An Anticlimactic Finish

BRIDGERTON SEASON THREE. NETFLIX.
THREE SEASONS INTO its run, Bridgerton has fallen into a pattern: great at foreplay, iffy on the climax. No one signs up for a romance with the prospect of an underbaked conclusion, and it's frustrating when the momentum and groundwork of a slowly built relationship culminate in a finale that's just... fine. Still, Bridgerton's third season, with its expansion of bubbly minor characters and ample time spent on the other Bridgerton siblings, reduces the pressure on this underperforming high p point, and there's enough fun and anticipation in everything around the central couple that it almost doesn't matter that the apotheosis of the Colin-Penelope relationship (Polin) is more of a gentle plateau.
This installment of Bridgerton, like the first two, is a delightful romp with towering heaps of confectionary-sweet silliness, an overlay of Barbie feminism, and the occasional baffling structural flaw. Every season of Bridgerton has some amount of imperfection, but each is imperfect in its own way: Season one, sexy and unrestrained, saw a mess of racial politics and reproductive anxiety coursing beneath the show's fantasy of a post-racial Regency period. Season two, which included a somewhat more careful approach to the racial aspects of this universe, got pushback for not having enough sex and failing to adequately navigate the emotional ins and outs of its sisterly love triangle. In both cases, the season started from a promising premise, then failed to navigate the complexities of its emotional stakes in the back half.
Denne historien er fra June 17 - 30, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra June 17 - 30, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

Born This Way
Mother Monster throws her whole self into the pot.

A Death-Defying SEX CAPADE
MICHELLE WILLIAMS stars in a new FX show as a horny stage-four cancer patient on a quest to finally FIGURE OUT WHAT TURNS HER ON.

John Mulaney's Playhouse
On his new live talk show, the comedian can do whatever he wants. What exactly is that?

Brick Is Back
Even prolific builders of glass towers have rediscovered clay’s texture, shadow, and drama.

Married to the Job
A slick thriller makes monogamy look hot.

Fast Car
Nuance and vulnerability sing in a visiting Tennessee Williams adaptation.

FAKE CENTENARIANS, FAULTY DATA, JUNK SCIENCE, AND CONTESTED "BLUE ZONES."
DEMOGRAPHERS AT WAR

My Vanity Fair Hazing
The staff hated me. The advertisers were in revolt. And the tabloids were saying my days were numbered before I had even begun. How on earth would I survive?

This Is Fascism - The U.S. is starting to resemble El Salvador's brutal regime.
When President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador eagerly volun- teered to receive 261 deportees the Trump administration had possibly illegally airlifted from the U.S. in mid-March, he instantly became one of the biggest stars in American conservative politics.

Severance's Biggest Wild Card
Britt Lower had to deepen the war within her character(s) in the show’s second season.