Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma and Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in Netflix’s Bridgerton.Photo: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Be warned, gentle reader, this story contains spoilers forBridgertonseasons 1 and 2, as well as author Julia Quinn’sThe Viscount Who Loved Me.
Many fans have dreamed of Anthony and Kate’s love story being translated to the screen since the book,The Viscount Who Loved Me, which is second in theBridgertonbook series, was first published more than 20 years ago.
Here is a look at some of the biggest differences between the novel andBridgertonseason 2. (Including an improper encounter between Anthony and Kate that forces them to marry, which doesn’t happen in the show!)
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The main story arch: Kate and Anthony’s unexpected lovefor one another
The show begins in relatively the same way asThe Viscount Who Loved Me. Anthony, Lord Bridgerton, is determined to marry out of duty, not love, because he was profoundly impacted when his father died of a bee sting at the age of 38. (In the book, Anthony’s fear is stated explicitly: he believes he won’t live longer than his father and wants to avoid painful romantic attachment.)
Yet, as with most every book-to-show adaptation, characters are added and plot changes are made to increase the suspense leading up to Anthony and Kate’s HEA. (Or happily ever after, for those who have never dived into the comment sections of Goodreads, where the sexiness and plot points of romance novels are discussed at length. This writer has!)
A poor heroine
As the show relates, years before, Mary was cast off for marrying Kate’s widowed father, who is of lower rank, resulting in the Sharma family’s move to India. Kate has her stepmother and sister return to London in the hopes that they can meet the Sheffields' demands and secure Edwina’s dowry.
The Bridgerton siblings.LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Season 2 expands on characters' backstories — and introduces new ones
The addition ofQueen Charlotteto the show’s storyline accounts for the diverse cast of characters — a change from the book series and the historical romance genre as a whole, which has traditionally featured white characters. (As Simon explains in season 1, when the Black royal married King George III, people of color gained entry into high society.) In the show, Queen Charlotte is the one who selects Edwina as the diamond of the season. The royal’s competition with and dogged search for the real Lady Whistledown also adds more outside tension to Kate and Anthony’s story than is found in the book.
Lord Edmund Bridgerton’s death — and his son’s turmoil
“Your father took his role as viscount seriously, but he also loved deeply,” Lady Bridgerton tells Anthony inBridgertonseason 2, reflecting on her husband’s death. “I know that is what you want, too. I know that, deep down, it is what you have always wanted.”
Charithra Chandran as Edwina and Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma.NETFLIX
An affair to forget
InBridgertonseason 1, Anthony’s connection to the lovely singer named Siena Rosso is much more heartfelt. The end of their romance leaves them both in tears. In season 2, we see Anthony bid Siena a final farewell when he burns a pamphlet with her picture on it.
Changes to Kate and Anthony’s most romantic moments
The plot twists even more sharply from the novel when comparing Anthony and Kate’s most intimate moments. (Thankfully, for fans of the novel, the couple’s fierce battle of pall-mall plays out on screen.)
Kate’s race with Anthony at the beginning of the show, as well as the time they almost kiss while hunting, are both new to the storyline. The moment Anthony starts reading a poem to Edwina at a gathering in Lady Danbury’s house, only to focus on Kate in the background and confront her later, is show creator Chris Van Dusen’s way of capturing the inexorable connection between Anthony and Kate.
The thunderstormand the bee sting
InThe Viscount Who Loved Me, Kate and Anthony’s connection emerges quite differently. One of the most powerful moments in their romance is only briefly touched on in the show.
In the book, while at the Bridgerton country estate Aubrey Hall, there is a tremendous thunderstorm that leaves Kate curled up into a ball on the floor of the library late one night. Anthony finds her and comforts her, learning that her terror stems from the death of her biological mother, who died at night during a storm, when she was a young girl. The two connect over their shared loss.
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“She wished — oh, how she wished — that when he was ready to face his fears,” thinks Kate inThe Viscount Who Loved Me, “she could be the one to help him.”
From sisterly love — to a love triangle
Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), Edwina (Charithra Chandran), Mary Sharma (Shelley Conn) and Kate (Simone Ashley).NETFLIX
A terrifying accident — and true love realized
Fortunately for Kate and Anthony fans, Edwina doesn’t marry the eldest Bridgerton brother in either story arc.
The plotlines of the book and show converge again when Kate has an accident. (In the show, she’s racing on horseback and falls, hitting her head. In the novel, there’s a carriage accident.) The threat to Kate’s life is what it takes for Anthony to finally shake off the fear that has clung to him for years, so he can admit his love for her, which he does both on screen and in the book’s last pages.
Despite the differences between the book and the show, the intense love and passion between Anthony and Kate, who are equally matched in willfulness and intellect, is the same.
“I fell in love with you, and then I knew. Even if I am right, even if I’m fated to live only as long as my father did before me, I’m not doomed,” Lord Anthony Bridgerton tells his wife inThe Viscount Who Loved Me. “I have you, and I’m not going to waste a single moment we have together.”
Wonders Kate, inThe Viscount Who Loved Me, as her husband begins to seduce her, “Was it possible to fall in love with the same man over and over again, every single day?”
“Kate sighed as she settled into the pillows, letting his wicked words wash over her,” writes Quinn. “By God, she was going to try.”
Season 2 ofBridgertonis streaming now on Netflix.
source: people.com
