The Steamiest Moments In 'Bridgerton' Season 3

After a sexual-tension-filled Bridgerton season two ended with Anthony and Kate getting married, episode one of the new season sees the couple happily in love as they plan to help Francesca Bridgerton navigate the pool of suitable bachelors in town as well as manage the Bridgerton family's affairs. Kate suggests to Anthony that they prioritize making an heir to the Bridgerton fortune above their duties as Viscount and Viscountess, and the newly married couple take their new responsibilities very, very seriously. Fans of the couple's relationship in season two will be relieved to know that they didn't disappear in season three—rather, viewers see much more of the couple than perhaps expected. 

Fans have been eagerly anticipating Bridgerton heartthrob Colin to make the first move on Penelope. When season two ended with an argument between Penelope and Colin resulting in Colin apologizing for saying he would never court Penelope, the stakes were already high for these two characters in season three. The plot kicks off after the two reconcile as friends and Colin offers to help Penelope find a suitor for herself, since Colin is being chased by every eligible woman in town and Penelope is strugglinig to find anyone who will dance with her. 

In the second episode, Penelope expresses her worries about her future to Colin and asks him to kiss her. Colin agrees, and sparks fly between the pair, even though they both know the town would never approve of them being anything more than friends. "Would you kiss me? It would not have to mean anything. And I would never expect anything from you because of it,” she said. “I could die tomorrow and it would kill me. I do not wish to die without ever having been kissed.” 

Naturally, the pair share a passionate kiss that goes much further than either intended after the heat of the moment gets the best of them, but after Penelope comes to her senses, she thanks him, and quickly runs inside, leaving Colin outside the gate, fantasizing about what could have happened. 

In the aftermath of Colin and Penelope's first kiss, episode three sees Colin dreaming about a future where he tells Penelope exactly how he feels and explains that he can't forget their kiss. In the dream, Colin tells Penelope, "Pen, I have not been able to sleep. Not been able to eat. I can barely speak these days. My entire thoughts consumed by our kiss. By you." The two share a heated kiss in the Featherington family's garden after Penelope admits that she feels the same way, and then Colin wakes up. After his dream, it becomes clear that his unresolved feelings for Penelope need to be reconciled soon, as he grows more and more romantically frustrated and becomes increasingly more eager to catch a glimpse of the object of his affections. 

Part one of season three ends with the climactic interruption of Penelope's carriage by Colin in episode four. After Penelope attempted to secure a proposal from Lord Debling but he refused after sensing chemistry between Penelope and Colin, a distressed Penelope told Colin about how upset she was after he stops her carriage. Colin realizes that Penelope assumed he doesn't have feelings for her, which prompts him to finally admit that he loves her in a now-iconic monologue—and an even more famous exchange of affections.  

“What if I did have feelings for you?" he says. "I have spent so long trying to feel less, trying to be the kind of man society expects me to be...but these past few weeks have been full of confounding feelings. Feelings like a total inability to stop thinking about you, about that kiss.” He mentions that he hasn't been able to stop dreaming about her, saying, "And in fact, [I prefer] sleep because that is where I might find you.” The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Colin proposing to Penelope after the pair nearly take their affections to the next level in the carriage.  

In the midst of his incessant dreams about Penelope and his newly-acquired travels through countless countries—and bedrooms—of Europe, Colin returned home at the beginning of Season 3 more prepared for experimentation than ever before. On multiple occasions, the camera cuts away from a tense, romantically charged exchange between Colin and Penelope to Colin in the bedroom with not one, but two newly found lovers, showing nearly enough skin to make the viewer feel as though they've intruded on something private.

While amorous, steamy scenes of Anthony and Benedict with lovers in past seasons were nothing to bat an eye at, Season 3's many ménage à trois sequences may just take the cake in terms of overt sensuality.