Bridgerton finally gets a lot more interesting by stepping into Downton Abbey territory in season 4

Four seasons in, standing firm as one of Netflix's biggest original series success stories and based on a fan-favourite collection of novels, Bridgerton doesn't really need to switch up its format.

It's the series that many started off watching as a steamy guilty pleasure, with fans continuing to tune in each season to see what love story will unfold for each of the Bridgerton siblings.

First, it was Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) then it was Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and more recently, Colin (Luke Newton). Now, all eyes are on the unserious lothario that is Benedict (Luke Thompson) and as we know, the course of true love never did run smooth.

While this new season does certainly ground us in Benedict's quest to find his mysterious Lady in Silver, the real draw of this instalment is the fact that it goes where Bridgerton hasn't really ventured. It peeks behind the curtains, if you will, offering viewers a window into the goings-on of these lavish homes and wealthy families, while crafting an emotional and complex story for Sophie (Yerin Ha) in the process.

Arguably, this season of Bridgerton always had the bones to be its most interesting. But it is TV after all and the small matter of execution always leaves fans slightly trepidatious at what's to come.

By following Sophie's incredibly sad story, though, we ground the series in real human emotion. It's not just the airy fairy cloud of love and sex that is an escapist viewer's dream – instead, it's a version of the series that's a bit more realistic.

Sure, many of us come to Bridgerton for that snippet of escapism, those hours of TV where we don't have to think about the nasty, mean world and can instead just get lost in wet shirt scenes and yearning. But, I'd say, four seasons in and the show was at a risk of becoming stale and predictable.

Now, by venturing into the territory of Downton Abbey, Bridgerton has opened up its doors to new possibilities, characters and stories that make the tapestry of the Regency drama only richer.

The first portion of the premiere episode follows Mrs Wilson (Geraldine Alexander) as she goes from the relative calm of preparing the Bridgerton household for the arrival of Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) to downstairs, where the air is frantic, a luxurious feast is being prepared and bells ring to indicate just who has risen and may need attending to.

It's a slick ship she's running and it's clear that no stone is left unturned in this house. However, it's not long before lighthearted gossip starts to be exchanged from the corners of the room by Mrs Wilson, Celia (Sophie Lamont) and Footman John (Oli Higginson), the very people who know the Bridgerton's best.

It's a dynamic that we've seen play out in Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes's hit drama that spawned six seasons, multiple Christmas specials and three films. There's something about the upstairs-downstairs of it all that strikes a chord with viewers and is an ideal storytelling device to really get to know the ins and outs of a household.

What is behind the picture-perfect Bridgerton façade and who are those that work to maintain it? It's not a question that we've really ever been allowed to think about, seeing as blossoming romances, meet-cute sparks and Lady Whistledown have preoccupied previous seasons.

While we do get whisked away to the masquerade ball, the premiere episode is bookended by the shift in focus of the hired help. At the end, Sophie is unmasked as her true self, a maid left to quickly change and go back to a life that clearly doesn't fill her with any happiness. Dressing up for the night and sneaking out ends up being "the most extraordinary night of my life", she admits — a new spin on Cinderella.

The fairytale tropes get ever clearer the deeper we dig into Sophie's story in episode 2, where we learn that Lady Araminta (Katie Leung) is actually, technically, Sophie's stepmother. She married Sophie's father Lord Penwood but since Sophie was the illegitimate product of his affair with a maid, she was only ever seen as his ward.

The deeper we get into the series, the more we find out about Sophie's troubled past and how the death of her father impacted her life, with Lady Araminta making Sophie her maid.

That focus on power dynamics is something we see explored in other households this season too, as Mrs Varley (Lorraine Ashbourne) is faced with the prospect of leaving the Featherington's in the Great Maid War that's swept over the city. Varley lays out her case to Lady Featherington (Polly Walker) for a pay rise that reflects the rest of the industry, only to have it denied.

Instead, she's given an old dress of Lady Featherington's after being told that money is scarce in the household. "We are not family," Varley has to remind her employer, a scene that really could be akin to any manager-employee meeting in a start-up company these days

Overlooked and underpaid is a sentiment many viewers will relate to here with Varley, with Bridgerton venturing into conversations about wealth and class now more so than ever.

In a slightly different way, we also have the changing dynamic between Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh). Close friends with an emotional history of their own, the pair are on completely different plains when it comes to status.

Danbury effectively asking for permission to leave London to return to her homeland is partly a testament to her commitment to the Queen, but is also reflects how those in the Ton have to look to the Queen and wider society before making any major life decisions.

Those shifting power dynamics are part of a territory that Bridgerton season 4 brilliantly steps into in more ways than one. It's something that is also condensed into part 1's final moments where Benedict propositions Sophie to become his mistress, a thought he simply wouldn't have with a woman of equal social standing to him.

It's a knotty landscape to navigate but Bridgerton pulls it off in the glossy and fun way it often does best, proving that venturing outside the box makes for the most interesting tales.

Bridgerton season 4 part 1 is streaming now on Netflix, with Part 2 arriving on 26th February. Seasons 1-3 are available to watch on Netflix now. You can buy the Bridgerton book series on Amazon.

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