Title: Bridgerton Season 2
Cast: Simone Ashley, Jonathan Bailey, Charithra Chandran, Shelley Conn, Nicola Coughlan, Adjoa Andoh, Golda Rosheuvel, Claudia Jessie.
Director: Cheryl Dunye
Year of Release: 2022
Where to watch: Netflix
It’s funny how when rewatching movies for the fifth time, or perhaps the seventh, don’t judge me, I’m sure there’s a support group for us rewatchers, but I digress. It’s funny how rewatching movies for the seventh time reminds me of a thought I had heard so faintly the first time I read it, a little bit louder each time I watched it, and one time, on the seventh rewatch, the line jumps at it, holding me by the throat, “Write about me, or you die!” echoing in my stream of consciousness.
Today, these lines were, “You are cruel. I AM A MOTHER,” a conversation held by Portia Featherington and their Cousin Featherington. Through Bridgerton Season 2, we watch our main characters struggle with their conflict between duty and desire, rocking back and forth between the waves of their passions and responsibilities. But while we see these fickle, unreliable characters- we see one, solid as a rock, unwavering, unshaken, unfickle- Portia Featherington.
She never for once questions herself when her duties or desires conflict. She never considers choosing herself and her fickle needs over her children’s. Even though she and Cousin Featherington share a likeness, a weird attraction, she is never for once conflicted between her feelings for him and her desire to protect her children. They take her priority. ALWAYS. Everything she does is for them. Perhaps this is Shonda Rhimes’ way of speaking to us if we would hear her.
Perhaps, this is Shonda Rhimes’ way of telling us that mothers never have that choice. It is not even considered.
When Cousin Featherington suggests that she call off his sham of an engagement to her daughter, she says, “That is not even a choice,” because a Mother would rather starve to death than watch her kids suffer.
This is why she does all she can and, when it comes to it, chooses her kids over CF, forcing him into involuntary exile. And when he witnesses how evil a mother can be to protect her kids, how insane, how fierce, he utters:
“You are cruel.”
Not skipping a beat, not batting her lids, Lady Portia replies,
“I am a Mother.”
What were your thoughts on Lady Portia when you saw Bridgerton?
Let us know in the comments!
