‘Bridgerton’ showrunner Jess Brownell says it was “important” for Benedict to be “submissive” in the tub scene

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 has been streaming on Netflix for nearly a week and we are still obsessed with the “tub scene.”

**Spoilers for Bridgerton Season 4 Episode 8 “A Dance in the Country,” now streaming on Netflix**

The “tub scene” marks the moment when everything shifts forever between star-crossed lovers Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). For most of the season, there’s been a distinct power imbalance between the couple. Benedict is a gentleman, imbued with all the powers of the patriarchy and all the protections of his wealth and class. Meanwhile, Sophie is the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, forced to live her life as a servant waiting on the likes of her own stepsisters and Benedict’s sisters.

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 ends with Benedict making Sophie the only offer that makes sense to him against this classist backdrop: he asks her to become his mistress. As Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 carries on, though, it’s clear that even this will be difficult to pull off. The lovers would have to escape to the countryside and Sophie will have to live with the knowledge that any children they have would suffer the same indignities she’s had to endure.

Everything flips when Benedict finally realizes that Sophie has been his mysterious “Lady in Silver” this whole time. When he pieces that together, he becomes intent on marrying her outright. However, he’s almost too late, as Sophie’s vile stepmother Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung) has had her arrested for the crime of “stealing” shoe clips and impersonating nobility. The Bridgertons snap into action, posting Sophie’s bail, and inviting her back to Bridgerton house as a guest. There, Sophie’s friends downstairs conspire to let her and Benedict enjoy a steamy night alone. And we mean literally steamy, as in a hot bath.

The sex scene that follows, set to Strings From Paris’s cover of Camila Cabello’s “Never Be the Same,” marks a distinct shift in status between Benedict and Sophie. A shift that was “really important” to Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell.

“I would say it was important for Benedict to be somewhat submissive to Sophie,” Brownell told DECIDER. “You know, I think in the love scene in [Season 4] Episode 5, that was a scene where we were really focused on finding ways to equalize them and finding ways for Sophie to have enough agency that despite the power imbalance, it felt like she was taking equal control in that scene.”

In Julia Quinn’s book, An Offer From a Gentleman, the tub scene is meant to represent Benedict caring for Sophie after her horrific ordeal in jail. The show doesn’t get into this, but by sweetly bathing Sophie, Benedict is washing away the physical dirt and metaphoric trauma of her time in jail. The show recreates this by letting Benedict tenderly sponge Sophie…and focusing on giving her pleasure.

“But in the tub scene, I was at a place where I felt like I want to see Benedict nurture her,” Brownell said. “You know, see him be a maid to the maid in a way. To see him wash her hair, see him focus on her pleasure, and also focus on her boundaries and be very thoughtful about the fact that having penetrative sex with her puts her in a really difficult position when they’re unmarried.”

However, the coup de grace of the scene might not be a climax, but a small declaration of power on Sophie’s part. Partway through the love scene, Sophie pushes Benedict back, asserting her own power and splashing water onto the floor. A small motion that means so much.

“I love seeing her push back on him,” Brownell said. “And, you know, that little bit of playfulness between them is a feature of this couple that I really love.”

Of course, Bridgerton Season 4 ends on a (mostly) happy note. Sophie discovers that her father left her a dowry in his will and that Lady Araminta has embezzled it, giving our heroes the leverage they need to reintroduce Sophie to society as a distant Gun cousin. Benedict and Sophie are allowed to marry in the country and live happily ever after. Here’s hoping with many, many more baths between them.

Bridgerton Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.