With its fourth season, “Bridgerton” illustrates how writers can redeem themselves.

The fourth installment in the “Bridgerton” series, partially released on Feb. 13 and 26, follows the second child, Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson, and his love interest, Sophie Baek, played by Yarin Ha. Sophie is the illegitimate daughter of the late Lord Penwood and, in the beginning of the season, lives as a maid with her stepmom, Araminta Gun, played by Katie Leung, and her stepsisters, Rosamund and Posy, played by Michelle Mao and Isabella Wei respectively. 

When Lady Violet Bridgerton, played by Ruth Gemmell, hosts the first ball of the season — a masquerade — Sophie sneaks in. Benedict, the wayward son who is anxiously avoiding marriage, finds Sophie out of all the women in the crowd. After a couple of shared words, they end up spending the night together. But when the clock strikes midnight and all the guests must reveal themselves, Sophie runs off, leaving just a glove.

While Benedict is left to search for his mystery lady, Sophie must return to her job as a maid, working for her hateful stepmother. This was until Araminta discovered Sophie’s rebellion, which prompted her to kick Sophie out. Sophie finds a temporary job at a country estate until Benedict, who has been drinking too much and ends up at a party there, runs into Sophie and saves her. Quickly, their forbidden love blossoms.

Compared to the previous one, this season is a major step up. The writers proved their ability to write good romance with characters the audience can root for and emotional arcs that feel fully developed in Seasons One and Two, as well as in the spin-off of “Queen Charlotte.” However, the writers seem to have forgotten all their skills in Season Three.

Season Three had the potential to be good, with the romance between Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, the third child, being set up since the beginning of the show. The season ended up being angsty to the point of cringe because of an overemphasis on lust rather than love. The show’s obsession with having their male love interests be playboys continued in the third season, forcing the writers to change the sweet, naive Colin into a flirtatious, cocky character. This altered the core of his character and took away from the allure of him in previous seasons.

Not to mention how the obsession in “Bridgerton” with the player-type of male love interests turns the sweet, naïve Colin into a flirtatious, cocky character. 

Now, Benedict still falls into this player-type of male love interest. Unlike Colin, Benedict’s new fling each season is a pattern which has been set up from the beginning. This was forced upon Colin instead at the start of Season Three. 

The writers also played this well into Benedict’s character and development because he was always the purposeless son. Being the second son left him with little to no responsibilities other than to stay alive in case Anthony, the eldest son and Season Two’s lead, were to die. But even this is taken away from him by the fourth season, when Anthony and his wife, Kate, have their son.

Season Four had a well-built foundation to be amazing, just like Season Three, and it used it to go above and beyond, not only with a good main plot line but also with good side ones. Bridgerton is known for its many side plots that take away from the main story and are never as good. However, this season not only writes them well but also weaves them into the main storyline effectively. The only critique is the storyline of Lady Violet Bridgerton and the fling she develops with Lord Anderson. This was mainly because Lord Anderson’s character felt like it only existed for Violet, and he was extremely underdeveloped.

This season is still far from perfect, and I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece by any means, but the purpose of the show isn’t to be the best media ever. It’s escapist. It is meant to be put on and for the audience to tune out while they follow the story lines of these angsty Bridgerton siblings — and this season achieves its purpose excellently.