People are Review Bombing ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4, But Critics Mostly Praise It

Picture Credit: Netflix Despite largely strong ratings from critics, Bridgerton Season 4 — at its halfway point — has the weakest Audience Score of any season on Rotten Tomatoes. It has become the target of another wave of review bombing.  Review bombing has been rife on Netflix dramas for many years, and recently we’ve seen an influx of negative reviews aimed at deliberately lowering overall ratings over grievances unrelated to the shows themselves. It’s become a big contributor to how people perceive ratings on websites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.  The review bombing culture is prevalent across streaming services, from The Last of Us (HBO) to Stranger Things (Netflix). The latter is of the most talked-about recent examples of review bombing. In Stranger Things Season 5; specifically, Episode 7, ‘The Bridge,’ Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) comes out as gay in front of his friends and family. It’s intended as a sweet moment, but the effect of review bombing is instantly noticeable. If you take one look at IMDb, you’ll notice that the episode has almost double the amount of ratings as others in the season, 187K in total, and it currently stands at 5.6/10 — making it the lowest-rated episode in the show’s history. Of course, many fans took no issue with Will’s coming-out scene. The moment was far from sudden. It was alluded to way back in season 1, and the scene in ‘The Bridge’ affirmed Will’s confidence and trust to confide in his friends and family. If there’s a clear criticism to be made of that scene, it’s that it was heavily drawn out. In fact, it’s already been pointed out online that Will’s coming-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 receiving similar treatment. The new season follows lead Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), who falls in love with a mysterious Lady in Silver, Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), during a masquerade ball. The next morning, he tries to find the lady he fell for, but she’s removed herself from society. Turns out, she’s a maid who snuck into the masquerade ball to experience life in society, if only just for one night. The season takes on a fairytale vibe, taking particular inspiration from Cinderella.  Picture: Netflix Initial review bombing saw it score a mere 52%  on Rotten Tomatoes ‘Popcornmeter’, the metric previously called Audience Score. At the time of writing (February 1, 2026), Season 4 has grown to a more respectable 68%, although this score makes it the lowest-rated season yet. For reference, the previous lowest score saw Season 1 hit a low of 71%, though that has risen since. As for critic scores, Season 4 is Certified Fresh on a strong 80% rating — the issue, clearly, is a case of review bombing. Below, we’ve compiled the Rotten Tomatoes scores of each season, including both critic and audience scores:  Bridgerton Season 1: Critic Score 81% / Audience Score 71% Bridgerton Season 2: Critic Score 78% / Audience Score 72% Bridgerton Season 3: Critic Score 87% / Audience Score 76% Bridgerton Season 4: Critic Score 80% / Audience Score 68% It’s not just Rotten Tomatoes either. Metacritic also saw scathing reviews almost immediately on release, totalling a 1.4 score. Users on there criticised the show for myriad reasons. “The inclusion of certain characters feels shoehorned and as if DEI boxes are just being ticked, and the historical accuracy is essentially non existent,” one user wrote; it was their 9th review on the platform, every one of them entirely negative. Another user, boasting just the one review on their profile, wrote: “Worst season of Bridgerton. The leads had no chemistry, storytelling of the main characters was dull, and the editing overall was terrible.” It’s worth noting that Metacritic scores have since improved from the initial 1.4. It currently stands at 4.5/10 with a favourable 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 drop. We liked it, and critics in general have mostly praised the the season, with a couple of caveats. It wasn’t all positive, but far from scathing. Many of the criticisms are valid and well explained.  “This period drama’s puddingy mix of clunking soap and fairytale wish-fulfilment is hard to resist. It is, however, utterly bananas,” The Guardian wrote. Meanwhile, Variety deemed it a success, but had their reservations: “’ Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 1 Succeeds Despite Benedict and Sophie’s Lackluster Romance.” The Independent was a little harsher, but retained that it’s a joy to behold: “Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha lead the new series which, for all its predictability, is reliably pleasant to watch.” If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it that we perhaps should not heed Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic audience ratings when the system has clearly been review bombed minutes after launch.  Bridgerton returns for Season 4, Part 2 on February 26, 2026.