Shonda Rhimes, the producer who brought us ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Scandal’ has moved to Netflix and created ‘Bridgerton,’ an adoption of Julia Quinn’s novels. This scandalous show is filled with drama, similar to Shonda’s past works. The beauty of the dresses, parties, and romance all heighten interest in this show. 

The show is about the family of Bridgerton, a mother with 4 sons and 4 daughters. The family’s goal is to find Daphne, the eldest daughter, a husband. The Fetherington family (neighbor) has three

daughters and are looking to find husbands as well. However, the Fetherington daughters fail to fascinate the Queen as a suitable wife because one of the daughters faints. Daphne, on the other hand, catches the attention of the Queen, which causes conflict. 

The drama doesn’t stop there for the Fetherington family, as their cousin, Marina Thompson, is added into the mix . Marina also causes Daphne to struggle in the beginning because Marina becomes the main attraction for all the single men. Things are further complicated by family relationships and friendships.

To keep the town up to date with all the scandals, Lady Whistledown, a woman who knows everyone but no one knows of her, sends papers around the town with the juicy drama. Eloise, a sis

ter to Daphne, finds interest in Lady Whistledown’s papers and has this urge of finding out who she actually is. As the season goes on, Lady Whistledown has more and more to report.  

Bridgerton made many people fall in love with the outfits worn and all of the grand parties that were thrown throughout the season. This was the case for Alder sophomore Kylee Phillips: “ I loved the colorful dresses and the accents.” Similar to Phillips, sophomore Maggie Storts shared the same views on the outfits: “My favorite part was the clothing and the idea of going to fun balls and big parties every night.” 

Some found the show scandalous and enjoyable to watch. Gwen Ihnat from AV Club wrote, “I have seen much at the other end of this scandal sheet, faithful readers, but here I must say I am uncharacteristically at a loss for words.” 

Another reason for the show’s popularity is the music.  In the mix of all of its regency areas there are some up to date pop introduced in some scenes including Taylor Swift’s ‘Wildest Dreams’, Ariana Grande’s ‘Thank you, Next’ and more. 

Junior Lily Hall thinks Bridgerton is “absolutely amazing, but frustrating.”  She says, “I think [Bridgerton] showed very well how not everyone fits into the expected category and relates back to how today, many people are still trying to break through gender norms/roles. I also loved that all the music was just popular songs played on the piano, and who doesn’t love a nice romance series?” 

Hall found vexing about the show was that the relationship between Simon and Daphne wasn’t so amazing. “Simon and Daphne hardly didn’t talk to one another.”

What was also irking to Hall was the fact that during that day and age which was expressed in the show finding true love wasn’t really a thing. “When looking for someone to court, rank, and a person’s image took priority over finding someone you truly connected with.”

On February 16th, Netflix announced that a season 2 is in the making. For Hall she’s excited for what the next season has in store. 

“I’m very excited, for all of it,” Hall says. However she has some reservations. “I’m curious to see if Simon stays happy in the relationship with a child in the picture. I’m also very excited to see Eloise’s character development, and see if she stays true to the person she has been thus far.”