41 details you might have missed in 'Bridgerton' season 2

Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) returns home for her younger sister's society debut in episode one.

The newly-minted Duchess of Hastings arrives in a maroon carriage that has the Hastings crest emblazoned on the side. Her husband, Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), rides in a similar vehicle in the fifth episode of season one.

Seeing Daphne come back to her childhood home by stepping out of a Hastings carriage serves as a reminder that she's now fully engrained in her roles as a duchess, wife, and mother to Augie Basset.

It comes as little surprise that the bee pops up at the beginning of season two since the insects are a recurring symbol in "Bridgerton."

Viewers finally learn why in episode three.

A brief flashback shows Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) witnessing his father, Edmund Bridgerton (Rupert Evans), dying from a bee sting many years ago.

The eldest Bridgerton son has since fostered an intense fear of the bugs.

At the beginning of season one, Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) yells at her sister to "make haste" ahead of her 1813 society debut.

The roles are reversed in season two.

This time around, it's Eloise's turn to vie for Queen Charlotte's (Golda Rosheuvel) approval, and Daphne is the one playing the waiting game.

Along with the rest of the Bridgerton siblings, the diamond-turned-duchess huddles outside of her sister's bedroom, waiting for the woman of the hour to finish getting dressed.

When Eloise does emerge, she's in a dress that resembles the gown Daphne wears in the series premiere. Both are white and gold, the go-to palette for the new batch of debutantes.

Charlotte wages war on Lady Whistledown on "Bridgerton" season two, and the first gown she wears hints that she's ready for battle.

While theorizing about her opponent's whereabouts on episode one, the Queen glides through Buckingham Palace with gold-rope bows affixed to each shoulder of her gown.

The accent resembles aiguillettes, the gilded cords draped on military officers' uniforms.

Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) wears a small butterfly necklace in the season-two premiere.

Butterflies have been associated with Penelope, and the Featheringtons in general, since they began appearing in the family's costumes and home decor in season one.

Like caterpillars morphing into butterflies, the Featherington women desire to transform themselves in society.

Lord Featherington (Ben Miller) dies at the end of season one after embroiling himself in a gambling scheme.

Following his death, the Featherington women trade their wardrobes filled with bright citrus colors for more subdued, darker tones, likely to show that they are in a mourning period.

Throughout season two, Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) is most often dressed in dark red, the same color Simon wears throughout season one.

Danbury was best friends with the duke's mother and served as his surrogate relative after she died, so the dowager has always had a close relationship with him.

Even though Simon doesn't return this season, Danbury still wears Hastings' signature maroon color.

Kate Sharma's mother died when she was very young. Her father then remarried Mary Sheffield (Shelley Conn), with whom he welcomed a daughter named Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran).

After he died, Mary raised Kate (Simone Ashley) as her own. Despite her lack of blood ties to her stepdaughter, she has equal love for both her and Edwina.

However, Kate frequently stands out from the other two women in her family. While Edwina and Mary often match hues, Kate wears a completely different color.

The differentiation could be an intentional way of highlighting her individuality; Kate is far more outspoken, direct, and competitive than both Mary and Edwina.

Or, the visual contrast could signify that Kate feels removed from her family as she hides her feelings for Anthony and juggles the Sheffield family's inheritance deal.

Penelope and Eloise venture to the market arm-in-arm in the season-two premiere.

Moments before Eloise vents about her older sister's unsolicited advice on how to "entrap a man," an empty birdcage appears on the screen.

The piece may be a mere decoration, but it could also be an intentional symbol of women's lack of freedom and rights in Regency London's stringent high society.

The cages seem to be a recurring prop on the show, as they previously appeared at the "Bird Ball" in the third episode of season one.

Penelope sneaks away from her home to drop off Whistledown's papers at Chancery Lane Printers, a shop in one of London's less affluent neighborhoods.

Outside of "Bridgerton," Chancery Lane is a real street in Central London.

Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) advises her youngest daughter Penelope not to waste any more of her time corresponding with her crush Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

"Colin Bridgerton is no more your friend than I am Catherine the Great," Portia says in the first episode of season two.

Ironically, Portia's storyline with Jack Featherington (Rupert Young) ends up sharing several similarities with the Russian empress and her husband Peter III.

Just as Catherine staged a coup to overthrow Peter's hold on Russia, Portia hatches a plan to rid her family of Jack and reclaim power over her household.

So in a way, Portia actually ends up being a lot like Catherine the Great.

A telescope sits in the corner of Eloise's bedroom on episode one, and the magnifying tool is pointed across the street in the direction of the Featherington household.

Eloise is still in the dark about Penelope's double life as Whistledown, but she gets progressively closer to discovering the truth as season two progresses.

The telescope could be a subtle hint that Eloise is closing in on her best friend's secret.

As much as Anthony and Kate can't stand each other at the beginning of season two, they inarguably share many similarities.

In episode two, Kate drafts a list of potential suitors for Edwina, just as Anthony does for his own marriage prospects in the episode prior.

"I do not need feeling. What I need is what I have, and that is a list. Tolerable, dutiful, suitable enough hips for child-bearing and at-least half a brain," he tells his brothers, adding, "And that last part is not so much a requirement but a preference, in fact."

Before Anthony decided it was time to choose a viscountess, he focused his energy on marrying off his sister Daphne in season one. Back then, his controlling behavior mirrored Kate's hands-on approach to sorting through Edwina's suitors.

While discussing literature with Anthony on episode three, Edwina mentions her fondness for Ghalib.

According to Netflix's Tudum site, the 1814 diamond is referring to Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, a legendary 19th-century Indian poet. Ghalib was the poet's pen name.

The small detail was a nod to Edwina's upbringing in India.

The first time Anthony appears on the "Bridgerton" series premiere, he holds an open-faced pocket watch. Throughout the series, the young viscount frequently checks the timekeeper.

During the season-two flashback, Edmund pulls a seemingly identical watch out of his pocket shortly before his death.

The parallel confirms that Anthony inherited the piece from his father.

After Edmund dies in the episode-three flashback, Aubrey Hall erupts into chaos.

As a very shaken Anthony fields servants' logistical questions, Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) breaks down in hysterics over the loss.

One of the maids tending to her is Mrs. Wilson, who is still with the "Bridgerton" family in present day.

Jack invites the Cowper family over for dinner as part of his efforts to court their sole daughter, Cressida (Jessica Madsen).

"Tell me, Ms. Cowper, do you have brothers by chance?" he asks her.

She responds: "Alas, I am an only child."

Portia is too busy fretting over the prospect of Cressida taking over as the lady of the Featherington house to read between the lines of Jack's question.

The inquiry is an early sign that the newcomer is checking for potential obstacles, such as male heirs, that could get in the way of inheriting the Cowper family fortune. If he's really as wealthy as he claims, he wouldn't be nearly as concerned with Cressida's inheritance.

During the brothers' stay at Aubrey Hall, they experiment with some of the hallucinogenic "elixir" that Colin brought home from Greece.

Benedict (Luke Thompson) is desperate to think of anything except his pending application to the Royal Academy, and Colin is feeling lost after returning from his trip.

So, they use drugs to distract themselves.

Alex Pillai, the episode-three director, told Insider that the team intentionally put Colin and Benedict in the Aubrey Hall playroom, surrounded by children's toys and games and seated in "little chairs," to show that the men feel constrained by their titles and familial duties.

From the time Kate steps onto British soil, she makes it clear she's not a fan of English-style tea.

In episode three, she prepares her own cup with spices from India. However, her tea is not prepared in the traditional method, which would require the tea leaves to be boiled in milk.

Pillai told Insider that they prepared Kate's tea the Chinese way, with boiling water, to fit the scene's aesthetic. It did, however, contain some of the ingredients used in Indian-style tea, such as cardamom, cloves, and jaggery.

"It felt that what was missing in British tea is that spice kick," Pillai explained.

Lilacs are an important symbol throughout season two.

Daphne points out that the flowers are representative of first love, so it's fitting that Kate wears the color to Edwina and Anthony's nuptials — the day she finally kisses him.

Lilacs were also Edmund's favorite type of flower, Violet tells Anthony in episode three. Coincidentally, they're the type of flower he was gathering for his wife right before he died.

Later in the season, Violet sends lilacs to Kate as she heals from her accident.

While attempting to comfort Edwina about the viscount's lack of proposal on episode three, Kate rubs oil into her hair before bed.

Hair-oiling is a nod to the Sharma sisters' Indian roots. According to Vogue, the technique is an ancient ritual used on the scalp to moisturize and nourish hair.

When Benedict received his acceptance to the Royal Academy in episode three, he wears a bee-patterned vest. Last season, he donned the bee symbol on his collar.

The bees seem to represent Edmund, and his influence on his children. As K. W. Colyard wrote for Bustle, "The bees usually seem to turn up when the Bridgerton family is assembled and things are on the right track, suggesting that perhaps the former Lord Bridgerton is still with them after all."

When a bee stings Kate at the end of episode three, it's clear that Anthony is immediately reminded of his father's fatal reaction to a bee sting years ago.

The "Bridgerton" team emphasized the parallels by shooting both scenes in strikingly similar settings: the gardens surrounding Aubrey Hall.

"It's not the same setting, but it's a similar setting because we're playing on Anthony's complete fear," Pillai told Insider. "The parallels are absolutely intentional."

Anthony partakes in a fiery affair with operatic soprano Siena Rosso (Sabrina Bartlett) on season one. During one of their arguments in episode three, Anthony accuses her of trying to "vex" him.

A similar line comes up in season two, during his episode-four fight with Kate.

Anthony confronts her about her disdain for him, and she tells him: "You vex me."

The characters' matching blue attire could indicate that they're growing closer as the season progresses.

Prudence is laser-focused on the Aubrey Hall lawn games, only to be interrupted by Portia's lecture about the importance of winning over Jack.

While discussing the tragedies of the past year, Portia brings up Marina Thompson's failed attempt to marry Colin on season one. At the time, it seemed like a solution to conceal her pregnancy.

"Is entrapping a man in marriage really so uncommon?" Prudence asks her mother.

Of course, she's unaware of her mother's plans to force Jack into a betrothal to Prudence, which takes shape as soon as the question leaves her lips.

Danbury sees and hears everything that's going on in her house, and she's one of the first to pick up on the chemistry between Anthony and Kate.

When Kate tries on Anthony's betrothal ring in episode five, her portrait is positioned directly between them. So while the spinster isn't physically in the room, her presence is still felt.

Both Kate and Anthony's composed demeanors crack when they're forced to interact throughout season two.

As their emotions for each other intensify, Kate spends more time with her hair down to symbolize that she's becoming undone by her feelings.

According to Netflix, the character's costuming and hairstyles are "very neat" and "tight" in the early episodes before they grow "freer and looser" later in her arc.

Anthony tumbles into the water fully clothed in episode five. By the time he pulls himself onto dry land, his white shirt is sopping wet and clinging to his body.

The moment is a direct nod to a fan-favorite scene in another period piece: BBC's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice."

Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy plunges into a lake in his white undershirt, emerging in a similarly soaked state as Anthony on "Bridgerton."

"There are some images that have been burned into my brain for a very long time," series creator Chris Van Dusen told Entertainment Weekly.

He continued: "And those naturally came out onto the page when I was writing the show. I've definitely talked about my love for that 1995 BBC adaptation with Colin Firth emerging from the lake in his white shirt. That scene of Anthony going in relates to that. It's an Easter egg for fans of the genre."

During the Sheffields' dinner at Lady Danbury's house, Violet asks the hostess to have her cook send over the sauce recipe.

"It is the gooseberry," Danbury explains.

The detail ties back to season one, when Violet serves Simon Basset gooseberry pie (his favorite dessert) during a sit-down dinner.

Since Danbury has been close to the duke from the time he was a child, the mention of gooseberry is a nod to their relationship.

Edwina prepares to marry Anthony with a Haldi ceremony, a tradition before Indian weddings in which the bride and groom's loved ones give their blessings by covering the engaged parties in turmeric.

A string cover of "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham," the massively popular titular track from Karan Johar's 2001 Bollywood film (coined K3G), plays in the scene's background.

"I didn't cry at any other point except hearing that," Chandran said of the song during an interview with Teen Vogue.

Kate lends Edwina a set of bangles before her wedding day, telling her younger sister that they belonged to her birth mother. However, Edwina insists that Kate should wear them instead.

Bangles are traditionally worn by the person getting married, though.

According to The Times of India, brides having Indian ceremonies often wear the jewelry pieces to "signify good fortune and prosperity."

At the nuptials, one of Kate's bangles comes unclasped, a tiny accident that leads Edwina to discover the true nature of Anthony's feelings for Kate.

So in a way, the bracelets did bring Kate "good fortune and prosperity."

After none of the invitees show up to the ball in episode seven, the Bridgertons, the Sharmas, and Danbury soften the blow by enjoying a group dance.

While the pairings during the routine might seem random, there does appear to be some thought put into who dances with who.

Benedict and Eloise, two middle children that share a bond over their ambitious dreams, are paired at the beginning.

Mary and Edwina are in a trio with Violet at one point, reinforcing that their relationship is still amicable after the wedding fell through.

Perhaps the most deliberate decision of all is to avoid putting Edwina with either Anthony or Kate, who she now knows have feelings for each other. To rub dirt in Edwina's wound, they end up dancing together while she watches on.

The first time Anthony and Kate have sex, they meet underneath a moonlit gazebo.

Though their romance is entirely different from Daphne and Simon's journey, the scene does share some parallels to the latter couple's season-one montage set to an instrumental rendition of Taylor Swift's "Wildest Dreams."

For example, both couples are outdoors at nighttime and leave the encounters drenched by a sudden onslaught of rain.

After sleeping with Anthony on episode seven, Kate flees her home on horseback. Shortly thereafter, Anthony trails after her on his own horse.

The scene is a full-circle moment considering that Kate and Anthony first met during a horse race through the woods.

During the finale, Benedict finds Eloise outside in the dark, perched on a swing. As they begin chatting, the siblings both realize they feel like outsiders in their own lives.

Benedict's confidence is destroyed after learning that Anthony paid for his admittance to the Royal Academy, and Eloise feels like a fraud parading around the high-society balls.

The scene is a direct parallel to their conversation on the second episode of season one, which is set on the same two swings.

In the season-one moment, Benedict vocalizes his desire to make art but admits he's afraid of failure. Eloise encourages him to pursue the career despite his fears and expresses her frustration that, as a woman living in Regency England, she doesn't have the opportunity to do the same.

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick told Vogue in 2020 that she put the Featheringtons in "overly citrus" colors to make it clear that Portia wants her daughters "to be seen."

In the season two finale, almost all of the ton members don the family's palette at the Featherington ball, which is meant to celebrate the family's recent success.

After Eloise confirms that Penelope is behind Whistledown's scandal sheet in the finale, she confronts her.

"I do not even know you. I look at you now, and all I feel is pity for you," she tells Penelope.

Her comment mirrors a remark Edwina makes to Kate during the prior episode.

"When I found out about your accident, all I could think of is how I do not even know you," she tells her older sister, adding, "Nor do you know yourself."

Before Kate and Anthony's final dance in episode eight, Anthony playfully asks her how many fingers he's holding up to make sure she's healed from her accident.

First, he flashes three fingers. Then, he turns his hand around and presents four, the number of children he and Kate have in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton book series.

Bailey confirmed the subtle callback to the novels during an interview with Harper's Bazaar, saying, "Yeah, of course. But maybe it's the number of seasons that they'll be in. You never know! We'll have to wait and see."

After the couple professes their love for each other in the gardens of the Featherington ball during the finale, Kate tells Anthony that "there will never be a day where you do not vex me."

Anthony responds: "Is that a promise, Kathani Sharma?"

It's the first time he says Kate's full name, which was changed from Katharine Sheffield, the moniker used in Julia Quinn's books, to reflect the on-screen character's South Asian heritage.

In episode one, Penelope gazes out the window to watch the delivery boy distribute Whistledown's first scandal sheet of the season. The column marked the writers' return after a noticeable publishing hiatus.

Penelope ends season two in a similar position.

After her blow-up fight with Eloise in the finale, Penelope stares down at the ton members below her from her bedroom window.

Even though she tells Eloise that her days as Whistledown are long gone, she returns to the pen moments later, as committed to the column as ever.