Things You Missed About Daphne And Simon's Relationship In Bridgerton

Since its December drop on Netflix, the period-drama Bridgerton has been on the screens of just about everyone's television, laptops, iPhones, you name it — and it's not hard to understand why. The show, the newest from television goddess Shonda Rhimes, is juicy, twisted, and full of classical covers of our favorite Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande songs.

Bridgerton has a large principal cast and a number of dominant storylines, but none captures the attention from the audience more than the relationship between Daphne Bridgerton — the jewel of London's social season — and Simon, the Duke of Hastings (who happens to be absolutely gorgeous). Originally linked to foil the plans of the city's gossip, Lady Whistledown, Simon and Daphne quickly start a deep, complicated romance that develops with each episode. 

While many viewers were caught up in Bridgerton's rich dialogue and those scenes between Simon and Daphne, some aspects of their romance were missed. Additionally, Rhimes' shows are known for their Easter eggs and attention to detail, and Bridgerton is no exception. So prepare yourselves for some amazing revelations, because here are the things you missed about Daphne and Simon's relationship in Bridgerton.

Warning: spoilers ahead

Costuming can play an integral role in any show, and Bridgerton is no exception. According to BuzzFeed, Bridgerton's costume department had 7,500 articles of clothing that eventually led to the creation of 6,000 different costumes! 

Additionally, not only did Daphne wear some incredible dresses throughout the show, but one of Bridgerton's costume designers, Ellen Mirojnick, explained that Daphne's clothing represented her transition from innocent jewel to Simon's love interest. "Daphne always wore blue, that was her favorite color in the beginning, in her innocence stage. Her colors changed as she evolved and as she became the Duchess, a married woman with her own ideas," Mirojnick shared. "We actually deepened the palette a little bit, made it a little dustier, a bit richer and deeper. And that helped us kind of arc the story a bit without changing the silhouette." She added that after Daphne got married, she was still sporting the "powdery and refined and pretty look," though it was heavier than before.

Given that the emotions between Simon and Daphne were intense, it looks like her clothing definitely gave away some hints.

Simon's childhood was told in a series of flashbacks, and when Bridgerton showed Simon's birth and his father's horrific response, people were taken aback. Simon's mother died shortly after giving birth, and his father was only interested in whether or not the baby was a son so the family line would continue. The flashback scene is dark, cold, and tragic — not at all like Daphne's circumstances when she gave birth to her and Simon's child at the end of Bridgerton's first season. 

But when watching Daphne's labor scene more closely, parallels between it and Simon's birth are evident. According to Insider, both scenes open with a nurse walking into the bedrooms with cloths to assist in the birth. So cloths, not a big similarity right? Things get more in sync. Both Daphne and Simon's mother "give birth in the same room in the same house, as seen by the identical blue wallpaper behind them." Additionally, "they also laid their heads on the same frilly ivory pillow." 

The similarities make Simon's presence — holding his wife's hand and supporting her through birth — that much more poignant.

Trigger Warning: sexual violence and rape. A huge plot point weaved throughout Simon and Daphne's relationship is Simon's vow not to have children — a promise he made to his father while on his death bed. But it's not until after they get married that Daphne finds out the truth: Simon can have children, but he absolutely doesn't want to, despite him leading her to believe that he physically couldn't. 

This revelation is a massive turning point for Daphne, but it leads her to a very troubling act. As noted by Vox, Daphne "takes control during sex and positions herself on top of him so he can't pull out," leading to a very uncomfortable Simon, who repeatedly tells her to stop. But Daphne doesn't listen, and after climax, she removes herself and goes on to berate Simon for lying to her. 

While some viewers may have gotten wrapped up in the deceit games that both Simon and Daphne were playing against one another, this scene is, as noted by Vox, rape as it "depriv[ed] Simon of his consent to both sex and fatherhood."

Large parts of the London social scene depicted in Bridgerton take place at lavish balls and parties. And with any good ball comes dancing, and according to the actor who plays Simon, Regé-Jean Page, it was during scenes in which Simon and Daphne danced together that their true feelings were allowed to come to the surface. And it's not surprising: the dances allowed for a physical connection, intense eye contact, and subtle flirting between the two characters. 

"The dancing was a gift," Page told Esquire. "Once you start dancing, you get to be honest. I think that's why dances are so central to these stories. They're not frivolous; they're the real heart and soul of the story, because everything else is a two-level dialogue where you say one thing and mean another." He added that on the dance floor, however, you learn about the characters in detail because they can't hide.

We love to see it, honestly, and so did the show's creator Chris Van Dusen. "Watching Regé out there on that dance floor... it was really something magical," Van Dusen gushed. We wholeheartedly agree.

Costuming is, in any show, a massive indicator as to a character's personality, allegiance, and behavior. Think of one of Shonda Rhimes' other shows; Scandal's Olivia Pope became synonymous with crisp white suits, red wine glasses, and massive amounts of popcorn. And while many of us were distracted by Bridgerton's leading man, with his perfectly symmetrical face and his amazing boxer's physique, this small detail was easily missed. 

As noted by E News!, Simon made a point of always wearing an emerald and diamond brooch on the lapel of his suit jackets. So what significance does a piece of jewelry have on Simon and Daphne's relationship? Well, the brooch belonged to his mother who died during his birth, and while Simon never met his mother and thus was not able to have a relationship with her, her life and marriage to his father had an immense impact on him. 

From that detail alone, we should've known that Simon was going to tread lightly when it came to giving his heart away, given that his birth and childhood was met with so much sadness.

Just as Daphne's wardrobe gave massive insight into her innocence, her character development, and her relationship with Simon throughout Bridgerton, so did Simon's. Based on his appearance alone, viewers should have picked up on the fact that Simon wasn't going to be a traditional suitor of Daphne's — but we don't blame you for focusing on his face and not his outfits. "He was an independent spirit. He was a rogue. He was dashing, and he had traveled," costume designer Ellen Mirojnick told BuzzFeed. "Traveling the world, and wherever he landed during that time, gave him the opportunity to see and feel different things and go against convention."

While Daphne's unsuccessful suitors all wore dress shirts buttoned all the way up, coat tails, top hats, and carried themselves with pompous arrogance, Simon was the exact opposite. We should've known that the scene in which he unbuttons his shirt and rolls his sleeves up while watching an ongoing boxing match was foreshadowing his relationship with Daphne.

Do NOT read on if you don't know the identity of Lady Whistledown. Both Simon and Daphne were targets of the London gossip from early on in Bridgerton, and when Lady Whistledown's identity was revealed to be none other than Penelope Featherington, the way in which their romance was skewered in the headlines all makes sense. "It was really Nicola's [Coughlan's] idea... she would always suggest, 'Well, why doesn't Penelope just hang out over here, just slightly off camera,' 'Perhaps she could cross right here and we could just get a glimpse of her,'" Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen told The Wrap. "I thought that was so genius to really put these little snippets and clips of Penelope that on a second watch, you'll hopefully go back and see." 

So what should viewers look out for, because we know that you're all are going to binge watch the show a second time? Van Dusen pointed out a pivotal scene. "When Daphne and Simon first meet, if you look closely, you'll see Penelope's eyes in the corner of the screen watching this go down," he shared.

One aspect of Bridgerton that makes it stand out is the female empowerment displayed by the characters. In the era of high society, women didn't have influence — but in this small moment that was easily missed, Daphne took control of her own life and marriage. 

Bridgerton's intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, told Vulture that Daphne's choice to take down her hair during an intimate scene with Simon was a massive indication that she was taking control of her body, decisions, and marriage — a sentiment that wasn't the norm in the time period. "It's Daphne who takes her own hair out of the braids, and it's Daphne who pushes him away so he can see her. She is leading it in a way that perhaps she hasn't done before," Talbot explained. "Phoebe (Dynevor] wanted to remove her hair from the braids herself, because it's an empowering moment and so much is tied up in women's hair at that time."

Make your own decisions ladies, we love to see it.

How much can a tiny bee have anything to do with Simon and Daphne in Bridgerton? A lot, actually. Any viewer with a beady eye deduced that bees were a symbol throughout the show, and while most of us were celebrating when Daphne and Simon welcomed their baby, a lot of us missed a massive clue. According to Express, a bee was spotted on the windowsill of Daphne's bedroom; in the final moments of the birth scene, and the end of Bridgerton season 1, the bee was panned to, and then the credits rolled. 

So what does it all mean? Well, Daphne's father was killed by a bee sting, making her older brother Anthony the Viscount and head of the family. Fans who paid more attention to detail than we did have speculated that a potential second season of Bridgerton could say a partial goodbye to the drama that's Simon and Daphne, and pay more attention to Anthony and his life as the Viscount. While we all want to see more of Bridgerton's leading duo, maybe the second season will introduce us to more characters.

The rule is, as far as we're concerned, that the bigger the bed is, the better. Where are all our pets going to sleep? 

Bed size was not only an interesting production problem in Bridgerton, but it was a small aspect of Simon and Daphne's relationship that some (if not all of us) missed. The show's intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, told Vulture that the beds used for the show were "Regency size," which is code for historically accurate, but really tiny. "We had to work really hard to make sure that if there's ever any rolling action — which happens quite a lot in these scenes — that they didn't accidentally roll off the bed," Talbot revealed. "These beds were not built for someone as tall as Reǵe, and he'd be hanging off the bed. That's honestly where some of the key choreography comes from, is positioning people on beds."

In fact, bed size is a crucial part of Simon and Daphne's relationship, given that we don't think Simon's ego could've handled his feet constantly hanging off the edge of the bed.

We all know that Simon and Daphne stole some glances, shared some very steamy scenes, and had magnetic chemistry in Bridgerton, but the tension between them during one scene was easy to miss given the circumstances. Before their romance really kicked off, Simon and Daphne were seated at the Bridgerton's dinner table, surrounded by Daphne's family and siblings. Given the family dynamic and the joy that the scene depicted, the very apparent tension not only between Simon and Daphne, but coming from Simon himself was easy to brush over. 

So what was going on with the Duke? Regé-Jean Page has a theory. "One of the most exciting things about this project was to deconstruct what's perceived as masculine strength," Page told Esquire. "Simon holds an utterly self-destructive grudge, and the only way to defeat that is to release vulnerability. We're still trying to figure out how to let men be vulnerable, to realize there's strength in vulnerability, and that it's how you fill out the circle of masculinity." So someone tell Simon to breathe, relax his shoulders, and enjoy being around good people.

Bridgerton absolutely did not skip out on the opulent sets, the insanely lavish costumes, and of course, the balls. But one pivotal part of Simon and Daphne's relationship that wasn't over-the-top (and that we may have missed given that we were so excited they were getting married) was their wedding ceremony; according to the show's production designer, the small size was intentional. "I think the thing about it is they didn't want to make a big statement," Will Hughes-Jones told Brides. The wedding was "a much more intimate moment. We wanted to create that beautiful floral world in a much more subtle way." 

For all the glitz and glam that the rest of Bridgerton included, the wedding ceremony was much more stripped down. The only exception, according to Hughes-Jones, was the massive wedding cake. 

So what did the toned down wedding accomplish for Simon and Daphne? We think it could have something to do with just how dramatic their marriage turned out to be — a thematic contrast, in a way, that foreshadowed just how dark things would become between them.

Details that make a show really stand out from the crowd can present themselves in ways that we don't realize: the lighting, the set design, and sometimes, the music. To that end, in order to give the leading couple dynamic entrances in Bridgerton that engaged viewers, music composer Kris Bowers gave the couple their own sound, a detail that we definitely didn't pick up on. 

"I tried a couple of different approaches. The first one, I tried using orchestral instruments and sampling them as though they were part of a pop track or a hip-hop track, and that wasn't really working," Bowers told BuzzFeed. "It was a bit too modern and out of place. And then we tried the opposite direction and went really traditional. And that wasn't really working either." So what ended up being the winner? Bowers took another look at the piano pieces, "and tried to listen to those for inspiration for the rest of the score." 

He clearly got his moment of clarity, because the music used to create the dynamic between Simon and Daphne is amazing.

It's extremely easy to get caught up in the amazing dialogue, the outlandish costumes, and those scenes in Bridgerton. But one detail about Simon and Daphne's relationship that some viewers (us included) absolutely missed was the severe thematic changes in the score that accompanied the couple's marriage and development. Music composer Kris Bowers told BuzzFeed that Simon and Daphne's themes started off "really mysterious and very romantic, and sexy, and dark." Woah. "The only time early in the season that we hear it in a really optimistic form is that final dance scene at the end of episode 1... But from that point, the theme goes into all these twists and turns," Bowers continued. 

It's that kind of detail that we certainly didn't pick up on during the first watch of Bridgerton, but it was easily one of the many aspects of the show that made the relationship between Simon and Daphne feel so real. Bowers added that the themes of the couple often were "unsure and kind of vague," very much in parallel with their rockiness as a couple.