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Bridgerton S2 Could've Been Better If Shondaland Didn't Mess This Book Detail Up

Bridgerton S2 Could've Been Better If Shondaland Didn't Mess This Book Detail Up
Image credit: Netflix

The motives were very off.

Summary:

  • Bridgerton is a romantic period drama produced by Netflix and Shondaland.
  • The show is adapted from Julia Quinn's series of novels of the same name.
  • The second season followed the second book in the series, The Viscount Who Loved Me, but the show made many changes to the plot.
  • Some fans believe that these changes made the motives of the main character more superficial.

Every time the book is adapted into a movie or TV show, there is a risk that it will be changed in some way to fit a different format. Not everything that looks good on the page ends up being as good when it's said out loud or acted out by professional talent.

But there's also a huge risk that someone will be unhappy with the changes that have been made. And this is exactly the kind of risk that production teams need to be aware of before embarking on such a project. There should always be a good balance between the original source and the modified version. When the balance is off, the problems begin.

Although the second season of Bridgerton was even more dramatic, intriguing and exciting than the first, true fans of the franchise had many complaints about how many changes were made. Few of them actually made sense, while others were simply annoying and confused the motives of the main characters.

To this day, many believe that Anthony Bridgerton, who ended up being the main problem in the arc of his own season, was done dirty and deserved better.

Anthony Bridgerton Book To Show Changes

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The only thing that really stood between Kate and Anthony in the show was Anthony himself.

Although it was nice to see his character develop through the whole series of messy decisions and wrong choices, it was also a bit tiring and annoying. If it weren't for the perfect chemistry between Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley, watching them for 8 episodes could have been very tiring.

In the book, however, the story was driven not only by the characters' choices, but also by the power of their fears and background traumas, which weren't fully explored. While we saw a glimpse of Anthony's past and the effect his father's death had on him, we never got to explore his own fear of death as it appears in the book.

In the show, under pressure from his mother, Anthony decides that it is time to get married this season, adding to the heartbreak he experienced in season 1. While this motivation is believable, it's not as strong as the reasoning in the novel, where Anthony is motivated by fear of death.

This change automatically lowered the stakes of the entire season and made Anthony the main antagonist of his own story. Luckily for viewers, the storyline was ultimately saved by great acting and brilliant dialogue, but many are hoping not to see such a big change in the future.

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If you want to catch up on Bridgerton season 2, it's available for streaming on Netflix. Season 3 will premiere in two parts in May and June 2024, so keep an eye out for all exciting updates.