Romance Movies & Series

I am rewatching episode S3E1 for the inifinitieth time and this man has been sick over her since he set foot in Mayfair.

(Everything below is a recap of S3E1)

• Exits the carriage after his months-long study abroad program, he glances over at the Featherington estate, clearly looking for someone before he's even finished greeting his family.

• He is wandering around alone after the presentation in the garden. As soon as he sees her, he makes a beeline towards her. He tells her it feels like it's been YEARS and not months. When they speak of change, he shows off his new clothes to her - he is DESPERATE, on his hands and knees seeking her validation.

• When he's handing out everyone's gifts, he takes this opportunity to sideline with Eloise about Penelope. He does not understand how Eloise can survive without her because, spoiler alert, he cannot.

• Here's the one that prompted me to make this list: When he's drinking with his brothers at the club, Anthony commends Colin on his many new suitors. Colin who has been checked out for the whole scene says, "I'm not certain that that should cheer me." He is a SAD BOY because he KNOWS Penelope is icing him out. He's garnered the favor of the women of his ton and by extension, the men (including his brothers) but all he really wants is Penelope's favor.

• When he sees Penelope's new dress at the ball, that man laid eyes on her and had to quench his literal thirst by taking a big swig of his lemonade.

• He chases her out, in spite of his friend's objections. And I think we all have this scene memorized: Charming dress! The color rather suits you! You are not a (laughs at the absurdity) spinster! Is something wrong, Pen, between us?! I wrote to you this summer, as I always do! If you are going to make me say it out loud, I missed you!!!!! AND THE FACE he makes when she accuses him of being embarrassed of her - like he wants to die that she thinks that.

• Apologizes the next day because it PAINS him to see her upset. He seeks her out at every social assembly! She changes the way he sees the world!! She is CLEVER AND WARM. (Platonically, he thinks.)

• It's HIS idea to help her find a husband. He wants to have ~lessons~ which we know often take place alone and unchaperoned and he is going to require her to practice her flirting on him?????????? Okay, babe. Chill out.

• Even the handshake... why you looking at her hand like that babe if you're """"friends"""" ?!

I'll do episode 2 (pre-smooch) in the replies when I rewatch it but for now I rest my case and officially move for us to rename him Colin "Down Bad Crying in the Gym" Bridgerton based on ALL of his Season 3 behavior. Not just 3 & 4.

edit to say: 3x02 recap is now in the comments!

editing again to say: 3x03 in the comments here (went way overboard) and 3x04 will come later if people are still interested!

I've seen a few people post about wanting to understand the Eros/Psyche references in Bridgerton but not knowing where to start. I thought I'd put together a crash course that would help anyone that is coming at this from the beginning.

I'll start with a summary of the myth and then I'll move on to a summary of the explicit references (the "why do people keep mentioning it?" and "was that related?") and a bit more of a loose interpretation ("I wonder if that has do to with it..." and "wouldn't that be cool if that was related to it?").

I give an outline, so you can scroll through and find what you're looking for or skip parts. I wrote a more thorough speculative post a few weeks ago, if you're into that. There are some great posters on this sub and the other Bridgerton subs posting about this regularly, so I encourage you to check those out!

-Awesome general discussion with attention to lamp references by u/hemadeitrain
-Reference to the Cupid clock in the Pt. 2 trailer
-Reference to the Sleep Eros statue
-u/Tinuviel_Undomiel on an early observation from the trailer
-u/ on the Golden Ram here and here

• general discussions [x] [x] (link below and I can add more, if I missed someone!)

Part 1: Everything you need to know about the myth of Eros and Psyche (long and short versions).

Part 2: References from Bridgerton in Part 1

TO SKIP TO PART 2, SEARCH "WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BRIDGERTON?"

-----PART 1------- JUST THE MYTH, EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Starting from scratch? No problem, I've got you!

• The characters of Eros and Psyche originated in the ancient Greek and Roman cultures (located in the Mediterranean).

• We have written references to Eros dating back to the 8th century BC. That means 2800-ish years ago! Those are in ancient Greek poetry. The oral tradition (people telling stories and histories) could date back longer.

• The story of Eros and Psyche comes to us from a Roman author in the 2nd century AD (only about 1900 years ago). The book it comes from is called The Golden Ass, or Metamorphoses, by a Roman (Numidian, modern day Algeria) author named Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (but we usually just call him Apuleius!), which is filled with stories about transformation.

• Many characters in the story have two names- a Greek name and a Latin (the language of the Roman world) name. For example, Aphrodite (Greek) is Venus (Latin); Eros (Greek) is Cupid (Latin); Psyche (Greek) is Anima (Latin).

Who is Psyche? 

• Psyche is a princess in a royal family. She is mortal. She is the youngest of three daughters. Her sisters are both married.

• Her beauty is often compared to that of Aphrodite (big mistake, Aphrodite hates that).

• Potential husbands are often intimidated by her beauty. As a result, she has a hard time finding a husband, unlike her sisters.

• Her beauty leads the people of her family's kingdom to neglect their duties to worship Aphrodite, worshiping Psyche, instead.

• At the start of her story, Psyche is naïve and easy to manipulate. She often gives in to her impulses. As her story progresses, she matures significantly. Eventually, she drinks Ambrosia, gifted to her by Zeus, and becomes immortal.

• Psyche is associated with butterflies.

Who is Eros?

• Eros is the son of Venus/Aphrodite (and sometimes has a father, but sometimes doesn't). He is immortal. He is a member of the Pantheon (which is a Greek word to describe the family of the Olympian Gods).

• Eros is the god of love Eros is depicted as a handsome young man, often with wings.

• Eros carries a bow and quiver of arrows, with which he shoots individuals to make them fall in love.

• Eros, in mythology, is described as a “most indiscreet youth, whose own bad habits show his disregard for public morality” (Apuleius, The Golden Ass 4. 28 - 6. 24). By the end of the Psyche/Eros myth, he has matured into a man, from a youth.

What happens in the Eros/Psyche myth? Here's the briefest description. The more thorough one is below.

1. Introduction to Psyche

2. Instructions from the Oracle of Delphi

3. Eros & Psyche in the Garden

4. Search for Psyche

5. Trials of Psyche

6. Psyche's Death, Resurrection, and Wedding

TLDR version:

Psyche is a beautiful girl. So beautiful that people worship her, instead of Aphrodite. Aphrodite hates that and seeks to punish her. She sends her son Eros to shoot her with an arrow that will make her fall in love with someone ugly. Eros shoots himself, instead, in secret.

Psyche can't find a husband and is miserable. Her father is told by the Gods that she should be sacrificed to them, married to a snake-monster on top of a mountain, for her crime (of being really pretty).

Psyche makes her way to the mountain top, resigned to her fate. Eros commands the wind to pick her up and bring him to his palace. She doesn't know who has taken her but she is happy and assumes that it is her new husband. This is an illegitimate wedding.

Eros visits Psyche every night in the dark. She never sees him but they are intimate with each other. Eros tells her that she can never see him in the light, and if she does, he will leave her. Psyche becomes pregnant.

Psyche's crazy sisters visit. Eros tells her not to trust them. She doesn't listen to his warnings and they convince her that he's actually the snake monster and that she has to use a lamp to look at him, one night, or he'll eat her.

Psyche lights the lamp and attempts to look at him. She pricks herself, by accident, with one of his arrows and falls in love with her. In the process, she spills a drop of oil on him and wakes him up. He makes good on his promise and flies away.

Psyche cries, wandering the countryside to find him. Venus (in anger that she married Eros) searches for her, too, putting out a bounty on her. Eros mopes in his room about his oil burn.

Psyche turns herself over to Venus, who assigns her a number of tasks, as punishment. Psyche completes the tasks, learning resiliency, humility, and sacrifice.

Completing the final task, Psyche (metaphorically) dies and Eros (finally done moping) saves her. Eros pleads with Zeus to take pity on them. Zeus does, hosting a proper wedding for them and gifting Psyche the Ambrosia (wine of the gods) that will make her immortal.

Longer, more complete version of the myth:

Note: translations come from Theoi.com, which is highly reputable. https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html

1. Introduction to Psyche:

Psyche is extremely beautiful, to the extent to which people literally believe that she must be divine (in the god-like sense).

beauty of the youngest girl [Psyche] was so special and distinguished that our poverty of human language could not describe or even adequately praise it. In consequence, many of her fellow-citizens and hordes of foreigners, on hearing the report of this matchless prodigy, gathered in ecstatic crowds. They were dumbstruck with admiration at her peerless beauty.

Despite this beauty, Psyche is not happy. Her sisters are both married but she is not.

For some time now her two elder sisters had been betrothed to royal suitors and had contracted splendid marriages, though their more modest beauty had won no widespread acclaim. But Psyche remained at home unattended, lamenting her isolated loneliness.

Because of the divine nature of her beauty, people worship her in the same manner that they would worship Venus. In fact, they neglect worshiping Venus, in her stead.

They would press their hands to their lips with the forefinger resting on the upright thumb, and revere her with devoted worship as if she were none other than Venus [Aphrodite] herself.

This makes Venus extremely angry. The Gods in Greek mythology are highly flawed, often vengeful, vindictive, and cruel.

Since divine honours were being diverted in this excessive way to the worship of a mortal girl, the anger of the true Venus [Aphrodite] was fiercely kindled. She could not control her irritation.

In order to punish Psyche, Venus summons her son Eros and instructs him to shoot Psyche with an arrow, causing her to fall in love with the "lowest possible specimen of humanity". Eros is a bit of a rake.

that winged, most indiscreet youth, whose own bad habits show his disregard for public morality. He goes rampaging through people's houses at night armed with his torch and arrows, undermining the marriages of all. He gets away scot-free with this disgraceful behaviour, and nothing that he does is worthwhile. His own nature made him excessively wanton.

2. Instructions from the Oracle of Delphi

Worried that Psyche is miserable because the gods are angry with them, her Father asks the Oracle at Delphi what to do (the most important oracle in the Greek world; an oracle was how mortals received messages from the Gods, they would make a sacrifice at a temple and a priestess (who was usually high on some drug, likely Opium) would tell them a message). The Oracle tells Psyche's father:

‘Adorn this girl, O king, for wedlock dread, and set her on a lofty mountain-rock. Renounce all hope that one of mortal stock can be your son-in-law, for she shall wed a fierce, barbaric, snake-like monster.

In order to appease the gods, Psyche is brought to the top of a mountain and is prepared for her wedding to a horrible serpent. She realizes that she is also walking in her own funeral procession.

They made their way to the appointed rock set on a lofty mountain, and when they had installed the girl on its peak, they all abandoned her there. They left behind the marriage-torches which had lighted their way but were now doused with their tears, and with bent heads made their way homeward.

As Psyche lays on the mountain rock and cries, a western wind lifts her up and carries her away into a grassy garden grove with a royal palace. The palace is filled with wealth and decorations, with an atmosphere that is distinctly heavenly.

But as Psyche wept in fear and trembling on that rocky eminence, Zephyrus' (the West Wind's) kindly breeze with its soft stirring wafted the hem of her dress this way and that, and made its folds billow out.

3. Eros & Psyche in the Garden

While Psyche is in the garden, she is given gifts and a large feast. She hears a disembodied voice tell her to celebrate and enjoy herself and then dress for bed. It is clear that this is her wedding. She is the only person present but the forces of nature around her act as her attendants.

As she gazed on all this with the greatest rapture, a disembodied voice addressed her : ‘Why, may lady, do you gaze open-mouthed at this parade of wealth? All these things are yours.

After the feast, Psyche goes to bed and hears a kind voice. She knows that she is alone, so she is afraid. However, her husband arrives and they have sex. This is Eros, visiting her.

When the night was well advanced, a genial sound met her ears. Since the was utterly alone, she trembled and shuddered in her fear for her virginity, and she dreaded the unknown presence more than any other menace. But now her unknown bridegroom arrived and climbed into the bed. He made Psyche his wife, and swiftly departed before dawn broke.

Psyche never sees Eros, but he visits her every night and leaves before the morning. She never sees what he looks like. At this time, Psyche's sisters believe that she is dead, so they go looking for her. Eros tells her not to meet with them, otherwise he'll hurt him and destroy himself.

Should you chance to hear their cries of grief, you are not to respond, or even to set eyes on them. Otherwise you will cause me the most painful affliction, and bring utter destruction on yourself.’

Psyche agrees but she is lonely. She has her husband but no other company. When Eros comes to her the next night, she is upset. He is not sympathetic and says that it is her own fault for not being content with her husband.

Is this how the promise you made me has turned out, Psyche, my dear? What is your husband to expect or to hope from you? You never stop torturing your self night and day, even when we embrace each other as husband and wife. ... But when you begin to repent at leisure, remember the sober warning which I gave you.’

Eventually, Eros gives in and lets Psyche see her sisters. Eros tells her that, no matter what her sisters say, he must not be tempted to see his appearance. She cannot look at him in the light.

When Psyche's sisters arrive, they see how wealthy she is and are jealous. They assume that she must be married to a god. She gives them gifts but does not tell them anything about Eros. Her sisters see that their own marriages are nothing compared to hers and they are worried that she will become a goddess, while they will have nothing.

If she has as handsome a husband as she claims, no woman living in the whole world is more blessed. Perhaps as their intimacy continues and their love grows stronger, her god-husband will make her divine as well.

Eros warns Psyche, again, that her behaviour is dangerous. If she continues to meet with her sisters, she will put herself in danger:

‘Are you aware what immense danger overhangs you? Fortuna is aiming her darts at you from long range and, unless you take the most stringent precautions, she will soon engage with you hand to hand.

He repeats his warning: if Psyche gazes upon him and gets a look of him, he will leave her forever. He warns her that they will have a child, soon. If she does NOT look upon him, it will be a god, and if she does, it will be mortal.

they are seeking to persuade you to pry into my appearance, and as I have often warned you, a single glimpse of it will be your last. ... Soon we shall be starting a family, for this as yet tiny womb of yours is carrying for us another child like yourself. If you conceal our secret in silence, that child will be a god; but if you disclose it, he will be mortal.’

Later, when Psyche's sisters visit, they plan to trick her. They tell her that her husband is the serpent that the Oracle told her that she would be married to her. They say that it will eat her and her child, once her pregnancy comes to term.

Psyche, naïve as she is, believes them and admits that she doesn't know anything about her husband. They tell her that she needs to hide a knife in her bed and a bright lamp. She should light the lamp and when she sees the monster, she can free herself.

That night, she lights the lamp and grabs the knife, ready to escape. However, she immediately sees Eros and is awe-struck. She realizes that she was wrong and that she has broken her promise and tries to kill herself. The knife frees itself from her hands and falls.

But as in her weariness and giddiness she gazed repeatedly on the beauty of that divine countenance, her mental balance was restored. She beheld on his golden head his luxuriant hair steeped in ambrosia

She is distracted by his beauty and gazes at him. She sees his bow and arrows at the end of the bed and moves to touch them. Because she is so overwhelmed, her shaky hands cause her to prick herself with the arrows.

As Psyche trained her gaze insatiably and with no little curiosity on these her husband's weapons, in the course of handling and admiring them she drew out an arrow from the quiver, and tested its point on the tip of her thumb. But because her arm was still trembling she pressed too hard, with the result that it pricked too deeply, and tiny drops of rose-red blood bedewed the surface of the skin. So all unknowing and without prompting Psyche fell in love with Amor (Love) [Eros], being fired more and more with desire for the god of desire.

She attempts to kiss him but she accidentally spills a drop of oil from her lamp. It wakes him up and he sees that she has seen her. He quickly wakes up and sees what has happed. He begins to fly away and although she grabs onto him, she eventually falls back to earth. He reminds her that he warned her that this would happen.

The god started up on being burnt; he saw that he was exposed, and that his trust was defiled. Without a word he at once flew away from the kisses and embrace of his most unhappy wife. But Psyche seized his right leg with both hands just as he rose above her.

... I urged you repeatedly, I warned you devotedly always to be on your guard against what has now happened. But before long those fine counsellors of yours will make satisfaction to me for their heinous instructions, whereas for you the punishment will be merely my departure.’

4. Search for Psyche

The west wind carries Psyche from Eros' home, just light it brought her there. She returns to her sisters, who then kill themselves. She begins wandering from town to town, looking for Eros.

Meanwhile, Eros is acting like a bit of a baby: "Cupidos [Eros], he was lying groaning in his mother's chamber, racked by the pain of the wound from the lamp."

When Venus finds out that Eros was with Psyche, she is extremely angry. She berates Eros for betraying her, saying that he has embarrassed her. In her rage, two other goddess approach Venus, Demeter and Hera. They tell her that she is being to harsh on Eros:

You are a mother and a sensible one at that. Are you always going to pry nosily into your son's diversions, and condemn his wanton ways, censure his love-life, and vilify your own skills and pleasures as practised by your handsome son?’

Psyche eventually makes it to a neglected shrine to Demeter. She cleans it and Demeter is grateful but refuses to help her and says that she can't risk Venus' rage, Next, Psyche visits a shrine to Hera and does the same thing. She intreats Hera, who helps "pregnant women in danger." Hera also denies her.

Venus, in the meantime, is search for Psyche. She asks for Hermes (the messenger god) to issue a proclamation to find her:

‘If anyone can retrieve from her flight the runaway daughter of the king, the maidservant of Venus called Psyche, or indicate her hidden whereabouts, he should meet the herald Mercurius behind the metae Muriae. Whoever does so will obtain as reward from Venus herself seven sweet kisses, and a particularly honeyed one imparted with the thrust of her caressing tongue.’

Longing for this great reward aroused eager competition between men everywhere.

Eventually, Psyche turns herself over to Venus. Venus berates her, tortures her, etc. Eventually, she assigns her a series of tasks that are intended to punish her for her insolence.

4. Trials of Psyche

Task 1: "[Venus] then brought some wheat, barley, millet, poppyseed, chickpeas, lentils and beans. She mingled them together [...], and said to her : ‘[...] Separate out this mixed heap of seeds, and arrange the different kinds in their proper piles. Finish the work before tonight, and show it to me to my satisfaction.’"

Task 1 Solution: Ants emerge from the ground and help her sort through the seeds.

Although Eros and Psyche are not together, at this point, they are in the same house:

Meanwhile Cupidos [Eros] was alone, closely guarded and confined in a single room at the back of the house. This was partly to ensure that he did not aggravate his wound by wanton misbehaviour, and partly so that he would not meet his dear one. So the lovers though under the one roof were kept apart from each other, and were made to endure a wretched night.

Task 2: "There are sheep [...] wandering and grazing unguarded, and their fleeces sprout with the glory of pure gold, I order you to go there ate once, and somehow or other obtain and bring back to me a tuft of wool from the precious fleece.’"

Task 2 Solution: Psyche considers committing suicide but a disembodied voice and instructs her to wait: "Then, as soon as the sheep relax their fury and their disposition grows gentle, you must shake the foliage in the neighbouring grove, and you will find golden wool clinging here and there to the curved stems.’

Task 3: Psyche must retrieve a jug of water from a spring on top of a high mountain.

Task 3 Solution: Jupiter's eagle grabs the jug and fills it.

Task 4: Psyche must retrieve a box of ointment from Persephone from the underworld.

Then Psyche came to the full realization that this was the end of the road for her. All pretence was at an end; she saw clearly that she was being driven to her immediate doom. It could not be otherwise, for she was being forced to journey on foot of her own accord to Tartarus and the shades below.

She visits Persephone to ask for her help and acts respectfully, eventually securing the ointment but also being told not to use any.

She will welcome you in genial and kindly fashion, and she will try to induce you to sit on a cushioned seat beside her and enjoy a rich repast. But you must settle on the ground, ask for course bread, and eat it. Then you must tell her why you have come.

Task 4 Solution: Psyche decides to use some of the cream herself, but the box is filled with "sleep" and and she instantly collapses when she opens the box (she low-key dies), Eros finally gets his act together and saves her by pricking her with his arrow, again.

He could no longer bear Psyche's long separation from him, so he glided out of the high-set window of the chamber which was his prison. ... Then he roused Psyche with an innocuous prick of his arrow. ‘Poor, dear Psyche,’ he exclaimed, ‘see how as before your curiosity might have been your undoing! But now hurry to complete the task imposed on you by my mother's command; I shall see to the rest.’

4. Psyche's Death, Resurrection, and Marriage

Having come to his senses, Eros visits Zeus and begs him to have mercy on them. Zeus agrees that he has changed and consents to their marriage. He brings the gods together and they hold a wedding speech and banquet. Psyche is gifted ambrosia, the wine of the gods, and she becomes immortal.

We must deprive him of all opportunities; his juvenile behaviour must be shackled with the chains of marriage. He has chosen the girl, and robbed her of her virginity, so he must have and hold her.

He gave her a cup of ambrosia, and said : ‘Take this, Psyche, and become immortal. Cupidos will never part from your embrace; this marriage of yours shall be eternal.’ At once a lavish wedding-feast was laid.

-----PART 2------- WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BRIDGERTON?

This section will talk about what we know and what we can interpret, from what we've already seen.

Firstly, I've counted three canonical visual appearances of the myth:

1. During the Queen's Ball in Episode 4, the "love play" or ballet that is performed is a dance of Eros and Psyche. The mural on the floor is a depiction of a famous painting The Abduction of Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1895. The mural is done in the ancient Greek/Roman mosaic style.

2. Cressida spells it out for the viewer, directly referencing that Penelope and Colin are like Eros and Psyche.

3. Reproductions of the famous Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss (1793) by Antonio Canova (now located in the Louvre) appear twice in Episode 2. Once at the Ball and another time at the table in the Market.

Secondly, there are points of closer comparison that are not confirmed but are closer to the narrative than simple speculation.

1. As others have pointed out, Colin gifts Gregory a bow (a symbol of Eros). Gregory also points the bow towards Colin, transitioning from Penelope speaking to the Modiste about her future marriage prospects.

2. Penelope is closely associated with butterflies in her clothing in previous seasons. Butterflies are also a symbol of Psyche.

3. Queen Charlette is continuously associated with Venus in the spin-off about her character. She is also closely associated with swans, this season, which are a symbol of Venus across mythology (along with other winged-creatures).

Thirdly, there are clear narrative connections with the myth that may have served as inspiration for this season's plot. I'll be brief here, but there's more details at this speculative post that I made before the season started.

1. Eros is meant to make Psyche fall in love with someone else. Colin, like Eros accidentally-on-purpose falls in love with Penelope, himself.

2. Psyche is a rival of Venus, embarrassing and upstaging her. Whistledown is a rival of the Queen with a similarly antagonistic relationship. Like Venus, the Queen issues a bounty for Whistledown in the second half of the season, which we know from the trailer.

Finally, there are some points where we can draw on creativity to find connections. Most are unintentional, but still fun!

1. Penelope as Psyche:

• Penelope is the youngest of three daughters. Her elder sisters are both married while she is not.

• Psyche cannot find a husband because of her beauty (which makes her a rival of the beautiful Venus); Penelope cannot find a husband because she Lady Whistledown (which makes her a rival of the Queen) which keeps her attached to the wall and out of notice from suitors.

• Psyche's sisters see her as a rival. Penelope's sisters, with the advent of the baby race plotline, will come to see her as a rival, too. Penelope's husband, as a Bridgerton, will be a better match than either of her sisters make. This was the case with Psyche's sisters, too.

1. Colin as Eros:

• Colin is considered desirable, just like Eros is. He has a good reputation and position in society, in addition to wealth and assumingly a kindness that sets him apart from other men, in the books.

• Eros and Psyche are unequal because Eros is considered a god. As an eligible bachelor (in contrast with a spinster), a Bridgerton (in comparison with a Featherington), and someone with plenty of swagger and self-confidence (in comparison with someone who struggles in social situations), Colin has an uneven social standing in relation to Penelope.

• Eros is unwilling and unable to be seen in the light at the beginning of the myth, Makowski (1985) points out that Eros moves from being the illusive adolescent character of mystery and intrigue that is overly reliant on his mother to being a mature “adult capable of genuine emotional and spiritual intimacy with his wife […] no longer the faceless nocturnal visitor, he is a loving husband” (p. 78).

• Eros is described in Jane Kingsley-Smith's book Cupid in Early Modern Literature and Culture as "unstable and elusive, shifting between sacred and profane" in his behaviour and his reputation as "an irresponsible seducer is repeatedly attested to by Venus and Jupiter" (p. 164). 

• A similar transformation may be seen in Colin's character as he abandons the façade that he has built between seasons. It may also reveal how he will emerge at the end of the season, as a whole, once he becomes the head of his own household and leaves his family home.

1. The Queen as Venus

• Within the myth, Venus is vengeful and hates that Psyche has undercut her plans and orders for Eros. This is a potential mirroring of Queen Charolette’s dislike of Whistledown’s constant rebellion, subversion, and disrespect of her authority.

• As the Queen, her status quite naturally sets her apart from other characters in the story and would make the association with the “godly” realm more believable. She is often apart, and even literally above the other characters (i.e. at a ball on a balcony, in a private stage/tent at the infamous balloon/market scene).

• While Venus is not the goddess that presides over marriage, in the Ton, the Queen is the governing force over marriages. Love, desire, and marriage are not strictly held apart in the same way in the world of Bridgerton.

1. The Garden:

• When the trailers dropped, the girls from the What a Barb! A Polin Podcast pointed out that Colin and Pen keep returning to the Featherington Garden. Their relationship began to shift at the Featherington Ball in S2E8, and they continuously re-visit this space.

• Colin and Penelope meet in the Featherington garden at night on at least two occasions: in episode 2 and in episode 3. This space is clearly not within the bounds of traditional society. Colin has to bribe Pen's maid to see her, in the first instance. In the second, it is only a dream. In these ways, it echoes the illegitimate context of Eros' palace and their wedding.

• The Garden may have visual echoes of Eros' palace, which is described by being lit by torches and lush with vegetation. It may give us hints as to the development of early feelings for Pen/Colin but also a warning that the two characters that we see in this space are not fully developed. The still require transformation, although it is the space where they recognize a degree of truth in their love.

• Gisela Labouvie-Vief’s book, Psyche and Eros: Mind and Gender in the Life Course, explains: “night remains the realm of passion and rapture for the couple […] Psyche soon finds out that she must pay a price for this blissful union. In time, her living arrangements become a source of boredom, and her curiosity stirs.” (p. 116). Although there isn't much space for direct comparison, discontent from Psyche may mirror an unwillingness for Penelope to settle for romantic bliss when her career with Whistledown is still on the line.

• I've theorized that the presence of wind in the garden scene in Episode 1 when Colin goes to see Pen to apologize is representative of Eros having the western wind take Psyche away. This would then be the start of their new relationship, as Pen realizes that she does, in fact, know this Colin and he agrees to help her change the life that she is resigned to.

1. The importance of the pending reveal:

• We know that there are big secrets in Colin and Penelope's relationship, just as there are in Eros/Psyche's.

• The reveal of Eros’ identity is a point of betrayal for Eros. We know that something similar must happen when Colin finds out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown. In general, moments of revealing secrets are a big part of the journey of transformation that Eros and Psyche's story gains meaning from.

Wernmei Yong Ade has a chapter in Fluid Genfer, Fluid Love called “Love, Alterity and Gender Relations: Re-Thinking the Myth of Eros and Psyche” that analyzes Eros' reveal in incredible detail. I’d like to draw attention to three of her points:

(1) “the moment of light-bringing is also the moment of a face-to-face encounter, where the lovers had previously not seen each other, and therefore marks the beginning of an ethical relation.” (p. 69)

(2) “From them to love as equals, Psyche needs to be given equal access to her lover, for “though she yielded to him in the darkness, she had not loved him […] It is in the light of knowledge, her knowledge of Eros, that she begins to love” (Neumann 1956, 81).” (p. 70)

(3) “Acts of seeing and touching are central to the tale of Eros and Psyche. Neumann’s reading of the tale centres on the light-bringing as the point of Psyche’s death and rebirth: the death of her dependence, ignorance and passivity, and rebirth into womanly initiative, and most significantly, into agency and subjecthood.” (p. 69)

So, what can we take from this? Although the reveal of who Lady Whistledown is (and whatever secrets Colin may be keeping!) might cause difficulty in their relationship and may even cause their temporary separation, they are necessary for transformation and growth of the characters. In navigating these changes and becoming the best versions of themselves, there may be significant rewards for Penelope and Colin by the end of the season.

Quick note on a new character for the second half of season 3: There is a new character names Ambrosia who is rumored to be acting opposite Luke Newton. While this has caused some concern about an affair plotline, I'd suggest people refer back to the important role that Ambrosia has in bringing about the happily ever after for Eros and Psyche. Other redditors have also commented this, but as they have been comments, I can't find any quickly. Let me know if it was you and I'll link your speculation.

I've definitely missed lots of stuff, but I hope this is a useful introduction!

References are made to the following texts:

Ade, Wernmei Yong. (2018) "Love, Alterity and Gender Relations: Re-Thinking the Myth of Eros and Psyche." Fluid Gender, Fluid Love. Brill, 61-74.

Gollnick, J. (1992). Love and the soul: Psychological interpretations of the Eros and Psyche myth (Vol. 15). Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press.

Kingsley-Smith, J. (2010). Cupid in early modern literature and culture. Cambridge University Press.

Makowski, J. F. (1985). Persephone, psyche, and the mother-maiden archetype. The Classical Outlook, 62(3), 73-78.

Labouvie-Vief, G. (1994). Psyche and Eros: Mind and gender in the life course. Cambridge University Press.