Bridgerton Season 2 Deviated From The Book In One Devastating Way

While Bridgerton is based on the romance books by Julia Quinn, the show is known for not being afraid to deviate from the plots of the source novels and dramatize the love stories of the Bridgerton siblings. That's exactly what happened with the Edwina arc in The Viscount Who Loved Me, on which Anthony's solo season was based.

Believe it or not, the love triangle between Anthony and the Sharma sisters that took up so much screen time and viewers' nerves in Season 2 didn't happen on paper. While Kate's younger sister was given a near-protagonist role on the show (she has more lines than Kate, for God's sake), she is only a supporting character in the book, and her arc is not half as emotionally charged.

If anything, the book Edwina is a lovable character, willing to do anything for her family, who are financially strapped after their patriarch's death. She is even ready to marry a nobleman out of love in order to provide for her mother and sister. Like her screen counterpart, she accepts the advances of Viscount Bridgerton, but she never falls for him, as in the show.

More than that, Edwina is the first to realize that Anthony is in love with Kate and steps aside to let them be together, especially since a certain bee incident leads Anthony to propose to Kate sooner than expected. In contrast, the Netflix show dragged the girl's relationship with Anthony to the point of no return, with Edwina deeply in love, Anthony suffering, and the Queen organizing their wedding.

The show's Edwina is hardly a sympathetic character — she is immature, selfish, and unable to see beyond the end of her nose. She only realizes her fiancé's and sister's true feelings at the wedding, which makes her act even more childish, and this is what really turned viewers against her.

Furthermore, the deviation from Edwina's book arc completely ruined her on-screen relationship with Kate, which Quinn's fans consider one of the best elements of the novel. Instead of a supportive friendship and strong bond, we saw a competitive relationship and two people who could not see eye to eye.

Finally, Edwina never got her happy ending on the show, which is also a waste. In the book, Kate's marriage to Anthony allows Edwina to marry for love, and she chooses a scholar, Mr. Bagwell, for whom she has developed genuine feelings.

All in all, Edwina's changed arc made Bridgerton Season 2 much more dramatic than its source novel, but it also ruined the character and her relationship with her family, taking attention away from what really mattered — the love arc of Anthony and Kate. So was it really worth it?