Think a comedic book/film series about an insecure yet plucky single woman is all sunshine and lollipops? Think again.
- The First Novel: Bridget and her friends haven't heard from Tom in a while and are worried that he, a gay man, must've been jumped on by some bigots and left for dead. When Tom re-appears with a bandaged nose, they assume the worst, only that it turned out he had a nose job done. Even with the end result, it's really scary to think you and your friends are vulnerable to violent bigots and it's still sadly the case in real life.
- The Second Novel: Bridget receiving what she thought was a pen in "Edge of Reason" only for Mark to point out that it's a bullet meant as a message for her. It then turns out that the builder that once worked on her shelf was disgruntled and sent it to her as a death threat. Mark then recommends that Bridget stay over at his house and even he's jumpy when he sees Bridget's shadow at night and thought it "was the bullet man". Given that this builder had used a wrecking ball against her apartment while she was gone, it's really scary (and once again a real life case) to think some random person you sort of know and interact with, can kill you and you haven't even done anything!
- The Third Novel has several in spades and can function as Tear Jerkers:
- Bridget fears dying alone, but add to the mix are two helpless young children eating her body to stay alive.
- The car accident at the children's school, bad enough there are reckless drivers, but one that won't move his car for safety concerns just because "Time is money"? and ends up trapping several young children?
- Mark Darcy's death. Imagine riding in a armor-plated vehicle and all of the sudden, it hits a landmine! Or imagine if it was a loved one of yours in that vehicle, while you stay safe with your family and wait for them to come home.
- Bridget recalls Mark's pillow talk where he'd cry about his boarding school years; she noted that there still was a lonely, scared little boy inside the powerful barrister. Consider that in real life there are scandals surrounding several decades of sexual abuse occurring in British boys' schools
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- Bridget, in the film, after the break up with Daniel is utterly depressed and shown eating shitty stuff like iced cheese (which she scraped off) and lying around feeling sorry for herself. Two things jump out
- Bridget's pictures on her fridge: Cut out pics of her head pasted to images of emaciated models (with the bones showing). The audience is well aware of how she thinks she's fat but with the Reality subtext, it's all jarring due to it being considered a red flag concerning body image and eating disorders. Fridge Horror? Yes. Actual horror that happens in real life? Totally.
- Bridget imagining dogs sniffing around her corpse just so they can eat it. There isn't any Body Horror or Gorn involved but the implications are just scary.
