Contains some spoilers for Bridgerton Seasons 1 & 2:

Bridgerton is rated TV-MA:

As many of you might know, the new season of the show Bridgerton is scheduled to premiere May 16 with its second half to air June 13. After its first two seasons, we come to know that this story is focused on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton. In this article, we’ll discover more about the duo and their friends-to-lovers relationship.

Penelope is most commonly seen as the wallflower, or someone who steers away from attention and the spotlight. After many years of being “just a friend” to Colin, in this season, she has decided to call her crush quits and prepare herself for the marriage season instead. Because of this, she decided to change her entire wardrobe and not answer any of Colin’s letters during the summer whilst he traveled. After the biggest Bridgerton teaser came out, we come to a conclusion that Colin is more determined than ever to win their friendship back by coaching her through the entirety of the courtship season in order to find an eligible suitor for her. Little does he know that this will make him question his entire relationship with her. 

After a little recap of the series, the real question is yet to be answered: what should we anticipate this season? 

Tons of videos, theories, and articles later, I found a couple of things to take note on during my searches. There are many mentions of Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton making appearances during this season, as their love resumes after their marriage. There are continuous tensions between Eloise and Penelope, as their fallout during the end of season 2 ensues. Despite all of this, there are more details now than ever about the couple’s relationship.

During the previous seasons, Colin has always seen Penelope as just a friend. Confirmed by his conversation with a group of acquaintances in the final episodes of season 2, he confirmed that he would never court her. Surely enough, Penelope overheard this and decided that it was time to call her friendship with Colin quits (for now). 

Although not so apparent at first glance, it is obvious that Colin does have feelings for his long-time friend, but is completely clueless about it. Colin is quite smitten with her throughout the series, as he steals glances at her and smiles whenever he sees her. He stands up for her throughout the first season many times and makes it known that she’s his inspiration when it comes to his travels. Penelope pushes him to become better, and he feels comfortable talking to and trusting her with his most random ideas. This could be debated, but the way he looks at her when she speaks is nothing a friendship could do.

It is clear that the trope for this season is friends to lovers. I’m not necessarily a big fan of this trope, but seeing Colin beg for reconciliation and finally realizing his feelings for Penelope could be something of excitement this season. We could also potentially witness many arguments, apologies, and tensions between both as Colin unfortunately (but willingly) has to witness Penelope being courted by many eligible suitors for marriage. This season is one of the most promising seasons to come from this series.