On 25th of March 2022, a new season for the scandalous, romantic series-Bridgerton- had been released. Season 1 came out on the 25th of December 2020 and had achieved around 625 million hours of viewings only in the first 4 weeks of it being released. However, season 2 surpassed this record.

And you wonder why and how that may have happened?

This was simply due to the Asian representation depicted through the Sharma family in the series. Simone Ashley- the leading female character in season 2- has an ethnicity of being Tamil Indian, which was certainly impressive to many people. Although Kate Sharma was not said to be Asian in the famous Bridgerton books, the showrunner, Chris Van Dusen, decided that this should be the case and this idea was definitely appreciated by the Asian community.

Not only were there Indian characters used in the series, but there were also cultural references all throughout. This can refer to Kate (the older sister) calling Edwina (her younger sister) ‘Bon’ and similarly Edwina calling her ‘Didi’ in the series. Alongside this, Edwina was also shown to have a ‘Haldi ceremony’ in preparation for her wedding with Anthony Bridgerton, which is a holy ceremony done before weddings in many Indian cultures. This is where friends and family members gather and smear turmeric over the bride to celebrate the special union.

With these mini representations all throughout, season 2 of the show was loved even more than season 1,where Simone Ashley was said to be the star of the show.

Everyone was so impressed by her acting and the chemistry between her and her co-star Jonathon Bailey (play the leading male character-Anthony Bridgerton) that their dance before Kate presumably leaves for India has been a trend on TikTok-specifically...Simone Ashley’s nose scrunch during the dance.

People all over social media platforms like TikTok have been attempting to impersonate Kate Sharma’s nose scrunch from the dance, where many have succeeded in doing so. This trend was so viral that it was shown to Simone Ashley in a ‘This Morning’ interview, where she has seen to be laughing at the trend and at how viral it has gotten.

Overall, people are yearning for the confirmation that Kate and Anthony will be shown in the upcoming season 3 and that their marriage will be shown. The Asian representation has clearly been applauded by many people and this is reflected through the fact that Season 2 surpassed the hourly views of season 1 and is now said to be one of Netflix’s most popular shows as the simple line of Lady Whistledown saying 'dear gentle readers' has won the audience's heart.