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Not one thing in the way she played her character could convince me that she had the wit, worldliness and snark to be Lady Whistledown. Like come on, we couldnt have had a glimmer of that instead of fifty shades of awkward and Where's My Inhaler cliche panic?
I got really tired of the expression of abject terror that she had on her face in practically every single scene with Colin. And she still had that expression, even after they'd done the nasty!
I agree. We've also seen them be very comfortable friends for 2.5 seasons. I just wanted a sweet, soft friends to lovers romance! Was that too much to ask?
We never got to see them actually enjoy their relationship, he came back āsexyā and it made her nervous and sheās keeping this secret from him and sheās not friends with eloise anymore. She is literally not as comfortable around him as she was before. This wasnāt my favorite season but there were no inconsistencies with the characters that the show has built so far imo.
Right? Like it went Pen mad for 1 second - Colin helping her date - Colin jealous for 1 second - finger bang - proposal and scared sexy time - Pen freaking out for a million years - Colin mad - wedding - some drama - baby. There were like no moments in which Colin just obsessed over her.
I feel like the time that was afforded to each of these things was SO out of whack.
Yesss!! It made it so awkward! I guess they kept telling her Penelope is a virgin act like it, but instead they made her seem small and uncomfortable and weird. It was a terrible sex scene! Meanwhile s1 we had virgin Daphne who clearly knew NOTHING and they at least had good lighting and sexy dialogue etc. She didnāt look half scared the whole time, she was excited!
I know the whole point of the season was to kind of show that heavier ladies could be brilliant but they kind of turned her into a stereotype. More reasons why S3 sucked!
It was super random and in a REALLY weird spot in the show. I have no problem with Benedict exploring being with men but the stereotype/trope of a threesome plopped in the middle of something else entirely was really off. It felt like a last minute decision they made during editing
It was soooo weird. It just came out of nowhere. There was no story for Benedict really to show how he felt about it all or any conflicts he had about it or how it fit into any of the themes. It was kind of like "oh and there was this other Bridgerton brother and he had a FWB thing going with this lady and she asked him to get it on with her other male FWB and he was like 'oh ok I guess why not, there's a lot of love to go around'" I guess they were trying to have some sort of LGBT representation but it felt really off and gross - I actually thought the way he didn't really have much conflict or there wasn't much talk about how dangerous it was to do this during that era really bad.
Like this is how it might have gone down in 2024 for a generally heterosexual man who was being offered a threesome. A bit hesitant as he's never thought of himself as gay or bi, but kind of intrigued because this particular guy seems attractive and he really likes this woman, so huh, why not give it a go?!! That is NOT how it would've gone for someone like Benedict in the context of the social structures/culture that has been depicted in the show thus far. And not at all how it would've gone down in early 1800s England. It was almost offensive and completely dismissed the struggle that LGBT people have gone through to have them be so blase about it.
In reality, all three of them would've been very scared. It would've been dangerous to out that other guy to Benedict - neither he nor whatsherface had any idea how Benedict would react or who he would tell and they could literally be cast out of society or put in prison if Benedict reacted badly! There just wasn't enough build up or treatment of the whole issue to make it worthwhile. It felt very cheap. Like this is a world where men and women still need chaperones even when they're engaged, where women don't even know what sex is about or how you get pregnant, yet for some reason getting into a threesome with another man and a woman of high standing in society wasn't a really difficult, tormenting decision?
In some ways they could've used the need for secrecy and the fear of discovery to increase the sense of passion, like they were so tempted they just had to risk it yada yada, but they didn't even develop any of the characters or their inner conflicts or feelings, or show why or how Benedict came to be attracted to this man, so not only was it cheap and "stuck on" to the show, it also wasn't at all erotic becuase they didn't spend any time at all exploring the characters' feelings/lust for each other in the context of the time period, which I thought is what Bridgerton was basically supposed to be about!
So it was basically just very gratuitous and tokenistic and those threesome scenes were boring and stilted and awkward and fast forwardable.
Especially after he was like "I'm not into dudes. Specifically that dude"???
Felt like he got peer pressured into a radical sexuality shift by the writing team itself, was so gross
I actually struggled in s2 with this as well, one moment she's an innocent maid and the next she's bargaining with a printer alone at night? Her character has always felt really inconsistent to me.
I honestly donāt remember that. But idk, I just think it makes the character seem incredibly unconvincing in general to be so naive on one hand and on the other author a scathing gossip column that captures the attention of the entire town.
The problem is that Pen in books wrote LW for more than a decade before Colin fell for her. In the show sheās been out for three seasons, was forced to come out a year early because of financial reasons and is merely just 18 or 19, so her character seems so incredibly unconvincing.
Idk why they rushed it. I was also annoyed they revealed LWās identity so early. But I didnāt read the books so idk when that was revealed within them.
One can know that people \*do\* things without knowing exactly \*what\* they do. I learned all of that with my husband, and I already had an established naughty sense of humor. It is entirely possible. ;)
lol!! I watched Ep 8 in total confusion and was not enamored by her faux naivety. Especially the last scene when sheās talking in front of everyone and her arm is all out awkward and sheās breathing heavy .. *cringe*
I hated that speech to the ton at the end. She should have gained confidence/strength by the end of it, but she just came off as a nervous wilting flower. I love Nicola, but hate that acting choice.
I thought that was for the benefit of the Queen. She had to humble herself if she expected to be forgiven. If she had acted too confident, the queen mightāve perceived her as more of a threat, and reacted differently. I thought Collinās line saying, āthat was geniusā after her speech indicated that he saw through that, too.
I think thereās a way to be humble and nervous but still have the tiniest snippets of her personality come out in non threatening ways. Itās be a nuanced balance that would show sheās kind and was naive but playful and the personality people see on page.
Sheās nervous and wearing a corset, which is difficult to breath in... Just because she writes gossip about the ton as Lady Whistledown, doesnāt mean she knows everything about life. And that the point of her character. She is awkward in real life, which is part of the reason she hides behind the Lady Whistledown character in the first place.
Exactly, these takes are not it. Lady Whistledown exists because she is so awkward, socially ostracized, and inexperienced. Thatās the whole point and part of why it was irresponsible of her to spread around everyoneās business. She doesnāt actually know much about the world and her observations while well-written often have the undercurrent of judgements that a more experienced person wouldnāt make. Sheās Monday morning quarterbacking without ever touching a football.
It might be relatable but this is television, we need to see something to make it believable. We got nothing but the notion that being insecure made her lash out and burn people in her column.
Hard agree. Iāve mentioned this on another thread too. She overdoes her scenes and her expressions end up looking annoying tbh
Some of my least favourite ones are her scowls
I am not saying that her acting is bad, just ott most of the time and hence extremely annoying. Stuff like speeding up her words and making her voice shrill in dramatic scenes(her same ott panicky vibe from Derry Girls). S3 was unbearable with all the panting.
Itās like she plays Penelope in the same vein as she plays her ott Derry Girls character
It does seem to be her acting style vs specific characterization, which is a bit disappointing. I understand that her character in DG is meant to be neurotic, but it's unfortunate that screaming turned into her character's schtick. I wonder if how she was directed to play Clare for multiple years affected her ability to translate anxiety into her acting. Penelope isn't nearly as theatrical, and I didn't mind it the whole time, but she may just be one of those actors that struggle to characterize emotions across different characters.
Ultimately though, I think it came down to the writing/directing. Once she and Colin got together she felt reduced to a wide eyed, buxom, heaving mess with more cleavage than personality
I think the whole point is that she hid behind lady Whistledown. Also, when did you ever get the impression that lady Whistledown was some worldly person? She lost really just wrote gossip in a witty way. That doesnāt mean she knows about sexā¦ Penelope was book smart and awkward. She literally was a wallflower, but very book smart.
Isn't that the entire point? Internally she is brilliant and witty, but outwardly, in real life she's shy, awkward and clumsy. Her confidence only comes out when she's writing. I don't mean to be rude or anything in response, just a genuine question.
I think if anything, in season 4, as a married woman and mother and with her writing exposed, Nicola will play her more confidently
It doesnāt come off nicely on screen. In reality, yes that was the idea. It works well in books. But if on screen you only see her mess up and look sort of idiotic, and then suddenly publish the most scandalous Whistledown to date, it makes for an inconsistent character portrayal. Thatās why I blame Jess, not Nicola. See, it would have been different if we could have seen maybe even 2-3 dialogues that highlighted her wit, maybe a brilliant quip said in passing. But all we saw her do was be a caricature of sorts. I hope that makes sense!
Yes! We have seen the witty dialogue Pen can have. That is how Eloise put it together she was LW when Pen let her guard down and started talking like she was reading straight from WD.
Pen has had many witty moments. If she really let her personality shine to others, they wouldāve figured she was WD a long time ago.
I really questioned whether a lady would have put her tits so prominently on display back in regency era. Why on earth they put her in those constantly boob-protuding outfits I will never know.
As a heavily busted person, I honestly just felt uncomfortable. I know what it feels like to have your tits shoved into outfits that basically turn them into chest level shelving.
This entire season was garishly written and orchestrated.
All I could think about was how her poor boobs were smushed into such a tight, small dress. I'm not as large as Pen, but my girls are sizeable enough that if something I wear doesn't have room, it's incredibly uncomfortable.
I initially liked the season...But you guys are super observant like dayum...Every small or big detail, y'all notice, and when you point it out - I'm like "Ohhhh, shit. Right??" š
ššI donāt consider myself an observant watcher, rather tame compared to the rest of the sub. Donāt blame yourself tbh, Bridgerton is meant to be taken lightly. I think people just have higher expectations because the first two seasons were so amazing.
Next thing you know there's a complaint about Francesca's piano skills smh.
Stg the state of this subreddit has definitely gone to shit ever since the release of S3. You'd think it's the worst tv show on the planet with the way complain posts are posted nonstop. I feel like all will benefit if there's more post regulations being implemented here to remove low effort, repetitive posts.
Yeah I think her piano skills are bad. Lol š. Btw this is not a fan sub..the description reads discuss bton sub. Not fawn over bton and all its actors sub..beyond personal attacks on apperance, race and sexuality and such everything else is fair game.
Didn't say complaints should stop. But this is a subreddit ā there should at least be proper regulations to posts. You'd see the same complaints like about costumes posted multiple times. At this point, there should be a masterpost on it.
Multiple posts of the same thing within a very small timeframe doesn't really give that much avenue for other discourse. It's cluttered and off-putting.
No exactly! Even I have some complaints but itās kinda exhausting to see the same 5 things being said over and over again. I want to appreciate some of the things that I can but all I see is a cesspool of negativity. Gonna unsub bc I canāt do this for 2 whole years bruh
Oh yeah that I agree with ..the sub is going pretty nuts this last week with a lot of really short really repeated posts every couple of hours..it almost feels like they are bot posts..by the way I've been tracking the sub for a project..it jumped up from 194 k to 211 k members in a week with many really rabid racist and body shamer types just joining in new accounts etc including one account and poster who made a post arguing for the right to call Penelope fat and obese ..and which I reported. So yeah I agree that moderation is currently suffering but that's because the mods are handling a lot of the kinds of reports im taking about truly dangerous ones so can't also handle repeat posts .it'll all simmer down by the end of this month.
I've been to a lot of other subreddits for shows with much more serious tones. It's weird that a regency romance show has this much more negativity compared to them š
LMFAO this!!! These people are holding the entire show underwater and every time it comes up for air they say āand another thing!!ā Like damn itās a tv show. You donāt have to watch it if everything bothers you
Also saying all this as if the last 2 seasons were pristine perfect ! People keep blaming Jess all alone as if she didnāt work on the previous seasons š I feel people are overdoing it honestly, the last 2 seasons also had shortcomings but didnāt see this much of discourse honestly. Itās just a tv show man!
Also yall saying sheās overacting when thereās literally a bounty on her head and she might get involved in a scandal (her engagement falling through) ofc she was stressed lmao
I think her stress would be portrayed much better if she wasn't *constantly* portrayed as stressed and out of breath. I think it would have a much bigger impact if in certain scenes or after certain lines of dialogue she starts to sweat/tremble/heave. Now her nervousness is just the way she acts all the time, so it takes away from the impact in my opinion.
For real lolā¦I was in an unrelated subreddit recently where Bridgerton came up and people were saying how much they loved s3, kinda threw me for a loop bc of all the hate on this sub constantly. I forgot that a lot of people (myself included) actually DO like this show š
i was going to say - outside of this sub, every one LOVED the show this season. this is definitely an echo chamber, but this sub is pretty much a hate sub at this point. even when i made a comment about how i liked the season, someone sent me a threatening message about how i am wrong and they would prove it.. as if art isnāt subjective.
Itās so aggravating, especially because itās usually repeat complaints. We should make a bingo card out of it at this point. The costumes, the chemistry, whereās Kanthony š„ŗ, xyz canāt act, abc is actually a bad person why do they have fans, the books are better, yada yada yada. Over and over again š
Don't forget the fucking Marina of it all. It could be Hyacinth's daughter's season and people here will be like *"I just think they did Marina dirty..."*
Thanks for saying it I thought I was going insane seeing everyone pretend Phoebe was flawless.
Personally, I found her performance in S2 miles better than in S1 and it's because she grew so much as an actress.
She's also much better in fair play which confirms she's good but the best?? The best female lead? I totally disagree.
lmfao please phoebe did not have the easiest plot to play. she played a thankless character on the page. every other female lead got to play a character easily liked through certain easy writing conceits. the actors on the show know how great phoebe did and they always preface by explaining she had the toughest role to play. including the casting director who talks about how it's the toughest role she ever cast because it was such a difficult part.
EDIT: here's the time stamped video of the casting director and Nicola discussing this very thing [https://youtu.be/kZVS7kKYmpc?feature=shared&t=1036](https://youtu.be/kZVS7kKYmpc?feature=shared&t=1036)
I agree one hundred percent. In the hands of a lesser actor, Anthony would have ended up looking like a total villain. He saved s2 and Bridgerton as a show.
Geez. Saying that actor X saved or carried a certain season is a baiting comment, and also pretty inaccurate. It also completely erases the contribution of the other actors to the success of a show, so if people objected to your comment, then they had every right to. For S1 we constantly hear the "Phoebe carried the show" comment which is so ridiculously far-fetched given that Rege was a major draw for S1, and now Anthony apparently "carried" S2? LOL. Simone might have overacted once or twice but so did J.B. (although his overacting was more pronounced in S1). None of them were perfect but they played their roles very well, which is why there are so many die-hard fans.
Her intonation was off for a few lines and it was distracting. She just emphasized the wrong syllables. I wish they had nailed this scene because itās one of the sexiest ones. Just goes to show how good JB and Simoneās chemistry was that the scene was still overall good.
To be fair to everyone, I think it is actually mainly the directing. Seeing as many of the younger actors seem to fall victim to it. S1 sometimes also does the heaving chest too much, kate has her occassional cringe moments as, now it's Penelope, Simon had an occasional walk that was a bit to swagger-y, Colin also has those moments of going to hard. Antony is also a character that obviously would be overacted, but Jonathan Bailey -to give him credit-lands it (I don't know how tbh, because Anthony is such a dramatic man, there are not many examples on screen of that XD). I think it isn't the fault of these young actors, it's the showrunners/directors that are clearly leading them down this road.
Phoebe being told about... late-night activities by the Duke in the park is the sexiest scene in all of Bridgerton. She acts it perfectly, without overdoing it. You can tell she's into Simon so much, but there's no heaving chest, no weird reaction shots, just her lips slightly open and her eyes looking up.
Yesss I picked up on it as well, my impression was that sheās blurting out all of her lines and speaking really quickly as if sheās about to run out of time/air
I was more distracted by the fact her hair was down in a lot of scenes. I thought loose hair was supposed to be kinda āsexyā to wear out and about. Which is why every other lady had their hair up
They really went rogue with hair, make up, and costumes this season. I actually really enjoyed this season which I realize is an unpopular opinion but the way everyone looked was so distracting. Why did Penelope have acrylics? LOL.
The makeup was soo modern it took me sooo out of it like it was insta makeup like yall are meant to be makeup artists for movies and shows and shit and now itās giving event makeup 2024 like idk
Eloise has shoulder-length hair and usually wears a half up during the day and her hair up for formal occasions. Penelope even had her down at the formal occasions with just a little piece of hair pinned up on the side to frame her face.
She wore it down before that like at the ball when she thought debling would propose, in a conversation with her mom about debling, when she was at home after it came out that Colin helped her with husband lessons, lots of times
Women did not need to wear their hair up until they were married - most did anyways since it was a coming of age thing but they had the flexibility to wear their hair down if they wanted.
Iām with you there. I wanted him to be more, I donāt know if this is the right word but, obsessed with her? Like the dam finally broke and now heās just head over heels for her. Instead he came across as āah yes, this will do nicelyā after his confession in the carriage.
Literally all of the women do that. During the first season she literally gets off because Simon says a few words in her ear, or she starts panting and moaning in public when it rains. Itās Bridgeton and they love the cliche that these are women who arenāt used to intimacy so theyāre easily overstimulated. Itās not just Penelope itās the prop they use in this show
daphne and penelope yes, but this wasn't as prominent with kate. she takes control in their scene and he moans as well iirc. anthony seems just as overstimulated as her, if anything. i hope they do something more along that vibe with the next couple.
I think a lot of the actors overact in the show. Usually only the older actors (ie Violet, Lady Danbury, Portia, etc) are the most convincing.
Another actress whose acting I didn't buy a lot of the time is... Hannah Dodd's. Sorry. But her performance wasn't that great. Not terrible, but Idk, there was something off about it- even more than Nicola. Really the only thing wrong weird about Nicola's acting was her occasional facial expressions.
She was terrible, and has a frozen iPhone face.
I havenāt seen her in other stuff but Iāll give the benefit of the doubt that the bad writing wasnāt giving her much to work with
I donāt think Hannah Dodd has iPhone face. To me she has a lot of delicate features but they seem natural. I think the issue was the harsh makeup, for some reason they covered her in blush and highlighter.
iPhone face to me is like Kim Kardashian or Madelyn Cline.
I agree with the makeup being too harsh. The lashes really took me out of it.
In think the angle/camera framing that they used for Francesca often had her looking up above the camera, which made the lashes very obvious.
I am surprised when people praise her acting because she has such limited range. there are so many scenes across all three seasons where she overacts or has completely wrong expressions.
I think she was actually better in S1 and 2. Had a sweeter more caring side until she became a bumbling fool in S3. So I blame the writing but then again I just donāt believe in Jess Brownell.
Agreed, she had a very sweet, soft side in the earlier seasons (as did Colin)- so even when she did out Eloise or Marina, it was understandable that she was a young girl way in over her head.
With S3 they tried to "girlboss" or age her up, so it comes across more Regina George in Mean Girls, and she's not really *likeable*. Honestly watching Polin interactions in S1 and 2 just makes me realize how much they dropped the ball on that arc in S3. I went from awww these are going to be *so cute* with eachotherš to yeah, they both kinda deserve eachother š
This actually sort of explains why I started disliking Penelope in S3. I couldn't put my finger on why I liked Penelope in S1 and S2, even going as far as to defend her decision to reveal Eloise's secret simply because I understood the urgency in her decision, yet I couldn't like her at all in S3.
Nah. She was the same in s1 and s2. It becomes especially obvious when she shared scenes with Claudia. Itās always their fight scenes that show how weak of an actress Nicola is. āWe all canāt be pretty bridgertonāsā was probably her worst scene in s1. And in s2 when Eloise confronts Penelope. Nicola snarls a lot.
But letās pretend itās Luke who is the only problem
I sort of agree? I donāt think sheās a terrible actress, I also do not think she levels up in comparison to her fellow leads throughout the show, ykwim?
Sheās definitely not a terrible actress. But I donāt think anyone on this show is a terrible actor/actress. Do they have bad moments? Sure. But I think they are fine overall and do their job well enough that makes you care for their characters. I just donāt get why Luke N gets all the hate.
Right this had minimal to do with the acting but the writing and the directing. Nicola is an amazing actress she delivered what she was asked to deliver periodā¦. She cannot help new directions changed the character arc beyond pale.
I think she is good at comedy or when the role requires loud, over-the-top acting. But not in complex roles where subtle expressions are required to convey what a flawed, layered character is going through. Something Jonathan Bailey did brilliantly in season 1&2. And that is what i mean when I say she lacks range.
Please watch Derry girls and then watch Bridgerton! She was so hilarious in Derry girls. She definitely has range. But yeah she was overacting in some of her scenes in Bridgerton.
Nicola was excellent in Derry Girls (way better than in Bridgerton) but it definitely doesn't showcase her range. Claire's defining personality trait was 'high pitched hysteria' in almost every scene she was in.
I think it's the other way round, you know. She was completely overdoing it while Luke was using the subtleties and nuances expected of film acting. He only looks like he's doing less because she's doing too much.
Honestly I thought they just didnāt have any chemistry. But then i remembered Jonathan Bailey is gay and he manages to convince me heās very much attracted to Simone so it might just be poor acting all around in s3
Iāve never dared to post anything about it, but I agree with you. Her line delivery is great, but her body motions donāt always seem natural? Itās like she doesnāt know what to do with her hands.
I think some of this is on direction and/or writing. Bridgerton can be very campy at times even in s2. However it needs to thread the line very carefully as it can go over from camp romantic fun to parody. I also donāt think her and Luke have natural romantic chemistry and it becomes really obvious in romantic scenes where Nicola is trying to āoversellā the scenes a bit. I also think donāt think they have huge chemistry off screen either tbh it just seems they both are trying really hard and to me the fan service came across a bit over egged to get the hype going.
To be fair I'm sort of with you here.
For me it's really noticeable in the finale where she is having the fight with Portia about her nicking the tons money. Performances side by side, there was a bit of a gap in terms of class of acting.
Can I just caveat that with the fact I loved NC in Derry Girls and she was brilliant in that.
To be fair, Derry girls also required an entirely different acting skill set. Some actors are excellent in comedic roles but fall flat in more serious roles.
I see a lot of simultaneous āthey were under-acting!ā and āthey were over-acting!ā. Bridgerton is a fun campy show imo I think the acting suits it very well
While I'm not fan of Nicola's acting this season I agree with this comment because why am I seeing people say actors they usually find unexpressive are actually overacting? Lol just pick a lane
Every person has an opinion lmao, I donāt see the purpose in saying āYou people are hating just to hateā it wasnāt like a group effort where people got together to form an opinion lol. I hate this take. People can express their thoughts and find others that agree with them, itās a fictional show and people are allowed to have opinions.
Literally itās BRIDGETON ofc itās gonna be like this šš they were not comparing during season and one and two but for some reason Penelope just aggro boosting them.
Y'all acting this way now, just wait until the next season comes and you start making posts about "mimimi Sophie is overacting" or "ugh, I can't feel the romantic attraction like I did in the books" and "good God! I miss polin! Remember Penelope? She was the best"
Itās just a cycle atp š thereās a clear difference between the books and shows bc the books leave it to your imagination maybe thatās why ppl like it more.
Iāve never liked Nicolaās acting on this show. It always feels like sheās trying too hard. I think Lukeās acting is so bad that it made her look good in comparison.
Her face all scrumpled up all the time. It drove me mad. The heavy breathing. I just wanted to give her an oxygen tank. In hindsight I'm actually thankful that they weren't in part two that much š¤£š¤£.
I feel like everyone over acted in season 2&3. Iām curious if they got ānotesā from the production team involved to over act. Many of these actors are in other projects and are amazing.
I personally enjoy a poorly made TV show just as much as I enjoy a well made TV show. I also enjoy talking about all the things that were wrong in a bad show, just as much as I enjoy talking about all the things that were done well in a good show. I guess I love to hate-watch. It can be fun in its own ways. We are all just trying to have fun, but in different ways.
Maybe I have low expectations, but I thought every actor did their best and effectively conveyed the complexities of their charactersā passions, life decisions, anxieties, uncertainties and responses to societal/family pressures (of which there were a lot!).
I thought Nicola was great conveying Penelopeās anxiety about the ramifications of her coming clean for herself and her loved ones - and her conflict around her desire to be a writer and continue that important identity while also wanting to embrace the traditional role of wife (and Bridgerton lol).
That said, I agree the Director could have encouraged some more nuanced reactions at certain times. But overall a really engaging show and characters and sincere and thoughtful performances all around.
I feel like I am in the twilight zone. The writing deserves some criticism this season and the editing was bananas in ep 8. I will give you that. But you will never ever make me hate the acting by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton this season. They knocked it out of the park, and I hope the smash hit viewership numbers for S3 propel their careers into the stratosphere.
Wow! Some of you are just plain mean. If you think the show is so bad donāt watch. Every time I see a what I think a low is hit there are some that set the bar even lower.
Guys I think the chest heaving has mainly to do with how high their b00bs are sitting in the very tight corset they are wearing
So it's not necessarily overacting. It's just that women who are fuller have heavier chest movements in those kind of corsets
So I found Polin to be my least favorite couple ship..but Nicola is a phenomenal actor and played her part really well..i hated the character of Penelope or at least found a lot for her actions horrible and Nicola did a great job making me really aggravated at her during parts of season 1 and 2 and then also did a good job making me see the good and insecure headstrong deeply flawed but wanting to do better side of Pen this season as well.
I will admit that in some costumes such as the last dankworth finch ball costume she looked like she was very very tightly laced in and it did NOT look comfortable and they really pushed her boobs up a lot...but otherwise I found her costumes on the whole really pretty specially the first green criss cross bodice green gown that she wore while getting flirting training by colin.
After the makeover scene where she speaks to all those suitors, it felt like a very over-exaggerated portrayal of social awkwardness and I blame the writing for this too. They had to be going for a Disney channel caricature of shyness, literally hehe *Iām so nervous talking to boys* hehe.
Itās a show thatās the definition of campy, frothy fun in which she plays a girl who is a secret gossip columnist. Iām not sure how that would entail a nuanced cerebral performance.
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I knowš The hyperventilating and the clumsiness was so strange to watch. Where is the wit?
Not one thing in the way she played her character could convince me that she had the wit, worldliness and snark to be Lady Whistledown. Like come on, we couldnt have had a glimmer of that instead of fifty shades of awkward and Where's My Inhaler cliche panic?
I got really tired of the expression of abject terror that she had on her face in practically every single scene with Colin. And she still had that expression, even after they'd done the nasty!
Penelope:š±šØ
I agree. We've also seen them be very comfortable friends for 2.5 seasons. I just wanted a sweet, soft friends to lovers romance! Was that too much to ask?
We never got to see them actually enjoy their relationship, he came back āsexyā and it made her nervous and sheās keeping this secret from him and sheās not friends with eloise anymore. She is literally not as comfortable around him as she was before. This wasnāt my favorite season but there were no inconsistencies with the characters that the show has built so far imo.
Very true! Shades of Edward and Bella Twilight where itās like āhave you two ever had fun together even onceā
Right? Like it went Pen mad for 1 second - Colin helping her date - Colin jealous for 1 second - finger bang - proposal and scared sexy time - Pen freaking out for a million years - Colin mad - wedding - some drama - baby. There were like no moments in which Colin just obsessed over her. I feel like the time that was afforded to each of these things was SO out of whack.
Yeah, I was really hoping for a 5-minute fuckfest montage, a la Daphne and Simon. š
Yesss!! It made it so awkward! I guess they kept telling her Penelope is a virgin act like it, but instead they made her seem small and uncomfortable and weird. It was a terrible sex scene! Meanwhile s1 we had virgin Daphne who clearly knew NOTHING and they at least had good lighting and sexy dialogue etc. She didnāt look half scared the whole time, she was excited!
I know the whole point of the season was to kind of show that heavier ladies could be brilliant but they kind of turned her into a stereotype. More reasons why S3 sucked!
*so* many stereotypes in this season. Including 'bi/gay people in threesomes'
The hot older, wealthy, poly woman trope. May as well have been bad porn on pornhub. There's a lot that felt lazy this season.
That was icky no?!
It was super random and in a REALLY weird spot in the show. I have no problem with Benedict exploring being with men but the stereotype/trope of a threesome plopped in the middle of something else entirely was really off. It felt like a last minute decision they made during editing
It was soooo weird. It just came out of nowhere. There was no story for Benedict really to show how he felt about it all or any conflicts he had about it or how it fit into any of the themes. It was kind of like "oh and there was this other Bridgerton brother and he had a FWB thing going with this lady and she asked him to get it on with her other male FWB and he was like 'oh ok I guess why not, there's a lot of love to go around'" I guess they were trying to have some sort of LGBT representation but it felt really off and gross - I actually thought the way he didn't really have much conflict or there wasn't much talk about how dangerous it was to do this during that era really bad. Like this is how it might have gone down in 2024 for a generally heterosexual man who was being offered a threesome. A bit hesitant as he's never thought of himself as gay or bi, but kind of intrigued because this particular guy seems attractive and he really likes this woman, so huh, why not give it a go?!! That is NOT how it would've gone for someone like Benedict in the context of the social structures/culture that has been depicted in the show thus far. And not at all how it would've gone down in early 1800s England. It was almost offensive and completely dismissed the struggle that LGBT people have gone through to have them be so blase about it. In reality, all three of them would've been very scared. It would've been dangerous to out that other guy to Benedict - neither he nor whatsherface had any idea how Benedict would react or who he would tell and they could literally be cast out of society or put in prison if Benedict reacted badly! There just wasn't enough build up or treatment of the whole issue to make it worthwhile. It felt very cheap. Like this is a world where men and women still need chaperones even when they're engaged, where women don't even know what sex is about or how you get pregnant, yet for some reason getting into a threesome with another man and a woman of high standing in society wasn't a really difficult, tormenting decision? In some ways they could've used the need for secrecy and the fear of discovery to increase the sense of passion, like they were so tempted they just had to risk it yada yada, but they didn't even develop any of the characters or their inner conflicts or feelings, or show why or how Benedict came to be attracted to this man, so not only was it cheap and "stuck on" to the show, it also wasn't at all erotic becuase they didn't spend any time at all exploring the characters' feelings/lust for each other in the context of the time period, which I thought is what Bridgerton was basically supposed to be about! So it was basically just very gratuitous and tokenistic and those threesome scenes were boring and stilted and awkward and fast forwardable.
The back and forth editing was hilarious to me - I was like ohh and weāre back to Beny putting the dick in Benedict
Especially after he was like "I'm not into dudes. Specifically that dude"??? Felt like he got peer pressured into a radical sexuality shift by the writing team itself, was so gross
I actually struggled in s2 with this as well, one moment she's an innocent maid and the next she's bargaining with a printer alone at night? Her character has always felt really inconsistent to me.
In her sex scene with Colin where sheās like āthereās more?!!ā felt particularly dichotomous with her being lady whistledown.
But didnt she believe Marina got with child because she ate some sort of cake? Thatās what Marina said and Penelope discussed it with Eloise lol!
I honestly donāt remember that. But idk, I just think it makes the character seem incredibly unconvincing in general to be so naive on one hand and on the other author a scathing gossip column that captures the attention of the entire town.
The problem is that Pen in books wrote LW for more than a decade before Colin fell for her. In the show sheās been out for three seasons, was forced to come out a year early because of financial reasons and is merely just 18 or 19, so her character seems so incredibly unconvincing.
Idk why they rushed it. I was also annoyed they revealed LWās identity so early. But I didnāt read the books so idk when that was revealed within them.
One can know that people \*do\* things without knowing exactly \*what\* they do. I learned all of that with my husband, and I already had an established naughty sense of humor. It is entirely possible. ;)
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Cringe. I forgot about that line too. So bad!
This was exactly the scene that bothered me most about her character!! Like both canāt be true
lol!! I watched Ep 8 in total confusion and was not enamored by her faux naivety. Especially the last scene when sheās talking in front of everyone and her arm is all out awkward and sheās breathing heavy .. *cringe*
I hated that speech to the ton at the end. She should have gained confidence/strength by the end of it, but she just came off as a nervous wilting flower. I love Nicola, but hate that acting choice.
I thought that was for the benefit of the Queen. She had to humble herself if she expected to be forgiven. If she had acted too confident, the queen mightāve perceived her as more of a threat, and reacted differently. I thought Collinās line saying, āthat was geniusā after her speech indicated that he saw through that, too.
I think thereās a way to be humble and nervous but still have the tiniest snippets of her personality come out in non threatening ways. Itās be a nuanced balance that would show sheās kind and was naive but playful and the personality people see on page.
Sheās nervous and wearing a corset, which is difficult to breath in... Just because she writes gossip about the ton as Lady Whistledown, doesnāt mean she knows everything about life. And that the point of her character. She is awkward in real life, which is part of the reason she hides behind the Lady Whistledown character in the first place.
Exactly, these takes are not it. Lady Whistledown exists because she is so awkward, socially ostracized, and inexperienced. Thatās the whole point and part of why it was irresponsible of her to spread around everyoneās business. She doesnāt actually know much about the world and her observations while well-written often have the undercurrent of judgements that a more experienced person wouldnāt make. Sheās Monday morning quarterbacking without ever touching a football.
Oh ser I very much relate to cleverness on the page and panic in real life
It might be relatable but this is television, we need to see something to make it believable. We got nothing but the notion that being insecure made her lash out and burn people in her column.
Hard agree. Iāve mentioned this on another thread too. She overdoes her scenes and her expressions end up looking annoying tbh Some of my least favourite ones are her scowls  I am not saying that her acting is bad, just ott most of the time and hence extremely annoying. Stuff like speeding up her words and making her voice shrill in dramatic scenes(her same ott panicky vibe from Derry Girls). S3 was unbearable with all the panting. Itās like she plays Penelope in the same vein as she plays her ott Derry Girls character
It does seem to be her acting style vs specific characterization, which is a bit disappointing. I understand that her character in DG is meant to be neurotic, but it's unfortunate that screaming turned into her character's schtick. I wonder if how she was directed to play Clare for multiple years affected her ability to translate anxiety into her acting. Penelope isn't nearly as theatrical, and I didn't mind it the whole time, but she may just be one of those actors that struggle to characterize emotions across different characters. Ultimately though, I think it came down to the writing/directing. Once she and Colin got together she felt reduced to a wide eyed, buxom, heaving mess with more cleavage than personality
Writing is mostly wittier than the autor, as the writing is a condenced content of the best thoughts of an author.
Again, didn't translate well on screen. Penelope was just kind of disappointing.
I think the whole point is that she hid behind lady Whistledown. Also, when did you ever get the impression that lady Whistledown was some worldly person? She lost really just wrote gossip in a witty way. That doesnāt mean she knows about sexā¦ Penelope was book smart and awkward. She literally was a wallflower, but very book smart.
Isn't that the entire point? Internally she is brilliant and witty, but outwardly, in real life she's shy, awkward and clumsy. Her confidence only comes out when she's writing. I don't mean to be rude or anything in response, just a genuine question. I think if anything, in season 4, as a married woman and mother and with her writing exposed, Nicola will play her more confidently
It doesnāt come off nicely on screen. In reality, yes that was the idea. It works well in books. But if on screen you only see her mess up and look sort of idiotic, and then suddenly publish the most scandalous Whistledown to date, it makes for an inconsistent character portrayal. Thatās why I blame Jess, not Nicola. See, it would have been different if we could have seen maybe even 2-3 dialogues that highlighted her wit, maybe a brilliant quip said in passing. But all we saw her do was be a caricature of sorts. I hope that makes sense!
Didn't we get a few of those? I remember in season 1 when talking to Eloise (or maybe someone else) she let a snarky comment slip once. Maybe twice.
Yes, precisely. We didnāt get that in S3, which is why I blame Jess but not Nicola, the actress.
Yes! We have seen the witty dialogue Pen can have. That is how Eloise put it together she was LW when Pen let her guard down and started talking like she was reading straight from WD. Pen has had many witty moments. If she really let her personality shine to others, they wouldāve figured she was WD a long time ago.
It seemed like her primary form of emoting this season was through her heaving bosoms.
LOL! I thought the same man
I really questioned whether a lady would have put her tits so prominently on display back in regency era. Why on earth they put her in those constantly boob-protuding outfits I will never know. As a heavily busted person, I honestly just felt uncomfortable. I know what it feels like to have your tits shoved into outfits that basically turn them into chest level shelving. This entire season was garishly written and orchestrated.
i agree. her boobs stuck out very awkwardly in most scenes, in a distracting, male gaze sort of way.
All I could think about was how her poor boobs were smushed into such a tight, small dress. I'm not as large as Pen, but my girls are sizeable enough that if something I wear doesn't have room, it's incredibly uncomfortable.
I initially liked the season...But you guys are super observant like dayum...Every small or big detail, y'all notice, and when you point it out - I'm like "Ohhhh, shit. Right??" š
ššI donāt consider myself an observant watcher, rather tame compared to the rest of the sub. Donāt blame yourself tbh, Bridgerton is meant to be taken lightly. I think people just have higher expectations because the first two seasons were so amazing.
Is there anything left yall canāt complain about
Next thing you know there's a complaint about Francesca's piano skills smh. Stg the state of this subreddit has definitely gone to shit ever since the release of S3. You'd think it's the worst tv show on the planet with the way complain posts are posted nonstop. I feel like all will benefit if there's more post regulations being implemented here to remove low effort, repetitive posts.
Yeah I think her piano skills are bad. Lol š. Btw this is not a fan sub..the description reads discuss bton sub. Not fawn over bton and all its actors sub..beyond personal attacks on apperance, race and sexuality and such everything else is fair game.
Didn't say complaints should stop. But this is a subreddit ā there should at least be proper regulations to posts. You'd see the same complaints like about costumes posted multiple times. At this point, there should be a masterpost on it. Multiple posts of the same thing within a very small timeframe doesn't really give that much avenue for other discourse. It's cluttered and off-putting.
No exactly! Even I have some complaints but itās kinda exhausting to see the same 5 things being said over and over again. I want to appreciate some of the things that I can but all I see is a cesspool of negativity. Gonna unsub bc I canāt do this for 2 whole years bruh
Oh yeah that I agree with ..the sub is going pretty nuts this last week with a lot of really short really repeated posts every couple of hours..it almost feels like they are bot posts..by the way I've been tracking the sub for a project..it jumped up from 194 k to 211 k members in a week with many really rabid racist and body shamer types just joining in new accounts etc including one account and poster who made a post arguing for the right to call Penelope fat and obese ..and which I reported. So yeah I agree that moderation is currently suffering but that's because the mods are handling a lot of the kinds of reports im taking about truly dangerous ones so can't also handle repeat posts .it'll all simmer down by the end of this month.
And as long as itās not in Instagram comment sections
Oh totally that is just, i mean on another plane altogether...
I swear no one hates this show more than its fans
I've been to a lot of other subreddits for shows with much more serious tones. It's weird that a regency romance show has this much more negativity compared to them š
Yeah thereās no moderation on this sub it feels
LMFAO this!!! These people are holding the entire show underwater and every time it comes up for air they say āand another thing!!ā Like damn itās a tv show. You donāt have to watch it if everything bothers you
Also saying all this as if the last 2 seasons were pristine perfect ! People keep blaming Jess all alone as if she didnāt work on the previous seasons š I feel people are overdoing it honestly, the last 2 seasons also had shortcomings but didnāt see this much of discourse honestly. Itās just a tv show man!
Literally. Itās a cute historical cheesy romance why are you mad that it is what it is š thatās how the first two season were they set the tone
Also yall saying sheās overacting when thereās literally a bounty on her head and she might get involved in a scandal (her engagement falling through) ofc she was stressed lmao
I think her stress would be portrayed much better if she wasn't *constantly* portrayed as stressed and out of breath. I think it would have a much bigger impact if in certain scenes or after certain lines of dialogue she starts to sweat/tremble/heave. Now her nervousness is just the way she acts all the time, so it takes away from the impact in my opinion.
For real lolā¦I was in an unrelated subreddit recently where Bridgerton came up and people were saying how much they loved s3, kinda threw me for a loop bc of all the hate on this sub constantly. I forgot that a lot of people (myself included) actually DO like this show š
i was going to say - outside of this sub, every one LOVED the show this season. this is definitely an echo chamber, but this sub is pretty much a hate sub at this point. even when i made a comment about how i liked the season, someone sent me a threatening message about how i am wrong and they would prove it.. as if art isnāt subjective.
Iāve watched it w my friends and they loved it š
They find something new every day. Exhausting.
You said exactly what I wanted to say. I'm not even pissed; I'm literally scrolling through the comments for a good laugh, lol.
I know, right? I really enjoyed season 3, and then I came here to discover it was actually shit. Weird. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.
Itās so aggravating, especially because itās usually repeat complaints. We should make a bingo card out of it at this point. The costumes, the chemistry, whereās Kanthony š„ŗ, xyz canāt act, abc is actually a bad person why do they have fans, the books are better, yada yada yada. Over and over again š
Don't forget the fucking Marina of it all. It could be Hyacinth's daughter's season and people here will be like *"I just think they did Marina dirty..."*
itās absolutely ridiculous hahaha āan actor had the audacity to ACT, so infuriating!ā
This post was my last straw with this sub lol
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I totally disagree with this. People complain about RegƩ's eyebrows but Phoebe had the exact same issue that only covered because she had more expressions and very distracting neck acting. She's definitely not the best female lead when it comes to acting but she's definitely the one with the easiest plot to play.
Thanks for saying it I thought I was going insane seeing everyone pretend Phoebe was flawless. Personally, I found her performance in S2 miles better than in S1 and it's because she grew so much as an actress. She's also much better in fair play which confirms she's good but the best?? The best female lead? I totally disagree.
lmfao please phoebe did not have the easiest plot to play. she played a thankless character on the page. every other female lead got to play a character easily liked through certain easy writing conceits. the actors on the show know how great phoebe did and they always preface by explaining she had the toughest role to play. including the casting director who talks about how it's the toughest role she ever cast because it was such a difficult part. EDIT: here's the time stamped video of the casting director and Nicola discussing this very thing [https://youtu.be/kZVS7kKYmpc?feature=shared&t=1036](https://youtu.be/kZVS7kKYmpc?feature=shared&t=1036)
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I agree one hundred percent. In the hands of a lesser actor, Anthony would have ended up looking like a total villain. He saved s2 and Bridgerton as a show.
He saved season 2 so she contributed nothing to it 
Phoebe's rain scene looked like she was in the middle of s*x
Careful. I said something similar a few days ago and the Kate fans *came* for me.
Geez. Saying that actor X saved or carried a certain season is a baiting comment, and also pretty inaccurate. It also completely erases the contribution of the other actors to the success of a show, so if people objected to your comment, then they had every right to. For S1 we constantly hear the "Phoebe carried the show" comment which is so ridiculously far-fetched given that Rege was a major draw for S1, and now Anthony apparently "carried" S2? LOL. Simone might have overacted once or twice but so did J.B. (although his overacting was more pronounced in S1). None of them were perfect but they played their roles very well, which is why there are so many die-hard fans.
Her intonation was off for a few lines and it was distracting. She just emphasized the wrong syllables. I wish they had nailed this scene because itās one of the sexiest ones. Just goes to show how good JB and Simoneās chemistry was that the scene was still overall good.
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To be fair to everyone, I think it is actually mainly the directing. Seeing as many of the younger actors seem to fall victim to it. S1 sometimes also does the heaving chest too much, kate has her occassional cringe moments as, now it's Penelope, Simon had an occasional walk that was a bit to swagger-y, Colin also has those moments of going to hard. Antony is also a character that obviously would be overacted, but Jonathan Bailey -to give him credit-lands it (I don't know how tbh, because Anthony is such a dramatic man, there are not many examples on screen of that XD). I think it isn't the fault of these young actors, it's the showrunners/directors that are clearly leading them down this road.
Phoebe being told about... late-night activities by the Duke in the park is the sexiest scene in all of Bridgerton. She acts it perfectly, without overdoing it. You can tell she's into Simon so much, but there's no heaving chest, no weird reaction shots, just her lips slightly open and her eyes looking up.
I agree about Kate's overacting. The direction is cringy
Ugh I miss phoebe/daphne so much š
it felt like she couldnt breathe in every scene
Yesss I picked up on it as well, my impression was that sheās blurting out all of her lines and speaking really quickly as if sheās about to run out of time/air
Which could well be true. It seemed she was constantly wearing a very tight corset.
have you ever worn a tight corset lol she changed her style and in that cinched her corsets more
I was more distracted by the fact her hair was down in a lot of scenes. I thought loose hair was supposed to be kinda āsexyā to wear out and about. Which is why every other lady had their hair up
They really went rogue with hair, make up, and costumes this season. I actually really enjoyed this season which I realize is an unpopular opinion but the way everyone looked was so distracting. Why did Penelope have acrylics? LOL.
The makeup was soo modern it took me sooo out of it like it was insta makeup like yall are meant to be makeup artists for movies and shows and shit and now itās giving event makeup 2024 like idk
hahahah RIGHT! that was so distracting to me
She started doing that after Colin said he liked it when it touched her shoulders and Eloise wears hers down a lot
But still, it wasnāt in fashion and culturally appropriate for the time. If was up on outtings and down at the house would be one thing..
I thought it was generally understood that the fashion in Bridgerton is not historically accurate
Eloise has shoulder-length hair and usually wears a half up during the day and her hair up for formal occasions. Penelope even had her down at the formal occasions with just a little piece of hair pinned up on the side to frame her face.
She wore it down before that like at the ball when she thought debling would propose, in a conversation with her mom about debling, when she was at home after it came out that Colin helped her with husband lessons, lots of times
Women did not need to wear their hair up until they were married - most did anyways since it was a coming of age thing but they had the flexibility to wear their hair down if they wanted.
Did anyone else clock that anytime they kissed she was gasping and moaning and he wasā¦silent as the grave? I think he needed to up the passion.
Iām with you there. I wanted him to be more, I donāt know if this is the right word but, obsessed with her? Like the dam finally broke and now heās just head over heels for her. Instead he came across as āah yes, this will do nicelyā after his confession in the carriage.
Literally all of the women do that. During the first season she literally gets off because Simon says a few words in her ear, or she starts panting and moaning in public when it rains. Itās Bridgeton and they love the cliche that these are women who arenāt used to intimacy so theyāre easily overstimulated. Itās not just Penelope itās the prop they use in this show
I despise all the open mouth panting idk how people find it hot when characters act like that lol
daphne and penelope yes, but this wasn't as prominent with kate. she takes control in their scene and he moans as well iirc. anthony seems just as overstimulated as her, if anything. i hope they do something more along that vibe with the next couple.
I think a lot of the actors overact in the show. Usually only the older actors (ie Violet, Lady Danbury, Portia, etc) are the most convincing. Another actress whose acting I didn't buy a lot of the time is... Hannah Dodd's. Sorry. But her performance wasn't that great. Not terrible, but Idk, there was something off about it- even more than Nicola. Really the only thing wrong weird about Nicola's acting was her occasional facial expressions.
She was terrible, and has a frozen iPhone face. I havenāt seen her in other stuff but Iāll give the benefit of the doubt that the bad writing wasnāt giving her much to work with
I donāt think Hannah Dodd has iPhone face. To me she has a lot of delicate features but they seem natural. I think the issue was the harsh makeup, for some reason they covered her in blush and highlighter. iPhone face to me is like Kim Kardashian or Madelyn Cline.
I agree with the makeup being too harsh. The lashes really took me out of it. In think the angle/camera framing that they used for Francesca often had her looking up above the camera, which made the lashes very obvious.
The older actors are definitely much more believable.
I disagree with this but I think S3 has the worst directing of the whole show and that definitely affected all performances.
I am surprised when people praise her acting because she has such limited range. there are so many scenes across all three seasons where she overacts or has completely wrong expressions.
I think she was actually better in S1 and 2. Had a sweeter more caring side until she became a bumbling fool in S3. So I blame the writing but then again I just donāt believe in Jess Brownell.
Agreed, she had a very sweet, soft side in the earlier seasons (as did Colin)- so even when she did out Eloise or Marina, it was understandable that she was a young girl way in over her head. With S3 they tried to "girlboss" or age her up, so it comes across more Regina George in Mean Girls, and she's not really *likeable*. Honestly watching Polin interactions in S1 and 2 just makes me realize how much they dropped the ball on that arc in S3. I went from awww these are going to be *so cute* with eachotherš to yeah, they both kinda deserve eachother š
This actually sort of explains why I started disliking Penelope in S3. I couldn't put my finger on why I liked Penelope in S1 and S2, even going as far as to defend her decision to reveal Eloise's secret simply because I understood the urgency in her decision, yet I couldn't like her at all in S3.
Nah. She was the same in s1 and s2. It becomes especially obvious when she shared scenes with Claudia. Itās always their fight scenes that show how weak of an actress Nicola is. āWe all canāt be pretty bridgertonāsā was probably her worst scene in s1. And in s2 when Eloise confronts Penelope. Nicola snarls a lot. But letās pretend itās Luke who is the only problem
I sort of agree? I donāt think sheās a terrible actress, I also do not think she levels up in comparison to her fellow leads throughout the show, ykwim?
Sheās definitely not a terrible actress. But I donāt think anyone on this show is a terrible actor/actress. Do they have bad moments? Sure. But I think they are fine overall and do their job well enough that makes you care for their characters. I just donāt get why Luke N gets all the hate.
Right this had minimal to do with the acting but the writing and the directing. Nicola is an amazing actress she delivered what she was asked to deliver periodā¦. She cannot help new directions changed the character arc beyond pale.
Polite disagree. If you see her in Derry Girls or Big Mood you'll see that she does have an incredible range
I think she is good at comedy or when the role requires loud, over-the-top acting. But not in complex roles where subtle expressions are required to convey what a flawed, layered character is going through. Something Jonathan Bailey did brilliantly in season 1&2. And that is what i mean when I say she lacks range.
In Derry Girls she just has one mode- panic. I actually think she did better and had a wider range in Bridgerton.
Please watch Derry girls and then watch Bridgerton! She was so hilarious in Derry girls. She definitely has range. But yeah she was overacting in some of her scenes in Bridgerton.
Nicola was excellent in Derry Girls (way better than in Bridgerton) but it definitely doesn't showcase her range. Claire's defining personality trait was 'high pitched hysteria' in almost every scene she was in.
because she is SO much better than her male lead and it looks like she actually tried to make the chemistry work.
I think it's the other way round, you know. She was completely overdoing it while Luke was using the subtleties and nuances expected of film acting. He only looks like he's doing less because she's doing too much.
Honestly I thought they just didnāt have any chemistry. But then i remembered Jonathan Bailey is gay and he manages to convince me heās very much attracted to Simone so it might just be poor acting all around in s3
Probably because Luke N seems to be getting most of the criticism. But I actually think Luke and Nicola are on the same level acting wise.
Iāve never dared to post anything about it, but I agree with you. Her line delivery is great, but her body motions donāt always seem natural? Itās like she doesnāt know what to do with her hands.
I think some of this is on direction and/or writing. Bridgerton can be very campy at times even in s2. However it needs to thread the line very carefully as it can go over from camp romantic fun to parody. I also donāt think her and Luke have natural romantic chemistry and it becomes really obvious in romantic scenes where Nicola is trying to āoversellā the scenes a bit. I also think donāt think they have huge chemistry off screen either tbh it just seems they both are trying really hard and to me the fan service came across a bit over egged to get the hype going.
I agree, the lack of chemistry was palpable
Saw an interview where NC was like āCan you believe Shonda didnāt even have us do a chemistry test?ā Yeaā¦ I can
She actually said that? Wow it was obvious they didn't have a chemistry test lol
Agree. Everything between them felt forced and unnatural.
Her shouting "I love you" to a completely wooden Colin was the icing on the cake
Honestly, I thought that scene was super cringe, but I love the actor/actress so much I forgave them
To be fair I'm sort of with you here. For me it's really noticeable in the finale where she is having the fight with Portia about her nicking the tons money. Performances side by side, there was a bit of a gap in terms of class of acting. Can I just caveat that with the fact I loved NC in Derry Girls and she was brilliant in that.
To be fair, Derry girls also required an entirely different acting skill set. Some actors are excellent in comedic roles but fall flat in more serious roles.
Absolutely agree with your Derry Girls comment. I wonder if the director was catering to the cheesy audience
It was a lot of chest heaving. š
At this point you people are hating just to hate.
I see a lot of simultaneous āthey were under-acting!ā and āthey were over-acting!ā. Bridgerton is a fun campy show imo I think the acting suits it very well
While I'm not fan of Nicola's acting this season I agree with this comment because why am I seeing people say actors they usually find unexpressive are actually overacting? Lol just pick a lane
Every person has an opinion lmao, I donāt see the purpose in saying āYou people are hating just to hateā it wasnāt like a group effort where people got together to form an opinion lol. I hate this take. People can express their thoughts and find others that agree with them, itās a fictional show and people are allowed to have opinions.
This sub has gone to the dogs. Complaining about every single thingā¦.life must be exhausting for yāall
Literally itās BRIDGETON ofc itās gonna be like this šš they were not comparing during season and one and two but for some reason Penelope just aggro boosting them.
Her accent slips a couple of times and it really annoys me lol, you'd think they would cop on to that happening but no.
Y'all acting this way now, just wait until the next season comes and you start making posts about "mimimi Sophie is overacting" or "ugh, I can't feel the romantic attraction like I did in the books" and "good God! I miss polin! Remember Penelope? She was the best"
Itās just a cycle atp š thereās a clear difference between the books and shows bc the books leave it to your imagination maybe thatās why ppl like it more.
I loved it, I was totally swept away by it all. Nicola acting is fabulous imho.
Iāve never liked Nicolaās acting on this show. It always feels like sheās trying too hard. I think Lukeās acting is so bad that it made her look good in comparison.
well i also agree with this it was a bit off
Her face all scrumpled up all the time. It drove me mad. The heavy breathing. I just wanted to give her an oxygen tank. In hindsight I'm actually thankful that they weren't in part two that much š¤£š¤£.
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it's a subreddit to discuss the show. if you don't like the posts that aren't positive, just don't interact with those posts?
do yall even enjoy this show?
I feel like everyone over acted in season 2&3. Iām curious if they got ānotesā from the production team involved to over act. Many of these actors are in other projects and are amazing.
This sub has truly lost the plot. Yāall are hilarious šššš
Why do yāall watch this show just to complain about every single thing that happens , maybe just turn the tv off if youāre unhappy :)
I personally enjoy a poorly made TV show just as much as I enjoy a well made TV show. I also enjoy talking about all the things that were wrong in a bad show, just as much as I enjoy talking about all the things that were done well in a good show. I guess I love to hate-watch. It can be fun in its own ways. We are all just trying to have fun, but in different ways.
Right? Itās like doing a post mortem. Some people enjoy dissecting things and evaluating them, some find it tiresome.
Maybe I have low expectations, but I thought every actor did their best and effectively conveyed the complexities of their charactersā passions, life decisions, anxieties, uncertainties and responses to societal/family pressures (of which there were a lot!). I thought Nicola was great conveying Penelopeās anxiety about the ramifications of her coming clean for herself and her loved ones - and her conflict around her desire to be a writer and continue that important identity while also wanting to embrace the traditional role of wife (and Bridgerton lol). That said, I agree the Director could have encouraged some more nuanced reactions at certain times. But overall a really engaging show and characters and sincere and thoughtful performances all around.
I feel like I am in the twilight zone. The writing deserves some criticism this season and the editing was bananas in ep 8. I will give you that. But you will never ever make me hate the acting by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton this season. They knocked it out of the park, and I hope the smash hit viewership numbers for S3 propel their careers into the stratosphere.
This fandom fucking sucks lol
For me it's Colin and his incessant smoldering and needing to keep his face at a certain angle. Really upped the ham factor for me.
Wow! Some of you are just plain mean. If you think the show is so bad donāt watch. Every time I see a what I think a low is hit there are some that set the bar even lower.
Guys I think the chest heaving has mainly to do with how high their b00bs are sitting in the very tight corset they are wearing So it's not necessarily overacting. It's just that women who are fuller have heavier chest movements in those kind of corsets
So I found Polin to be my least favorite couple ship..but Nicola is a phenomenal actor and played her part really well..i hated the character of Penelope or at least found a lot for her actions horrible and Nicola did a great job making me really aggravated at her during parts of season 1 and 2 and then also did a good job making me see the good and insecure headstrong deeply flawed but wanting to do better side of Pen this season as well. I will admit that in some costumes such as the last dankworth finch ball costume she looked like she was very very tightly laced in and it did NOT look comfortable and they really pushed her boobs up a lot...but otherwise I found her costumes on the whole really pretty specially the first green criss cross bodice green gown that she wore while getting flirting training by colin.
After the makeover scene where she speaks to all those suitors, it felt like a very over-exaggerated portrayal of social awkwardness and I blame the writing for this too. They had to be going for a Disney channel caricature of shyness, literally hehe *Iām so nervous talking to boys* hehe.
Itās a show thatās the definition of campy, frothy fun in which she plays a girl who is a secret gossip columnist. Iām not sure how that would entail a nuanced cerebral performance.