Top 10 Bridgerton Season 2 Book Connections
#10 Flowers
Since there are several moments where flowers are integral, I decided to lump them all together. I'll start with Anthony bringing three bouquets to the Sharma ladies. This is such a small but honestly significant detail. In the book, this happens much earlier on. Anthony is courting Edwina, but unlike all the other suitors who come to bring flowers for the younger Miss Sharma, Anthony brings a bouquet for Kate and Mary as well. This is also echoed slightly with the giant line of flower-bearing suitors in the second episode. But in the show, Anthony brings all the bouquets for almost a peace offering. Edwina practically tosses them aside (understandable), but Kate treasures them. It's such a tender moment, and such a way that they can be connected to each other in public. Still more flower nods is Edmund picking Hyacinth before his death. This is a book nod in that there, Hyacinth is his favorite flower and thus they name her after that. But the show makes it a much more tragic memorial and fits with the almost macabre symbol of the Bridgertons being a bee. They are constantly and continually defined by the death of their father, and its another poignant example of just how much it rocked Violet and Anthony in particular. This one isn't a book connection, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Edmund's favorite flower is lilac, Kate almost always wears some shade of purple, and Daphne adds lilac to the bouquets as they symbolize first love, or more specifically, the first emotions of love, which is particularly poignant. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention that, like in the book, the Bridgerton matriarch is named Violet, yet another purple flower and color Kate wears, which connects her to both his parents. Lastly, Anthony finally brings a bouquet just to Kate when he first proposes. Tulips, like the ones he brings in the book during the three bouquets scene. This also serves as a nod to season one where Violet notes that tulips symbolize passion and indicates Anthony's bride might want them. She is certainly right. They use so much flower symbolism and connection this season its phenomenal.
#9 First (or Almost) Kiss
This one is an interesting connection because the circumstances are pretty different and the content is pretty different. And yet, the feeling, the desperation, the desire, is similar. In the book, Kate is hiding in Anthony’s study, where she didn't mean to be. He shows up to seduce opera singer Maria (who Siena is loosely based on) and finds Kate under his desk. Intensity ensues including a fight that leads to a kiss between the two of them at least largely driven by Anthony having some strong erotic dreams about Kate. Similarly, we've seen Anthony agitated and sleepless in the show, and this scene definitely contains a heck of a fight. The changes that were made were good ones. In the book, Anthony is a proper dick that borders on genuinely sketchy. He kicks Kate in the ribs, won't let her out, she has to legitimately beg before he tosses the keys at her feet and makes her bend down to get them. It's humiliating and not good. But the desire in spite of themselves is there. In the show, Anthony is similarly reeling, though he handles it better. He is devastated with her going to India and yet doesn't want that to be true inside himself. He feels vulnerable and alone in his feelings, and pushes and pushes Kate until she snaps. In the book, Anthony is trying to intimidate her and get her all hot and bothered. Show Anthony is certainly trying to heat things up as well, trying to get her to admit she has feelings for him. I don't doubt that if Daphne hadn't interrupted, there would have been a heck of a kiss, just like the book. But really, I'm glad there wasn't. Anthony keeps going forward with courting Edwina in the book after his and Kate's first kiss, which makes things still more awkward, icky, and a problem that Kate isn't telling the truth. For the show, that would be at least as much the case. So while they were almost kissing, that tiny sliver of space is enough for them to shove a mountain of denial through. So I like that they were able to pay homage to this moment from the book while making it work for the story onscreen.
#8 All Wet
This scene is absolutely iconic in both book and show. Obviously it happens a little differently, but both moments are gold. In the book, it starts off with a lovely moment with Anthony and Kate walking Newton in the park. Kate, the little rule breaker that she is, wants the sun on her face when ladies don't usually, and Anthony helps her push her bonnet back. That hits him straight in the feels, and then Newton breaks free and goes running off with six feet of Viscount chasing him. Hilarity ensues as Newton jumps for Edwina and dumps her in. Anthony fishes her out, Newton -- at Kate's command -- shakes water all over Anthony, and Anthony is pissed. To say the least. Obviously in the show, this event is much later on, and instead of Edwina in the company of Berbrooke, it's Kate with Mr. Dorset, and Anthony is flaming jealous. But the bolt of lightning connection is still there between him and Kate, and they stand on the dock holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes, as if people wouldn't notice that. Come on kids, really? The force of the connection jolts them back, though, and Anthony, in a lovely nod to the book, trips over Newton and goes sprawling back. He and Dorset go into the drink and, in what is a perfect connection to Mr. Darcy, Anthony emerges from the water in a lovely, wet, white shirt, which is almost supernaturally transparent. One of the best moments is when Kate chastises Edwina for staring, then proceeds to stare unabashedly. She absolutely cannot help herself. And I think that's where these two versions connect; they just can't help themselves. In the book, Anthony is trying to help Edwina, but can't take his eyes off Kate. He drives Edwina home but can't talk because he's fuming about Kate. On the show, he isn't even paying attention to his mother and fiancée as he simply can't do anything but stare at Kate and get jealous. This is another scene where book Anthony is kind of a dick. He assumes Kate somehow engineered it to dump Edwina in the lake out of jealousy, and literally yells at Kate that he's going to kill her. His immaturity is more than a bit excessive. Show Anthony is also plainly immature here, practically shoving Dorset out of the way to get to Kate, but it's much less aggressive. I love that they were able to keep some aspects of this scene, and that we got such an iconic moment of Anthony gloriously wet and gorgeous. It's one for the ages.
#7 Garden Setting
This connection is slightly tenuous, but I couldn't ignore it. When the line is "But he wasn't going to tumble her in his mother's garden gazebo" and in the show, he tumbles her well and good in his mother's garden gazebo, well...In both cases, Anthony and Kate get a little intense about things. In the book, it's some kissing and Anthony making a clear point of showing how much he wants Kate by pressing her against the evidence. Obviously that's nothing compared to what actually goes down between Anthony and Kate in the show, but the moments and the setting certainly relates. It's interesting too that Anthony in the book that he doesn't feel the need to wait for vows, that engaged is good as married. Interesting that our show Anthony doesn't seem to feel that way when he's engaged to Edwina, but certainly can't keep his hands off the woman he is not engaged to. What I think is the most interesting change here is showing just how badly Anthony wants Kate. He seems to have the same sentiment as the book when he says he won't push things further in the garden because he has too much respect for Kate. That's echoed in the first proposal when Anthony says she deserved better. In the book, it's kind of sweet; in the show, it's heartbreaking. This sentiment still exists, but making it one of regret makes my heart shatter for Anthony. For the first time in his life, he has done something for himself, he has given all of himself, heart, mind, body, and his very soul, to another person. Yet all he can think is that she deserved better. Societal pressure and the mechanisms of his own guilt and self-loathing have done a number on him. The show pushes Anthony past the limits we see him establish in the book, shattering him to build him up as something new and better. Anthony is forced to confront everything he believed about himself and relearn who he is through Kate. It's a beautiful story as they shirk off the shame and pressure they've been raised with, both internally and externally, and it makes for a beautiful scene. These two moments are connected through the setting, but more deeply through the emotion rioting inside the both of them that has to come to the surface.
#6 Lily Scent
In the book, Anthony is obsessed with Kate's scent. It haunts him. It's how he knows she's around even when he can't see her. Boy will not shut up about it. I absolutely didn't think that this could even be in the show. How do you put smell onscreen? Jonathan Bailey's very expressive nostrils, is how. Holy cow, it's in almost every scene they're together. Heavy breathing, sniffing, and finally, when they're together for the first time, Anthony even confesses it to Kate. He smelled it at the Conservatory Ball, and it's become part of him, linked with her. Anthony can't get over it. Smell is the sense that links most powerfully to our memories, and while Kate has a signature scent, that Anthony immediately identifies and memorizes it shows how attuned he is to her. One of the best moments of the entire show is when they're trying to keep up appearances and Kate walks by Anthony as they go into the museum. He is so desperate for her, he is literally sniffing the air she's just walked through. Even Lady Danbury notices. Anthony absolutely can't help it, though, and it's such a fabulous connection of the book and the show. It is a truly visceral way to play out this connection; they're desire for each other is on an almost chemical level. I have heard Anthony described as both a vampire and a werewolf when he's getting really into her scent, and I think that's no accident. The allure of those creatures as romantic heroes is unstoppable desires, insatiable hungers, and the lure of forbidden darkness and danger. Anthony definitely has that in his most savage, feral moments. He's almost wild, and only with Kate. It's the exact opposite of the buttoned up aristocrat, but it's also the opposite of the unaffected playboy. Kate's scent unlocks something in him that threatens to snap his control, that releases the beast who wants to devour her. Figuratively, in this case, although he does a pretty solid imitation of it in the gazebo The way Kate's lily scent is communicated throughout is absolute gold for the characters and the theme. And its an amazing way to get more of our senses engaged, further pulling us into this amazing world.
#5 Kate's Character
Both versions of Kate are feisty, strong, stubborn, confident and insecure, and hate to love the Viscount. There are so many awesome elements of book Kate, from her fierce protectiveness and deep care to her bloodthirsty, Bridgerton-style Pall Mall to her bravery in the face of her insecurities. But they turn her up to eleven with show Kate, and I think they're the better for it. Instead of making her headstrong but mostly behaving as she should (less a few toe stompings), Kate breaks the rules while simultaneously being all about society and duty and expectations. She's a mess of contradictions, just like Anthony, and just like real people. When we're obsessed with something as much as Kate and Anthony are with duty, we yoyo back and forth between extremes. Everything becomes an unhealthy response to it, in this case it's duty, so when these two are either so duty obsessed they can't put a toe out of line, or they're riding astride, kissing the wrong person on the altar, and having outdoor premarital sex, it's all about duty and them trying to reckon with that single idea when it's clashing with everything else. I love how they also develop out Kate's trauma and insecurities. In the book, she goes catatonic in thunderstorms because her mother died brutally during one that Kate saw. But I loved how they made her trauma more subtle on the show. For many people, childhood trauma isn't just one, massive event. Instead, it's a series of ideas slowly put and reinforced in your head until it becomes part of your identity. For Kate, this is the idea that she has to earn her love and is not worthy of her own desires. Of course it was no one's intention to make her feel that way, but when Mary left everything Kate after her father's death and made everything about Edwina, Kate got that message loud and clear. Show Kate isn't insecure about Anthony wanting her, like book Kate. She's insecure about herself wanting him, which is more dynamic internal struggle. Both make for different kinds of fascinating and relatable issues inside our two Kates, but I love how they kept so many of the same elements while making show Kate the perfect match for show Anthony, and the perfect character for herself.
#4 Hero Moment
These two moments don't on the surface seem to have much in common. In the book, at Aubrey Hall, Cressida Cowper is being her classic horrible self to Penelope while Kate and Pen are talking. Penelope is holding her own, but Anthony Bridgerton swoops in, ignores Cressida, and escorts Penelope into dinner. Kate calls him a hero, and it's the moment she later confesses she fell in love with Anthony. How this goes down in the show is pretty different, but I think it's the same sentiment behind it, and produces the same results. The Sheffield dinner is a hot mess. Mary's parents, especially her mother, are not doing well with the whole water under the bridge idea, and Kate's well-meaning but foolishly concealed plan to get Edwina her dowry gets revealed in dramatic fashion. Mary stands up for her daughters, which is a glorious moment, but it's Anthony who pulls the true hero card. His last straw finally snaps when they attack Kate one too many times, and he leaps to her defense, and that of all the Sharmas. With a power move that left me a little breathless, he orders the Sheffields out, and takes charge of the whole situation. There is nothing more erotic than a man taking charge for the right reasons, and even more in defense of the woman he loves. This is the moment Edwina says she falls in love with Anthony, but I also think it's the moment when Kate realizes she's in love with him as well. I think she's been in love with him for a while, but this moment is where she sees how he truly is, the way he defends and loves those in his care. That, coupled with the scene after, forces her to admit it to herself, even if she decides to further ignore it as soon as she hears Edwina's feelings. The connection between book and show here is that Anthony, for all his prickly behavior, his ridiculous arrogance and staunch devotion to duty, his self-destructive antics, he is, at his core a hero. And for Kate, the events of that night change everything.
#3 Pall Mall
My top 3 are, unsurprisingly, very close contenders for the top spot. Pall Mall is the one thing Julia Quinn asked be included, and I hope they recognized even before she asked the power and potential of this scene. In the book, things play out very similarly. Mallet of death, Bridgertons are bloodthirsty, Anthony is way more interested in what Kate is doing than Edwina...hits all the beats the show does. In the book, Kate and Anthony get a moment together after she hits his ball into the lake and she stays with him while he gets it out. This is for the both of them the moment things really start to change, where Anthony in particular is realizing that Kate is the one he wants. Over in the show, meanwhile, that's still a few scenes away. But what this scene does so well in the show is establish Kate and Anthony as equals. Anthony stops treating Kate like a nuisance and talks to her as an equal. He levels with her, no games, and they find surprisingly strong common ground. Both in the book and show, the Pall Mall scene serves to underline just how alike and how perfect together these two are. Where the show stands our for me is in the mud. This is a nod to the second epilogue of the book where, after the two are married, Kate creates a giant mud puddle obstacle for their Pall Mall game. Here, though, it's perfect symbolism. Kate is willing to break the rules. She traipses into the mud, daring Anthony until he stomps in after her. When they fall, they have gone well round the bend of propriety, and it's just the two of them. We see the laughter and the enjoyment of each other, even and especially when they're being competitive and breaking the rules. They're the youngsters together they never really got to be after losing their parents in early adulthood and always being the eldest children. It is a perfect moment that connects on so many levels to the book and deepens our understanding of these characters and their understanding of each other.
#2 Bee Scene
This is a huge turning point in both the book and the show, and, for me, one works incredibly well and one very much doesn't. Spoiler alert: the book is the one that doesn't. While in some ways I get what the book was trying to do here, it was always my least favorite scene. Kate goes to tell Anthony she can't object to him marrying Edwina anymore, and Anthony goes to see Kate knowing he no longer can marry Edwina, but instead of either of them telling any emotional truth, there's the bee sting. And Anthony panics, it seems a lot less because it triggers him and more because he's actually worried she's going to die? It was confusing as to what really freaks him out here because he proceeds to try to suck the venom out of her chest. OK. That's a ridiculous image even in the book, and put on screen it would have been laughable. And any emotionality of the moment is undercut when the mamas and Mrs. Featherington show up. The pair are pushed into marriage because of this. Contrasted to the show, Anthony is triggered by this event, making a fully emotional connection to losing his father, and it brings on a panic attack. Kate is able to soothe him, calm him, with this very human, very intimate gesture of feeling their heartbeats. Rather than something semi-ridiculous, it is this powerful image of Anthony matching his breathing to hers, literally breathing the same air. The thought of losing her, of her mortality and his own, is what forges the connection in the first place. And it's a huge reason why he ends up proposing to Edwina. Anthony knows how shaken he is at the thought of losing Kate. He doesn't want to be the cause of grief like his mother's, but he's perhaps even more terrified of facing grief like that. He knows the feelings are entwined with his father’s death, but Anthony is moved beyond anything he's felt since that event by Kate. And it terrifies him maybe more even than the sting. This connection between book and show is phenomenal not because it's the same, but because it's different. It takes a scene that's little more than a plot device to get them together and makes it one of the deepest and most meaningful moments in the show. This is exactly how adaptation should work.
#1 Kate in Peril
Similarly to the Bee scene, this scene was changed for the better. In the book, Anthony and Kate have been married for some time when, after a harrowing night for Anthony, he finally (and a bit apropos of nothing, I'll add) admits to loving Kate and deciding to live life to the fullest. Awesome. He's completed his character arc and now just has to go tell Kate. Except Kate is out driving with Edwina and her fiance, and there is a carriage accident. It's definitely heartbreaking to see Anthony terrified that Kate might die, and lovely to see him in that overly protective caretaker mode, but it just felt so unnecessary. Contrasted to the show, Anthony is heaped with a mountain of guilt and self loathing after having sex with Kate. He gives in for once and has nothing held back; he gives her everything he has and in the morning, is ashamed that he didn't do more for her. The demands of society creep back in. He wants Kate for his wife of course, but he's still being influenced by the Ton standards. Then he watches her fall from her horse and had to confront all the terror he has over losing the person he loves. When he says it's all his fault, there is nothing more heartbreaking. He pushes away all his feelings because he can't handle feeling anything at all. We're watching his trauma unfold, and when he finally hears she's awake, he shatters. This is the moment when he finally gives into what he's been feeling. Anthony believes at last that true love is worth it, and it's all the more meaningful because he's nearly lost Kate. He knows he might have to do that again, to suffer what his mother did, but he can't live without her. The accident is the perfect way to complete his arc, and it lands so perfectly as the catalyst that's finally able to jar him from his need to protect himself and into a willingness to be vulnerable. Because true love is worth it. How it unfolds in the book has some of those elements, but as it was, it kind of undercut his realization and didn't really give great reason behind the change for him. In the show, because it's before their married, because of all the shame and guilt, and because of the conversation with Violet, it becomes one of the best scenes of character and theme I've ever witnessed.