I Miss Simon and Daphne on 'Bridgerton'

There really is a lot to love about Bridgerton Season 4. New addition Yerin Ha is phenomenal as the series’ latest romantic heroine, Sophie Baek, and her Cinderella-meets-Upstairs-Downstairs love story with Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) is more compelling than it probably has any right to be. Most importantly, the show does a flat-out incredible job reworking and improving upon the source material that is An Offer From a Gentleman, the third book in Julia Quinn’s series of Bridgerton novels.

Weaving in multiple supporting characters and secondary relationships, leaning into the class dynamics at the heart of this season’s romance, and giving its leading man a personality glow-up for the ages, it’s really hard not to love almost everything about Season 4, in ways that go well beyond just Sophie and Benedict’s story at its center. The show feels more engaging and balanced than it ever has before. In many ways, Bridgerton feels as though it's finally grown up, in ways few of us likely ever expected.

But these (admittedly, very welcome!) shifts also throw one of the series’ biggest flaws into almost painful relief. As Bridgerton becomes more of an ensemble piece and less a story with each season focused on a single romantic courtship, the cracks in its larger narrative become more apparent. Which is to say that, at this point, it’s getting downright ridiculous that the show hasn’t addressed the (missing) elephant in the room: Where the heck are Simon (Rege-Jean Page) and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor)? 

The eldest Bridgerton daughter and the roguish Duke of Hastings were the marquee couple of Bridgerton’s first season, a fake dating turned genuine love match with a dash of forced marriage on top for good measure. Their chemistry was flawless, their relationship swooningly romantic, and their dynamic encouraged them both to become the best versions of themselves.

But what’s more, Bridgerton’s first season also established the importance of their social position, and that both realized they — particularly Daphne — could use their influence to bring about some much needed change in the world of the ton. It genuinely doesn’t make any sense that we’ve essentially never heard of any of this again. 

By all rights, the Duke and Duchess of Hastings should be major movers and shakers in Bridgerton society. The only person on the series canvas that outranks the two of them, socially speaking, is the queen herself. They ought to be throwing the ball that opens the season and making regular appearances at court. They should be introducing Daphne’s sisters to eligible men. They should at least be getting mentioned occasionally, even if it’s only in a casual, offhand “oh, they’ve gone traveling on the Continent” way. Instead, it’s almost as though they’ve never existed. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s honestly great that Bridgerton, the show, is telling a more cohesive, layered story than the books it’s based on ever did. It should. Unlike romance novels, which can and do easily shift focus between central couples from book to book with little to no problem, the show needs to fill eight hours of content and include characters beyond each season’s two leads. And, to be clear, Bridgerton is absolutely a better television program for expanding its world in this way.

Allowing all its characters – not just each set of leads — to develop and grow on their own terms is simply smart storytelling. But it also means that when things happen like the family’s eldest daughter disappearing for two seasons straight, the people watching along at home tend to notice. The Bridgertons are either a family that's made up of living, breathing, interconnected relationships or they aren’t. 

It’s not that Simon and Daphne need to play any sort of huge role in any season of Bridgerton outside their own. This is a romance, after all, and they’ve technically already gotten their happy ending. But love stories also don’t just stop because people have said “I do” — their lives continue past that moment, their families and larger obligations still exist, and it’s okay to expect Bridgerton to show us some small glimpse of those things. Or at least throw us a bone and mention why they can’t. Oh, the Hastings have a sick kid? Daphne broke her ankle? Simon's favorite dog has died? Something.  

Because eldest daughter and generally perfect family role model Daphne Bridgerton has now missed her brother-in-law’s funeral, three of her siblings’ weddings, and an assortment of other family-related crises over the past three seasons (what do you mean her older brother married Lady Whistledown?!). She doesn’t appear to have met either of her nephews. She’s a Duchess who spends zero time among her peers, essentially abandoning the social world she’s ostensibly meant to be leading.

What's worse, no one even comments on how inapproriate this all is! Bridgerton’s essentially given up on even crafting the most basic of excuses when yet another major event rolls around at which Daphne’s not present. (But it sure isn't afraid to throw the wieight of Simon's title around when Benedict needs it!)

Fans haven't been exactly happy with the slapdash way the show has treated Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate's (Simone Ashley) relationship in the wake of their romance in Season 2. And, to be clear, many of those complaints are more than fair; the show hasn't handled their third and fourth season reappearances as well as it should have. It doesn't make sense that they're largely absent when they're technically the heads of the family now, and poor Kate truly does get next to nothing to do whenever they do pop up. But...at least they're there? Sometimes? It's crumbs, to be sure, but Simon and Daphne don't even get that.

Bridgerton is a show that has to serve many masters and, as the seasons progress its ensemble is only growing bigger, their stories more complex. It's true that logistical, narrative, and/or real-world problems might prevent us from ever truly seeing the Duke and Duchess of Hastings together onscreen again, But that doesn't mean the world of the show can't take their relationship and its legacy seriously. We — and they — at least deserve that much.