You Don’t Actually Want Another Kanthony Season, You Just Think You Do
It’s a familiar refrain by now, the rallying cry from fans that they want Season 3 of Bridgerton to be about Kate and Anthony yet again. There are a lot of reasons why; some of it is just expressing the love for these characters, some feel shortchanged by the small amount of time we see them married, others are just stuck on what they’ve most recently seen. It reminds me a lot of how people panicked after Season 1 with the idea that it would not be the continuation of the Duke and Daphne’s story, but instead shift to Anthony. People, especially those who had not read the books, somehow could not wrap their minds around the change in focus. And when Rege Jean Page said he wouldn’t be back, there was a collective meltdown.
And yet, here we are, a year and change later, and a not small number of those same people are now raving about Anthony and Kate. They are saying this couple has redefined their ideas of romance, obsessed them at a level like no other show has, all that lovely stuff. I’m sure that’s true; I’m in no way denying the depth of experience everyone is having with this story and this couple. They are unique and they are special, but we’re falling into the exact same trap as after Season 1.
The style of the show is a different sibling each season, and that is a very good thing. It allows the writers to go for broke each season, to leave nothing on the back burner to save for later. It allows them to be absolutely prodigal with the story, to give everything they have to this couple in eight episodes. A subplot, perhaps later? A few scenes, likely. But the majority of each couples’ story is laid out within their season, and that’s what gives Bridgerton so much of what makes it special. It is as lavish and rich in its storytelling as it is in its set and and costume design. They can go full out for each couple because what comes later for them isn’t central. They don’t need to leave things unresolved or have that last little thread of doubt or uncertainty. That’s what leaves us feeling so happy and breathless at the end of each season, because they held nothing back. We do not want that to change.
Moreover, if there was another Kanthony season, that would mean drama. And I don’t mean small, intimate drama like what I’m hoping for in season 3 that’s maybe ten minutes an episode devoted to their work to try and conceive and the internal struggles they have reconciling duty to produce an heir with the desire for children and a family. I can’t even imagine what they would have to do to them to create another season with them as the focus, but it wouldn’t be all sunshine and roses and fan service. That’s not what makes a good story.
Finally, the virtue of telling a different couple’s story each season is that we get something different from each. The Polin story will have a different tone, theme, and strength than Kanthony’s, just as they did from Saphne’s. Each season feels so fresh and interesting because they’re at a lot less of a risk of retreading ground when they have a different theme and focus, when the cast gets shuffled around and the story develops, each season. That’s great for the creative process.
The story this reminds me of, from my own life, is when I went to Disneyland as a six year old. My best friend, who was five, was in wide-eyed-wonderment at everything we saw to a level I found delightful then and just so sweet and charming now I want to implode. She believed we had met Ariel, the real one, when we went to her grotto. But on the first day, the very first ride we went on was “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” After we finished, my best friend said, “I don’t want to go anywhere else. I just want to ride this all day.” Then we went to the Alice in Wonderland ride, and it was the same story, all day, over and over again.
There’s nothing wrong, and in fact a lot of good, with loving what you’ve just experienced. I think it speaks to something wonderful in Bridgerton that it can inspire these feelings in the audience, that it can turn us into kids again, that we cling to what we know and love so much because we fear that we’ll lose that magic if anything changes. But we have to risk it, because who knows what’s around the corner? That’s in life, I guess, not just Bridgerton.
I don’t know if I’ll like Season 3 more than I did Season 2; they set the bar high. But I can just about guarantee that we’re all going to like Season 3 about Polin better than we would Season 3 about Kanthony. Trust the process, and let’s see what happens.
