Top 10 Thoughts on Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

After having binged the series this morning (seriously, I started at like 5:30 am), and having only seen it once, here are my first ten thoughts in no particular order and subject to change on repeat viewings and further discourse. But here they are, in all their unfiltered glory.

Major spoilers ahead!

#1 Casting/Acting

I could not have been more pleased with the casting and acting in this series. Everyone was pitch perfect. India, on whose back this whole series was built, did an amazing job of connecting to Golda’s version without doing an impression. Even when India made a few acting choices that weren’t my absolute favorite, it was to serve the version of Charlotte that Golda created. Well done. Even though the show would be nothing without the impressive ability of India, the powerhouse acting moments really belonged to Corey and Arsema here. Both their journeys were remarkable, and they had phenomenal acting moment to back those up. Everyone though did their job and then some on that set.

#2 Costuming

Wow. Just…wow. I was floored. Charlotte’s pink dress at the Danbury ball, Lady D’s gold and blue, so many more, were just phenomenal. Even the men’s attire was spectacular. I already picked up on a few color theory threads that run through, particularly the evolution in Agatha’s wardrobe from gold to pink signifying her evolution from under Lord Danbury’s thumb to being her own woman. I’m sure there are others I’ll be looking for on future watches. But for the time being, the costumes were spectacular, and that’s that.

#3 Structure

All right, here is where I have to get into one of my first and possibly my biggest complaint of the series. The structure of this is an absolute mess. I won’t get all into it as I definitely want to dive into the theory and very English-major analysis for this part someday soon. But here and now, I’ll just say that the way episode 4 was told was infuriating. All the character development that needed to happen in the first half of the series was shoved to the back half to protect some sort of reveal that we already knew was coming. We didn’t need to be in the dark with Charlotte because we already know the King is mad, so give us his backstory and development and allow him to be an active protagonist rather than shoving him into the shadows to preserve some sense of shock value that’s cheap and underwhelming at best.

#4 Protagonist?

That leads me to my next major issue: who is the protagonist supposed to be? Charlotte, I would assume, by the name and everything. But she doesn’t have any growing to do. She’s the same person from start to finish. Ok, that’s a fine thing to do because many great protagonists don’t have to change (looking at you, Marty McFly), but ones that don’t have to be active. If they’re not on a journey to change themselves, they have to be on a journey to change what’s around them. But Charlotte has maybe two moments of choice in the series, and both are strongly prompted by other characters. She stays to marry George, and she attends Lady Danbury’s ball. In the back half of the season, the only thing she does is go to George, I guess, and support him? And that’s good, but that’s the actions of a supporting character, not a main. So she doesn’t really change and she doesn’t really action the plot. And yet, she’s supposed to be the main character, and that formula just doesn’t work.

#5 Agatha Danbury

Now let’s talk about a character that worked from start to finish. Lady Danbury is a juggernaut and possibly the best character in this series. Starting off in a terrible marriage (and boy howdy, will I have more to say about the way marital rape is treated in this series), Agatha is an absolute badass. I love seeing how she goes through her progression and becomes the badass lady we know in the Regency. Her having an affair was a great move; her having it with Violet’s dad was downright weird. It felt like they wanted us to be shocked above all else. In any case, where she landed was perfect, that she never wants to marry again and desires her independence above all else. Perfect for her arc.

#6 Ending

That ending knocked my socks off. I was emotionally wrecked, inside and out. I ugly cried. Them under the bed, that connection, it gave me all the feels. No matter what was where in the story, what it unfailingly delivered was a powerful feeling of connection and fidelity between George and Charlotte. They were connected. One crown. And that sense was spectacular.

#7 Regency Scenes

All in all I liked what the Regency scenes added. However, I found it hard to root for Charlotte when she seemed to be continuing the brutal behavior of George’s mother onto her own children. The lesson in the past ought to have been that George’s need to be perfect, that being treated, as Agatha says to Charlotte, as a crown rather than a person, was damaging. And yet, Charlotte does exactly that to her kids. We could have had some in-depth analysis of generational trauma here, but instead that kind of fell flat. And it made it hard to root for Charlotte. Not because she’s a bad mom, even though she is. I can empathize with her doing her best and not having the tools to do better. But when the central lesson of one storyline in her early life is ignored later with no thematic reason, it loses a lot of its bite and power.

#8 Violet

I love everything about Violet. Both versions. Even though she isn’t in the story much, I love how much life and color she brought. Her standing up to her mother as a child was perfect, and her garden “in bloom” in the Regency era is what I assume and hope is a delicious prelude to what’s coming for her in future Bridgerton seasons. I’ve been advocating for Violet to get a love interest for years now, so that this idea is getting some play gives me life.

#9 Reynolds and Brimsley

Y’all, I love these two. My sweet baby angels, I loved them. Their relationship dynamic is complex and powerful, and I feel like we got dropped right in the middle of their story, which is perfect. They clearly have history and divided loyalties, and it makes for a wonderful story. What’s more, they were fantastically sexy and provided a great, LGBTQ love to the Bridgerton universe. I do feel like they could have given us a happy ending for these two, serving side by side together. As it stands, it seems like Reynolds is maybe dead? Their conversation in the bath made it sound like Reynolds had no plans of leaving, so I’m not sure. For a while there, until the bath scene actually, I thought it was going to be revealed that Reynolds loved George ultimately, even if he loved Brimsely too. And once George had Charlotte and didn’t need Reynolds in the same way, Reynolds would leave. I don’t know, but if I am going to have a sad ending where it cuts from the two of them adorably dancing to Older Brimselsy dancing alone, I’d like some closure. But maybe there’s another season coming and things will happen. I’d thought it was a miniseries that’s over in six, but I’ve also heard whispers that might not be the case, so maybe they’re leaving it open for that.

#10 George and Charlotte

This love was absolutely one for the ages. The meet-cute was phenomenal. The writing for these two was on point. The way George is simultaneously an awkward nerd and a confident, sexy King absolutely did me in. Charlotte’s lust for life and irrepressible nature was, well, a force of nature. They were something to be reckoned with. And when it got into the deep, emotional moments, it broke me. I cried at the end of episode 1, and, as I already discussed, I bawled like a baby at the end of episode 6. Their speeches and words to each other were phenomenal, and the way they stood by each other, still sort of frozen in time, is a testament to a beautiful kind of love. It may not be the healthiest thing we’ve ever seen, but circumstances ravaged them. They got half of what they should have, exactly as George said, but they made everything they could of that half in every way they could. And it was beautiful.

All in all, my thoughts on Queen Charlotte are kind of mixed. There were some truly phenomenal parts I cannot do without in my life. But there were some pieces I really think, if tweaked just a little, would have made the show leaps and bounds better. It does rank above Bridgerton Season 1 for me, but not nearly touching Season 2. Still, very much worth the viewing, and I am sure will provide a lot of things to dissect and discuss in the coming days, weeks, and probably months.