I don't know how, but the promotional material for this show made me almost not give it a chance.

Oh, I loved the Royal diaries too! I wish they would adapt those... I know they did a couple of them but they are hard to find. I was a big Tudor fiction fan in my teen years as well so i will read this and watch it as well. Thanks for your review!

Have you covered zodiac academy? I would live for your thoughts

I adored this series, and I’ve read the book, but years ago so I only remember the rough outline so this is perfect. I love how the songs on the show are almost all female covers, the soundtrack is so good I have to watch good girls guide to murder next, but I remember that plot a lot better

Thank you so much for sharing a link for donating for Palestine 🇵🇸❤

I'm so glad someone is talking about this series/book!

I’m 12 mins into this with no context of the series😂. Girl I say this with love, but I have no idea what you’re jumping around about. You lost me

Thanks for the wonderful insight! I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic as someone who’s in that “new adult” age range. Like you, I grew up with YA so I would hate for preteens and teenagers to lose that space but I’m also more interested in books about people in their early to mid twenties but it’s tough to find those books in the large fiction section. That’s why I’m super onboard for the “new adult” category and marketing going towards books that would fit in that genre.

I really enjoyed your book crawl video. Slumps are awful. I hope yours breaks soon.

I've read Porochrista Khapour's memoir Sick and enjoyed it. I had no idea she had a novel out! Thanks.

This was fun. I can't believe you got Honey for free! It's looks interesting.

There is a nonzero chance that The Familiar will end up being my favorite fantasy of 2024, so do with that information what you will. -Julia AKA @spaceoperatic

So enjoyable watching you ladies have so much fun. Your excitement is contagious, Mel. Glad it was a productive day.

August girly power!!! 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

Thank you, this is a very interesting analysis. Initially, I was associating Penelope with the character Penelope in Homer's Odyssey (literally waiting for Colin to come back from his travels, including the one to Greece :). However, now I see the many parallels with the Psyche and Eros story, also just to add that Colin did prick himself (not just metaphorically), or rather, cut his hand on a piece of glass from the broken candle holder on his desk (another synchronicity with the candle/light!!!) and that was at a point when I think he was beginning to realise how much Penelope's presence is affecting him and that he does not only perceive her as a friend.

I visited Chicago back in 2022, and had the chance to check out a few bookstores. Open Books was great; I bought a stack of books there, but I had to ship them back home, and the box got lost in the mail. 😿 I also really like Quimby's. Fortunately, I was able to fit all the stuff I bought there in my bag, so nothing got lost.

I know I’m late, but I’m very excited about The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman. It’s a prequel to The Blacktongue Thief, which I thought was very fun

Love you toooo! It was so much fun this year! I LOVE that the discount card can fit in my wallet, it’s so much more useful than the pin. Do we want to do a field trip to Semicolon together?? I love the idea of buying each other a book, and I’m still interested in a buddy read of The Familiar! We could always just set one up in StoryGraph with no expectations of a finish date. My books: - The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (this one was very good and very weird, I think you would like it!) - Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (I loved this one and ordered the rest of the trilogy immediately) - Psalm for the Wild-Built and Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers - Godkiller by Hannah Kaner - Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - The Book That Broke The World by Mark Lawrence (2nd in a series) - The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden - In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison - Penric’s Labors by Lois McMaster Bujold (collection of novells #7-9 in the Penric and Desdemona series) And I am pro French flaps, and aggressively neutral about deckled edges!

Wish people stop comparing movies to the books. Keep doing same thing and expecting a different result. Movies will never be identical a book. You need to see it as its own story. Just like a dozen multiple versions of King Author and excalibur or different versions of Robin Hood. Not meant to be the same.

Although they didn’t have ants, they still had bugs help her at the ball. I found it interesting that they used a Greek myth with a happy ending of Psyche and Eros this season, after Colin compared himself in his season 1 engagement to Marina to Leander and Hero, the doomed Greek myth lovers.

Please describe the parts of why its a "graphic novel" then we will all know why this is not a challenge.

I was very disappointed with how colin was treated this season by the writers...this seasons pacing and writing and direction felt...off

This was so enjoyable to listen to. Thank you!

Why did Colin REFUSE to sleep with Marina before marriage but immediately bed Penelope? It felt a bit like he respects her less. I didn't read that scene as passion they couldn't ignore... but more as passion they were choosing to ignore. If that makes sense. I didn't like anything about Polin. Every part of it just felt off and uncomfortable and sad. I felt like I didn't believe any of it either. His anger at her being Lady Whistledown? Didn't buy it. His love for Penelope? Came out of the BLUE. Up to the point he kisses her he shows NO romantic interest and then bam one kiss and he's madly in love? What? The threesomes? EW. It just ruined him for me. Completely and totally.

Kudos, Melody. I have never in my entire life heard anyone speak of my favorite fairy tale: East of the Sun West of the Moon. I love your thoughtful analysis.👏🏾📖

I also found myself recently commenting on another analysis video about things i saw in Penelope's Whistledown journey through season 3 especially but really the whole series that i could view through the lens of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Particularly the idea that she and the queen are playing chess with each other throughout and the reveal speech is her recapping the game from the time she entered as a pawn (debutante) for the ton before bowing to the queen to become a queen herself. The whole series then becomes Penelope's coming of age story including her feminine hero quest of blending all her aspects together to become both wife and author, queen of her destiny and in power over her whole self (her kingdom of the soul). It explains why she starts that speech at the ball in her high, young, quavering voice and builds to boss-lady power before settling into her relative social position versus the queen, which is definitely higher than she started, but not so high it threatens to overturn the board. If she didn't succeed at this trial before Aphrodite, she would totally incur the wrath of the gods, so to speak. I also believe the either the Alice/chess lens or the Psyche/Eros lens totally explain why Penelope had to do the reveal speech at the ball before the Queen/Aphrodite alone. There couldn't be other players on the board to protect her or distract the opponent. It had to be on a public stage because the game had already been played in public (in print) all along and the Queen/Aphrodite needed to be seen granting forgiveness or "crowning" Pen in public to reaffirm her own relative power. There's a lot to unpack with either lens, but they do help to clarify possible reasons for some of the choices made in the show that otherwise get a lot of flack.

I never would have been able to see this! I thought it was just a ballet. It helps me relate to the season part two differently… better! although I still think there was room before the LW discovery “battling it out” for a few more cute moments - episode 6 especially.

❤️❤️❤️❤️ Amazing thank you for this, made my day. I am struggling with the season but I think having this as a base for the story telling helps understand some choices in writing as well and what they were trying to achieve. Also I think Eros fails in Bridgerton to do the partitioning when Colin tries to do so with Cressida, they make him fail so Penelope/psyche can be the one to pass the trial her self and retrieve her love back and deservingly (feel like they made her this way because psyche tends to be lost a lot in the myth and need others to help her lol it’s nice to see a version of her that actually goes no and passes the trials by her self and also gains the Gods acceptance her self I guess. Eros also being healed by seeing her devotion to him as well. There’s more I wanna say, but for now this was amazing thanks again

Oh I loved this analysis! It's really interesting to look at the parallels between the stories. And yes it's not exactly the same, but there are lots of similarities that make some of the scenes in the season make more sense to me, like Colin sleeping on the sofa. Thanks for posting your analysis!

Thank you for this. I keep thinking of when the imaginary arrow from the gifted bow of the youngest is pointed early on aimed at Colin's heart. There is just so much woven in. Am glad that they have added this depth to the show.

Amazing analysis ! This is captivating!

I think your analysis of the season is the one I must agree with, I really loved hearing your thoughts on the season. I feel very strongly about this season of the show, for me I liked that it was more than just the romance between the leads. It felt like this season had more to say about women, family, friendship, romance, and power dynamics of that time. Tho I will always insist that we needed more moments of Polin together alone trying to talk and go through this situation.

I am currently reading the buccaneers. I have to say it’s the odd one out where I may like the series more than the book. It is a little hard to read especially at first. I feel like it’s a clear shift when the new writer took over, which actually did help. However I hate what they’ve done to miss testvalley’s character.

You really have the most pleasant voice, I could listen to you talk all day 😍 What a great analysis! I was trying to find those similarities between Eros&Psyche and Colin&Penelope on my own, but I must admit you've done much better job than I did. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, have a nice day and take care 💘

I also liked how you mentioned the queen was the antagonistic side of Aphrodite because we see her being set up as Penelope’s/LW’s antagonist in season 1. Do I feel they rushed some of these scenes. Yes. I feel with some tweaking, they could be more cohesive. But I like her being the one who grants Penelope the pardon, but I wonder what would happen if Penelope chose to not write nice things about the queen. If she decided to not get on the queen’s good side. I think the result would be different, but now I get why the end result of the show was needed.

Excellent analysis! I really loved how they weaved this myth into the season without feeling the need to be a straight up allegory for it. Totally agree that joining of the soul in the myth is in line with the show's ultimate lesson of "you have to know and love yourself before you can love anyone else".

I am wondering if Penelope offering the annulment to Colin was her (even unintentionally) healing that emotional wound. And sorry if I am repeating something you already said. It seems in that is where he starts to stop internalizing everything and waking up because he never wants to lose her. He loves her that deeply. It seems that Penelope and Colin have the most potential to hurt each other, even unintentionally because that can happen, but they are also the ones that can heal each other the most.

Thanks for your thoughts, Melody! There are actually FOUR tasks Psyche must perform. For some reason, many authors of retellings make it three. The second task is gathering the golden wool of Apollo’s fierce and crazed rams. She is helped out by a breeze playing through reeds - shades of Zephyr and Pan, whom she encountered as she began her wanderings. Her third task is to gather water from the ouroboric river that flows between Life and Death. Interestingly, it is Collin who is being kept in Darkness rather than Penelope, since he doesn’t know about Lady Whistledown. But once the light is shown (would be interesting to go back to that scene and watch for plays of light and dark), Penelope is “cast out” from him, metaphorically speaking. Regarding the physical wound, as opposed to the emotional wound in Part 2, it’s been mentioned that Collin is wounded by a lamp in Part 1. The character, unlike the actor, is right handed and his right hand is wounded. I’ve never seen this mentioned in all my research of the myth, but Eros is wounded on his right shoulder, which means he can no longer draw a bow - he can no longer fulfill his purpose as the god of Love. Collin being wounded on his right hand could allude to that he can’t perform his function as a writer until the wound is healed - or that search for purpose that has been a theme of his story arc. The four tasks allow Psyche to come into her own Sovereignty so that she can become the “great and powerful Sorceress” that Aphrodite recognizes her as after the third task. With Penelope speaking to the ton, she comes into her own Sovereignty and power and can then speak as her true self.

Been waiting for someone to analyze this, thank you so much for doing it!

The scene in the book you mentioned where he nervously shares his writing would have been absolutely fantastic for them to have put in! That scene and the musicale were the moments in the book I missed that I wish they had done, but I have to remind myself, the book is always gonna be there, I can reread it 😆 Overall I did really enjoy the season and I especially have liked it more in my rewatches. Love your reviews!

I do like that the humor was brought out in some scenes. It just keeps the time period in regard to women not being informed about sex education before marriage. The family’s were both headed by widows who did not explain much to their daughters. It did emphasize what Penelope said to Colin about women not having the freedoms that men had. We have come a long way!

She had so many great books. I really loved the book THE SECRET.

You make an excellent point throughout your analysis. The Netflix Bridgerton series consists of avid book fans and new comers who have never read the book. The audience is mixe with people from the four corners of the world, men, women, queer community and non queer community. I am not big fan of one size fits all and something for everybody. In the film world there are not that many skilled and talented people who are able to satisfy everyone at the same time to the extent. For example I have been so disappointed by Seasons 2 and 3 that I don't think I could stomach Season 4 and am in the process of order the books, and praying someone else comes up to propose an alternate interpretation of the Netflix series. I don't like diversity and inclusion for the mere sake of diversity and inclusion. Social agenda reflected in art can be artistic expression or license. Or, it can be propaganda. I have not been impressed by the Season 3 showrunners. Yeah, there were some interesting things, but on the whole it didn't work for me. I didn't read the books, but it was only after I went on the forums that I realized "Oh, Season 3 is supposed to be about Penelope and Colin." That whole storyline was meh. I don't blame the actors. I blame the lighting people, the costumes, the direction, the editing and the camera angles. I guess reasonable people can disagree regarding the introduction of the Michaela character. Typically, at least in a predominantly white/european film, an afro black woman is cast in the following roles: (1) mama/mamie. In the US think about Scarlett O'Hara's mammy played by Hattie McDaniel. In the Bridgerton series Lady Danbury is mammy. Aruguably the same can be said about Queen Charlotte. (2) the sexless/a sexual best friend or work colleague. Sometimes she can be pretty like Eve Moneypenny played by Black actress Naomie Harris in the 2019 James Bond film "No Time To Die." Even if that best friend is sexy, there's an invisible line that does not cross into romance with the leading male character. (3) the slut, the whore and the woman of ill repute. I like Halle Barry, the actress, but I'm still traumatized by her role in "Monster's Ball." Or, she can be the victim. That's not an improvement. (4) She is gay. Hollywood loves casting afro black women in these stereotypes. They make an exception for racially ambiguous black women like Zendaya. The showrunners have openly declared they want a queer Bridgerton story line. Okay. It is their show. I don't understand why Eloise is not the preferred choice to represent queer love. But okay. Masala Baduzi, the actress cast as Michaela, is an accomplished actress. She has won much praise for her work on the series Noughts & Crosses which re-imagines the history of colonization where Black South Africa colonized Britain. She is charming. She has charisma. But I didn't get any great chemistry from seeing Hannah Dodd, the Francesca actress, and Masala Baduzi in the same frame. I am sure Masala Baduzi would make whatever role she takes her own. I am curious about Masala and I will check out some of her work. But I am not excited or intrigued by the prospect of Masala Baduzi cast in a lesbian romance. What is so new, diverse and different about that? Is she supposed to be a "reformed rake?" Great! Isn't a female "rake" indicated in my checklist of stereotype casting of Black Afro women? Oh, but this is a regency historical love story that is all about manners. So previously quiet Francesca will lurk about in hushed corners of the Killmartin Scotish castle seeking her beloved Michaela? maybe Francesca is the wicked one? Okay. This is too much. I can't.

The new showrunner Jess Brownell basically made self-insert fan fiction. After this season's poor writing, pacing, editing... she really should leave before it gets worse.

So much information in such a short time. I feel like I need to get you a big Ice water after your recording as you spoke for so long and so quickly, LOL. Sufficed to say, your review was both very thoughtful and informative and as such I am now following you. As for myself, I am, to my knowledge a rarity in the romance sphere as I am a straight white male, but I think that there must be others out there like me. While I do agree with you no many points, chiefly that there simply wasn’t enough Polin in season three (fat shaming on the part of Netflix), one aspect of the show i did enjoy more than the book was Colin being less of a mean hothead. In the book he says cruel things that I can’t imagine saying to someone I love even at my most angry (and I am Italian, lol). The show Colin in my view was more worthy (even though no one is truly worthy enough for her) of Pen than the book version. Looking inward I must acknowledge that it could also have to do with the book’s physical description of Penelope and the emphasis on her NOT being beautiful. In contrast Nicola Coughlan (in my opinion) is quite frankly the most physically attractive person currently in the entertainment industry. Probably my Italian heritage and the woman in my world growing up being full figured. So the stark difference in what I pictured in my mind as to how Pen looked opposed to how she looked in the show was jarring to say the least. Even still the book Pen in my mind was the most attractive of all the characters for her intelligence, wit, and kindness. To find a woman who is as intelligent or even more intelligent as yourself, who challenges you and can push you to see things from a different perspective. A woman who you can laugh with, who is caring and thoughtful, this is the dream of all men whether they wish to admit to it or not. Book Colin and for that matter, show Colin both get that in the end. So, while I may have wished for more, what we got was beautiful in execution