When you think of Bridgerton, you think of romance. That’s what makes the series work and while each season tackles a different trope, the results of happily ever after are mostly the same. However, now that season 3 has been released, fans noticed something rather upsetting about the treatment of Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony’s (Jonathan Bailey) story compared to the other couples. While both season 1, which focused on Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page), and season 3, which was Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin’s (Luke Newton), featured a wedding for their respective couples and an epilogue with them as new parents, season 2 did not include either one of those major relationship milestones for Kanthony.
The epilogue for Kate and Anthony was certainly in character and fit the couple extremely well, but it does not feel like enough after how long it took the enemies to lovers to actually get together. Rather than simply mentioning that they are now newlyweds, they could have shown some part of the wedding, even if it was just them exchanging vows, Kate walking down the aisle to Anthony, or them sharing their first dance as husband and wife. It’s nice to see them in a genuinely happy marriage, but we see that in season 3.
Cheryl Dunye, who directed episodes 7 and 8 of the second season, has spoken about why the wedding was skipped over, expressing there was only room for one wedding. It makes sense that the “big wedding” went to Anthony and Edwina since she was Queen Charlotte’s (Golda Rosheuvel) diamond of the season, but since “two weddings in a show that were that spectacular, one could not do after the other,” they could have just done an intimate ceremony for Kate and Anthony as a reward for both the couple and fans.
Thankfully, they did return to continue their journey in season 3 but their lack of screen time left viewers angry once again. Not to mention that a few comments about their “perfect” wedding only reminded those watching how we were never given the opportunity to see it. As for their storyline itself, it was actually delightful. The two were happy, which was so well deserved after everything they had been through during their season but the problem is that we barely get to experience that happiness with them due to an extended honeymoon and a rushed exit in part 2 of season 3.
Naturally, it is not their season and no one expected them to be front and center, but there are basic things that should have included the Viscount and Viscountess, especially when the actors have expressed how much they “adore” their characters and their desire to continue returning to the show to explore the relationship. Their entire plot was to make an heir and despite the excitement when fans discovered that Kate was pregnant, it was soon realized that we would not get to really see any of it. Their telling the family is delayed due to Colin’s engagement and when they do finally share the news, it is only a brief moment with Violet (Ruth Gemmell) and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh). They almost announce it to everyone else at the betrothal party but are cut off by Cressida (Jessica Madsen).
Arguably, their biggest scene of the season is also the most controversial one with Anthony making a romantic gesture to the love of his life: he wants to take Kate to India so that they can have the birth of their child there. On the surface, it’s a beautiful idea: Kate will be reunited with her family, he will be able to learn about her history, and their child will know that they are a Sharma as much as they are a Bridgerton. The issue isn’t even about them returning for season 4 because Anthony does promise they will come back.
The issue is that the journey to India would take months and Kate is visibly pregnant by this point. Considering the trauma Anthony experienced when his mother was giving birth to his youngest sister, which was heavily referenced and explained in his season, it would never make sense for him to risk the health of Kate and their unborn child by taking such a long voyage. This absolutely ruins the scene unless viewers want to throw logic and Anthony’s trauma out the window.
In all honesty, it just seemed like an excuse to not have them take up screentime with the birth of their child. As if all of this isn’t bad enough, we then have a wonderful epilogue with Penelope and Colin’s son as well as the other two new Featherington babies, which simply rubs salt on the wound because would it have killed them to include Kanthony’s child or even mention the new Bridgerton heir with a comment in the scene?
We did not even know Penelope was pregnant, so why did she and Colin get this treatment but Kate and Anthony were not worthy of it in their season? Was the wedding not enough of a milestone for the other couple? In no way is this saying that Penelope and Colin did not deserve these big moments during their season because they definitely did, every one of the couples does and that’s the point. It’s simply to argue just how different the treatment is when it comes to Kate and Anthony’s relationship as well as what is shown to audiences.
As for their absence itself, it made no sense. Anthony takes the role of Viscount extremely seriously and the idea that he would miss his sister’s wedding or the birth of his nephew is laughable. It made sense that Daphne (besides some brief moments in season 2) would not come back due to Page’s decision not to return after his character’s love story in season 1 concluded but when both Bailey and Ashley want to and are willing to continue coming back, what is the excuse to underutilize them and their characters?
The two of them could have helped guide both Colin and Francesca (Hannah Dodd) this season thanks to all they went through in season 2 and we did see some of that in the one scene when the fan-favorite couple gave Colin much-needed advice the night before his wedding. Daphne was one of the major players when it came to helping Anthony realize and express his feelings for Kate, so the role for season 3 should have continued with the latest couple.
Showrunner Jess Brownell has since confirmed that sending Kanthony away to India is not the same as sending them away from the show, explaining, “I think the strength of sending them off to India for a little while is that it does leave the door open for them to come back, schedules allowing. I think, understandably, when any of our lead actors have given over their lives for their season, in future seasons, we want to be supportive of the fact that they do have other projects coming in, and to ask actors to come back just to be in the background is not really fair to them. We love Jonny and Simone, and we’ll have them back as much as we are able to.”
The idea of schedules having to work out and the difficulty of that task at times makes total sense, but when you are lucky to have actors from past seasons come back, you should make the most of that time and give them something substantial to work with rather than leave them in the background.
While Bridgerton does have a clear format, they need to address a major flaw: fans want to see what happens after a couple’s happily ever after. That’s the whole purpose of a series, continuing the story. This should not be that difficult considering there are always multiple plots for side characters in each season. One can only hope that things are made right in season 4 when it comes to Kate and Anthony raising their child, but it will be a true balancing act considering they will now have to include moments for Kanthony, Polin, the new Bridgerton love story, and any other characters they want to make progress with.
That’s why this continues to be so frustrating because season 3 was the perfect opportunity to show at least one of the couples missing major milestones after they skipped over their wedding. Fans will definitely be paying careful attention to the amount of screentime Polin gets in comparison to Kanthony now that they are not the center couple because if there continues to be such a notable difference in the treatment of how their relationship is developed, there’s no reason to continue watching for small five minute scenes.
