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How much time passes between any one scene on this show and any other scene?
Where are Daphne and Simon?
Inepisode three, with almost no warning, lives are threatened.
But to truly recover, we must first stare down our fears.
Its not inRomancing Mr. Bridgerton, the book this season is based on.
Neither Colin Bridgerton nor Penelope Featheringon have evinced any fascination with ballooning to date.
People found balloons very ribald and sexy, romance novelist and British literature professor Alexandra Vasti tells Vulture.
And also, Vasti says, these funny, sexy cartoons about rising and swelling.
Derby accepted the bet because he thought it wasnt practical.
The preamble
Everything seems perfectly normal at a cursory first glance.
reads the event banner.
Its a lovely day!
The sky is cloudy.
Gusts of wind rustle the tree branches.
Those kites for sale are doing a brisk business, because the wind isblowing.
Is this safe ballooning weather?
Or were these Regency hotheads so hopped up on sexy swelling metaphors that no one even cared?
Consider the initial meeting of balloon skeptics and enthusiasts.
The unnamed aeronaut (Hawkins?)
describes his new, lighter fabric, which hes hoping will let him stay aloft for two hours.
Lady Tilley Arnold applauds his courage and ingenuity; the crowd appears persuaded.
At that very same meeting, though, red flags begin to appear.
An anonymous nobleman (a whistleblower?)
points out that the balloons cannot even besteered.
This courageous mans warning tragically goes unheeded.
Thats not even the worst of it.
Before the meeting begins, witnesses spot a man working to secure the balloon tethers to the stakes.
This man simply wraps the rope around a piece of wood stuck into the ground.
Just a rope looped around in a circle, fingers crossed.
Or was everyone so distracted by their sexy balloon feelings that no one took this dangerous gear seriously?
The inciting event
The wind has begun to pick up.
We know because Colin, while staring at the balloon, says, Do you think that is normal?
A background ADR voice says, Gusting up something terrible!
A different ADR voice adds, Mostly from the wind.
The balloons enormous, apparentlymassivelyheavy blue gondola begins to creak and shift.
Despite a chipper, strings-forward musical cue, the mood has taken a turn.
Startled by an onlooker, Prudence shoves Harry, who trips over a rope.
Is it the same rope some balloon handler looped around that stake with a desultory lack of care?
The rope unfurls with shocking speed and also with a littlewhoosh whoosh whooshsound.
Stakes snap from the ground.
What was once a sharp breeze has become a howling tempest!
The calamity
Ropes begin whipping around riotously.
Penelope, standing in the foreground, has absolutely no idea that danger billows behind her.
Everyone else can see it!
The men start booking it across this picnic ground/market space for kite vendors!
Men to the rescue!
She stands, watching Colins super-manly arms as he grabs onto a rope and yells manly rope-pulling things.
Finally, Penelope starts running, too, until she almost instantly trips and falls onto a rug.
She is in TROUBLE!
Its a good thing, too.
He is never mentioned again; if he lands safely, no one onBridgertoncares enough to discuss it.
Cressida pretends a rope hit her on the ankle.
Despite the painful memories, the events of this tragic balloon disaster should not be forgotten.
In the face of devastation, life and love continue.
Benedict presumably takes inspiration from the swelling, rising balloon to go have sex with Lady Tilley Arnold.
Colin realizes he loves Penelope because she was almost hit by a balloon.
