Bridgerton season 3 spoilers follow.
Bridgerton has a long history of being obsessed with female pleasure and season three is no exception.
From Daphne's (Phoebe Dynevor) solo venture into the deeply erotic world of female masturbation to Kate (Simone Ashley) taking charge during the first of many trysts with Anthony, Bridgerton has always shaped female sensuality into a deft tool to make a point.
While Daphne's exploratory moment was about shattering the "good-girl" image and reclaiming one's right to know pleasure independently, Kate's insatiable urge to lay with Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) served to strip away the shame from feminine lust.
Enter Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin's (Luke Newton) season-three sultry carriage scene. As sexy transportation scenes go, we're certain that if this were the Titanic, Pen and Colin would have out-steamed Jack and Rose.
This long-awaited, fan-adored moment made the leap from page to screen and delivered on multiple levels.
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After seasons of Penelope pining for Colin and Colin laughing at the mere prospect of courting Penelope Featherington, he is the one who is most hungry for her, eager to please, to do and be what she needs. And – like a season's worth of edging between Kate and Anthony – Bridgerton milks this moment in the most divine way: by giving Penelope all the power.
From the moment Colin halts her carriage the tone is set.
The sexual tension between the soon-to-be-lovers is ushered in on the wave of panting breath: his-and-hers inhalation and exhalation that dare not immediately say how they really feel nor what they really want but rather it tentatively whispers it.
Colin begins the preamble of asking her if Lord Debling (Sam Phillips) has proposed, to which she scathingly explains how he has derailed her only prospects of marriage this season.
He is relieved, so much so that we find a desperate Colin Bridgerton ON HIS KNEES at the feet of the 'lowly, un-courtable' Penelope Featherington telling her how much he desires her. That thinking of her is a torture he "cannot, [does not want to] live without."
His heart falters when she reminds him that they are friends and Bridgerton extends his agony with the racing violins in the background dropping to a measured, tentative pulse.
"But I'd very much like to be more than friends," she continues as the music swells into action once more, putting Colin out of his misery with a kiss.
No one leads the moment as they give into their lustful, romantic feelings for each other – for the first time they are equals. But only for the briefest of moments. They draw away from each other, but Pen doesn't wait to receive Colin's loving.
She decisively draws her hand along his face until it reaches his hair, she fingers the strands, something the source material reveals that she's been longing to do for years.
She is active, she is in control and as he revels in her touch, she enjoys the pleasure that she is bringing out in him.
This is a crucial moment between the two.
Until their first kiss in season three, episode two Colin had never outwardly considered Penelope as anything more than a friend. He'd certainly never looked at her sexually, yet here he is intoxicated by her touch, her sultriness.
For the first time, when she sees herself through his eyes she isn't punished with pity but feels powerfully desirable. Yet it is not he who gives her that moment, it is she who grabs at it, fist full of strands and all.
When the more experienced Colin takes over, Bridgerton is still very careful to give ownership of that moment to Penelope.
His hands may be taking the lead as he searches her body – thigh, shoulder before lingering enthusiastically on her breasts – however since the start of their intimate exchange everything has been from Pen's point of view. Her pleasure is prioritised.
The camera is fixed on her open-mouth expression as she flits between watching Colin pleasuring her to her just absorbing the eroticism of the moment, eyes closed.
It stays focused on her as she gives the nod of consent for him to take things further.
Colin's hand travels unseen underneath the fabric and till it reaches its destiny and we know when it does. Pen tells us so with the anticipation of the moment giving way to a quivering moan and an intensified expression of pleasure.
While we are privy to the ebb and flow of Pen's enjoyment only a side profile and a backshot of Colin are offered.
There is always something powerful about seeing women being ravaged and doing the ravaging: the simple act of a woman indulging in eroticism chips away at the deeply embedded societal norms policing women's pleasure.
By channelling their sensual moment through Penelope's experience Bridgerton once again underscores the importance of female pleasure but – perhaps more importantly for these two – it flips the skewed power dynamic between them.
A knock on the door interrupts their intimacy and for Colin the spell is broken too soon.
"Oh God, can the carriage driver not keep on driving?"
Despite the laughter that follows, it is telling that he should want to extend a moment that was so heavily centred upon someone else's pleasure.
It's a stark contrast to his earlier menage à trois, which was all about him and his enjoyment of female flesh.
Their moment ends with a kiss and a proposal that slightly redeems his past transgressions.
Either way, whether it ended with an offer of marriage or not, Pen certainly gets her leading moment here as she drinks it all in.
Bridgerton season 3 part 1 is available to stream now Netflix, with part 2 arriving on June 13.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
