"Shock and Delight"
Simon: If I were truly courting you, I would not need flowers, only five minutes alone with you in a drawing room.
The ton is abuzz with the news of Daphne and the Duke, who, for their part, are hammering out the specifics of their deception. As expected, Simon's interest has caused suitors to return to the Bridgerton home. Anthony insists that Daphne marry Berbrooke. She tells this to Simon, who in turn informs Anthony of Berbrooke's untoward actions the other night. This causes Anthony to doubt a match with Berbrooke. In private, the latter questions Daphne's honor, which earns him a beating from Simon. Undeterred, Berbrooke tells the Bridgertons the next day that he has secured a special license to marry Daphne, to their horror. Violet manages to get out of it by inviting the Berbrookes for tea and having their servants gossip; she learns that Berbrooke has an illegitimate child he is not supporting. She has the Bridgerton servants spread this information around town, and just as planned, it makes it to a Lady Whistledown scandal sheet. The shame causes the Berbrookes to rescind the proposal and flee London.
Marina Thompson is definitely pregnant, making husband-hunting just a tad more difficult and urgent, but Penelope keeps this from Eloise by claiming one of their maids is with child. The girls turn out to have no idea how babies are made. Marina confides in Penelope that she had a suitor, George Crane, who has gone to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Eloise and Benedict commiserate about their shared dissatisfaction with their lives.
Flashbacks throughout the episode establish that Simon's mother died in childbirth, his father was abusive, and he developed a speech impediment. Lady Danbury, a good friend of his mother's, encouraged him to become more confident. Simon swore on his father's deathbed that he would never have children to spite the Hastings line.
Tropes:
- Death by Childbirth: Simon's mother dies giving birth to him in the episode's opening.
- Do Wrong, Right: Daphne chides Simon for how he's not good at courting her. If they want the deception to work, for mutual benefit, he needs to attend a few balls with her where she'll protect him from the "mamas" and must send her "expensive flowers" to keep up the ruse he's legitimately interested in her. Simon is stunned enough to listen.
- First-Name Basis: The Duke of Hastings and Miss Bridgerton (to the ton) agree to call each other "Simon" and "Daphne" to further their Fake Relationship.
- Gossipy Hens: Exploited. In order to rid themselves of the threat of scandal from Lord Berbrooke, Violet has her servants talk to his and learns that he has a bastard son that he refuses to provide for. They then let this information slip to other women, and the gossip eventually reaches Lady Whistledown's ears. As they predicted, she publishes it, humiliating him.
- Internal Reveal: Anthony eventually learns from Simon of Berbrooke's Attempted Rape of Daphne. And we also learn the reason why Simon adamantly refuses to marry nor having children; because he took a vow —right on his dying father's face— that he would never marry, let alone siring an heir, so the Hastings line and legacy would die with him.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The episode begins with flashbacks to Simon's birth, showing his mother died in childbirth and his father was perhaps too overly concerned with having a son, before returning to 1813.
