Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

“Bridgerton” prequel: some greatness, then very-goodness

In its first hour, the “Bridgerton” prequel seems ready to be a really great show.
It soon retreats into merely being a very good one; it insists on emphasizing – and even expanding — a crisis from history. But that opening hour is a gem.
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (shown here) is a six-parter that arrived recently on Netflix. It maintains the lush look and vivid characters, while jumping between two timelines.
There’s the one we know from the first two “Bridgerton” seasons: King George, descended into madness, is mostly invisible; his wife Charlotte is the unflinching, unsmiling ruler. And there’s this prequel time, when she was 17, heading to marry a king she’d never met. That’s the part that produced three amazing scenes in the first hour: Read more…

“Bridgerton” flashes back to a young queen

So there will be a new Queen Charlotte, after all.
This one isn’t in England (where the real Princess Charlotte is further back in the heir-apparent list). It’s in the fictional world of “Bridgerton.”
The first two seasons (still available on Netflix) had Golda Rosheuvel (shown here) as the old — and rather grumpy — queen. Now, however, news comes of the prequel. Read more…