By Nona Stewart
Sports Editor
Many Netflix watchers have been interested in the new season of the show “Bridgerton” directed by Cheryl Dunye. The first season of “Bridgerton” came out on Christmas Day in 2020 and the second season came out on March 25, 2022. When it came out, it gained over 625.5 million viewing hours and 82 million viewers. It reached number one on Netflix’s Top 10 within a week of it being released in all 190 countries that Netflix is available except Japan.
The second season came out on March 24, 2022, and before the weekend was over it gained 193 million viewing hours and 251.7 million by the end of the first week it was out. In comparison, Stranger Things, a sci-fi show, only got 26.4 million viewers in their first weekend on Netflix which at the time was record breaking number of viewers.
The first season of “Bridgerton” is about Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) when she enters the “season”, the courting world and is in search of a husband. Her brother, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) is very protective and makes her job as the Queen’s diamond difficult.
Every season, the Queen (Golda Rosheuvel), loosely based on Queen Charlotte, chooses one of the girls, who displays grace and beauty, to support and cheer on throughout the season as her diamond.
While the season is going on, a gossip newsletter written by Lady Whistledown comes out and starts spilling everyone’s secrets. However, Lady Whistledown is not a real person, and Daphne’s sister, Eloise (Claudia Jessie) is determined to find out who she is.
Season 2 is focused on Viscount Anthony Bridgerton’s search for a wife. However, all he wants out of a wife is someone who will suit his position in the world rather than the “love of his life.”
The hunt for Lady Whistledown intensifies as the Queen is enraged by some of the things she is writing and points the finger at Eloise. Eloise has just entered the season so this accusation can affect her big time, so she tries to find a way to turn the finger elsewhere. However, Lady Whistledown knows of this accusation and writes about something that Eloise would never write about herself.
Personally, I think Bridgerton brought something to Netflix that was missing which is why it got so many views. Period pieces are a difficult genre to produce so it is cool that Cheryl Dunye did such an excellent job. However, it is not technically an accurate piece but unless you are a history buff you will not know how inaccurate it is. Overall, I would give this show an 8/10 rating due to it not being fully historically accurate and with the cliff hanger at the end of the first season.
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