The following contains spoilers from Season 2 of “Bridgerton.”
The return of Netflix’s wildly popular “Bridgerton,” a sudsy romantic drama from executive producer Shonda Rhimes and creator Chris Van Dusen, is sure to set off plenty of debates: Who’s hotter, Jonathan Bailey or Rege-Jean Page? Who’s more ruthless, Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) or Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh)? And which of our canny ingenues, Eloise (Claudia Jessie) or Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), is the “Bad Art Friend”?
But none is likely to be debated as fiercely as the relative merits of Season 1 and Season 2, which take contrasting approaches to sex, marriage, ambition and duty, among other major themes of the series. Los Angeles Times staff writers Meredith Blake and Ashley Lee, who came down on either side of the divide, duke it out — see what we did there? — following the release of Season 2 on Friday.
