If Bridgerton Season 4 Doesn’t Follow the Book’s Time Jump, Benedict’s Story Won’t Make Sense
The long-awaited fourth season of Bridgerton has been confirmed to focus on the story of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), and the book it’s being adapted from comes with a built-in time jump that actually makes sense for the second season of the Bridgerton child. Following the established format of Julia Quinn’s Regency series, her book An Offer from a Gentleman follows one of the eight Bridgerton siblings as he finds love and fulfillment. Benedict’s arc will be his best yet if Bridgerton’s Rotten Tomatoes trend continues, with each new chapter only getting better reviews than the last.
The casting of Sophie Baek, Benedict’s soul mate/future bride, played by Dune: Prophecy actress Yerin Ha, has been well received by fans as the cast and crew begin prepping for the upcoming season. However, as the Bridgerton TV show has done so far, Benedict and Sophie’s story will not only be about romance, but also about their personal needs and character development. Conveniently, An Offer from a Gentleman includes a time jump that Bridgerton season 4 had to continue to avoid undermining Benedict’s character arc thus far.
Benedict reunites with Sophie two years after first seeing her at the masquerade ball
Benedict is fascinated by the silver woman, but he hasn’t seen her in a while.
In An Offer from a Gentleman, Benedict first meets Sophie, the illegitimate daughter of a count who was forced into slavery by her stepmother, at her mother’s masquerade ball. A key event in Benedict XVI’s timeline is alluded to in the Bridgerton season 3 finale, when Benedict and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) mention that they will meet again at Violet’s (Ruth Gemmell) famous high society event. Although Benedict XVI promises to “avoid eligible women like the plague” again, it turns out to be a big night for him when he meets a mysterious young woman in a mask he calls the “Silver Lady”.
While the novel focuses heavily on their inconvenient separation, it is only this time that truly matters to Benedict’s character.
Elements taken from the classic Cinderella story are apparent; when Sophie makes her long-awaited escape, Benedict becomes determined to find her again (despite previously stating that he has no interest in marriage). However, two years pass before the pair are reunited, at which point Benedict does not realize that she is the same woman. While the novel focuses heavily on their inconvenient separation, this time alone is important to Benedict’s character; it would also speed up Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) timeline in relation to her first marriage before her next romance.
A time jump would allow Benedict to complete his Bridgerton season 3 arc
Benedict’s arc with Lady Tilley in Bridgerton season 3 takes him out of marriage and commitment
Benedict’s arc in season 3 ends with him saying he’s not ready for marriage, for a few good reasons. This season, Benedict begins an affair with the widow Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New); after some time together, an invitation to a menage à trois with her and her friend Paulo (Lucas Aurélio) proves enlightening for Benedict XVI. This has much greater significance in Benedict’s quest for freedom in a highly stratified society, epitomized by the argument Tilley made to him earlier about how narrow-minded many of his peers’ worldviews are.
Surprisingly, Tilley soon says she has serious feelings for Benedict and proposes a monogamous arrangement. Benedict rejects her because he still wants to explore his sexuality further, saying that both Tilley and Paul have shown him “how good freedom is”; and that Tilley “opened up [his] world” and he “isn’t willing to close it down right now.” However, Benedict’s claim that he wants this would be severely undermined if he were to fall madly in love after only a few months of rejecting a woman with whom he had a genuine connection.
Luckily, A Gentleman’s Proposal is still two years away from his real relationship with Sophie, giving him time to have a few more relationships. Tilley warns him that he should still consider the eventual commitment, which most viewers know is coming. However, Bridgerton has done a satisfying job in the earlier novels, allowing the individual characters to be as important as the couples. Although Benedict XVI has long been a carefree bachelor, the recent revelation about himself is worth watching to see if he can keep up.
