right<\/em> there?<\/span><\/p>\nAcross the first two seasons and many years prior, these lifelong friends have been each other\u2019s support in a society that neither of them feel entirely comfortable in. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen the patriarchy tries to force them into conventional womanhood, Penelope and Eloise find refuge and strength in each other, whether it\u2019s through questioning societal norms like marriage, or creating their own power through the musings of an alter ego like Lady Whistledown.<\/span><\/p>\nThis isn\u2019t just sisterly love, though. With such a deep connection, not to mention all that endless hand-holding, the love Penelope and Eloise share feels more akin to that of soulmates in the same vein as Kate and Anthony, or Simon and Daphne, even if the show won\u2019t go there<\/em> just yet (if ever).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBut shippers shouldn\u2019t lose hope for \u201cPeneloise\u201d, even though the focus is on Penelope\u2019s budding relationship with Colin this season. Because, if anything, their dreary will they\/won\u2019t they courtship actually makes an even stronger case for \u201cPeneloise\u201d in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n Liam Daniel\/Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n The inevitability of Colin and Penelope\u2019s tryst is about as flat as Anthony\u2019s perfectly chiselled abs (and just as hard to watch), but it also feels forced in ways that \u201cPeneloise\u201d does not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTake the moment in episode 2 when Penelope absconds from the Bridgerton house late at night. Although she and Colin haven\u2019t done anything particularly scandalous at that point, it still feels scandalous nonetheless, but not because the pair were secretly alone together in the small hours. <\/span><\/p>\nNo, the real tension comes from knowing that Eloise, who also lives in the house, could bump into Penelope at any moment. And that\u2019s exactly what happens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe tension that ensues is supposed to come from the fact they\u2019re no longer friends after Penelope wrote rather cruelly about Eloise using Whistledown\u2019s quill last season (in a somewhat misguided attempt to help her). <\/span><\/p>\nBut the way they stare at each other across the hallway, the way the music lifts and swells as they catch each other\u2019s eye, is decidedly more romantic and sensual than anything that\u2019s ever happened between Penelope and Colin.<\/span><\/p>\nThere\u2019s something almost dangerous about this fleeting look that they share, heavy with tangible, extremely sapphic yearning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAfterwards, Eloise tells Colin about this encounter, explaining that she doesn\u2019t want to see Penelope at the house anymore because she\u2019s still angry about what happened. But then Eloise asks Colin how her former friend is doing, and it\u2019s in this moment she reveals just how much she cares for Penelope still.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Eloise](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/bridgerton-netflix-5c58970.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Bridgerton\\"\/")
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