panromantic-regency

[panromantic-regency]

PERSUASION (1995)

dir. roger michell

[panromantic-regency]

What if Colin had witnessed Cressida reaping Pen’s dress and had done something about?

[panromantic-regency]

So easy. It's right there.

Dump the "I will never forgive you" line. And this line.

Keep in the entrapment line in the next scene and we understand they are both being cruel, wounded bitches to each other - together.

Because the entrapment line is about as vicious and stupidly false as "The only mistake was asking for your help in the first place."

Without the "I'll never forgive you." And that annulment bullshit, we can get Polin who are close friends who can give and take gut punches.

every day I wake up and get mad that the writers didn't have Colin say 'I never thought you of all people could be so cruel' to Penelope during the Lady Whistledown reveal. It's about the parallels. It's about the anguish. It's about the MIRRORING

[panromantic-regency]

PERSUASION (2007)

dir. adrian shergold

[panromantic-regency]

I will stop.

[panromantic-regency]

BRIDGERTON (2020-)

ELOISE AND CRESSIDA

3.05

[panromantic-regency]

I love her perspectives.

[panromantic-regency]

controversial take?

Penelope did not always love Colin.

Penelope always found Colin attractive. Penelope idealized Colin. Penelope dreamed of being together romantically with Colin. But she was not in love with Colin because the Colin she knew wasn't real. The Colin she made up in her mind was a sanitized, perfectly polished version of him that has never existed save in a society that required him to be as such. Penelope ONLY came to actually love Colin when he revealed to her his actual self: the self that hurt, the self that cried, the self that yelled, the self with insecurities. The self that can sharpen on her like a knife. The self that curls in fetal. Until she cracked his chest open to see the gaping wound of him, she did not love him.

The Colin Penelope thought she loved was a man who was always kind, always sure of himself in society, always sweet and understanding. A Colin who wrote her letters from across the sea to include her in his adventures and always made time for her and was always there with a joke or a question about how she was feeling.

And the thing is: Colin IS kind and he IS sweet and understanding, but there is no always about that. There is no always about anyone. Colin sulks. Colin sobs. Colin feels deeply and loves deeply and hurts deeply. Colin is curious. Colin is lonely. Colin is needy and hungry and conflicted. Colin is tender and emotional. Colin is sarcastic and sharp. Colin is quiet and withdrawn and holds his hurts so tightly, can't ask for help. Colin wants to be useful. Most people do. But when he isn't, he feels aimless. Colin succumbs to the pressures of his society. Colin is rejected and abandoned and blames himself. Colin is warm and empathetic and studious and selfless but he is also angry and jealous and avoidant and human.

The Colin Penelope claimed she always loved was not a person. He was a prince on a horse. And let's be very clear here: in many ways, the real Colin absolutely still is a princely character. That's why very minor things like him saying he wouldn't court her got blown up SO big in the fandom. Compared to 'wed bed and bred' from Season 2? Hell, even compared to some of what Penelope herself has said? Colin absolutely is a sweetheart through and through.

But honestly, the moment where I did feel like Penelope loved and accepted him? Was after the entrapment line. Yes yes, I know. Booooo tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes from the majority of the fandom who INSISTS on demonizing him for it, but. . .truly? That was exactly how someone who actually accepts him would react.

He lashed out, he was hurt, he was upset at her (and let's be clear here: for very, VERY good reason. Most if not ALL people would be upset to find out their fiance was hiding a double life from them), and she absorbed it. She took that blow and assured him, because she knew what he meant was Do you even love me? and her response to it was Yes, I do. I do love you. That was the right way to go about it. That scene, for me, was a moment in which she really saw him. And she really cared for him. No bells, no whistles, no galloping in on a horse with an open hand for her to take. Colin showed her the side of him that could be ugly and mean and she said Yes, this too. All of it. All of you.

That was the only way she should have reacted. Because if she didn't absorb that blow? If she DIDN'T accept him for who he was? That's the death of their love story. If Colin said 'Yes, but you're my mess' and Penelope said 'Too much mess, chuck it out'? What kind of romance would that be? Not a romance at all, really, but a breakup. When Colin said something previously that hurt her, she threw their whole relationship away. Her hearing him say something that hurt her but still choosing him is important character growth.

There truly were not enough moments like that for me in the show. Bridgerton, and Polin more specifically, tends to lean on the whole 'Oh, she's always had feelings for him' thing to justify us getting less genuine affection and acceptance from her in the season, but the truth is that those feelings weren't based on anything real. Their push back, their back and forth, their fights- that's real. It's easy saying you love someone through the good times. Far less so to truly love them through the tough ones. It is only love, actually love, if you love them through the tough ones. Otherwise, it's artifice. Otherwise, it's a bubble waiting to pop with nothing of substance beneath the shiny, iridescent skin.

So, no, Penelope did not always love Colin Bridgerton. There is no always have.

There is, however, an always will.

[panromantic-regency]

PERSUASION (2007)

dir. adrian shergold

[panromantic-regency]

(almost) every penelope featherington scenes (401/???)

[panromantic-regency]

Tell me, Emma. Have I no chance of ever succeeding?

[panromantic-regency]

BRIDGERTON (2020-)

KATE AND ANTHONY

2.05

[panromantic-regency]

Whole heartedly agree that I wanted Pen to show more than tell.

In that fight she never addresses what she's done to his heart, his feelings. She says she sorry for "it" generally. But when Colin goes in, she gets defensive "I know" and "I wanted the Colin I know back"

She never puts those two ideas together, ever, and apologizes for hurting his feelings. [Apparently, to Pen, men can't feel isolated and unheard, but I digress.]

Even at the very very end, she had catastrophized in her mind to the point of annulment to avoid having to face up to the personal hurt feelings she caused Colin.

Which is why I hate the "envy" excuse the show gave Colin. No, let his feelings be hurt and let him feel unsupported in the way he needed.

There is a great line in the Max series Lovestruck where the male lead says to the female lead "I know you wanted to be with me, but you didn't want to be in relationship."

She replies, "Isn't that the same thing?"

"I don't think so."

Unpopular opinion is unpopular, but everything inside of me so so badly wanted to see Colin push back more when Penelope told him she loved him the night before the wedding. He has been in knots for AGES thinking she was just settling for him, that the thing she wanted to tell him is that she doesn't return his feelings, that for him, it's a love match, but not for her. He spent the entire engagement ball thinking she was avoiding him and wanting to call it all off. She didn't tell him she loved him after they were intimate, or before. He told her he loved her, and she didn't say it back. Of course he's insecure about their relationship. She'd ghosted him over the summer, he spent the majority of part 1 earning himself back into her good graces tthrough a variety of love languages, she was about to marry Debling and HE was the one to call it off, not her. Tell me YOU wouldn't be insecure and doubtful too?

So after he found out she was hiding the fact that she was LW, and they were out of sorts, idk, I just wanted that "Then what good am I to you?" "Colin, I love you! I love you!" to be followed up with "I don't believe you!"

And I get it. He WANTS to believe her. He caves so fast because he loves her and he wants her to be telling the truth. But his trust in her has been broken. She lied to him about other things: why not about that, too? That's the part of the LW reveal and fallout that I think was missing for me: not that she was endangering herself or wrote about XYZ, but the fact that she lied to him and how badly THAT hurt. That she kept lying to him. He's been told "I love you" before as a diversion from the truth, he carries trauma from that blow up of an engagement with Marina. Why couldn't we explore that, more?

I wanted to see Penelope SHOW him that she loves him, not just SAY that she loves him.

[panromantic-regency]

regency era polin fanfics i like

i’ll link them, along with how long it is (chapter + word count) and the rating if it isn’t explicit. i won’t write any descriptions cause you can just check it out if the title speaks to you. maybe i’ll write lil things if i feel like it. they should all be complete/finished but ones that aren’t will have a note saying when they were last updated or whatever

modern fics

a spare heart by penelopecolin (sexymonk) - 22 chapters 100k+ words.

Fucking Lady Whistledown by LightLeadingMe - one shot just under 2k words.

among the wildflowers by talkfast - 6 chapters 18k words. marriage of convince, unless…

The Advent of Affection by LadyTicklebotham - one shot 12k words. obvious christmas themed

desperate words of wanting by Demisexual Colin Bridgerton (karawrites) (series, “incomplete” but there’s 3 one shots as of jan 11) - one shot 8k words (18k words as of jan 11)

Through the Looking-Glass by DaphneJane - one shot 4k words. mirror scene retelling.

Soaked by applepuffsilver - 2 chapters 11k words. penelope wants to know more about sex. both are virgins but penelope doesn’t know that

lessons in chemistry by colinbridgertons - 8 chapters 75k words.

The Art of Falling Backward by FeedingDucks - 26 chapters 130k words. follows the synopsis of s3

The Storm by Lilyofthevolume (series, says incomplete as off april 7 2024. but 2 of the fics in the series are complete) - 11 chapters 37k words. colin escorts penelope to aubrey hall for christmas but a horrible accident happens putting them in an inn for a bit, what will happen!

Here We Go Again by torimunro (series, incomplete, but has 5 complete works in the series! one WIP as of april 16th) - 23 chapters 90k words. time travel series!!! there’s a big theme of grief and mourning so watch out. this first part of the series is of a colin from 1816 who after the birth of his son wakes up in 1814 😥

Between Confusion and Clarity by ox_splendiferous_xo - 31 chapters 62k words. courting fic that i deserve. starts at the willow tree scene. tho i wished the chapters were longer.

i would give you the moon by nogonnagothere - 10 chapters 60k words. penelopes third year in the marriage mart, she takes a lover.

Tempting Scandal by Stillpink - 17 chapters 89k words. penelope in her fifth year on the marriage mart wants to her feed her curiosity on martial relations but before she can, colin finds out and says he can help instead 🫣 feature colin being an absolute dummy for 14.5 chapters

A Night So Long by FeedingDucks - 20k words 5 chapters

we rule the kingdom inside my room by gentlewallflower (greyspilot) - 5k words one shot. not necessarily regency but not modern either so

the heir affair by ukrainianironbelly - 10 chapters 56k words. obsessed with this, it makes my insides squeeze ykwim?

Gingersnaps by fairytalesandfolklore - one shot 1k words. T rating!

[panromantic-regency]

I could be normal by Miss Lister's journal standards, by which I mean fan fluttering, full blushing, giggling and sighing as she explains to me the best way to traverse the Alps all while rubbing my thighs together and daydreaming about crawling on my hands and knees in my best silk satin dress, my silk stocking dangerously slippery against the polished floor to go eat from the palm of her hand like the good and sweet kitten I am.

Repeating pet me please in my mind and praying that she call me Darling.

chat i'm so normal about gentleman jack. i'm so completely normal about that woman. i could be trusted around her.

[panromantic-regency]

i've been blossoming alone over you (colin pov) | polin week day 6: polin songs

[panromantic-regency]

Yes!

A PRIDE CONCEPT

Aromantic Eloise Bridgerton From: BRIDGERTON