Image Credit: Netflix
Despite largely strong ratings from critics, bridgerton Season 4 – at its halfway point – has the weakest viewership score of any season on Rotten Tomatoes. The review has become the target of another wave of bombings.
Review bombing has been rampant on Netflix dramas for many years, and recently we’ve seen a flood of negative reviews deliberately aimed at driving down the overall rating over complaints unrelated to the show. This plays a major role in how people perceive ratings on websites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
Review bombing culture is prevalent across streaming services the last of us (HBO) stranger things (Netflix). The latter is one of the most high-profile recent examples of review bombing. In stranger things Season 5; Specifically, in episode 7, ‘The Bridge’, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) comes out as gay to his friends and family. It’s intended to be a sweet moment, but the effect of review bombing is immediately noticeable. If you take a look at IMDb, you’ll see that the episode is approx double The amount of ratings, like others in the season, totaled 187K, and is currently at a 5.6/10 – making it the lowest rated episode in the show’s history.
Of course, many fans had no objection to Will’s coming out scene. That moment was far from sudden. This was hinted at in Season 1, and the scene in ‘The Bridge’ confirmed Will’s confidence and trust in his friends and family. If there’s any obvious criticism to be made of that scene, it’s this one Was Heavily drawn. In fact, it’s already been reported online that Will’s come-out moment took up more screen time than the final battle against Vecna.
And now, shortly after stranger things Was review-bombed, bridgerton Season 4 is getting similar treatment. The new season stars Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), who falls in love with a mysterious silver-skinned woman, Sophie Beck (Yerin Ha), during a masquerade ball. The next morning, he tries to find the woman he loved, but she has distanced herself from society. Turns out, she is a maid who had come in disguise, just for one night, to experience life in society. Taking special inspiration from Cinderella, the season takes on a fairy tale-like atmosphere.
Image: Netflix
Its score was only 52% in initial review bombing But rotten tomatoes ‘Popcornmeter’, the metric formerly called Audience Score. At the time of writing (February 1, 2026), Season 4 has risen to a more respectable 68%, although this score makes it the lowest-rated season to date. For context, the previous minimum score saw a minimum score of 71% in Season 1, although this has increased since then. As far as critics’ scores are concerned, season 4 has been certified fresh at a strong rating of 80% – this issue is, frankly, a matter of review bombing.
Below, we’ve compiled each season’s Rotten Tomatoes scores, including both critic and viewer scores:
- Bridgerton Season 1: Critic Score 81% / Viewer Score 71%
- Bridgerton Season 2: Critic Score 78% / Viewer Score 72%
- Bridgerton Season 3: Critic Score 87% / Viewer Score 76%
- Bridgerton Season 4: Critic Score 80% / Viewer Score 68%
It’s not just rotten tomatoes. metacritic It received rave reviews soon after its release, receiving an overall score of 1.4. Users out there criticized the show for a myriad of reasons. One user wrote, “The inclusion of certain characters feels disrespectful and seems like just ticking DEI boxes, and historical accuracy is essentially non-existent.” This was his 9th review on the platform, every one of them completely negative.
Another user, boasting only one review on their profile, wrote: “Worst season of Bridgerton. The main characters had no chemistry, the storytelling style of the main characters was dull, and the overall editing was terrible.”
It is worth noting that the Metacritic score has improved from the initial 1.4. It currently stands at 4.5/10 with a favorable critic score of 65.
What are critics saying about Bridgerton Season 4?
Of course, for the most part, bridgerton Season 4 has been a successful fall. We liked it, and critics generally liked it too mostly The season was praised with some caveats. It wasn’t all positive, but it was far from bitter. Many of the criticisms are valid and well explained. “It’s hard to resist the mix of sappy soap and fairy-tale wish-fulfillment in this period drama. However, it’s totally bananas,” Guardian wrote. During this time, Diversity considered it a success, but had reservations: “‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 1 succeeds despite Benedict and Sophie’s lackluster romance.”
Independent was a little more harsh, but maintained that it is a pleasure to watch: “Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha lead the new series, which, for all its predictability, is reliably enjoyable to watch.”
If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s that we probably shouldn’t pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic audience ratings when a system’s reviews have clearly deteriorated just minutes after launch.
Bridgerton will return for Season 4, Part 2 on February 26, 2026.