It is 1813 and the social season of arranging matches for marriage has arrived. Daphne Bridgerton, as well as all the other ladies making their debut this season, are presented to the Queen, whom declares Daphne as being flawless. Sadly, because her older brother, Anthony, decides to be very picky about who Daphne courts, no suitors come to her door. Meanwhile, Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, has all the attention of the young ladies and their mothers, but doesn't want to marry. Both wanting the mysterious Lady Whistledown to leave them alone in her gossip column, they decide to pretend to court so that Simon can be left alone, while Daphne becomes more desirable.
Although certain aspects of the story were predictable, I enjoyed this show very much. Being a fan of Gossip Girl and having a certain fascination of the regency era, this show was perfect for me. Even though the main characters are Daphne and Simon, there are side stories about almost every character. It almost gets a bit hard to follow, and I lost interest in a few plot lines because they weren't focused on enough. The show is based on Julia Quinn's novels and since I haven't read them, I don't know how much content there was to put in the show and how much they didn't put. What I do think, though, is that it might've been to their advantage if they had done two seasons with the content they used for the first season. Most of the times in TV shows they explore one main plot per season, and it feels like they explored two in this first season. I think if they had focused on the first main plot and a bit more on the side stories during the first season and then did a second season with the second main plot, I would've been a bit more invested in the story of the other characters. Again, I don't know how much those stories are explored in the books, these are only my thoughts.
With all of that said, I do still like this show very much and am looking forward to season two. I also plan on eventually reading the books. I give this show a 5/5 and definitely recommend watching it.
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