Will the Greatest Relationship of ‘Bridgerton’ Prevail in Season 3?
Everyone’s favorite duo, Penelope and Eloise, left the end of Bridgerton season 2 in a fraught situation—but can the two come back together?
Forget the romances in Bridgerton, it’s all about the platonic friendship between Eloise Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington. In a world that has seemingly done away with almost all biases apart from sexism, these two smart women who, for different reasons, don’t fit into the social scene of the ton, gel together perfectly.
Warning: spoilers ahead for all three seasons of Bridgerton.
However, the moment where Eloise discovered for herself what we the audience had long know—that Penelope and Lady Whistledown are one and the same—appeared to stop this friendship in its tracks. Lady Whistledown’s writings had put Eloise and the entire Bridgerton family in social jeopardy in season 2, so Eloise was understandably irked, to say the least.
Will season 3 see the pair reunite at last? Let’s find out…
Penelope and Eloise’s relationship in Bridgerton season 3
The first half of season 3 sees continued tension between the pair of women. Eloise has embarked on a surprising and seemingly petty friendship with Cressida Cowper, something that shocks everyone on the ton but particularly annoys Penelope, who has long since hated Miss Cowper.
Despite refusing to speak to one another at first, it is clear that Penelope at least misses Eloise and wants to repair their friendship. Eloise is more reticent, although there are clues throughout the first few episodes that she too misses her lifelong bestie.
As we head into the second half of Bridgerton season 3, which aired on June 13, the shock proposal from Colin to Penelope is set to exacerbate the existing tensions. In the trailer, Eloise looked horrified to see her brother about to enter a marriage without knowing about Penelope’s secret identity and, indeed, was quick to corner Penelope and threaten that unless she told her fiance about her moonlighting as a gossip writer, Eloise would take matters into her own hands.
It’s far from a positive relationship but they soon start to work together again when they realize that Lady Whistledown in the hands of Cressida is a recipe for disaster. As Eloise spends more time around Penelope again, she slowly starts to see that her friend’s feelings for her brother are real.
Throughout the second half of the season, Eloise appears to come round to Penelope’s side of the situation. Ultimately, the climactic reveal of Lady Whistledown’s identity and Penelope’s marital bliss with Colin is enough to seemingly heal the rift between the two friends—with some continued hesitation from Eloise.
However, their refund closeness is not to last long, with Eloise set to head up to the Scottish Highlands with her newly-married sister Francesca. This could delay Eloise and Penelope from fully healing their friendship, seeing as this is a fourteen-day ride away from London, according to Lady Violet. Who knows what season 4 could hold for the pair?
(featured image: Netflix)
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