‘Bridgerton’ Season 3’s Hot Air Balloon Scene Is Good, Actually
On Colin's hero moment and Penelope's dazzling crush in one of Bridgerton Season 3's most talked-about scenes
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I like the hot air balloon scene from Bridgerton Season 3.
When I set out to create this newsletter, I wanted it to be a place where I could write about all the things in pop culture that make me feel and think. I didn’t want this to be a place of negativity but one of curiosity and positivity. This newsletter would be where interest and sentimentality are celebrated, not belittled or stamped out. So, it felt right to kick off 2025 — Happy New Year, by the way! — with an essay about one of the most talked about (at least from what my social media feeds could tell) Bridgerton scenes of last year.
“…they would be wise to remember the higher one flies, the further one has to fall.”
Lady Whistledown writes that line about young ladies vying for Francesca Bridgerton’s former suitors, but it teases Colin and Penelope’s experiences well.
For a bit of context, Bridgerton’s third season follows the friends-to-lovers romance of Colin, the second youngest Bridgerton brother who enjoys writing about his travels, and Penelope, the youngest Featherington sister, who also happens to be the famed gossip writer Lady Whistledown.
The season, like the others (The Duke and I for Season 1, The Viscount Who Loved Me for Season 2, and An Offer from a Gentleman for Season 4), is inspired by Julia Quinn’s Regency era-set romance books. Romancing Mister Bridgerton takes a different path from the show to Colin and Penelope’s happily ever after. Bridgerton makes Colin’s feelings for Penelope less avoidable as he helps her find a husband among the ton’s suitors. After two episodes of growing closer (and Colin’s hatred for Whistledown growing stronger), romantic chaos reaches new heights at the grand display of a hot air balloon. Because why not?
Before the action sequence occurs, Bridgerton Season 3 Episode 3, “Forces of Nature,” sets the scene with a great one-on-one conversation. It proves that the hot air balloon is only one side of the (lustful) coin — the other is a cupcake. Colin’s feelings for Penelope are written on his face when he watches her eat a cupcake after thanking him for helping her become more confident.
To understand the significance of this beat, it’s relevant to look at the show’s past. Daphne Bridgerton swoons over Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, as he licks a spoon in the aptly-titled Bridgerton Season 1 Episode 3, “Art of the Swoon.” Those intense feelings only grow by the time Daphne’s breath catches at the sight of Simon’s forearms in Bridgerton Season 1 Episode 4, “An Affair of Honor.”
In Bridgerton Season 2 Episode 5, “An Unthinkable Fate,” the show’s male lead channels Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy in the 1995 TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Anthony Bridgerton ungracefully stumbles into a lake (with Kate’s corgi Newton and his friend Thomas Dorset). However, the awkward moment turns sultry when Kate Sharma (and her younger sister, Edwina) watches the eldest Bridgerton brother climb out of the lake with a wet shirt.
Bridgerton has a documented history of including these moments that Season 3 showrunner Jess Brownell calls a “thirst moment.” So, it’s unsurprising and expected for Colin and Penelope — affectionately dubbed “Polin” by fans — to have at least one of their own before the couple’s relationship begins. After all, Daphne & Simon and Anthony & Kate's swoon-worthy exchanges are vehicles to express the characters’ insuppressible, intense feelings for each other before they get together (and experience a bit more drama) and have their happily ever after.
Brownell even said that the writers discussed a necessary “moment of thirst between Colin and Penelope,” and they needed to “find a way to top” the Anthony bit from Season 2. What goes above and beyond more than a hot air balloon in the Regency era? (Interestingly, the balloon idea itself came from writer and former research advisor Annabelle Hood, who noted it was popular during the time.) Brownell credits upper-level writer Daniel Robinson with pitching “the idea of Colin hoisting an entire hot air balloon with his sleeves rolled up and his forearms rippling.” Brownell added that the sequence was “the only way to one-up a wet t-shirt.”
Of course, the creative team can’t anticipate the audience’s response. One of my favorite reactions was Kathryn VanArendonk’s minute-by-minute breakdown. Otherwise, I saw social media posts ripping it to shreds for being so unserious.
Shockingly (not!), I disagree. I like what it stirs up for the characters, particularly because “Forces of Nature” is the penultimate episode in Season 3’s first four-episode drop. Written by Eli Wilson Pelton and directed by Andrew Alin, this episode uses the wind to propel the hot air balloon and the characters’ feelings, specifically Colin’s for Penelope, out in the open. Also, it’s a cool set piece.
I’m a storytelling nerd who loves to learn all the available details about a thing I like, so you can bet I loved Shondaland’s behind-the-scenes look at this sequence. I enjoy hearing from Alin (the mission to make this something “exciting and new” for the show), stunt coordinator Steve Dent (the focus on safety), and visual effects supervisor John Mclaren (the creation of the balloon). Those insights paint a vibrant picture. They show how much work goes into making it all happen.
“The hot air balloon scene was wild. Because, initially, it was scripted not as intensely as it was,” Nicola Coughlan shared with Teen Vogue. It evolved into a “full stunt” that required rehearsals with crash mats. In the Shondaland video, Luke Newton noted the scene as his first Bridgerton stunt on this scale (“I’m thinking: Don’t slip, look cool”). Coughlan told Teen Vogue, “Yeah, Luke Newton was living his best life that day as, like, the hunk with the rope.” This all orbits around one of Alin’s comments from the Shondaland video about finding “the emotion behind the stunt.”
Yes, Newton shares a story about how his pants tore not once but multiple times during that stunt (Please watch the Buzzfeed puppy interview!). Yes, it’s funny to watch Luke Thompson joke about how less integral Benedict is to the whole thing. Although, in Thompson’s defense, that scene doesn’t need to be a charming, swoon-worthy moment for the second-born Bridgerton brother. With Season 4 focusing on Benedict and Sophie Baek’s romance, it’s more likely that Benedict’s turn in a certain lake at a special cottage is right around the corner.
The point is that I like this sequence for what it is on the page, but I like it even more after knowing all the thought that goes into bringing it to the screen. It’d be easy to take it all as is, but that would remove the character-driven intention and emotional context. The efficacy of those tools is critical to the success of a story. With Bridgerton, they’re paramount to the success of the central romance.
“In the world of Bridgerton, death is less important than horniness,” Coughlan said in the Shondaland video. That sentiment does not ring true for every character on the show. For example, The Viscount Who Loved Me and Bridgerton Season 2 see Anthony (less with Kate’s TV counterpart, unfortunately) grapple with the collision of love and loss. They’re the two most important forces in his life, culminating in a bee sting scene — in the source material and on the screen.
However, for Penelope, horniness is more important than death. Penelope Featherington has been in love with Colin Bridgerton for most of her life. She pushes aside her feelings because not only does she think nothing will come of them, but she hears him say as much at the end of Season 2. Now, the man she loves is showcasing his strength in front of her in an act of heroism directly connected to his desire to protect her. Of course, she is too stunned to move!
The chaos is a perfect excuse to stir up feelings that the rest of the episode can unpack. Without that inciting incident, Bridgerton can’t have Colin and Violet Bridgerton’s heartfelt exchange about the rarity of two true friends becoming a great love story. I also love that Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of Billie Eillish’s “Happier Than Ever” (!!!) kicks in with the switch to the handheld camera. Those technical choices tell a story on their own! That emotional (and necessary) turn for Colin, suddenly realizing he may have acknowledged his feelings for Penelope too late, would not have the same impact without the balloon earlier.
Also, on such a fundamental level, it’s exciting to see Colin and Penelope’s feelings for each other be so big that they are entranced by one another. It’s rewarding after two seasons building up to this friends-to-lovers story. So, thank you, hot air balloon scene; I think you make Bridgerton even more fun.
Until next time,
💌 Shelby