Bridgerton fans divided over major season three moment: 'Feel so cheated'

Bridgerton fans have been waiting a long time for the return of the Netflix favourite. However, not everyone is happy with season three, with some believing it felt "rushed" and didn't feature enough romance, despite promising to be the "most romantic season yet".

Season three sees Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) fall in love after Penelope pined for the third Bridgerton brother for years.

After hearing Colin tell his friends that he would never pursue Penelope, she begins her quest to find a husband, accepting Colin's help to land herself a man. As he helps her find a husband, Colin soon realises he is in love, but it might be too late as she is certain one suitor, Lord Alfred Debling, will propose.

The first part of the show ends with a cliffhanger after Colin asks Penelope to marry him after a particularly racy carriage ride. However, Colin doesn't know that Penelope hides a secret – she is Lady Whistledown, and he absolutely hates her for the gossip that she writes about those in the ton.

'Thoroughly disappointed'

Fans have taken to Reddit to share their thoughts on the show. Many were frustrated by the numerous subplots throughout the show, though others were happy to finally see 'Polin' come to life.'

"For how often this season was described as the romantic one of the three, I saw basically no romance in almost 4 hours of content," one annoyed viewer wrote. "It's almost like there are no main characters this season. Absolutely everything is playing out as a side plot, and I hate it.

"Colin falling for Pen that fast without ever actually having a good conversation with her is wild. I know part 2 is basically gonna drag out the Lady Whistledown drama, and that's just gonna be a whole new disappointment. I was sooooo excited for my favourites to finally get their season but we saw more chemistry between Pen and Debling in 4 episodes than we have between Colin and Pen during the entire stretch of the show."

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"Tbh this season feels off," another agreed, "It didn’t have the same charm like the previous seasons. Polin don’t get a lot of screen time. The lighting is off. The dialogue is off. The story feels rushed and off at times."

"I honesty feel so cheated - this is supposed to be Polin's season and there’s more side plot than Polin. Their scenes have been lovely but I honestly wish there was more of them? Esp leading up to the end of episode 4."

"There's so much second-hand embarrassment in this season," someone else said. "I'VE HAD TO PAUSE SO MANY TIMES TO CRINGE."

"I felt underwhelmed like episode 4 happened and then all of a sudden Colin asked Pen to marry him I was like but there’s been no proper build up, just him being jealous," another said.

"I feel like they tried to smush too much into the first four episodes," one user said. "Personally, I wanted a bit more yearning/angst on Colin's part. We watched Penelope 'suffer' for two seasons, meanwhile Colin comes to his realization and "gets what he wants" fairly quickly. I was hoping for more a slow burn. I think their storyline could have used a few more episodes before the carriage scene."

"Nicola and Luke in the press tour were giving CHEMISTRY and FRIENDS TO LOVERS much more than Colin and Penelope in the actual show???" someone else said. "I’m thoroughly disappointed by this season. The Polin storyline just felt like were doing a bunch of tropes and the other storylines were boring."

'So worth the wait!'

However, many loved it, with one user writing, "Am I the only one who absolutely adored it? It seems like so many of the comments here are negative but it was exactly what I was hoping for and so worth the wait!"

"No, I really enjoyed it!" another fan agreed "Polin was amazing. I have some grumbles about wanting more Polin and less of the other characters, but the Polin scenes were fire."

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"I feel like I just watched 4 different episodes from everyone else," one user added. "I loved it! The only plot I didn’t really care for was the Mondrich plot line but only because I don’t really see where it’s going! But I’m trying not to judge too harshly since we’ve only seen half the season.

"I really think Netflix f***ed up splitting it in half. The momentum between Colin and Pen just picked up in episode 4 and now we have to wait again? It makes no sense. I bet the people who are waiting to watch the whole thing in June will have an entirely different reaction to this season."

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