Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Review

Shonda Rhimes wrote it herself and gives the franchise an origin story: the arranged marriage of a German princess, Charlotte (India Amarteifio), to George III (Corey Mylchreest) is the reason Bridgerton's London has Black aristocrats, an experiment run by George's mother Augusta (Michelle Fairley) and her advisers. Tom Verica directs, and Hampton Court, Hatfield House and Blenheim Palace give it the most lavish settings the franchise has had.

The romance works because it is about something. George hides his illness from his bride, and Mylchreest plays its episodes with frightening vulnerability, while Amarteifio, sharp and wounded, gives the franchise its best performance. Arsema Thomas matches her as the young Agatha Danbury, and Sam Clemmett and Freddie Dennis, as the royal secretaries, carry a gay romance that feels natural rather than dutiful. Kris Bowers's music recasts Alicia Keys and Beyoncé for orchestra.

The present-day scenes with Golda Rosheuvel's older Queen, Adjoa Andoh and Ruth Gemmell are thinner and keep interrupting the better story, and historians such as S. I. Martin called its version of Black history absurd. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus said it arguably perfects the parent show's formula. It does, without the arguably.