Bridgerton Fans Counted All Season 3 Subplots And That's Too Many

Summary

• While Bridgerton Season 3 broke into Netflix's top 10, many viewers were disappointed with its development.
• One complaint that most agree on is that the chapter had too many subplots.
• Fans have even gone back through the season's eight episodes and counted how many arcs were unrelated to the main storyline.

If you browse through the official Bridgerton social media accounts, you will see one thing clearly: while there are many viewers who enjoyed Season 3 (the huge viewership numbers can't lie), there is also discontent with the new chapter brewing in the fandom.

Why are Bridgerton fans unhappy? Many reasons have been given in various discussions, but there is one point on which the majority of viewers (casual and dedicated alike) agree. Bridgerton Season 3 had too many subplots.

How many, exactly?

To avoid any unconfirmed assumptions, Bridgerton fans took it upon themselves to revisit the eight episodes released this year and count the exact number of storylines happening on screen.

Of course, since the season is dedicated to the love story of Colin and Penelope Bridgerton, the development of their relationship, including the conflict over Lady Whistledown, is considered the main arc. The rest includes:

1. Penelope and Eloise' fight over Whistledown and the restoration of their friendship.
2. Queen Charlotte's boredom with life and society, hunt for Whistledown.
3. Cressida's terrible family situation, competition for Lord Debling's interest, engagement to an old man, pretending to be Whistledown and blackmailing Penelope.
4. Eloise's friendship with Cressida, struggles to fit in and find a purpose in life.
5. Francesca's debut in society, being named the Diamond of the Season, courtship with Lord Samadani, meeting and marrying John Stirling, leaving for Scotland.
6. Lord Anderson's arrival in London, relationship with his sister Lady Danbury, flirtation with Violet Bridgerton.
7. Anthony and Kate's marital bliss, home life, pregnancy, departure for India.
8. Benedict's sexual explorations and self-doubts.
9. The Mondriches' surprising new title and adjustment to the ton.
10. The Featheringtons' attempts to save their home, race for the heir.

While the first three plotlines could be connected to the main arc (after all, Lady Whistledown, as Penelope's alias, could also be called a lead character), the other seven exist on their own. And this is exactly what viewers don't like about Season 3.

Why is this not good?

Since Bridgerton is a kind of romantic anthology where each season is a new love story, viewers expect that most of the eight episodes that make up that story will be devoted to the lead couple and the development of their romance. Season 3, however, did nothing of the sort.

Seven subplots unrelated to Colin and Penelope's relationship were too many for a comparatively short chapter. The story kept jumping back and forth between different characters, taking attention and screen time away from the main arc.

Fans have counted that Colin and Penelope were on screen together for a total of only 78 minutes in Season 3, which is only 16% of the chapter's screen time. On top of that, the Lady Whistledown drama took center stage in Part 2.

Of course, this resulted in a somewhat rushed development of the lead relationship, a lack of heartwarming moments between the protagonists, and an ending that was happy but felt abrupt.

Hopefully, in future seasons, the Bridgerton creators will take the fans' arguments into consideration and make sure that the leads of their stories are really leads and not some side characters.

Sources: Reddit, Change.org.