Warning: Gentle spoilers for Bridgerton season 3. There’s a second in Bridgerton’s third season premiere episode when Cressida Cowper caught me somewhat off-guard. She’s struck up an sudden bond with Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), who had a falling out with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) on the conclusion of season two, although it’s clear Eloise nonetheless cares and mourns for the friendship she’s misplaced.
Eloise asks if Cressida has thought-about that the explanation she hasn’t discovered a husband but is as a result of, fairly frankly, she’s a bully. Cressida’s harsh face softens in self-reflection. “It has been tough to discover a husband,” she says, pausing, “it has been harder nonetheless to discover a good friend.” Regardless of all of the horrid issues she’s accomplished, you’re feeling sorry for Cressida at this second. Jessica Madsen, who’s embodied the character for 3 seasons, admits to StyleCaster that “it’s a very susceptible second for her.”
Gone are the times when a villain could possibly be evil for evil’s sake. As our understanding of the nuances of human battle has advanced, audiences too demand a proof for unhealthy conduct, even when they’ll’t establish with it personally.
“I’ve by no means seen Cressida because the villain as a result of I’ve met folks in my life who’re the quote-unquote imply ladies,” Madsen says, “and I’ve all the time recognized there’s extra to it. You see that very a lot this season; why Cressida is the way in which she is and simply her home itself, you possibly can see the generations earlier than. They give the impression of being completely terrifying.” (Certainly, the interiors of the Cowper family really feel extra like an unfriendly museum than a house; chilly, darkish, and impersonal.)
You see that very a lot this season; why Cressida is the way in which she is and simply her home itself, you possibly can see the generations earlier than. They give the impression of being completely terrifying.
Jessica Madsen
Cressida and her rival Penelope have extra in widespread than the characters would possibly understand. They’re each third-year debutants who’ve but to discover a suitor and thru their desperation, attempt to regain energy in a method that disparages others—Penelope by Woman Whistledown and Cressida by, effectively, being Cressida.
Madsen considers that concept. “Now that you simply say that, that’s in all probability a cause why they gravitate in direction of and have disdain for one another,” she observes. “Nic and I’ve talked about how they had been in all probability pals after they had been youthful—[their mothers] Woman Featherington and Woman Calper have a friendship and I think about Pen and Cressida would’ve been round one another however they grew to become envious of one another for various causes.”
A 3rd-year debutante could as effectively be a spinster—or a nun—so far as the ton is worried. So why hasn’t Cressida managed to discover a suitor? Madsen admits it’s “make or break” however she’s “cloaked in a number of what her mom and father need. It’s solely actually with Eloise that she unarms herself and really finds an actual connection. She will be able to’t do this with a person.”
In Julia Quinn’s books, from which the present has diverged on a number of vital plot factors, Cressida does ultimately discover a husband in Lord Twombley (whom we haven’t met within the present), however he passes away and leaves her a widow; a destiny some followers on Reddit assume she deserves, however Madsen has hopes for a redemption arc.
“We’ve seen her break down, and I don’t imply break down within the sense of falling to items, however we’ve seen her open up and I feel when you open, you’re receptive to vary,” she says. “I hope that by the tip of the season, folks don’t overlook the start.”