Now that you’ve had a chance to seeBridgertonseason two, and maybe reckon with how far they go with the love triangle andhow they rushed the happy ending, we can spend a little time cataloging all the good stuff in the new season, such as: Kate and Anthony staring at each other and breathing into each other’s mouths.

The happy ending might be rushed, but the pining is exquisite, and there is so, so much of it, just a veritable forest of pining. And one problemBridgertondoesn’t have is the chemistry between Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley. I might never understand the story decision to make Kate and Anthony a couple of assholes—Edwina didn’t deserve any of that sh-t, and we WILL be talking about it!—but I DO understand the decision to have as many scenes as possible of Kate and Anthony staring at each other with unceasing longing and terrible yearning. And now, here are the top five moments of Kate and Anthony staring at each other (and breathing directly into each other’s mouths), rated on the “distressed young miss” scale

The Library

Yeah, yeah, it’s different from the book. It’s still SUPER HOT. It’s also the most vulnerable we’ve seen Anthony be up to this point, and the house party is when Kate and Anthony’s mutual attraction starts deepening into something else as they share a few private moments where they can let their guards down. And can I just say? That Jonathan Bailey? Barefoot with his sleeves rolled up and suspenders down? It is a LOOK.

Rating: A young miss helplessly fluttering her kerchief

The Bee

The first skin-to-skin contact Kate and Anthony share, and the moment the walls between them begin to crumble. Story-wise, very important. Horny-wise, very horny.

Rating: A young miss giggling breathlessly behind a fan

The Pinky Brush

They are! Like magnets! Honestly, the combination of Anthony’s purposeful stride and the way their pinkies twitch toward one another is almost TOO MUCH. Whoever came up with this should get a bonus.

Ranking: A young miss’s heaving bosom

The Near Miss

Anthony’s honor is hanging by a thread. A THREAD, KATE. He is TRYING to do the right thing, which is to irrevocably f-ck up his life, your life, and your sister’s life by proposing to the wrong person, and you have the NERVE to just, er…be in the room. Anthony, get it the f-ck together, if you feel it’s inevitable that you’re going to f-ck your bride’s sister, maybe don’t propose? And I know this is the moment he tries to get out of it, but I say this for later, when he’s already told Kate she cannot go far enough away from him to stop him from finding her and f-cking her someday, and then he proposes to Edwina anyway. This man means so well and wants to make everyone happy (except himself) so badly, and yet he cannot stop doing the most bonkers things in the absolute worst of moments, but here, at least, he does NOT make out with Kate immediately after the Sheffields reveal themselves to be massive assholes. But he comes so close, and it is SO HOT.

Ranking: Fetch the young miss’s smelling salts!

The Waltz

Kate and Anthony dance so sexily by Regency standards that they clear the floor as everyone watches them eye f-ck to “Wrecking Ball”. 10/10, no notes.

Ranking: Take the young miss to the fainting couch at once!

Attached - Simone Ashley at 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar party.