summary
- Season 3 of Bridgerton is boldly embracing love scenes, challenging the modern media taboo of depicting physically passionate scenes.
- The sex scenes in Bridgerton are very deliberate, serving as climaxes to the story and adding depth to the character dynamics.
- Penelope and Colin’s carriage scene in season three is a bold, powerful moment that challenges societal norms.
Dear Reader, Bridgerton Season 3 tackled one of modern TV’s most fascinating taboos in a way that few shows have managed in recent years: love scenes. Over the course of two and a half seasons (plus one spinoff), the Regency-era romantic drama has delivered some of the most passionate storytelling in recent years. And unlike the trend in modern TV shows that shy away from actual sex and passion, Bridgerton They wear it as a badge of honour, and more importantly, they challenge the idea that such scenes are somehow problematic.
Of course, there is one exception that should be mentioned in context: the scene in season 1 in which Daphne tricks Simon into getting pregnant is problematic, but it is by design: Daphne uses her newly acquired physical abilities to test theories in the most questionable ways, and importantly, Bridgerton We know that sex remains a tool of power, and upending typical power structures, especially in a historical context, is an important pointer to subsequent developments.
But the important thing is, Bridgerton It doesn’t simply treat sex as violence (as in Season 1 and Queen Charlotte Of course, if we are to explore this idea, it harkens back to a time when romantic stories celebrated the physical act of love as part of the journey. And BridgertonThere is strong opposition to the current trend of closing bedroom doors and making allusions, which argues that this is not an appropriate way to tell a story. Bridgerton’s It’s going to get even more exciting in the upcoming episodes.

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Why is sex on TV now inappropriate?
Back in the day, if you wanted a TV show that was a little more out there, you went to HBO, where it was always widely accepted that human stories would intertwine with real-life sex. But nowadays, sex on TV is mostly treated as something to be ashamed of, probably because Golden Age TV broke the four-quadrant barrier. You can’t sit down with your whole family and enjoy a show that reminds you of the horrifying reality that when a character takes off their clothes, your parents, sitting next to you, will probably do the same.
A widely cited UCLA study seems to confirm that beyond the embarrassment factor, Gen Z finds sex scenes simply unnecessary and distracting. Interestingly, rather than simply blaming the younger generation for their cleanliness, the survey also uncovered the revelation that respondents would like to see more platonic relationships in the media. Kids want to see their characters in the friend zone, but not with the negative connotations that come with it. A nice, healthy dynamic without any sexual tension.
Of course, the paradoxical reality is that movies and TV shows are quite capable of being both, without being completely chaste or completely NSFW. Bridgerton is primarily a show about relationships, not just in the old transactional sense (this is a society obsessed with blood, legacy, and marriage as currency, after all), but in real emotional terms, and while it inevitably attracts social media fans who sneer at Gen Z’s platonic attentions, it portrays friendships as authentic.

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Bridgerton uses sex sparingly, but very well.
Some of the most talked about scenes Bridgerton The most adult scenes are only part of the success of this show’s storylines. More importantly, there is a very good reason for every sex scene. A sex scene is an expression of passion and a culmination of story building. Both Daphne and Anthony’s stories are fascinating to build to and the payoff is worth the wait. Couples generally have obstacles to overcome, but their passion overcomes everything. It’s intentional, and it’s beautiful.
In an age where sex scenes are more important than ever to advancing a story, Bridgerton It does so in a very old-fashioned sense. Sure, in some cases it’s used to illustrate an important theme or character moment (like Daphne and Simon and Lady Danbury’s experiences as a young woman), but the carriage scene is quite different. Like other more conventional love scenes, it exists simply for what it is: the climax of the story, so to speak. And it’s time to acknowledge that it’s perfectly acceptable to do so.
Bridgerton Sex scenes are also kept to a minimum for effect. Despite the fiery passion depicted, glimpses into the bedroom are far shorter than those into the drawing room or ball. Sex scenes are a means to express passion, emotion and connection. They are very rarely used as an end in itself, and they exist across a wide range of storytelling realms.
Violet’s desires are reawakened (first hinted at in Queen Charlotte), Daphne’s astonishing innocence, Benedict’s acceptance of sex as a free expression of love, Anthony and Colin’s acceptance of sex as escapism, and Colin and Penelope’s acceptance of sex as an expression of raw attraction. Bridgerton It shatters the notion of sex as an empty distraction or a cheap thrill – it’s not one-dimensional, and most importantly, it empowers female characters through sex.

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Bridgerton’s sex scenes address some of Gen Z’s most interesting issues
Bridgerton The film focuses on female sexual pleasure in a way that is rarely explored in other similarly explicit television shows: an energetic and spontaneous foreplay scene in a carriage is not one in which Colin subjugates Penelope, but rather one in which he seduces her. feelThere is a boldness to the scene; Bridgertontakes a more progressive approach to storytelling than the Regency setting might have allowed: in Regency England, sex was largely transactional (as seen in the search for an heir for the Featherington family), but Penelope and Colin’s meeting feels like something ripped from a more risqué piece of fiction, and there’s a nuanced depth to it.
Bridgerton While this show may seem like a story about a loving family, or more broadly, Ton, strip it all away and it’s really a story about just one character: Penelope. The most interesting story comes from Penelope’s desire to make a place in society not just for herself, but for all women who have been as marginalized as she is. From the early days of Season 1 until her passionate encounter with Colin, Penelope wanted a voice of her own, and she only found it in the freedom of expression granted to her by Lady Whistledown.
She is a deliberate wallflower until the moment she emerges from her cocoon (the show uses the butterfly metaphor very judiciously), using it as an instrument of her power. But she is deprived of every freedom that a ton of male characters have so readily available. Benedict and Anthony, in previous generations, could live in a lecherous underclass; Colin could travel to “find himself”; Lady Anderson avoided the trauma her sister experienced that instilled so much contempt in her. Women endure at the mercy of a social system that ranks their worth and settles them into a life of absence.
Only when Penelope is in the carriage does she have access to the pleasure Anthony brings. Bridgerton In season three, that double standard really begins to be felt. She is soon made the stark contrast to her sisters, forced into being a vessel for the production of the Featherington heir, without a shred of pleasure. Penelope and Colin’s scenes are scenes of reclaiming identity by emphasizing their sexual identity. The very idea that this could be seen as distracting or embarrassing is an incredibly simplistic and shameful thing.