The big picture
- In
Bridgerton
Portia Featherington's marriage was loveless and unstable, leading her to fear for the future of her family. - Portia's scheming is motivated by her desire for her daughters to have the best results in life.
- With his daughters married, it's time to
Bridgerton
to give Portia a loving partner she truly deserves.
Every once in a while, a villain experiences a redemption arc that makes viewers sympathize with them even after they've done bad things. In Bridgertonthe case of Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) got a chance to show his true colors at the end of season 3, showing that underneath the inspiration is a character who wants the best for his family. Although the ways in which he has expressed his love and care for his daughters are often puzzling, especially when it comes to his interactions with Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), Portia has learned from her mistakes and fixed many of her bad habits.
With so much growth at the end of Season 3, viewers can't help but wish Lady Featherington the best now that she's finally freed from the stressors that have plagued her since Season 1. With her finances under control and no more daughters get married, it's time to Bridgerton to allow the character to experience the true love match he never had. Different from violet (Ruth Gemmell), and even Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), Portia has never fallen in love, and she deserves to have some romance in her life on the right terms.
Portia's marriage was loveless and financially unstable
In season 1 of Bridgerton, Portia is portrayed as an intrusive and manipulative mother, pressuring all her daughters to join the marriage market at once. She is also married to Archibald Featherington (Ben Miller), a man who is more interested in gambling than being cordial with his own wife. Lord Featherington is far from what a girl would want in a suitor, but as Portia admits later in Season 3, she chose to be with him for safety, and she wasn't even able to make it. After her debts lead to her death, Portia is left alone with three daughters awaiting marriage and no money. Spiraling over what will happen to the family property, all she hopes is that her husband's distant cousin will be better at managing the finances than ever.
The character's plot shows that he only wants the best for his daughters
Once again, at the hands of another man, Portia sees her home invaded by Jack's (Rupert Young) arrival as the new heir to the Featherington estate. Confused about what could happen to her or her daughters, Portia turns to what she does best, plotting. She decides to push Prudence (Bessie Carter) into Jack's arms, hoping that if she married into the family, she would be protected from losing everything she has. When that doesn't work, since he was also broken, the character manipulates the situation by teaming up with him to get people out of the ton to invest in their mines as a way to raise money. It is through his deceitful plan that Jack begins to feel attracted to Portia, who has no interest in being with someone she doesn't trust and who doesn't care about her daughters. In a sense, the cousin becomes the closest thing to a love interest Portia has ever had on the show, and their relationship is completely one-sided. Lady Featherington was not interested in him and only remained his ally until she could bribe him to escape and leave behind some of the fortune they were able to make by cheating the ton.
Through continued attempts to maintain her stature in society, in Season 3, Portia moves from putting pressure on Prudence and Philippa (Harriet Cains) to produce a male heir to rule over Penelope who settled with Lord Debling (Sam Phillips). These actions are later shown as the characters' way of caring for and protecting the family. As flawed as they might be, her actions were what she believed was the only way to navigate these struggles as a woman. In a candid conversation with Penelope later in the season, it became clear all Portia had ever done was make sure her daughters didn't suffer the same fate she had when she married Lord Featherington for safety instead of love.. She feels more than happy to know that all her daughters have found matches who are truly interested in their well-being and who love them with all their hearts. Her children were luckier than her, and Portia is proud to know that she prevented them from enduring the hardships she had in a loveless marriage plagued by financial hardship.
With their daughters happily married, this is the perfect time for 'Bridgerton' to introduce a love match for Portia
As seen in the Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 Finale All the Featheringtons are now mothers and Penelope's son is the one who will carry on the family legacy and inherit the estate. No more reason to plan, Portia is finally free of anguish and deserves to be assured of a happy ending. With Violet finding a second chance at love through her connection to Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), it seems only fitting that Lady Featherington first falls in love with a caring and responsible man. After so many years of making sure her daughters could get married and have a better future than her, Portia deserves to relax and find romance this will not make her overcome all the challenges she has faced in the past. Although Bridgerton Season 4 will likely take a few years to come out and focus on another Bridgerton brother getting married, it would be nice to see Portia have a subplot where she can enjoy a loving, even steamy, relationship.
Seasons 1-3 of Bridgerton are available to stream on Netflix in the US
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