Bridgerton – Season 2 Episode 4 “Victory” Recap & Review

Victory

Episode 4 of Bridgerton Season 2 starts with everyone preparing for the annual Hearts and Flowers Ball, hosted by Lady Bridgerton. It’s a massive event, with lots of people invited. This party is the talk of the town.

Of course, there’s also the matter of marriage too, which seems to be looming ever-nearer. However, Kate and Anthony’s intimate moment together  is likely to cause a lot of problems.

Both Kate and Anthony are still torn over what’s happening, with Kate in particular feeling guilty given Edwina’s growing affection for Anthony. For now though, everyone busies themselves with the big party, as Eloise continues to try and figure out who Lady Whistledown is. Pen strains a smile.

Kate joins Anthony and Edwina as they sit together and talk. Edwina encourages Anthony to show Kate around the grounds but he refuses, pointing out that he’s going hunting instead. So naturally, Kate is encouraged to tag along as well, much to Anthony’s disdain.

As they ride together, Anthony learns that her skills were honed back in India. The pair have clear chemistry together, with long gazes exchanged as they ride.

When Kate wanders off on her own, believing their guide is leading away from the deer, Anthony notices and chases after her. With Kate’s maid lagging behind, Anthony helps Kate hold her gun but in doing so, the pair start breathing heavily, as sparks look set to fly. However, Jack arrives and breaks everything up, prompting them to return to the group.

Colin looks in to see Marina, wanting to apologize for what happened between them. After his travels in Greece, he ends up gaining the favour of Philip, who’s happy and content with Marina, marveling at his travels.

Colin is still torn over how he feels about Marina, and after congratulating her for being amiable, she points out that she’s content in her marriage. She suggests Colin turn his attention to someone who really cares for him – like Penelope.

Back at the estate, Anthony and Kate end up talking that night. Anthony reveals how his father passed away, and the pair refrain from kissing again. It’s not a horse whinny this time, it’s a thunderclap.

The night’s events take place and as the music starts, Lord Morrison ends up dancing with Eloise. However, Eloise isn’t taken with him, given his prudish attitude, and she eventually leaves the dancefloor. She heads upstairs, sobbing, rejecting Penelope and leaving the Bridgerton family in disarray for the time being.

Meanwhile, Lord Featherington is taken with Cressida Crowper, leading Lady Featherington to try and encourage his match-up with Prudence.

On the dancefloor, Edwina encourages Anthony to dance with Kate in order to gain her blessing and prepare for their marriage. The thing is, Kate is leaving and heading back to India as soon as Edwina marries. When he hears this, Anthony is crushed and leaves the dancefloor, clearly disheartened.

In private, Kate and Anthony end up talking, with the former admitting that he vexes her. However, as they stand together, on the cusp of kissing, they’re interrupted AGAIN but this time by Daphne.

Daphne realizes what’s happening and likens the similarities to what happened between her and Simon (this show isn’t even being subtle about this now!) and tells Anthony that these things have a way of surfacing eventually.

There’s a big scandal involving Lady Featherington setting up Prudence, claiming they’re together behind Cressida’s back. The reality – as we come to learn later on – is that the new Lord is actually penniless and in order to secure livelihood for the family, he wanted to marry royalty. Unfortunately, Lady Featherington has completely messed that up now.

As the episode closes out, Anthony makes his decision and in front of Kate, decides to marry her. He even puts the ring on her. The thing is, this very clearly is not where his heart lies.

The Episode Review

Bridgerton returns with another good episode and I have to say, the dynamic between Anthony, Edwina and Kate is rather good. The show has managed to set up a pretty interesting love triangle without going down the conventional route that so many other shows have fallen foul of.

The show is still overlong, which seems to be a growing trend with Shondaland productions (honestly, Inventing Anna could have been at least 2 episodes shorter) while the whole drama involving Lady Featherington feels like padding, despite a nice twist in showing why Lord Featherington is trying to gain Cressida’s favour.

Beyond that though, the series has been a pretty decent watch and the pairing of Kate and Anthony continues to deliver some excellent chemistry right the way through. Roll on the next episode!