A quick refresher on where everyone left off in Netflix and Shondaland’s hit series before Season 3 premieres on May 16.

It’s officially “Bridgerton” Season, which means brushing up on all the gossip in the ton as the Netflix hit returns. Who fought, who won, who got married, and who will take a wife? All this and more will matter greatly when the Shondaland series premieres on May 16, with Part 2 due in June.

Season 3 will focus on the courtship of Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) — a.k.a. Lady Whistledown, one of the slight complications in these two’s friends-to-lovers journey. Ahead of that, let’s revisit key Season 2 plot points that could play a key role in Season 3…

 

The Bridgertons

Scandal brushed the Bridgertons quite a bit in Season 2, between Anthony’s (Jonathan Bailey) broken engagement and Eloise’s (Claudia Jessie) tryst with a working class boy. Colin emerges as a surprising hero for sussing out the shady business of Jack Featherington (Rupert Young), but also loudly declares to his friends that he would never court a girl like Penelope. Famous last words from an unsuspecting suitor…

The Featheringtons

Nicola Coughlan in ‘Bridgerton’LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Season 2 heralded the arrival of apparent godsend Jack, who unfortunately turned out to be a fraud. Portia (Polly Walker) dismisses him (and rejects his numerous advances), making sure to secure her family’s financial stability and proving — despite her own flawed obsession with getting her daughters married — that the Featheringtons do not need a man in order to survive. Penelope’s family remains generally apathetic if not outright antagonistic toward her, but how will those tides shift when she decides to actively seek a husband — especially if that husband is Colin Bridgerton?

The Cowpers

Though they’re never the main characters, the Cowper family is always scowling in the periphery of “Bridgerton,” with daughter Cressida (Jessica Madsen) offering everything from a biting remark to marriage-mart warfare when it comes to getting what she wants. Cressida and Penelope have now been out for the same amount of time, both intent to marry and growing frustrated as others pair off around them — and despite Cressida’s outward mean girl antics, Penelope herself is also a formidable enemy as the mind behind Lady Whistledown. If the girls and their families come to blows in Season 3, it will indeed be a spectacle this author cannot wait to behold.

The Crown

Hugh Sachs, Golda Rosheuvel, and Adjoa Andoh in ‘Bridgerton’LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX

Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) is as tired as anyone of being yanked around by the Bridgertons, but she also ultimately blessed Anthony, forgave Eloise, and chose to accept even the matches she herself didn’t set in motion. Though her role probably won’t differ too much from previous seasons, Season 3 will be the first installment of “Bridgerton” since the charming “Queen Charlotte” spinoff, with audiences more aware of the Queen’s formative history as she lords over the ton.

Whistledown

Eloise took it upon herself to unmask Lady Whistledown in Season 2, which backfired spectacularly. The Queen began to suspect her, and then Penelope published an emergency Whistledown paper about Eloise to prove her innocence. It was meant to be the end of Whistledown for Penelope (she even ceremoniously tosses her quill into the fire), but after Eloise found out and ended their friendship, Pen picked it back up again, once again finding solace in her notoriety and her writing.

“Bridgerton” Season 3 – Part 1 premieres on Netflix May 16.