Diksha Sundriyal
The fourth season of Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton‘ presents the romance of Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek as they navigate the complexities created by their class differences. Over the course of eight episodes, their story goes through many twists and turns, but they are not the only ones who make life-changing decisions. This season also focuses on Penelope’s life after her identity as Whistledown is revealed. It gives her a new sense of power, unlike anything she’d had before, but it also makes her wonder if Whistledown is still the same when stripped of her anonymity. By the end, she decides to step back from the column, but that doesn’t mean Whistledown is gone for good. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Penelope Leaves Whistledown Because She is Too Powerful for It Now
When Penelope decides to move on from writing Whistledown, she is shocked to discover that someone else has taken the mantle. Colin shows her a new Whistledown, where the author has confirmed their intention to continue writing the column, while also mentioning that they are not Penelope, but someone else within the ton. This is not the first time Penelope has faced an impostor trying to take over her life’s work, but back then it was Cressida Cowper, who falsely claimed to be Whistledown to get the reward money from the Queen. The new Whistledown doesn’t seem to have that intention. They haven’t revealed their identity, so they prefer to write from the shadows while picking up where Penelope left off.
One key thing to remember in this situation is that Whistledown was created by Penelope as a means to exercise power and control over her life. At the time, she was a wallflower whom no one paid attention to. She didn’t have any prospects, and even her mother thought that she was not eligible enough to marry for love. She felt suffocated in her own house, with no power over her own life. This led her to write the column, which gave her a sense of power and purpose. But things drastically change for her in the third season. By marrying into one of the most illustrious families in the ton, she is not a wallflower or an outcast anymore. Moreover, by revealing her identity as Whistledown, she now has a direct line to the Queen, which makes her one of the most influential people in the ton.
So much has changed over the years that Penelope doesn’t need to be Whistledown anymore. She has the love and the life she always dreamed of, and the sense of powerlessness that she felt in the first two seasons is now gone. So is the anonymity that allowed her to do her best work as the gossip columnist. She is now so bombarded by gossip from all ends that she sometimes feels pressurised to write things, even if it ruins people like Virginia, whose affair with a nobleman is reported in Whistledown. Penelope thinks that her words are doing more damage than good now, so she decides to hang up her boots and find some other purpose. Still, Whistledown is power, and while Penelope might not need it anymore, someone else surely does. But not any random person can be Whistledown.
The New Lady Whistledown is Someone Who Finds Power in Invisibility
The new Whistledown has to be someone who is as uniquely placed as Penelope. Someone who can walk around the ton, be in all the right places where the drama is happening, has their ears to the walls so they know the gossip that travels through the maids and servants, and most importantly, someone who feels just as powerless and invisible as Penelope felt when she created her alter ego. While the column may have started as a place to share gossip, it has always been about empowerment, and this is what should continue with the new Whistledown, which means it cannot be someone like Cressida who uses it for personal gain. It will have to be someone who uses their words to do good, which is what Penelope had intended.
Considering all these factors, it is not far-fetched to assume that the new author is a maid. The fourth season gave us a better insight into the downstairs world, showing just how much the maids and servants know and share with each other. Mrs. Featherington misses Varley, who notably always had the right gossip, unlike the new maid, who has no idea what’s going on with anyone in the ton. It is a person in the service industry who would truly feel the need to exercise some power through Whistledown, and they could even use the column to advocate for the rights of the working class, though at the risk of becoming too political for the Queen’s taste.
The New Whistledown is Hiding in Plain Sight
Speaking of the Queen, the words that the new Whistledown uses sound a lot like what the Queen says to Lady Danbury at her ball. She says they “have so much fun together,” and later, the new pamphlet tells the readers a similar thing. One would think that perhaps this means the Queen is the new Whistledown, but that beats the purpose of why the Queen liked the gossip column in the first place. She likes to be amused at the expense of others. She prefers to hear the gossip rather than write about it, so it is not her. But it could be someone close to her. The fourth season sees the rise of Mrs. Mondrich through the social circle. In the finale, she truly takes over from Lady Danbury when she helps the Bridgertons publicly legitimize Sophie.
At one point, she tells the Queen that Her Majesty is “missing all the gossip.” This is a curious choice of words, especially after we know that Mrs. Mondrich has a strong desire to use her new position as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting to help others rise above their station, which is why she felt so strongly about helping Sophie. Now that she is a part of society, she has access that allows her ears in every household. She not only knows how and when to use a critical piece of information, but she also has a similar moral compass that once guided Penelope. So, we know she has no personal stake in writing the column, apart from the desire to break barriers and transform the ton, just as Lady Danbury did when she became the young Queen Charlotte’s most trusted friend.
What also makes Alice a better contender for this title is that she has seen both worlds. She was a commoner who came from nothing and has known the struggles faced by the general populace. But the sudden change in her fortune in the third season has now made her a part of the nobility, so much so that she now has the ear of the Queen. Her lack of strong ties with any house also makes her a more impartial reporter. This gives her a perspective that even Penelope would have lacked, and makes her a more interesting choice for being the next Whistledown.
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