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Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1, premiering Thursday on Netflix, centers on a new character and her romance while catching up with the series regulars. Benedict Bridgerton comes to the fore, with the new addition Sophie Baek adding a new element to the series.

Sophie (Yerin Ha) secretly attends the first masquerade ball of the season. There, she is the only woman who appeals to Benedict (Luke Thompson) because her sincere joy stands apart from the regulars who are there with an agenda.

Alas, Sophie does not reveal her identity because she does not belong there. She is a maid for the Li family.

Benedict spends the next episode searching for the mystery woman in the silver dress. This enlists his sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie), whom this season presents at her most endearing, and that's saying a lot after three seasons of Eloise.

But now Eloise is ready to put herself on the shelf after three seasons not finding a suitor. She has returned from an unsuccessful trip to Scotland, and she is decidedly over it.

Now, Eloise sneers at undesirable suitors but uses her access to try to help narrow down Benedict's suspects. Benedict stares at women's mouths to see if he can recognize the part of Sophie under her mask.

This Cinderella story makes Benedict more vulnerable. The season begins with every woman in the aristocracy knowing that he is a rake who will not settle down.

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Unfortunately, Sophie doesn't get to see that side of him. She doesn't reveal herself because she thinks she won't live up to his fantasy. That is sad and frustrating, but it makes sense that society taught her to stay in her place.

Circumstances that cross Benedict and Sophie's paths again are more coincidental, but hey, the aristocracy is a small world, even for maids. Even though Sophie keeps her secret, their chemistry once together again is electric.

This also focuses the seasons on the servant class. While it's not Downton Abbey, it does highlight the toll all the lavish balls take on the people who make them happen and reap no benefits.

Araminta (Katie Leung) could just be nice to Sophie. Paying her (in room and board) doesn't preclude gratitude for the work, but her behavior is also because Sophie was her late husband's illegitimate daughter so she triggers Araminta just by existing.

Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin's (Luke Newton) baby is not on the spoiler list so it's okay to share that their marriage has taken the next step. The infant is only in the season premiere and Penelope's story is more centered around her relationships.

She and Colin still behave like newlyweds, continuing the heat they generated as the focus of Season 3. This reveals an interesting contrast between Penelope and Francesca (Hannah Dodd) that both brings them closer and creates awkwardness, since Colin is also Francesca's brother.

Now that Penelope has revealed herself as Lady Whistledown, she also has to deal with Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) as a fangirl. Essentially, Charlotte tries to provide editorial oversight and Penelope no longer has the buffer of anonymity to resist a powerful reader.

Julie Andrews still narrates the Whistledown voiceovers.

Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis) and Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) steal swoony kisses and moments of closeness before frequent interruptions. Charlotte has moments of comedic defensiveness followed by real vulnerability she's forced to confront.

Introducing the new character of Sophie has not compromised Bridgerton at all. She brings out new qualities in Benedict, and still leaves plenty of room for the other characters to frolic in tawdry drama.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.