Well, it's the reveal we've been waiting for all season. If you haven't watched the rest of Bridgerton season 3, aka Part 2 (episodes 6-8) and want to avoid spoilers, turn back now as we're getting into very spoilery territory. It's the moment we've all been waiting for, and it happens at the end of episode 6, "Romancing Mister Bridgerton!"
Following the ticking deadline Eloise gives Penelope in episode 5, and Cressida Cowper claiming she's Lady Whistledown, things come to a head and are out of control when it comes to Penelope's Lady Whistledown secret at the end of the sixth episode. Now that's a plot twist I didn't see coming! Eloise and Penelope start freaking out due to Cressida's "reveal," and Penelope convinces her friend to let her print just one more issue before she marries Colin to discredit Cressida. This will protect Eloise's family, and right the wrong Penelope has done with her pen. This was definitely growth for her as she realized her gossip sheets have done some damage.
For the last few episodes, Colin knows that Penelope has been hiding something, as well as trying to tell him something. Well, he finally finds out what the big secret is! After talking to Eloise, Penelope rushes to print a column to discredit Cressida before she prints a full issue in the morning. With Colin and Penelope now engaged and the Bridgerton gentleman knowing something is up, he decides to follow her. He also followed her to check up on her. But he got more than what he bargained for.
And so, we see her deliver an issue to the printer she's been working with since season 2. At first, she's relieved her issue will be out before Cressida's. But as Penelope turns around, Colin is right there and angrily asks, "You, are Lady Whistldown?" And so yes, friends! Colin finally finds out Penelope is really Lady Whistledown in the last moments of Bridgerton season 3 episode 6. She had multiple chances to tell him, and she really should have because following her and learning about it this way instead of the truth coming from Penelope herself is not a good look. But now the cat's out of the bag. I'm just glad Colin didn't find out after they got married. I wouldn't have liked that at all.
So what happens next? The start of episode 7 picks up right after and Colin states that he's never going to forgive Penelope. The two will move forward with getting married, as he says he's a gentleman and they've been intimate. But how that marriage will look is another story with this secret now exposed. Plus, Penelope isn't keen on giving up Lady Whistledown, which is making Colin more frustrated and not able to forgive her so quickly. Penelope and Colin do end up getting married, but he sleeps on the settee. It's in name only at the moment.
Finally in the season 3 finale, Penelope ends up exposing herself when Queen Charlotte puts it together that it has to be someone in the Bridgerton household who is Lady Whistledown. While at her sisters' ball, she pleads her case and the queen surprisingly forgives her, and is awaiting more gossip. Which means that now everyone in the ton knows Penelope is Lady Whistledown, and Queen Charlotte is going to allow her to continue to write. For now. And that's definitely what Penelope wants to do.
Finally after some tension and angst between the two, Colin realizes that Penelope and Lady Whistledown are one after rereading their letters to each other. And he accepts her for who she is. The season ends on such a cute moment as we learn the two have a son, the new Lord Featherington, and now Penelope signs her Lady Whistledown issue as, Penelope Bridgerton. So it's a happy ending, after all. But I always had no doubt it would end this way and it makes me very happy!
Bridgerton season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.