Bridgerton Season 3, Part 1 debuted in May to great success, topping streaming charts and amassing 2.3 billion minutes watched in just the first week alone, according to Luminate. Bridgerton Season 3 is on track to join Season 1 and Season 2 on the list of Netflix’s most popular shows of all time. Fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the second half of the season on June 13.
This season, Penelope Featherington, a character who is often overlooked, gets her day in the sun as her love story is placed front and center. The stakes are high as it is her third social season as an eligible bachelorette. However, unlike the past two seasons, Penelope faces social events without the company of her good friend Eloise Bridgerton. The pair had a massive falling out at the end of Season 2. The details of their fight were private, so the reason for their fallout isn’t mentioned in Season 3, Part 1. Some fans were left wondering what exactly it was that caused the rift between Penelope and Eloise.
What Happened Between Penelope and Eloise?
Eloise found out that Penelope had been secretly publishing gossip columns under the name “Lady Whistledown.” After a season of investigating the true source of Lady Whistledown’s gossip column, it was a slap in the face for Eloise to find out that the author had been her best friend the whole time. Not only had Penelope been keeping a secret from her, but she had also published embarrassing gossip about Eloise and her family. Penelope (as Lady Whistledown) revealed that Eloise had been sneaking away from high society to attend meetings with “political radicals.”
Penelope reasoned that she published gossip about her best friend in order to protect Eloise from the Queen. The Queen suspected that Lady Whistledown was Eloise herself after Eloise had been spotted visiting Theo Sharpe’s print shop in Bloomsbury. The Queen threatened to bring shame upon the Bridgertons if Eloise didn’t confess within three days. Penelope thought the best way to protect Eloise from the Queen’s wrath would be to write something damning about Eloise in her column, since it wouldn’t make sense for Eloise to write something about herself that would surely bring her family social disfavor.
Penelope said that she wanted to protect Eloise, but she did damage all the same. Eloise accused Penelope of being selfish and profiting at the expense of other people. Eloise isn’t wrong — Penelope had been making money literally by writing about other people’s gossip. During the fight with Eloise, Penelope claimed she would quit writing as Lady Whistledown. However, she picks up the pen again almost immediately after, and continues publishing pamphlets in Season 3. She even includes disparaging remarks about Colin, Eloise’s own brother. This evidence makes Bridgerton fans wonder if Lady Whistledown has learned any lessons from her mistakes.
When Does Eloise Find Out About Penelope in Bridgerton?
Eloise finds out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown at the end of Season 2, specifically during Bridgerton Season 2, Episode 8. Eloise has been investigating Lady Whistledown for some time, and gets ever closer as Theo reveals to her that Lady Whistledown did indeed use his shop to print her pamphlets. Theo tells her that the gossip columns were always delivered hidden in silks, so Eloise suspects that Madame Delacroix, a seamstress who has been praised by Whistledown, has been helping deliver the papers to the print shop. However, she meets a dead end after questioning Madame Delacroix.
Rating for Bridgerton Season 2, Episode 8, “The Viscount Who Loved Me”
Eloise finally starts to suspect Penelope when they are standing together at the Featherington ball. Penelope makes a comment about a certain Lord Fife spending time with a lady in a broom closet. When Eloise asks how she knows this information, Penelope points out the particular lady fixing her dress and stuffing tissue paper in her bosom. Eloise is disappointed to see how Penelope’s keen observation skills could easily make her a gossip columnist. Based on this suspicion, Eloise rummages through Penelope’s room and finds money and writing tools hidden under the floorboards. She says:
Hearing you repeat all that gossip tonight, it struck me. Because I had never heard you like that. You might have said those kinds of things before, but tonight was the first time I in fact heard you say them. It sounded so familiar. Not just the content or subject, the pattern. It sounded written, almost.
– Eloise Bridgerton
Eloise goes on to point out that Penelope claimed people had been talking about the fact that Eloise had been sneaking out to spend time Theo, the lower-class boy who worked at the print shop. Eloise realizes that if people truly did know about her and Theo, Lady Whistledown would have written about them already. She’s disappointed to learn that she broke off her friendship with Theo based on this lie from Penelope.
After she is found out, Penelope pleads for Eloise’s forgiveness, saying that she was only trying to protect her. But Eloise is convinced that Penelope is only interested in her own gains, and will even take down the people around her in order to achieve them. She says that Lady Whistledown did in fact take down Mrs. Thompson, Eloise, The Bridgertons and Penelope’s entire family, after all.
Where Do Eloise and Penelope Stand Now?
In Bridgerton Season 3, Part 1, Eloise and Penelope are cordial, but not friendly. Eloise has developed an unlikely friendship with the generally snobbish Cressida Crowper. At the beginning of Season 3, Cressida intentionally steps on Penelope’s new gown, causing the bottom of her dress to rip. Although Eloise is no longer besties with Penelope, she still brings the incident up to Cressida, telling her she didn’t have to go so far to embarrass Penelope simply because Pen and Eloise had a falling out.
Later on, Eloise reveals a piece of gossip to Cressida: that Penelope has enlisted the help of her brother, Colin, in order to help her find a husband. When the gossip inevitably gets out, Penelope feels obligated to write about it in her column, for fear of being suspicious if she leaves her own gossip out of the news. Eloise blames Cressida for the gossip getting out and calls her out for being mean-spirited. However, Cressida says that she wasn’t the one that spread the gossip, and that perhaps Eloise should have been more careful to keep her voice down when she shared the news as there were plenty of people around them that could have overheard.
Eloise later pulls Penelope aside to offer her condolences, and tells her that she thought what Lady Whistledown printed about her was much too harsh. Although they are estranged, it’s clear that Eloise still has a soft spot in her heart for Penelope. But is it enough to bridge the gap and lead her to forgive Penelope for her secret?
Is There Hope for Eloise and Penelope’s Friendship?
Much of the Bridgerton audience roots for Penelope and Eloise, as they are both sympathetic characters who had a lovable and dynamic friendship. However, it’s hard to see how Penelope and Eloise will make up as long as Penelope continues writing as Lady Whistledown. Will Eloise come to accept Penelope, even though she writes gossip? Or will Penelope give up writing in order to win back Eloise’s friendship? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell revealed that fans can expect more from Eloise and Penelope in Season 3, Part 2. She said:
I think their friendship is very much the secondary love story of the season. And while it was important for us to see what growth could happen from each of them while they were separate, we’re very invested in happy endings. So, what exactly that looks like, I’ll leave to be seen.
– Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell
Penelope and Colin’s love story is made more complicated by the fact that Penelope is secretly Lady Whistledown, and by the fact that Colin’s sister is the only person who knows her secret. It seems inevitable that Colin will find out about Penelope’s secret eventually, now that they have finally admitted that they have feelings for each other. Fans are eager to find out how Colin will react if and when he learns the news, given he’s shown disdain for Lady Whistledown in the past. Hopefully, if he doesn’t react well, Eloise will be there to hold Penelope’s hand through the fallout.
