AsQueen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Storywinds down, hurt molds into healing in both the past and the Regency-era timelines. Episode 6, “Crown Jewels,” comes in at nearly 90 minutes, giving plenty of time to bring things to a satisfying close. The finale is also equally dramatic, romantic, and heartbreaking. Of course it is, this is theBridgertonworld we’re talking about after all. The episode begins with Dr. Monro (Rob Maloney) answering a summons from Princess Augusta (Michelle Fairley), who wants to know why Charlotte (India Amarteifio) has moved to Kew when Monro said he needed privacy to treat George (Corey Mylchreest). He informs her that this is because the Queen kicked him out, and Augusta seems horrified that Charlotte would dare exert any authority on her own.
At Kew, George is recovering from his ordeal, with Charlotte nearby to oversee his progress. While he’s obviously relieved to be out of there, he still doesn’t feel Charlotte is safe around him and tries to order her to leave. Some of these feelings we remember from his confessions to Reynolds (Freddie Dennis), when he said he wanted to be a man worthy of being with Charlotte. But the renewed strength of his conviction, that it will doom her to be near him and she should go, makes us wonder what it was Monro has been saying to him all those months. The “doctor” certainly had a sadistic streak when it came to inflicting physical pain, so it stands to reason he inflicted a great deal of mental pain on George too.
Charlotte ignores his order for her to leave, countering it with a little authority of her own. She tells him she loves him, and says the only thing he could do to make her leave would be to tell her he doesn’t love her. He can’t bring himself to say it, and instead tries to convince her of all the ways they’re wrong for each other, and why it won’t work, and she would be better off without him. She repeatedly asks if he loves her, and their voices climb until he caves and shouts that he does love her. A love confession after hardship is great. A shouted love confession after hardship? Top-tier stuff.
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Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas) heads out for another walk, with Coral (Peyvand Sadeghian) hinting that she knows exactly what she’s up to. Agatha certainly has a spring in her step since her steamy afternoon with Lord Ledger (Keir Charles). She’s even out of full mourning and sporting some lovely shades of purple. She heads to their designated meeting spot, and sure enough, Lord Ledger arrives shortly after, only this time with his daughter Violet (Connie Jenkins-Grieg) in tow. Though poor Violet is none the wiser, thinking this just a stroll with her dad, Lord Ledger has obviously brought her both as a buffer against his own desires and a reminder to both him and Agatha what they risk if they continue their affair. Her reputation is on the line, and he has responsibilities. Awkward though it might be, their affair is definitively at an end.
In the Regency era, following a disastrous portrait sitting where Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) once again berated all of her children for not providing her with any heirs, her son George (Ryan Gage) and daughter Elizabeth (Sabina Arthur) come to visit her as representatives of all her children. They attempt to put a stop to the so-called “baby race,” telling her that in her desperation for a grandchild, she has completely neglected their feelings in any of it. George lost his daughter, and it seems like she didn’t care. Elizabeth is taking tonics and treatments to prevent more miscarriages, and Charlotte didn’t even know she had miscarried at all. What it boils down to, they say, is that while she has always been their queen, she has never been much of a mother.
Back in the past, George is doing much better. He is back on the farm, happy with his wife, and doing only the things that he enjoys. The bubble of peace cannot last forever, and Reynolds tries to warn Charlotte that George has his up days and his down days, but Charlotte dismisses the notion. Now that they’re together and settling into a routine, it’s going to be all up days from here. Reynolds is skeptical, but he drops it. At the very least, he and Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) have patched things up. They’ve even allowed themselves to wonder if this new harmony between Charlotte and George means that they too can look forward to a lifetime together. They’re unsure if that’s fully possible, but they trust enough in their love to hope for a miracle.
Augusta arrives at Kew since George has been ignoring all her letters, and her lies to the Lords about still being in control are becoming less and less convincing. Since George doesn’t want to see her, Charlotte goes to speak to her instead. Once again, Augusta appears shocked that Charlotte feels she is entitled to any kind of power and reminds her that she is not the king — a bit rich, coming from a woman who has spent who knows how long speaking on the king’s behalf. For once, it is Charlotte who puts Augusta in her place, reminding her that while she is not the king, she is Augusta’s queen. Ever quick to adjust, Augusta then throws the responsibility for George onto Charlotte. She tells him that he cannot hide from his responsibilities forever and that he must face Parliament and make a speech, or risk being declared unfit to rule. As much as it pains her, Charlotte knows she is right, and approaches George with the idea.
In the Regency era, Charlotte is still shaken by her conversation with her children. She vents her frustrations to Brimsley (Hugh Sachs), calling her children ungrateful for not realizing she was the best of mothers. When Brimsley doesn’t automatically agree, she throws out the rest of the staff and demands an explanation. Brimsley tells her that while this isn’t a personal failing, it is true that everyone in the Palace, Charlotte included, loves and serves the king above everyone else. The exception, he concedes, is that he loves and serves Charlotte above all others. When she asks him if he has any family, or if he ever married, he confesses that he doesn’t, because there was simply no one who would be free to make a life with him while he put Charlotte first. Coming on the heels of young Brimsley’s conversation with Reynolds, it sounds like things eventually fell apart for the two of them, but I choose to believe he is simply hiding his workplace romance from his boss.
Meanwhile, Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Violet (Ruth Gemmell) prepare to go for a walk now that winter is over, and Violet confesses she’s ready to find love again, even if it won’t be the great love she had with her husband. As Agatha steps away to grab her pelisse, Violet pokes around her sitting room, looking at all the tchotchke on the mantelpiece. Tucked right at the back, she finds the birthday hat that Lord Ledger made for young Agatha, and grows suspicious. On their walk, she tries to press Agatha for details about whether she found love after her husband passed, but Agatha remains elusive. In a successful attempt to throw Violet off the scent, she confesses she once had a flirtation with Charlotte’s brother Adolphus (Tunji Kasim), which is so shocking, it really does distract Violet from her line of questioning. At least for now.
In the past, Lady Danbury remains on edge, since the question of her son inheriting his father’s estate and title remains unsettled. Princess Augusta will not yield without Agatha acting as an informant on Charlotte, but now Agatha is reluctant to do so since she considers Charlotte a genuine friend. Nor does she want to burden Charlotte with the issue, since the queen is preoccupied with preparing to have her first child. She tells Agatha the doctor assured her it would be painless, and while we would like to laugh this off as being nonsense of its time, I did once have a male professor tell me menstrual cramps were “all in my head” so the more things change, the more they stay the same. Agatha is running out of options until Adolphus approaches her and asks if he might call on her. She tells Coral that he is titled and wealthy, and it’s looking like marriage to a wealthy man might be her only option at this point.
Charlotte goes to check on George’s progress in writing his speech for Parliament, but their increasingly tense conversation is cut short when she goes into labor. The royal baby is on the way! George tries to go into the birthing room but is stopped by Lord Bute (Richard Cunningham) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jonathan Partridge) who tell him it’s not a man’s place in there. But when Agatha tells him Charlotte is calling for him, George does the single sexiest thing he’s done all season and threatens to strip the Archbishop of his rank and titles if the man keeps him from his wife one second longer. The doctor tells George that everything is fine, even if the baby is coming breach, and ignores Agatha and Brimsley’s concerns that Charlotte is losing too much blood. George suggests one of the methods used to help livestock in such a situation, which the doctor thinks is inappropriate given Charlotte is a royal patient. Nice to know the protocol for royals giving birth is to just let them bleed out, then. Fortunately, he listens, and a healthy baby boy is born.
With the royal baby here, the time has come for George to make his speech to Parliament. Charlotte encourages him and believes it’s all going to go off without a hitch, but Reynolds' hesitation proves warranted when George has another anxiety attack and can’t bring himself to get out of the carriage. They return home, where Charlotte finds him hiding under his bed, hiding from the heavens. She joins him there and the two lie side by side. He once again offers to let her leave him without complaint, ashamed of the way he is. Charlotte, now fully realizing it won’t be smooth sailing for the rest of their lives, promises him he has nothing to be ashamed of, and that they will make each other whole. Their love is enough. There is, however, that small matter of Parliament. They decide to throw a ball at the Palace to patch it up. Agatha has her final meeting with Augusta, where the Princess implies she has formed a begrudging respect for her. After all, they are two women who have had to pick up the pieces after the deaths of their husbands and will do whatever they think necessary to ensure their survival and the survival of their children. Feeling newly assured, Agatha allows herself to turn down Adolphus' proposal of marriage, choosing instead to stay in England and make her life there, on her own terms.
Otherwise, the ball goes off without a hitch. George is able to quell his anxieties with Charlotte’s support and Parliament is reassured that the crown is secure. Agatha and Lord Ledger share one last look, and the furious stare from Lady Ledger (Katie Brayben) suggests she’s likely aware of what happened. Charlotte tells Agatha she is aware of the struggles she’s had in securing the title of Lord Danbury for her son, and tells her that since they are friends, she should bring her concerns to her directly going forward. Charlotte and Augusta even make peace, when Augusta admits that all she’s ever wanted was her son’s happiness. Charlotte and George spend the night dancing, and the camera cuts away to show Brimsley and Reynolds also dancing together in the shadows. In the most heartbreaking transition of the series, the scene then shifts to the Regency era, with Brimsley still dancing in the garden, only now he is dancing alone. The language of the medium suggests again that things didn’t work out, but I choose to believe the pair had a long, happy life together and Reynolds has only recently passed of old age. I refuse to let a small thing like “the truth” keep me from wanting the best for Reynolds and Brimsley.
Lady Danbury visits Violet at her home and sees that she has filled the drawing room with all the old birthday hats her father made for her, and the ones she herself made for her family. For the first time, Lady Danbury grows visibly nervous, wondering what suddenly brought this on, until it clicks that Violet must have seen the hat on Lady Danbury’s mantel. An unspoken sentiment passes between them. Violet knows what happened between Lady Danbury and Lord Ledger, but whether she is willing to forgive it is unclear. Perhaps this will follow them into Season 3 ofBridgerton, or perhaps the past will, like the birthday hats, be packed away and set aside.
Charlotte goes to visit George (James Fleet) to bring them news that their son Edward (Jack Michael Stacey) is expecting a baby with his wife. She finds her husband writing on the walls and unresponsive to her calls until she refers to him as “Farmer George,” something he once called himself when they were younger, and urges him to hide under the bed with her. Down there, he seems more himself, and the two are able to have a conversation about their family. What was only suggested before becomes extremely apparent now: while their lives have not been easy, while Charlotte may be callous about George in public, the two of them still love each other very much. The scene cuts between the older and younger actors, setting Rosheuvel and Mylchreest together, followed by Amarteifio and Fleet. It’s a beautiful moment, acknowledging Lady Danbury’s earlier thought that time is rarely given to the hearts and romances of people old enough to know what it is to truly love, and to lose — or nearly lose — that love. Charlotte and George know it well, and have a full life, lived together, to show for it.
