What Makes Reynolds and Brimsley’s Sex Scene So Remarkable
I’ve already stated that I think Brimsley and Reynolds are the best couple in “Queen Charlotte,” and I’m sticking by that. I also promised an in-depth analysis of their sex scene, and I couldn’t wait to dive in and talk about why this scene is so remarkable, and so much more than the sum of it’s parts. Bridgerton is very sex-positive, and that’s wonderful, but across now three seasons of content, it has had some truly amazing sex scenes, and some that leave a bit to be desired in the meaning department. It’s all well and good to have the female gaze and celebrate sex and pleasure, but when a scene comes along that’s both hot and meaningful, that’s when it knocks my socks off.
So let’s get into why Brimsely and Reynolds’s “refreshments” are so darn refreshing.
The first sex scene of this series belonged to them, which is a big swing from the show, and boy did it deliver. It’s clearly saying that they have faith in this story and are unabashedly committing to telling LGBTQ stories (boy do I hope they stick with that conviction). The desperation was clear in every movement from these two, as was their chemistry. I think way too often, in same-sex relationship stories, writers get obsessed with who the “girl” and “guy” is in the pair as if homosexual relationships have to mimic outdated gender standards of heterosexual ones. Obviously we know that’s bs and not how it works, regardless of where on the spectrum of gender presentation people land. So I was extremely pleased to see the way Brimsely and Reynolds interacted. And here is why I found it so amazing and important:
The way they interact sexually is informed by their characters.
The reason this sex scene is so good — not just hot, though it is that, but truly a well-written, -acted and -directed scene — is because it’s specific. My measure of whether a sex scene is good is: if you can put in any two characters and not lose any context, it’s not well done or necessary. For these two, any other characters would have lost all the context. They clearly have a competitiveness, Brimsley starting off commenting about how Reynolds rooms are better. They’re desperate for each other, having to see each other and behave uptight and distant, always near but never touching. They’ve already got their foreplay done. And it’s clear they’ve done this before. This has been a long tease for the things they want. We get the history here, that they know what the other likes and are confident with each others’ bodies. And we see how devoted they are to their jobs; they’re in sync with that as well. There is just so much context in the scene, from the way they move to what they say and how they say it. It gives us so much with so little, as Brimsely and Reynolds do throughout.
Morevoer, it’s damn sexy. Both of these men are beautiful humans, of course, but it’s so much more than splashing pretty people on screen. The way they move is sensual, the way they’re a bit rough and totally uninhibited with each other is glorious. Perhaps more than anything, they don’t overdo it with the skin. They allow sensuality and desire to rule the scene, to make us feel the desperate frustration they do to get their hands on each other. Nothing is overt or overly explicit. Instead, we’re allowed to imagine the goings-on and the sensations as they touch, as Reynolds drops down and Brimsley bites his lip. It’s a tortuously beautiful lesson in delayed gratification and the science of sensuality. Our imaginations, the breathlessness of anticipation, is always going to be a better high than anything we could splash onscreen. It allows us to empathize, to put ourselves with these people and feel what they feel.
Specificity of context and sensuality of tone is everything, and this scene delivers that in every way.
