No matter how much fun it is Bridgerton It’s that this show has always been lax about the finer details — remember the suspiciously bloodless bare-knuckle fight scene in Season 1? Season 3 continues that theme of not having to worry too much about logistics.
The plot hole at the edge this time? Lady Whistledown. More specifically, whether it’s feasible for Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) to have a secret side job as a gossip columnist alter-ego. Could she really print the complete version of Lady Whistledown in one night? Is that even possible?
Mashable took a thorough look at Season 3, Part 1 and spoke with Jim Hamilton, vice chairman of the board of directors at the Printing Museum in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
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What’s going to happen to Lady Whistledown in Season 3?
Season 3 sees Penelope churning out Lady Whistledown’s society newspaper in one night on multiple occasions: the pamphlet she writes in episodes 1 and 2 appears to have been hastily scribbled in her room after the ball, but it’s not fully confirmed until episode 5 that this will be published the next day.
The episode begins with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) bringing Penelope into his home after the latest ball to announce their engagement.
“They say a surprise needs secrecy and speed,” says Lady Whistledown’s overscene narration, “and last night the announcement came very quickly indeed. Regardless of how it happened, it’s sure to be a wonderful time for the happy couple.”
The next shot is at sunrise, and we see the same issue of “Lady Whistledown” being handed out. Penelope’s family is shown reading it over breakfast, and she hears their reactions from the hallway.
The conclusion? Penelope must have rushed home on the night of Colin’s proposal, written the entire issue, snuck out of the house and smuggled it to the printer, then had the pamphlet ready in time for distribution at dawn.
So the question is, was that even possible?
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It went from proposal to launch overnight.
Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix
Can Penelope really print an overnight edition of Lady Whistledown?
Bridgerton The story is set in the Regency period of England in the early 19th century. According to Jim Henson of the Printing Museum, the printing press used to print Lady Whistledown was a hand-operated flat-iron press.
“In some ways, yes, that may be possible, but in other ways, absolutely not,” Henson said. “It seems possible to print the document overnight, but that would be quite expensive given the printers and staff that would have to work overnight.”
Henson further explains that each side of the sheet is printed separately and needs time to dry before being cut or folded. Factors that matter include the size, number of pages, and whether or not the pages are printed on both sides.
“All of these factors affect how long the job takes. If an operator and helper print one sheet per minute, and that one sheet on one side is the entire document, then several hundred copies can be printed overnight – assuming the typesetter works reasonably quickly.”
Henson says the process would be more believable if the document were a single-sided piece of paper, but many of the scenes in the show where Lady Whistledown is reading suggest that the document is larger than this. For example, in episode five, the document appears to consist of a large piece of paper folded in half with writing on both sides.
The Lady Whistledown pamphlet is a double-sided fold-out sheet with tiny print.
Credit: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
So, is Penelope’s secret life really possible?
Speaking with Henson, it appears that, even in this day and age, with a lot of effort, it’s possible to print a short pamphlet overnight. BridgertonIt’s a set of . But it’s the timeline that makes it hard to make sense of in its entirety, especially in episode five.
It was already dark when Penelope arrived at the Bridgerton house. It had been some time since she had last spoken with Colin’s family and finally returned to her own house. start If she wanted to finish the issue in an hour (which was impossible), she’d have to sneak downstairs, catch a carriage and go to the printing shop across the ton.
Are we really supposed to believe that clerks had time to churn out double-sided newspapers and distribute them in time for breakfast the next day?
Readers, we’re not sure.
How to watch: Bridgerton Season 3 is currently available on Netflix.
