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magicaldreamfox1 · 2 years

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a guide to bridgerton season 1

have u ever thought that bridgerton season 2 looks interesting but u really don't wanna bother with season 1? then this is the guide for u!

i'm gonna explain all characters and storylines from season 1 that i deem relevant here so naturally there'll be spoilers. i'm also going to do this mostly from memory (and it's been a while since i watched season 1) so there might be some minor mistakes but overall it should still get the same point across.

disclaimer: this post has an intended and expected target audience of one person so....do with that what u will. also i will be doing my best to explain erverything but i will also not be completely objective abt it. hope this helps <3

okay so getting right into it!

what is bridgerton?

bridgerton is a netflix tv show set in regency era england. the main characters are the bridgerton family, in particular the 8 children of violet bridgerton. the show is based on a book series by julia quinn, which is 8 books long, with each book being about a different bridgerton sibling meeting the "love of their life". the show follows this theme so far, with season 1 being about daphne bridgerton and season 2 about anthony bridgerton. every season has 8 episodes which are each about an hour long.

what not to expect from bridgerton:

historical accuracy

consistently good dialogue

flattering dresses (fuck i hate empire waistlines sm. and also how and why did they start a corset trend on tiktok. did nobody pay attention. there's no corsets involved here other than the absolutely useless ones they keep talking abt and showing in s1. bestie u're wearing an empire waistline why tf do u need to wear a corset)

a flawless masterpiece of a show

what to expect from bridgerton:

fun characters

occasionally really bad dialogue and occasionally some really good lines

nice visuals and colours

entertainment

classical covers of pop songs instead of normal classical music. it's distracting sometimes

good sibling dynamics

and yes ofc. sex scenes (less in season 2 than season 1 tho thank god. the ones in season 2 are in ep 7 and 8 i think)

the characters

so first i will be introducing all the characters and then get into all the plotlines, because i think that is the easiest way to explain it. season 1 is very convoluted so there is a lot of plotlines and a lot of characters to keep track of so bear with me. also i did only include ones i deemed relevant knowing for season 2 or for particular storylines from season 1 that carry on to season 2.

the bridgertons

there is a lot of them! pictured here in age order:

starting out with violet bridgerton:

resident widow, lover of the alphabet (her kids are named in alphabetical order as pictured above), true love enthusiast and wannabe matchmaker nr 1

she's really into true love so she insists her children only marry if they really love their partner (u won't find a lot of endorsement of arranged marriages in this show, it's just all abt true love baby!), which makes her a little overbearing and frustrating at times but she's overall lovely and caring and also ms ma'am had 8 children she deserves to be a little annoying

anthony bridgerton:

nearly identical white guy nr 1, oldest sibling and the man of the family. takes his duties very seriously almost a little too much. very protective of his siblings. chronically stressed. if u see a white guy not frowning and having fun it's probably not him. bottles up his emotions. pathetic™. main character of season 2.

benedict bridgerton:

white guy nr 2, second oldest. the artsy sibling. if someone's painting it's probably him. very easy-going and relaxed. wants to do more with his life than sit around and be rich.

colin bridgerton:

white boy nr 3, traveling enthusiast. makes decisions™. kind of annoying at times but we persevere. midlife crisis at 21. friends with penelope featherington.

daphne bridgerton:

the star of the fam. everything is about her and if it's not about her then it's abt how it's not abt her. main character of season 1 and insanely annoying the whole time thru. looks like she's abt to start crying all the way thru s1. absolutely terrible not just subjectively but also objectively. only likeable as a side character and if u forget everything abt her from s1 and just watch s2.

eloise bridgerton:

deeper voice than u'd expect. wannabe feminist and a bit annoying abt it. a lot of people hate her bc they find her annoying but she's my girl so i will ask u to keep in mind that she's still learning and growing up with opinions different from seemingly everybody else so naturally she does things wrong sometimes as literally every human being does. she's got her heart in the right place and i think that's what matters. so bear with her pls and thank u. penelope's best friend.

francesca bridgerton:

absent icon. appears for 0.02 seconds before disappearing again. yes ma'am give us nothing

gregory bridgerton:

best boy. starts fights with hyacinth like constantly. just being fun in the background. good for him.

hyacinth bridgerton:

also just having fun in the background. starts fights with gregory constantly.

that's all the bridgertons! who is most important to remember? everyone from violet to eloise i'd say, the others don't appear much (especially francesca).

the featheringtons:

if the bridgertons are the good guys these are the bad guys....pretty much. the bridgertons and the featheringtons are kind of like opposites.

lady featherington:

top left corner. i don't remember her name so u don't have to either. kinda annoying always has some drama going on that she girlbossed herself into and is now trying to girlboss her way out of again except make it complicated edition. basically the evil stepmother to penelope's cinderella except it's her actual mother. she's not that evil tho just a bit annoying tbh. only person who wears dresses that accentuate her waist and boobs.

lord featherington:

only relevant for some backstory i'll get into later u can forget abt him after this guide.

sister 1 (left, green dress):

literally never remember their names so u don't have to either. engaged to sneezy from snow white except taller. cinderella stepsister nr 1.

sister 2 (middle, orange dress):

cinderella stepsister nr 2. that's it tbh.

penelope "pen" featherington (right, yellow dress):

"the good egg" of the family and a wallflower. her mum makes her wear yellow and she absolutely hates it. is secretly in love with colin bridgerton. for reasons. eloise's best friend and friends with colin bridgerton.

some more featherington-related people:

marina thompson:

distant cousin to the featheringtons. had a whole unnecessary storyline in s1 and was done super dirty. i'll get into it later. had a secret lover called george.

phillip crane:

my mortal enemy. george's .....brother????? i think????? married to marina for reasons i'll get into later. i want to kill him

lady danbury and simon basset

these 2 are not related btw

lady danbury:

wannabe matchmaker nr 2, always bringing new people into town for. reasons, quite influential kinda lowkey the queen's bestie. raised simon after his father abandoned him bc he had a stutter and helped him overcome the stutter. a really fun character i like her.

simon basset:

main love interest of season 1. daddy issues so bad he swore to never have children (my bloodline ends with me type of dramatics). a boxer for some reason. allegedly a rake (that's what the besties call a regency era fuckboy) but the allegations have been neither confirmed nor denied. i think. also a bit annoying but also deserved better.

lady whistledown:

regency era gossip girl. basically an anonymous writer who has a gossip column that everyone is obsessed with. constantly talking shit abt people and Will ruin ur reputation for no reason. voiced by julie andrews. was revealed to be penelope featherington at the end of s1. girlboss.

queen charlotte

the queen. obsessed with finding lady whistledown and also wearing massive gowns and wigs so big u wonder how she's even holding her head up. constantly snorting smthg, my working theory is that it's cocaine and if it's not i don't wanna know bc cocaine is funnier.

other notable side characters:

madame delacroix:

modiste. singlehandedly carrying everyone's fashion on her shoudlers. fake french accent. a girlboss. had a thing with benedict bridgerton. left for france at the end of s1.

will mondrich:

didn't know his name until like 2 seconds ago so u don't have to remember it either. simon's bestie and boxing partner (and professional boxer). made a deal with lord featherington that earned him some money and he quit boxing and opened up a bar (?) no one goes to.

the storylines

okay so now i will be getting into all the storylines from season 1. there's a lot. first i'll explain the main storyline with daphne and simon and then i'll go thru all the characters and explain their respective side storylines. but first!

the setting

so bridgerton is set in regency era england as mentioned before, specifically london. every season of the show takes place in the "social season" or just "season", which means all the rich people ("the ton") hold balls and charity events literally all the time, which is why there is a ball twice every episode. every season the young ladies who are of age or smthg are introduced to the queen (their so-called "debut"). out of those the queen names a "diamond" every season, who is whatever young lady the queen likes the best and has the highest expectations for that season. that places a lot of pressure on the young lady to appeal to the queen and makes her more desirable since the queen approves of her, which also means she needs to live up to the expectations.

daphne & simon:

before we get into it a little warning there are gonna be mentions of r*pe in this storyline.

let's get into it! season 1 starts out with daphne making her debut into society, she gets presented before the queen and does so flawlessly. the queen likes her and names her the diamond of the season (that doesn't happen right away i think but i don't remember when it did so i'll just mention it right away). simon basset comes to stay with lady danbury, since she convinced him to join the season after his father passed away. lady whistledown publishes her first ever article, attracting the attention of the ton, including the queen.

anthony promises to help daphne find a suitor but drives away literally any guy even looking into daphne's direction except for the worst guy ever, lord berbrooke (he'll be irrelevant in a moment don't worry). lord berbrooke is overall very slimy and very pushy, insisting that daphne marries him, not respecting her at all, etc etc. anthony (in a bad mood due to circumstances i'll get into later) already promised daphne to lord berbrooke tho. daphne isn't very happy about it. during a ball, lord berbrooke and daphne happen to meet in the gardens (maybe he followed her i forgot), and when he tries to assault her, daphne punches him (knocked out clean ms ma'am has a strong punch). simon witnesses the entire thing which is scandalous bc a lady shouldn't be seen with a gentleman because people might just assume smthg scandalous happened between them. so daphne is caught with lord berbooke by simon, which makes this double scandalous. so simon and daphne form an agreement to enter a fake courtship (yes it's regency era fake dating), because daphne needs a suitor because she's the diamond of the season and simon wants to get lady danbury off his back (i think. very unsure abt this but simon benefitted from the whole thing as well that's for sure).

anthony doesn't like that his sister and his bestie simon are involved with each other (because he thinks simon is a rake. takes one to know one that's all i'll say), but simon tells anthony what lord berbrooke did to daphne and anthony is furious and cancels their agreement. lord berbrooke isn't happy about it and gets a special marriage license for himself and daphne (that's basically a shortcut to marriage) and threatens to expose her. lady bridgerton (violet) saves the day by spreading rumours abt lord berbrooke that lady whistledown publishes in her writing and he's forced to leave london.

daphne and simon grow closer (chemistry though? we're missing her dearly), until the queen introduces her nephew to daphne. prince friedrich of prussia (white guy with blonde hair, blue eyes and a german accent. it'd be almost offensive if i didn't go to high school with a guy exactly like that, name and all) is kinda taken with daphne. lady danbury pressures simon to propose to daphne and he calls off their fake courtship and leaves london, which upsets daphne and makes her accept friedrich's advances.

daphne attends a boxing match with friedrich, where he proposes but daphne doesn't know what to do because she caught feelings for simon so she flees to the gardens. simon shows up to say goodbye and apologise but daphne flees and then they make out. anthony witnesses that tho and demands simon marry daphne and simon refuses which makes daphne upset again. and because simon refused anthony insists on duelling simon (no not swords unfortunately. it is with guns they stand around dramatically and attempt to kill eo or smthg) (wE dUeLL at dAwN). anthony actually has ulterior motives here i'll explain later. daphne finds out tho that not only anthony witnessed them making out but so did cressida cowper, who lowkey blackmails her abt it, so daphne rushes to stop the duel. simon tells daphne that he doesn't wanna marry her because he can't have children and daphne decides to marry him anyways.

they try to get a special marriage license but the queen makes sure they don't get it, so they go to the queen to convince her that they're in love and to ask her to let them get married. they suceed thanks to simon and get married. lady bridgerton tries to explain sex to daphne, gets embarrassed, uses way too many euphemisms and metaphors and leaves daphne knowing less than before. simon and daphne travel back to simon's estate (clyvedon) and stop at an inn for the night. simon gets them separate rooms and daphne gets upset and they get into an argument and surprisingly for the first time in 5 entire episodes communication takes place and love confessions happen and then they have sex.

daphne and simon arrive at clyvedon and spend the rest of their honeymoon there. daphne has difficulty winning over the housekeeper and then offends the entire village. simon focuses on paperwork more. the housekeeper tells daphne abt simon's tragic past. daphne begs a maid to tell her how sex and getting pregnant works and finds out that simon can have children he just doesn't want to. she then proceeds to r*pe simon, intending to get pregnant and when he gets upset about it, she blames it all on him for "not telling her the truth" because he was "ambiguous with his wording".

daphne and simon continue being at odds and daphne returns to london, because colin got caught up in scandal (i'll get into it later). simon decides him and daphne will live separately if daphne is not pregnant. daphne attends a party with lady danbury. anthony and simon get into a fight. daphne discovers why simon doesn't want children. they attend an opera where daphne gets her period and then cries about not being pregnant (by the way daphne always wanted children and simon knew that which is why he didn't want to marry her bc he knew he couldn't give her what she wants).

daphne finds out more abt simon's childhood and finds letters he wrote to his father that his father never read. simon "reconsiders what he wants" after spending time with daphne's younger siblings. they throw a ball and reconcile and then go on to have kids.

that's it for simon and daphne's story. as u can see it's pretty bad. these 2 lack chemistry, have too many sex scenes, could solve their problems by sitting down and having a proper conversation for 5 minutes and overall daphne is just a terrible person. the whole time she's very whiny and whenever simon gets upset she blames it all on him. especially after she r*ped him, she never apologised for her actions and simon is forced to apologise to HER for "lying". so that's that. now onto other stories.

anthony & siena

when the whole story starts anthony is in a situationship with an opera singer called siena. they hook up casually but they're not in a relationship because they can't be because she's a commoner. violet bridgerton implies that she knows about their Thing in a conversation with anthony where she also implies he should focus on his duties more. siena also at some point says they can't be together because of their class differences. overall all you need to know about this storyline is that these two were on and off all the time, constantly going back to each other to have sex but then breaking up again because reality hit. they are in love with each other though.

by the time anthony catches simon and daphne in the gardens and demands to duel with simon, he made up a plan. either he dies or he survives by killing simon and then plans to flee the country (because he killed someone and also i think duels are illegal so that's also why? i could be wrong tho) and take siena with him and they'd live their happily ever after somewhere else. the duel gets called off though so anthony goes back to siena but she's gone and only her good friend the modiste madame delacroix answers the door and says siena has left town.

he sees her again at a boxing match with another man. she tries to make him jealous and they hook up under the bleachers and spend more time together at her house. anthony invites her to simon and daphne's ball but she declines. later, anthony goes to her house with flowers, but the man she was with earlier, opens the door. siena comes out to talk to anthony and tells him to move on from her, because she is trying to move on too and that she is content.

anthony is heartbroken and at the end of the first season exudes peak clownery, serving entire circus, when he tells simon and daphne that he has "determined that the difficulty is love itself" and he shall promptly find a suitable wife without love.

if there are any mistakes in this guide i'd say this storyline would be where they come up the most, since i just wasn't that interested in their storyline and they were on again off again so often it's hard to keep track. i liked their ending though i'm glad they let siena move on. also anthony is very different in season 1 than season 2. surprisingly, he becomes less annoying.

benedict, art & gays

so benedict's whole deal is that he's not like other girls. he would like to be an artist. at an art gallery (?) he meets another gentleman, sir henry granville, who is an artist and befriends him. sir henry invites him to a party (this is around the time daphne & simon try to get a special marriage license). when benedict gets there it's this hedonistic gathering of people having sex and making out all over the place, drinking alcohol and creating art. there he meets madame delacroix and makes out with her. he tries to get them a room but when he opens the door: boom! gay sex right in front of his eyes.

yeah. it's sir henry granville his good heterosexual friend getting railed. how did this happen. anyways benedict takes a little moment to reconsider his entire life and then gets interrupted by mamdame delacroix calling his name. she's sitting on a bench (like one of those old fancy benches u'd lean/lie on and lazily eat grapes. u know the one) with another women and benedict joins them and they all make out.

at the next ball benedict meets sir henry again and benedict assures him he won't tell anyone what he saw that night. sir henry then goes on to introduce benedict to his wife and whoopsie it's the woman who was with madame delacroix that night who he also made out with (and presumably also had sex with).

at the next event of the ton, sir henry chats him up again and asks if benedict will attend another party since he hasn't been lately. benedict and sir henry then both spot sir henry's good friend lord weatherby, and sir henry offers to introduce benedict to him but benedict, acting absolutely everything but normal, makes excuses and runs off, implying that lord weatherby is in fact the guy he saw with sir henry that night.

at another ball, benedict approaches sir henry and asks him about his situation. sir henry explains that he's in love with lord weatherby and benedict is like but you're MARRIED and sir henry is like yeah and my wife can do whatever tf she wants and is protected and cared for we're probably happier than half of the people in this room. and then a very iconic dialogue happens and it goes like

benedict: and what is the advantage for all the young ladies lord weatherby is courting? or do they also share this understanding? what about honour? romance?

sir henry: what would you know of either? we live on a constant threat of danger every day, bridgerton. i risk my life every day. for love. you have no idea what it is like to be in a room with someone you cannot live without, and it still feels as though you are oceans apart. stealing your glances, disguising your touches, we can't so much as smile at each other, without first ensuring no one else is watching. it takes courage, to live outside the traditional expectations of society. you talk of doing the same, but perhaps it is merely just that. all talk.

and then he leaves. ICONIC SHIT. and i really hope this is not foreshadowing for benedict's book plot because i will literally start killing. anyways so benedict gets read to absolute filth and that's that. after that benedict starts hooking up with madame delacroix. otherwise, i think his arc ends here.

overall a nice arc, i'm suspiciously eyeing the gay people and threatening the writers abt benedict's season but we move.

colin, marina, penelope & the art of decision-making

marina comes to stay with the featheringtons and lady featherington absolutely hates her right from the start for no good reason. marina is just minding her business. then one day lady featherington finds out from a maid that marina hasn't had her period in 2 months and lady featherington comes to the (correct) conclusion that marina is pregnant. she promptly gives marina house arrest and only penelope comes to visit her in her room. marina shares with penelope that the child is from a man named sir george crane, who is currently fighting in spain. marina also wrote him a letter telling him about the child.

lady featherington decides to find a match for marina who will marry her as soon as possible, so it is not too late and would ruin her and by extension the featherington's reputation. she tries to set her up with a bunch of old guys but they're all slimy and disgusting and she doesn't like them. marina is still waiting for george to write her back. penelope checks the mail every time in case there's a letter for marina in there but there never is one. until one day there is and marina opens it and george wrote her back, denying that there was ever anything between them. marina is heartbroken.

she is then again presented with more old suitors who want to marry quickly and are in need of an heir. colin saves her from these suitors and they dance. they start to like each other. penelope, who is secretly in love with colin, is jealous of him paying so much attention to marina. lady featherington then tells marina to cut colin out because he won't marry her fast enough but marina insists and tells her she's sure colin will propose. at daphne's wedding, colin proposes to marina, but with the condition of a long engagement period, which marina simply cannot afford, but she agrees nonetheless.

colin announces his engagement to marina to his family, who aren't very happy about it. penelope then confides in colin, that marina is in love with another man, hoping to break up the engagement. colin suggests marina and him should get married sooner then by traveling to scotland. penelope then discovers that the letter from george, that broke marina's heart, was faked by lady featherington and tells marina about it but marina dismisses her and says she wants to marry colin anyways and wants to move on from george. then lady whistledown publishes marina's secret -her pregnancy- which shocks colin greatly.

through lady whistledown's writing, colin gets caught up in a scandal, which gives daphne an excuse to return to london, away from her own problems with simon, to support her brother. she arranges a meeting between colin and marina. they have an argument, colin expresses how betrayed he feels and marina explains that she didn't know what else to do. colin cancels the engagement.

daphne attends a party with lady danbury, where all the married women of the ton get together. daphne uses that chance to help marina by locating george. meanwhile marina tries to end her pregnancy through a tea and passes out. not long after, my mortal enemy sir phillip crane arrives and tells marina he is george's brother and that george died in battle and that he wanted to marry her. he then offers to marry her in his place, but marina declines and says she is no longer pregnant. but after sir phillip crane leaves, marina finds out she is still pregnant. at the end of season 1 she leaves london with sir phillip crane to marry him.

penelope gets up her courage to confess to colin, but before she can tell him, he tells her he is going to travel the world and she doesn't confess.

at the end of the show penelope is revealed to be lady whistledown.

eloise & lady whistledown

eloise is daphne's younger sister, feeling like she not only stands in her shadow since daphne appears so perfect but also like the black sheep of the family due to her feminist beliefs. she wants more out of life than just marrying a man but knows she can't do that because she is a woman. that's why she supports benedict in his pursuit of art, because then at least one of them could be happy.

around the time marina tells penelope about george and simon tells anthony about what lord berbrooke did to daphne, eloise starts wondering about how women get pregnant, which she finds to be horrible, so she wants to know how it happens so she can avoid it. she asks her family about it but violet is scandalised and forbids her brothers to tell her.

at some point eloise decides to find lady whistledown. why? i don't remember, sorry. she starts investigating and strings along penelope. the queen takes an interest in eloise's investigation, because she wants to find lady whistledown herself to make her pay for going against her. so she gets eloise to share her findings and make her find lady whistledown for her. after colin and marina's scandal, eloise wants to find her even more to convince her to restore the featherington's reputation, even when she herself has to prepare for her debut the next season. the queen isn't very impressed with eloise's results however, and decides to find lady whistledown on her own. eloise suspects madame delacroix to be lady whistledown and confronts her about it, trying to convince her to write something good about the featheringtons.

wanting to protect lady whistledown, eloise tries to find out what the queen has planned for lady whistledown. she finds out from the queen's advisor (?) that they plan to unmask lady whistledown and that they have worked out where lady whistledown gets her articles printed and that she brings them there when everyone is distracted by big events, such as simon and daphne's ball everyone is currently at. eloise then rushes to the printer's press to see if lady whistledown arrives. a carriage arrives and eloise sees a man running towards it so she tips off the carriage and tells them to leave because it is a trap. at the end of season 1 eloise finds out that benedict was with madame delacroix that same night she saved lady whistledown, meaning she can't be lady whistledown, which shocks eloise greatly.

lord featherington & will mondrich

the other ones i put a little bit of research into but this one i will recite from memory bc it's not that deep, not that important and also i've been typing for hours i have had enough besties.

okay so lord featherington has a gambling habit and spent all of his family's money on betting. lady featherington finds out about it and tells lord featherington he needs to get this sorted out again (i think so. i vaguely remember that)

(this is all a guess now bc i didn't actually understand what was going on at the time i watched it) so lord featherington goes to will mondrich, a boxer, and offers him a deal. he will bet a lot of money on him losing and wants will to lose for him. in return, will will receive some of that money, so him and his wife can live a better life. will reluctantly agrees even tho he is all about honour and gets the money. he later gets into an argument about it with simon who suspects that he lost on purpose, after he sees lord featherington leave after dropping off the money.

lord featherington then shows the money to lady featherington, who is happy they get to continue living their expensive lifestyle. lord featherington slips back into his gambling habits tho and then gets murdered by his associates, leaving his family financially struggling.

final notes

if you made it this far u're braver than the US marines truly. i hope this guide helped and enjoy season 2 it gets better from here <333

#bridgerton #bridgerton season 1 #bridgerton season 2 #tv shows #dreamy talks #a lot. this is almost 5k words besties #i worked multiple days on this pls spare a like or a reblog

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spelviin · 4 years

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okay so i had initially planned to post this the week before darryl’s anchor arc started but i got bored halfway through and it’s been rotting in my drafts for like 3 weeks now but whatever, doin it now. for father’s day or whatever.

paeden being frank theory/ narrative justification under the cut bc oops i accidentally very long meta’d again

i think paeden is probably frank wilson.

anthony has been making it abundantly clear that there’s some connection there, and adding to that the fact that he went dead silent when beth brought up this theory in the TD a few weeks ago? i think it’s pretty much a done deal.

whatever willy’s actual endgame is here (and i still for the life of me can’t figure out what that endgame is), the wilsons are not central to it, but they are important. we know that much from all the “spare” talk that poor grant overheard during his time at castle ravenloft. so, when frank wouldn’t go along with willy’s plans, he couldn’t just kill him like he would anybody else. he needed him alive, but out of the way and not a threat. so, by wiping his memory and transforming him into a weak, tiny child and abandoning him to a fighting ring, he accomplished the following:

punishing frank for daring to stand up to him/his plans

making an example of him, which would also keep bill and barry in line

wiping his memory of every trace of his own son, which would render his daddy magic useless

changing his appearance, so even if he did end up encounterting his son by chance, darryl wouldn’t know him

it’s definitely a solid plan on willy’s part, and while the theory is certainly interesting, it never really sat super well with me in terms of narrative. like, it’s a cool twist, but what’s the point? why can’t paeden just be some loveable orphan the group happened upon by chance? and will the reveal of his true identity mean we lose him?

and that’s where this leg of my theory comes in.

i think that darryl is going to, at some point, put two and two together and realize that paeden is some magically de-aged and amnesiac version of his father. his father, who died when darryl was young. his father, who he still sees as perfect, because he was gone too soon for darryl to ever take him off the pedestal we place our parents on when we’re kids. his father, who he’s been longing to see ever since he found out about the o-dads’ existence in this world.

darryl’s whole arc has been about him trying to live up to the idealized image of his own father, rather than just being the dad that grant needs. and i think a huge part of his reluctance to have an actual, real conversation with grant has been because he’s waiting for “the right time” to have it.

and yeah, back in for knights when they literally had a 24-hour ticking clock in which everyone was trying to murder them, and after which grant would die and the skin eating would happen and such... like, okay, i’ll give him that. the timing wasn’t great.

but after they got him back from the o-dads, after they saw how badly affected he was emotionally by everything that had happened... darryl kept putting it off. he kept waiting for “the right time,” even though i think he knew full well there was never going to be a right time in faerun with all the crazy shit going on. and to prove that point, i mean. ron didn’t wait for “the right time” to have a conversation with terry and apologize for yoshiing him into the firepit. he made time, because he knew it was important, and he knew it wasnt healthy or helpful to let emotions like that stew.

but darryl still waited. and he’s still waiting, in a manner of speaking, even after the attempted locker room convo. waiting for the “right time,” waiting for grant to be ready to open up to him. and while i think he genuinely means it when he says he’s waiting for those things... i think, deep down, what he’s really waiting for is his dad.

ever since the other o-dads showed up, he’s been desperate to see frank, to ask him for advice. in his mind, frank is perfect and will know exactly what to do, know exactly the magic words that he should say to grant to make all his problems go away. hell, he probably even thinks that frank will know what to say to make all darryl’s problems go away.

what he needs to figure out, and what he hopefully will figure out, is that there are no magic words that will instantly heal a deeply traumatized kid like grant. and that even if there were, frank wouldn’t have them, because he doesn’t even know grant, and more importantly, he isn’t perfect bc there’s no such thing as a perfect father.

so what the fuck does all this have to do with paeden? good question.

i have zero clue abt the nitty gritty here, but somewhere along the line, i think darryl is going to come to the realization that paeden is frank, and be faced with the choice between getting his dad back and the answers he thinks he needs, and losing paeden forever. and i think that choice will help him come to the realization that he can’t hold onto the memory of his father forever. that there’s no magical help or right answers, that he’s just going to have to muddle through and make mistakes and be open and honest and vulnerable with grant, and figure stuff out with him as they go along.

in terms of paeden, i hope darryl never even tells him who he truly is. i hope he can just be happy in the knowledge that his father is safe and happy in his new life. in the knowledge that frank, who never knew his father bc a fuckin eldritch monster ate him, now gets to live out a childhood with not one, but five entire dads who love him.

paeden being frank is a cool twist, but i want it to mean something. and if that meaning can be a catalyst for darryl to give up on his desire to reunite with his “perfect, infallible” father, get some closure and really move on as the dad grant needs? then yeah, that’s pretty damn cool with me.

unless i’m 100% off base with all of this in which case i assume whatever happens is also gonna be really cool bc anthony knows what he’s doing and has my full trust

#og #oops all meta #why do i do this #dndads

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