The fourth season of “Bridgerton” could have easily been a filler season if it weren’t for Yerin Ha.
The “Cinderella”-themed season focused on Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), the spare to heir Anthony (Jonathan Bailey). His dissolute, debauched lifestyle was due for a reckoning and could have sunk into tropes of the season’s theme.
But it was the introduction of Ha as Benedict’s mysterious love interest Sophie Baek that kept Season 4 from merely becoming a bridge between the eldest siblings’ love stories and the younger set’s as the show marks the halfway point in its eight-season plan to adapt the works of romance author Julia Quinn.
Ha (best known, until “Bridgerton,” for her work on Paramount+’s “Halo” and HBO Max’s “Dune: Prophecy”) brings a realness to “Bridgerton” I didn’t realize I needed until she showed up. We watch “Bridgerton” (or at least I do) for a gorgeous, sexy, lighthearted escape from our regularly scheduled programming. But Ha’s performance took me out of that, in the best way possible, and warrants a Primetime Emmy acting nod — while the show is big on nominations for below-the-line work, only Regé-Jean Page has earned an acting nomination, and that was in 2021 for Season 1.
Of course, exec producer Shonda Rhimes and “Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownell gave Ha a lot to work with in the character of Sophie — she’s the illegitimate daughter of an earl and a maid. But after Sophie’s father dies, she’s forced to become a maid herself by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters. Despite her lot in life, Sophie is highly educated, speaks fluent French and carries herself with dignified nobility.
Sophie’s entrance elevates the “Bridgerton” plot with a vulnerable upstairs-downstairs storyline that forces the Bridgerton clan (and the audience by extension) to check their privilege.
Ha’s performance sees Sophie evolve from a working-class woman with a messy lineage ready to be rescued by a Bridgerton boy to a character who challenges Benedict’s carefree life, and the comfort of “Bridgerton” audiences who are used to being invested in the shallower affairs of the elite.
She expertly acts her way through two intimate scenes between Sophie and Benedict, each withdramatically different tones — one frantic and rushed, the other slow and focused on non-penetrative sex — and manages to keep the show’s signature steamy vibe balanced with the underlying fears of unwanted pregnancy in the 1800s.
The “Cinderella”-“Bridgerton” mashup delivers a slow-burn romance, nothing new for the series but this one mixes in class and socioeconomic issues.
Sophie and Benedict meet when she secretly attends a masked ball with the help of her servant colleagues. She captures Benedict’s heart at the ball with her intelligence, wit and convictions.
But instead of Sophie becoming the Regency-era manic pixie dream girl capable of taming free-spirited artist Benedict, Ha makes her a delicately sharp character who pushes back on Benedict’s criticismof the other women’s pursuits of husbands. Sophie chastises him for downplaying the plights of thesewomen, whose entire futures are dictated by securing a match who will keep them from spinsterhood,public shame, poverty and every other unfortunate fate faced by the era’s women who don’t or can’t secure a prize match — even the aristocratic ones.
When Benedict finally learns the identity of this mysterious woman, it cracks open the world of “Bridgerton” in a way no other romantic revelation has to date. Ha’s portrayal of Sophie has brought a downstairs point of view with sincere depth to a show that has stayed largely surface-level overits past few seasons’ conflicts. Ha’s performance wasn’t just impressive for the season, it set a new bar for the series.