With an Australian in the lead, Bridgerton finds its zing once again

Bridgerton (season four) ★★★★

Dearest gentle reader, I have good news and bad news. The good, is that after a – frankly – dull third season (Nicola Coughlan and Claudia Jessie as besties Penelope and Eloise were, as usual, the only highlights, while Colin, played by Luke Newton, had about as much charisma as a collapsed trifle), we have a resurgence on our hands. But the bad? It may not be enough to save a series that is very much basting in its overcooked juices.

Let’s start with the good stuff: Bridgerton has remembered that romance – and comedy – runs on chemistry. Without the zing, everything else falls flat, which was the major problem with season three’s main couple, Penelope and Colin.

That’s not a problem this fourth season. Luke Thompson and Australian Yerin Ha positively crackle as Benedict Bridgerton and the mysterious Sophie Baek, with enough snappy dialogue to keep you cheering them on. Ha, who grew up on Sydney’s north shore and whose grandmother is a well-known actress in Korea, is a delight as Sophie. She’s sharp, witty and has enough spark to match Thompson, who has long been one of Bridgerton’s MVPs.

As the louche second-eldest son, Benedict is happily a rake – a try-sexual Bridgerton – who has no interest in settling down, much to his mother’s despair. But when he becomes enchanted with a mysterious “Lady in silver” at his mother’s masquerade ball, he sets about finding her.

If this is giving you Cinderella vibes, call the pumpkin carriage and strap in. That woman, of course, is Sophie, who was banished to maid duties after her father died by her cruel stepmother, Lady Penwood (Katie Leung).

Desperate to experience a night out, Sophie, with the help of her fellow servants, crashes the Bridgertons’ masquerade ball and, well, you can guess the rest. Boy meets girl and girl flees at the stroke of midnight, leaving not a glass slipper, but a white glove in her wake.

If that all sounds a little twee, it is, but at this point, we all know what we are here for: unrequited sexual tension (Benedict and Sophie later meet, when he saves her from a nasty employer) and an eventual happy ever after (only four episodes were available for review, but duh).

What elevates this season, however, is its crack at class politics. Forget the dress, Cinderella is about workers’ rights and the abuse of servants (Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, pay me a fair wage etc). Sophie – whose surname has been changed from Beckett in the book to Baek in the series, to reflect Ha’s background – is never seen as an equal by those she works for. None of the servants are. They are seen and only sometimes heard. Think Downton Abbey but with better teeth.

Like everyone in the ’ton, the Bridgertons are blind to their privilege. Yes, they have a good relationship with their staff – Lady Violet even enlists their help so she can have a “late-night tea” with Lord Marcus – but they are still surprised when they discover the servants can read and write. Benedict at least tries to recognise their work and, god forbid, even help out. He’s not perfect, but he’s a man, so he can get away with it.

Overall, Bridgerton is at its best when it spreads the storytelling love beyond the central couple, and in this first half of the season, pretty much everyone gets a go. Colin, thankfully, is relegated to the background as Penelope, the newly unmasked Lady Whistledown, grapples with the Queen’s insatiable desire for gossip.

Eloise is happily back from Scotland, as is Francesca (Hannah Dodd) with her new husband John (Victor Alli). Readers of Julia Quinn’s book series will know what’s coming there, but the Bridgerton crew have given it a same-sex twist.

For fans, there’s plenty to like in this first half of season four, but it’s also business as usual. We know there will be tea parties (late night or otherwise), obstacles in the way of true love and a bit of sex, but is that enough? We know there are two more seasons to come, but is it enough to just follow the same pattern season after season? Or does it not matter when 100 million-plus viewers tune in regardless?

Yes, the show has dabbled in feminism, independence, class and even racism, but so much still goes unsaid. Will Benedict turn his back on his privilege and join the servants downstairs? Will Sophie lead them on a workers’ rights march through the streets of Mayfair? We won’t know until the second half of season four, but I can take a pretty good guess. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, indeed.

The first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season four premiere on January 29 on Netflix. Part two premieres on February 26.

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