Bridgerton and Our Flag Means Death agree: Let people have sex

polygon.com:

In December 2020, Netflix viewers met the first season of Bridgerton with open arms and a tremendous amount of pent-up yearning. A few COVID-19 variant waves later, the newly released season 2 joins a chorus of other shows and movies focused on the blissful freedom of doin’ it — and the dangers of suppressing the urge. While the characters in Bridgerton, Ti West’s recent horror movie X, and HBO Max’s gay pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death vary in age, they all show there’s a danger in thinking there’s an expiration date on sexual desire.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Bridgerton, X, and Our Flag Means Death.]

Take Bridgerton season 2: When aging, formerly well-to-do baroness Portia Featherington winds up penniless after her husband’s death, she waits to see what young man will assume the title of “Lord Featherington” and control her family’s fate. It turns out to be Lord Jack Featherington, a distant relative she’s never met, who (after a bit of scheming on both their parts) eventually turns out to be a canny hustler. The two Featheringtons scam the whole ton to earn money, but as their gambit gets close to being found out, Portia is caught in a con of seduction. Lord Jack preys on her widow status, promising to marry her when they run away to the States.

Though she ultimately squirms out of his grasp, Portia considers his proposal; after all, in a season all about the deep ache that sexual urges can instill, Lady Featherington is no exception. The woman wants to get laid, and almost absconds to America with a known crook (and her daughter’s betrothed) to do it. The possible deception of it all doesn’t really matter, at least for a second. Like the young adults populating Bridgerton’s many balls, Lady