Regency Romance
‘Bridgerton’ Showrunner Breaks Down Polin’s Carriage Scene Details
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1.]
If you’re a Bridgerton fan, you’ve more than likely seen Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin’s (Luke Newton) now-iconic carriage scene, set to the instrumental tune of Pitbull‘s “Give Me Everything,” at least once (or maybe a couple dozen times).
And while fans have enjoyed the iteration delivered in the series, showrunner Jess Brownell notes there are big changes compared to the scene fans read in Julia Quinn’s book Romancing Mister Bridgerton. “There’s this carriage moment in the book, [and] it’s the moment that Colin realizes Penelope’s Lady Whistledown and they share an intimate moment,” Brownell notes. “For us, it felt too early in the season for Colin to realize she was Whistledown.”
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Still, Brownell and the creative team didn’t want to discard the moment or concept. “We wanted to honor the fact that it’s the first time Colin sees Penelope in a new light and it is the first time they share a really intimate moment,” the showrunner said.
Somewhat taking the idea of seeing Penelope in a new light, the scene itself is very interestingly lit, as blue and orange tones cast Colin and Penelope in different hues. Whether or not that was intentional, Brownell says only director Andrew Ahn can answer for certain.
“That’s a good catch. I think that that may have been something Andrew Ahn had intentions about, but in general, you’re right that shadows and light is something [we’re] playing with this season, literally [and] metaphorically—Penelope has been clinging to the shadows and is coming out of them into the light.”
And the carriage isn’t the only place viewers will see this effect as Brownell adds, “There are plenty of moments where the lighting is a little more dramatic this season. I can’t take credit for designing the lighting in that sequence or pushing people to make a metaphor there, but it’s possible.”
When it came down to Colin’s pivotal love confession, Brownell also credits Ahn, “who staged it that way and had [Colin] getting down on his knees. I think it was a very satisfying moment,” Brownell admits, and surely fans concur as they’d hoped to see Colin win Penelope over after misreading their connection for the past two seasons.
“It was important to us for Colin to earn Penelope because it’s taken him long enough, and that’s one of the reasons we created the Lord Debling [Sam Phillips] character. It felt important for Penelope to have other options and also for Colin to see the error of his ways in terms of realizing that she might slip out of his grasp,” Brownell explains.
Brownell also points out, “Colin actually gets rejected and has to work for things so that when they do finally get together, it feels like they’ve been evened out and that they’re meeting each other on an even playing field,” as seen in the carriage.
Will their bliss last? With that Lady Whistledown secret looming over their heads, we’re certain drama is on the horizon.
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 1, Streaming now, Netflix
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 13, Netflix
