Yerin Ha in Sophie-Benedict Bathtub Sex Scene, Babies
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Bridgerton” season 4, part 2, now streaming on Netflix.
After a slow start to “Bridgerton” season 4 in part 1, part 2 makes up for lost time with two deeply intimate but very different sex scenes between Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).
The first comes at the end of episode 5 (the opening episode of the second half of the season) when Sophie and Benedict give in to their lust for each other and have sex in his bedroom, despite their fear of getting caught and her worries about getting pregnant. On a Vitamin String Quartet cover of Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” the spicy scene is all about giving in to that bad idea they started at the end of Part 1, before Benedict’s “mistress” proposal got in the way.
“I feel like the pace of it definitely felt very different when we did it,” Ha shared Variety. “I think one is urgent, and the other is actually a little bit more nurturing and nurturing. There were things that we discussed for the first scene, like Sophie knows how to undress herself, because she’s a person who would know that. She doesn’t need help, there’s a lot of self-autonomy there. And so we also wanted to maybe make it a little bit different from the other seasons about what it means to potentially make love to someone who’s lower-ranking and they don’t actually like help.”
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton – Liam Daniel/Netflix
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
The second doesn’t come until episode 8, the season 4 finale. The moment is set to Strings From Paris’ rendition of Camila Cabello’s “Never Be the Same” and comes straight from Julia Quinn’s book “An Offer From a Gentleman,” in which Benedict and Sophie share a bath in his room. But in this scene there is no penetrative sex. Instead, Benedict cleans Sophie and pleasures her intimately without intercourse, honoring the fact that Sophie is still afraid of becoming pregnant, and the two desperately try to ensure that they can end up together, now that they have his family’s approval and only need that of society.
“I think the bathtub scene was also about, what does Sophie enjoy?” Ha said. “What does it mean to give pleasure and what does it mean to receive pleasure? And actually, giving can also be a sense of self-satisfaction. But even in that, I felt like it was a lot about her taking charge when she felt like it, but then also being able to be happy with the surrender of receiving. I think in the first one it was all about kind of trying to get somewhere together equally, while the other one was about more give and take and was a bit more poetic.”
Both scenes of physical intimacy were created in collaboration with “Bridgerton” intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot, who also helps Thompson and Ha pretend to have sex in a giant bathtub with sloshing water.
“That bathtub was also very long, and I have short legs,” Ha said, laughing. “So there were a lot of logistics, like, which arm should I make sure I hold on to so I don’t slip and go underwater? But Lizzy Talbot is great for that. She’s the best intimacy coordinator. And yes, bathtub sex scenes are not as glamorous as you might ultimately see them.”
See more of Variety‘s interview with Ha below, including her thoughts on the “fairy tale” of Benedict and Sophie’s future children, her conversations with showrunner Jess Brownell about her character — and how she’d like to see Sophie spend more time downstairs and get to know Kate better in season 5.
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton – Liam Daniel/Netflix
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
When Sophie and Benedict discuss their future together, he tells her that he has had feelings for and sex with both men and women. Sophie processes this quickly and responds very sympathetically and supportively given the time and historical context. Why do you think that is so?
When I read it, I thought, “Oh, wow – Sophie is so open and generous.” And then very quickly I thought: That makes sense, because I think Sophie is someone who has always been misunderstood her whole life. And she really struggles with people judging her because of her rank. Jess also mentioned to me that Sophie may be open to the fact that Alfie is also someone who may also have open sexuality. For example, she is not unfamiliar with it. And the maids are also people who keep the gossip in all households, and the people who really talk.
So I think she’s not oblivious to the concept of what open sexuality looks like, or fluidity – and then she’s also someone who hates being misunderstood. So who is she to make him feel misunderstood too? She is someone who has a lot of grace and space, and it’s all about love, isn’t it? It’s not about the fact that he was with a man or a woman. What matters is that he can really and freely express himself, and that’s so amazing. It’s actually about love with a person; it doesn’t matter what their sex or gender is.
Sophie is finally allowed to live in society and has a whole new world to join in the coming seasons – but do you think she’ll still be involved with her old life in the Downworld and with her stepsister Posey?
Naturally! I’d love to see the interaction between her and the people downstairs, or the differences in how the other Bridgerton siblings treat the people downstairs. I mean, they’ve kind of always been people who respect the lower class, but in terms of the way they treat each other, I’d like to see that. And certainly seeing Sophie go down in noble clothes, that would be really nice. I’d like to see that. I’d like to see them still prominently featured in the season. If I were a writer I would, but I’m not, so I can’t change that. But I would love to see that, and see Sophie also just develop her relationship with the Bridgerton sisters and still maintain her relationship with Posey. That would be very sweet.
Araminta made the choice to lie to Sophie about her father, Lord Penwood, providing for her in his will. Sophie believes this unconditionally until Benedict asks her to reevaluate why. What is your opinion on why Araminta was able to treat Sophie so harshly, even going so far as to throw her in prison – and why did Sophie accept Araminta’s story about the will?
I recently read an interesting quote that said people portray hatred because they don’t want to deal with the pain they have inside. And I think that’s a quality that Araminta possesses. I think when she came into this marriage with Lord Penwood she felt like she had been betrayed from the start. And that pain, and her important memory of Sophie, causes her to inflict a lot of pain on Sophie – because she cannot deal with her own pain.
It was a really funny dynamic, but in that respect I think Sophie is a much bigger person than I am. But that’s the moral of the story: no matter how much someone hurts you, you can choose to be the bigger person and rise above, rather than stoop to their level. But it just makes everything click for Sophie. And it hurts me that she never got to see the will, and that she was never able to believe it. She just believed what Araminta said, because I think from a very young age she always felt that from the moment Araminta came into her life, her father might have been acting a little strange, and that story that you create in your mind can be so strong.
So I understand why she did things the way she did, and she didn’t believe the things she did. When she found the will, it was also emotional to do that scene, because I’ve had things where I’ve been walking around with a certain story, and then someone actually told me that behind the scenes, that’s actually not the case. And it really puts things into perspective. It was actually a very emotional scene to film that one, and the one where I say to Benedict, “Actually, I was in the will.”
After an entire season exploring the pains of illegitimacy and the fear of pregnancy, Sophie and Benedict are now free to have children who would be warmly welcomed into society. Do you think they will?
I would love to see Benophie babies. That would be great. Especially since Sophie, I think, probably didn’t think this would be the case for her for so long. Maybe deep down she wanted it, but she refuses to let her child have the life she has, so she probably feels like she can’t have one, but now they can have a happy ending. And I think bringing a child into the world is something where she can change the story about herself, like actually teaching her love and being a mother that she may never have had. And when you do that with someone like Benedict, it’s like their own fairytale thing coming to life. I would love to see Benophie babies. It would be so cute.
Sophie got to know a few Bridgerton women this season – Eloise and Hyacinth most of all, while working for them, but also Penelope and Francesca – but had no scenes with Kate. Would you like to see those two team up in the future as the wives of the two oldest Bridgerton boys?
There was a scene where I was standing in the distance of Simone [Ashley]. But I was like, “Oh god, it would be so much fun…” I hope that will be the case in the future. I would love that and if the Asian leads come together, I would love that so much. So I’m hopeful, but again, I’m not the writers, so I have no power. But I hope so and she is such a sweet person. So I’m manifesting that for our future, down-the-line stuff.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
