of the nearby house, putting Sophie’s stepmother within striking distance.
Wait — has Mrs. Varley left the Featheringtons?
This is the final blow in Bridgerton Season 4’s Great Maid War. At the beginning of Episode 3, Mrs. Varley (Lorraine Ashbourne), the dutiful head of staff at Featherington House, receives a better job offer from a mysterious individual. Mrs. Varley, out of loyalty, asks Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) for a long-overdue raise — compensation, after all, has increased since their last financial discussion 20 years earlier. Rather than give Mrs. Varley a raise, Portia gifts her confidant a box of old, citrus-hued gowns.
Mrs. Varley resigns her position when she spots Portia buying a parade of new clothes. It’s obvious the Featheringtons can afford to pay Mrs. Varley a few more shillings. A verbal standoff ensues, and Mrs. Varley leaves the home she has kept running for decades.
The final scene of Part 1 reveals Mrs. Varley isn’t unemployed for long: It was Araminta who attempted to poach Mrs. Varley — and her scheme worked. Mrs. Varley welcomes Araminta, Rosamund, and Posy Li (Isabella Wei) into their new Grosvenor Square home.
What’s happening with Violet and Lord Anderson?
Violet’s garden is in bloom. The widowed Bridgerton matriarch closes out Part 1 at a diverting nighttime “tea” party with her beau, Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis). Violet’s head of household, Mrs. Wilson (Geraldine Alexander), helps her pull off the romantic evening. The last time we see Violet in Episode 4, she’s smiling in bed with Anderson.
“I’m just … happy,” Violet says, before she and Anderson passionately embrace again.
