The Qualities of Colin Bridgerton: a thread of threads (a cord?) 🧵
Deep dives on the flavours of Colin: being dramatically indignant, irresistibly cheeky, chaotic, righting wrongs & showing tenderness
(Ps. Am I missing any great facets to his character?)
#bridgerton
#polin
An appreciation for Rule-Breaker Colin™️
In S3, Colin tried conform into society’s idea of a stoic man about town - BUT we also know Colin to be a non-conformist; an unrepentant rule-breaker…
Here are some of his best boundary-pushing, chaotic, DGAF moments🧵
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A love letter to Tender Colin…
Ready yourselves for gentle gazes and soft voices: this a 🧵 of my favourite moments of Colin Bridgerton treating Penelope with tenderness and care, like she’s the most precious thing…🥹
Enjoy (if your heart can take it)
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Indignant Colin is one of my favourite flavours of Colin Bridgerton…
Here are various indignant / outraged / haughty Colin moments, with as many hard stares, pursed lips and head tosses as I could find 😁 🧵
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I like how we know Pen is angry at Colin after the Danbury ball, but when he comes to the garden looking penitent and the most gorgeous he’s ever been, she looks at him and is like, ‘alriiight, I guess he can stay’
I’d do the same 😁
#polin
Colin Bridgerton Being Impressed By Penelope Featherington - a 🧵
All my favourite moments when Pen impressed Colin with her wit and how she thinks
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When Penelope is presented at court, we get a glimpse of Colin looking her, in the corner of the frame
You could argue it’s a neutral expression (& I’m familiar with the Kuleshov effect) - but I’m inclined to infer some fondness in this gaze…
#polin
There’s so many micro-moments that make this brilliant:
- a question he’s been NEEDING to ask
- him mesmerised by her lips again
- his dopey look when Debling interrupts
- Debling’s smug bastard look at C
- Colin’s SEETHING jealousy
#PolinWeekRewatch
Just taking a moment to consider how flattering, exciting and confidence-boosting it must have been for Pen to finally have her first caller (even if it wasn’t Colin) 🥹🥹🥹
#PolinWeekRewatch
All Colin’s anxiety about Penelope having second thoughts evaporates when she says she’s always loved him. His happiness bubbles up and it’s lovely to see 🥹❤️🥹❤️🥹
#PolinWeekRewatch
Colin going straight for the honeypot - AGAIN! 🤣
How did he get a hand there so bloody fast? She must have hitched her skirt up herself, right? Guess she knows the drill by now 🤷♀️🤭
#polinweekrewatch
Love that Pen calls him back - showing him she is still in this 💪
And, importantly, making him stay & fight. He needed to get that out and to hear what she had to say
Also, the look on his face when he turns around: ‘excuse ME?!’ 😆
#polinweekrewatch
One of my most favourite things about Colin is how readily he makes amends when he’s hurt someone, like with Violet on the stairs 🥹🥹🥹
#polinweekrewatch
This shot of Colin being electrified by Pen’s touch feels really unusual - is it me, or is this kind of sensuality rarely shown, especially for men?
#PolinWeekRewatch
Ok, as a follow-on from my thread on Indignant Colin, here’s an homage to another favourite facet of Colin Bridgerton: Cheeky Colin
These are some of Colin’s best jokey / irreverent / piss-taking moments 🧵
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Might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it reflects well on Colin that he didn’t sleep with Penelope that night
He only wants true intimacy, physical + emotional, and he stayed true to that👇
#PolinWeekRewatch
@bellysinfinite
He knows what desire alone feels like and he doesn’t want it anymore: he wants the electrifying combination of love, intimacy, trust and desire that they shared the first two times. Until he can resolve his hurt, confusion & betrayal, he can’t get there emotionally
Is it bad I hate the Engagement party?
Colin’s giddy happiness gradually eroded by concern for Pen, who’s evidently distressed by Eloise’s pressure to confess.
But Colin thinks she’s having second thoughts - and my heart breaks for him! ‘I can feel it…’ 💔🥺
#PolinWeekRewatch
‘Lie down’ doesn’t get me, but I do like the little bit when Colin whispers ‘you could… touch me… anywhere’
Touch-sensitive people relate
#polinweekrewatch
Colin’s subconscious is about 170 years ahead of its time with this 1980s power ballad music video-style dream.
Dry ice? Flaming braziers? Soft breeze? Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler would approve
#polinweekrewatch
This sweet, gentle kiss at the end feels like a seal.
Like they’re wrapping up this electrifying encounter with a bow, saying, ‘this was special… this is the beginning… this is love’ 💛🩵
#polinweekrewatch
An Ode to Penitent Colin
I’ve done threads on Colin Bridgerton being cheeky & breaking the rules - but he’s not an arsehole! If he wrongs someone, he’s swift to apologise and make amends
Here’s a 🧵of Colin being contrite - and generally A Very Good Man™️
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#polin
Now, as well as everything he apologises for, it’s worth noting when Colin DOESN’T apologise
Firstly, he doesn’t apologise for cutting in on the dance floor - to either Debling or Pen
Man’s on a mission and isn’t sorry about it 🤷♀️
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Bribing Rae for a late night garden rendezvous with Pen is downright scandalous…
…and we should all be thankful because it leads to their beautiful and paradigm-shifting first kiss
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Colin basically thinks they’re married once they’re engaged, so how can we be surprised by them fully consummating the relationship the very next chance they have to be alone? 🤷♀️
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‘You were so very charming about it’
He thinks she doesn’t need to learn how to be charming, but it’s a tell that HE finds her charming already 🤭
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#polin
By the end of S3 Part 1, their alone time is escalating in scandalousness: from handholding in the study… to kissing in the garden…
…and now we have finger-banging in the carriage 🤭
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#Bridgerton
Setting a new standard in indecency, after a shouting match and a declaration of love, Colin & Pen almost have sex in the street! 😱😱😱
Clearly neither of them GAF at this point 🤭
#polin
#Bridgerton
Hand-holding escalates to bare skin in S3, under the guise of a friendly handshake - but I think they’re both enjoyed every forbidden sensation…
#polin
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Colin is more subdued in S2, but he does introduce psychotropic drugs to the Bridgertons: giving Benedict a tea that he says will help take his mind off his art school application anxiety
Glorious chaos ensues
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Taking Penelope into the Bridgerton drawing room alone for a lesson is naughty, but Colin doesn’t care, even when she protests
Would he have been desolate if they’d been discovered and forced to marry, I wonder…? 🤭
#polin
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‘How long have you known?!’
The stairwell showdown between Colin and Eloise is agonising, but beautiful
The pain in Colin’s eyes… The catch in Eloise’s voice… 🥹🥹
#polinweekrewatch
When Penelope is presented at court, we get a glimpse of Colin looking her, in the corner of the frame
You could argue it’s a neutral expression (& I’m familiar with the Kuleshov effect) - but I’m inclined to infer some fondness in this gaze…
#polin
Pen inadvertently prompts Colin into rescuing Marina from the old ‘walking spittle factory with very large teeth’, and he leads her in a wild dance, ignoring the routine
‘Colin certainly knows how to make things memorable’, Daphne observes
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Colin CANT BELIEVE Penelope doesn’t want to share a carriage with him…
Carriages are their special thing! 🤭
Kinda funny that it’s this which spurs him to reread her letters & find a way to understanding her better 😊
#polinweekrewatch
The first of several times Colin takes a young lady into a room alone is with Marina (the rest are with Pen)
Tbf, he’s hardly the architect of this event and doesn’t kiss her, even when she makes it clear he could
He does propose, though 🤦♀️
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Another mild one, and for once, it’s Pen taking the lead in rule-breaking (to Colin’s delight): they dance at their wedding breakfast
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Indignation doesn’t cover the seething swirl of emotions Colin feels in this scene, but the filthy look Colin gives Debling when he leads Pen away is SCRUMPTIOUS
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And he also doesn’t apologise for chasing down the carriage, confronting Pen & having ruined her proposal from Debling
She asks twice to ride in silence and he CANNOT!
I’m glad he didn’t stay silent: how glorious is his declaration? 😊
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The ‘Lady Crane was right about you’ exchange
He looks at her with awe and affection and she’s bursting with pleasure at his words - it’s such a lovely moment for Penelope 🥰
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I could write essays about
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’s first kiss, but I’ll just say two things:
1. he’s pained when she calls herself sad & stupid - he really cares for her so much!
2. he kisses her with the ULTIMATE tenderness and makes sure it’s the best first kiss ever🥰
Big moment in S2 when he returns from travelling, during which time they’ve been exchanging letters…
He sees her at the Bridgerton house and there’s definitely something in that look… what would have happened if Hyacinth hadn’t bounded in?
#polin
First glimpse is in S1 E1: after being stopped in his tracks by seeing Marina for the first time (‘who is *that*?’), impulsive Colin joins a dance to be near her, drawing comment from onlooking mamas
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‘No’
Colin is such a good balance to Benedict’s exuberant energy. And let’s be honest, Colin is the one with game when it comes to romance
#PolinWeekRewatch
Modiste fight has some elite indignation from Colin: the disapproval of ‘I do not wish to know’ as he strops off and the outrage with which his turns his head when she calls him out 🤭🤭🤭
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‘I will always stand up for you. Because I love you’
It’s so clear and unquestionable to Colin, he doesn’t quite realise Penelope might be surprised by how deeply he feels 🥹🥹🥹
#PolinWeekRewatch
The final (I think) rule break in S3 is Colin asking to speak to Cressida alone, to convince her to stop blackmailing HIS WIFE
I think he’s genuinely forgotten this isn’t supposed to happen at this point…
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#polin
‘That was bloody brilliant!’
Finally, once Pen has revealed herself as LW and been accountable for her choices in front of the Queen and everyone else, Colin is so utterly proud 🥹
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They get a chance to talk at the races and he’s clearly so pleased to see her - like she’s one of his favourite people
They also have this sweet awkwardness of dealing for the first time face to face with the closeness they’ve developed over letters 🥹
#polin
This micro-moment during the first ‘lesson’ gets me: Pen’s flirting is atrocious, and Colin seems to see that, but still looks at her with these kind eyes…
Is he impressed at her efforts in at least trying? 🧐
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‘I will always protect you… you are special to me’
I feel like Colin is relishing in the performance of being a protector here, rather than truly being himself - but it’s still sweet (if short-lived) moment of Polin tenderness 💛
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When he’s dancing with Cressida (in Penelope’s house!), Colin glances at Penelope - he knows this pairing would hurt her and can’t wait to explain his plan to expose the rubies scam…
Then he takes her hand with a softly spoken ‘come with me’ 🫠
#polin
The ‘you do not count, you are Pen’ is a punch to the gut for Penelope, but I think he’s truly trying to say she’s special and not just anyone to him
Look at his caring face when he says she’s his friend 🥹🥹🥹
#polin
At the beginning of S3, Colin makes a much-needed and genuine, heartfelt apology to Penelope - for his callous words at the Featherington ball the previous year
I love how he affirms his esteem for her and follows up with helping her 😊
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The mirror scene is top tier tenderness from start to finish (ahem), but the absolute peak has to be Colin’s eyes as he tries to get Pen to understand his love for her
They’re what this emoji was made for: 🥹🥹🥹
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‘Lord Byron he is not’
The first (I think) time Penelope impresses Colin on screen is after he’s been courting Marina, with a crowd of other men - he find Pen to laugh at one of the other suitors, and she’s ready with a cleverer take-down 😊
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‘You were not a fool’
Penelope’s response to Colin’s failed engagement is more gracious and kind than anyone else’s has been - he looks so touched by her empathy and understanding 🥹
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Sometimes, when my timeline gets full of fan fights and references to people/events I don’t know, I wonder what it’s all about
Then I think, in the wise words of Colin Bridgerton… I do not wish to know!
🤭🤭🤭
Colin sidles up to Pen & takes jabs at the host of this ball. She sees his innuendo and raises him casting aspersions about the child’s parentage
‘Penelope, what a barb’, he says in admiration at her cutting wit… she matches his freak! 🤷♀️
#polin
This sweet, gentle kiss at the end feels like a seal.
Like they’re wrapping up this electrifying encounter with a bow, saying, ‘this was special… this is the beginning… this is love’ 💛🩵
#polinweekrewatch
Colin bristling and resentful of the Bridgerton’s handling of the Marina scandal being exposed in Whistledown (and the beginning of his vendetta against LW)
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‘If Penelope can see me this way…’
Her letters encouraged him & their correspondence between S1 and S2 is the genesis of Penelope ‘making him feel seen’
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The wedding dance shows Colin & Penelope enraptured with each other
The way he touches her cheek at the end is like she’s the most precious thing he’s ever seen 🥰🥹😍
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‘My purpose will challenge me to be brave and witty’
Pen opens up to Colin about her ambitions and how important it is to dream - and also expresses it all so elegantly
Of course he’s impressed: he looked awed!
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The ‘Lady Crane was right about you’ exchange
He looks at her with awe and affection and she’s bursting with pleasure at his words - it’s such a lovely moment for Penelope 🥰
#polin