Now that we’ve come down from the climax of Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin’s (Luke Newton) brilliant carriage ride, we need to talk about the other couple heating things up in Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1: Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and his loving wife Kate (Simone Ashley). While the newlyweds don’t have much screen time on this season of the Netflix beaten, they make the most of it. Kate has deftly assumed the role of Lady Bridgerton, while Anthony is a man consumed by a single thought: fucking his wife. It’s honestly a pleasure to see you! Jonathan Bailey plays Anthony Bridgerton with almost insane levels of arousal for his wife in Bridgerton Season 3! He must make love to her all the time! Take it to your desk! Interrupt a conversation to dance… and kiss! Her in front of high society!
The carriage ride might have been the brightest scene in Bridgerton Season 3 so far, but Anthony Bridgerton is the most sex-obsessed character, and I love it!
Bridgerton Season 2 offered fans of the Shondaland show something slow compared to what we’ve seen in seasons 1 and, now, 3. Bridgerton Season 2 was a loose adaptation of Julia Quinn’s. The viscount who loved me, a story about how in his quest to find the perfect girlfriend, Anthony Bridgerton achieves something fabulous in his own way. Anthony decides that he is going to pursue the “diamond of the season”, Miss Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran). The problem is that it clearly came from her feisty older sister, Kate. The two deny their feelings, worried about Edwina, and in doing so prolong their longing for her. When the two finally consummate their outdoor romance, it’s quick, illicit, and passionate. But all too short.
“Kanthony” fans may have eventually gotten the happy ending they were looking for, but not the euphoric honeymoon montage that made them Bridgerton Season 1 is very popular. Sure, Jonathan Bailey gave us moments where Anthony got turned on by Kate’s smell, but the heartthrob wasn’t really able to let go of the character’s inner monster. Well, that is until now.
Bridgerton Season 3 finds Kate and Anthony in the midst of newlywed bliss. The uptight Anthony of the past no longer feels the need to micromanage his family’s affairs, and ultimately trusts Benedict (Luke Thompson) to replace him and his sister Francesca (Hannah Dodd) to navigate the marriage market at his own pace. Instead, Anthony has a new mission that consumes his every thought and that’s what he can do to get his wife to come. (No, but seriously, even Kate has to point out that most of her efforts are for her pleasure and No actually conceive an heir.)
However, what makes all of this so gripping and incredibly charming is Jonathan Bailey’s performance. Over the course of three seasons, Bailey has charted Anthony’s journey from pain to joy. When we spoke to him back in 2020, before the Bridgerton In the Season 1 premiere, Bailey not only talked about how the sudden death of Edmund Bridgerton (Rupert Evans) left a void in Anthony’s life, but also put him in a high-pressure position.
“At the age of 20, he not only lost his father, but became the head of the family. Suddenly, he had to be a surrogate father to a lot of his amazing siblings and kind of a surrogate husband to his mother,” Bailey said. “He has no room to make mistakes. He’s doing them under such high pressure. His self-esteem really suffers.
“I just want him to be okay. I want to see him smile. And I want to see him dance. Because he deserves the happiness that other characters had much earlier in their lives.”
What we can see in Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton Season 3 is the culmination of that desire. Through his romance with Kate, Anthony has found the life partner who eases that pressure gauge. He manages to smile. He gets to dance. He can make love to his beautiful wife whenever he wants, which is all the time!
Anthony vibrates with joy in every Bridgerton Scene from season 3 we’ve seen him in so far. It’s not just a guilty pleasure to see him lunge at Kate, but a glorious conclusion to the story Bailey has dedicated himself to ever since. Bridgerton Day 1.
