A ‘Bridgerton’ breadcrumb we all missed boldly wonders if Lady Whistledown is about to become a Lord

How long can Penelope keep Lady Whistledown a secret? How is Eloise going to inevitably toss herself into the mix when she learns that Pen still hasn’t told Colin the truth ⏤ and is now engaged to him? Will Benedict return to form as a character? How miffed will Queen Charlotte be over Francesca’s desire to forge her own romantic path? Will Violet actually get a second chance at happily ever after? All this and more when part two of Bridgerton‘s third season finally airs to the sounds of collective sighs everywhere, the keyword here being “more.”

From unprecedented, ton-imploding Easter eggs to the evolution of the ton’s most dangerous mantle, there are a million and one ways season 3 could end up cementing itself as the maverick of the Bridgerton pack. Perhaps none of them, however, compares to one of the possible outcomes of Colin’s fated ascertainment of Lady Whistledown’s identity; namely, him not only forgiving Penelope for her deception, but doing the last thing any of us would ever expect him to do before the season is up.

Lady Penelope Bridgerton? Why not Lord Colin Whistledown?

It’s safe to say that there will be some kind of fallout when Colin figures out Pen’s secret identity, if for no other reason than he’s already promised he’ll ruin Lady Whistledown if he ever figures out who she is. That said, a single cleverly-placed season 3 breadcrumb might have already promised that he won’t stay mad for long, and what he might do after he recovers.

Thanks to season 3, episode 2, wherein Pen arrives at Bridgerton House so Colin can continue teaching her how to behave in front of society’s gentlemen, we now know a key detail about Colin that could prove crucial. When Pen hears Eloise’s voice in the house and scurries to Colin’s study to hide, she discovers Colin’s open journal on his desk. As she reads his words, she recognizes him as a gifted writer. While this isn’t necessarily a revelation to viewers ⏤ they’ve been writing letters to each other for years, after all, particular when Colin travels ⏤ we haven’t heard Colin’s words (complete with Luke Newton‘s voiceover) quite like this before, and it’s a revelation to Pen.

Now that it’s been established Colin himself is no stranger to some fine penmanship, we must ask ourselves: why would such a detail be so pronounced if it didn’t end up being important later on? We know from Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and Inventing Anna that a Shondaland production is not going to toss out a detail like that (using up valuable screen time) for no reason. Who’s to say that if, after Colin’s emotions stop running high, he won’t come around to the Lady Whistledown way? If Pen is, in fact, the love of his life, then nothing will be able to tear them apart ⏤ not even Pen’s secret history as the ton’s biggest gossip writer. As he asks in the season 3, part 2 trailer, “What good am I to you?” Well, that little writing breadcrumb may have already answered his question.

Could it be, then, that Colin begins publishing under the Whistledown name in an effort to support and be involved in his wife’s closet ambition? Enter Lord Whistledown, or perhaps just Whistledown if a whole multi-writer movement is about to unfold here. If this is the sort of post-revelation denouement that’s in store for us, Eloise’s chief motive across these four episodes might finally vanish and perhaps even result in her loaning her writing talents to the Whistledown initiative. We’re assuming Pen would be a Bridgerton by this point, making Whistledown a true Bridgerton family enterprise (at least until one Theo Sharpe inevitably re-enters the picture ⏤ right?).

In any case, the possibilities for how season 3 of Bridgerton will manifest are as wide as Eloise’s hatred for society is heavy, so there’s really no telling how much of Colin’s own experience as a scribe will come into play as the crackling Polin saga comes to a close. Nevertheless, the fact that we’ve so loudly come to know him as someone with such experience probably shouldn’t be taken as mere coincidence, and Penelope’s Whistledown secret has a chance to prove such a thing in a big way here.

Bridgerton season 3, part 2 will air all four episodes on June 13 exclusively on Netflix.