You love it or hate it

I was so looking forward to it. Bridgerton. Not that I thought it would fill the gaping hole left by The Crown and Downton Abbey, but I had hoped it would be a small band-aid on the wound. I can tell you: Bridgerton did not work for me. And I came from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, so to say that my expectations were high... Mwah.

I found the storyline too thin, the characters too flat, and I felt (but I didn't get past episode 1) that the only quest was to find a man. Add to that the fact that from a historical perspective, there would be some shortcomings, which made it a legitimate moment for me to disengage. What I enjoy about historical dramas is the research and the knowledge that you are really taken to that period and also learn something from it.

Many people are bothered by the fact that it doesn't all add up. Because there should be a layer of dust under the corset, there were no people of color in the English bourgeoisie at that time, and the songs we hear from strings and orchestras are those of Ariana Grande and Maroon 5.

And that, I actually find quite amusing about the creators of Bridgerton. They claim in no way to provide a correct representation of a historical setting and actually play with time and add things that the period in question (London of 1800) could well use. Namely contemporary music (I mean: who wouldn't enjoy Billie Eilish?) and people of color in the upper social class. It also contains a critique of women who were given the sole purpose in their lives of finding a man and who were passively chosen. I believe I disengaged at the “I've been working for this moment all my life” when one of the girls might be chosen by a prince, but I would say: don't listen to me, think of it as a fairy tale in a highly stylized setting and admire that someone dares to do something different.

It didn't work for me, so I'm going to try if I find the housewives of New York just as enjoyable as those of LA and then we'll just see each other again afterwards, okay?