Get your mallets ready and swinging arm warmed up, because Netflix just released a new behind-the-scenes look at the famous pall-mall scenes from Season 2 of Bridgerton, giving us a look at the cast and crew's insights into how they translated the book-famous scene into the series.
Season 2 star Charithra Chandran, who plays the sweet and naive Edwina Sharma in the series, did not parse words with her assessment of the scene's importance, stating that it was "[d]efinitely the most anticipated scene of the series." And it's no wonder, as the game of pall-mall seems to be the perfect outlet for the large Bridgerton family, and their esteemed guests, to work out any pent-up tension and illustrate their family's competitive and loving relationship. The game of pall-mall, which is explained with varying accuracy by the cast and crew in the new behind-the-scenes featurette, is a lawn game that is a precursor to croquet (think Heathers). Players in pall-mall compete to whack their balls through a series of brackets in as few strokes as possible: antics and sabotage often ensue.
The pall-mall scene in the second season of Bridgerton fully illustrates this fun and contentious game-play, especially as it helps to illustrate the tension between the Season 2 lead Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his love interest Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) who just so happens to be his fiancée's sister. Their barbs and spars carry throughout the scene until they find themselves, through tricky ball-whacks, both sent to a muddy gap in the woods to retrieve their balls. Laughter and close-up heavy breathing follow closely after.
The scene is essential for the arc of their relationship, but it also helps to illustrate the relationship and power dynamics of the Bridgerton family, which the new featurette further explores. Among the revelations from the featurette is the fact that much of the sequence was, in fact, improvised. The actors were allowed to go about their game in an unencumbered or choreographed way, thus giving way to a more playful scene, which allowed for the playful sibling dynamic, and the more romantic one between Anthony and Kate, to play out.
Also included in the featurette were insights into the cast's relationship to their own mallets, and the nicknames were given there-to. Just try and figure out what names they gave their mallets, with results ranging from "Pamallet Anderson" to "Bryan". If you'd like to know even more cheeky little facts about the pall-mall scene, you can watch the new featurette below.