Bridgerton: What Miss Thompson Drinks (Is It Poison?)

In Bridgerton season 1, episode 7, “Oceans Apart,” Marina brews a strange and potentially dangerous tea. When Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker), a distant relative of Lord Featherington, arrives from the country to live with the Featheringtons, she stuns and charms the town. Marina enjoys the company of her potential suitors and doesn’t seem to mind being the center of attention – until she begins to fear that her secret will be exposed: the unwed Marina had become pregnant before arriving in London. Marina is discovered by Lady Featherington, who tries to help Marina conceal her pregnancy, if only out of self-preservation.

At first, Marina believes that George Crane, the father of her child, will come for her. But Lady Featherington forges a letter that breaks Marina’s heart and dashes her hopes. Marina then decides to try and marry, even if she must seduce a man and force him into the marriage, which she attempts with Colin Bridgerton. But the honorable young man refuses to take advantage of her and instead proposes. Marina gleefully accepts, but when Lady Whistledown inevitably discovers Marina’s secret, she publishes the news for everyone to read. Colin breaks up with Marina, leaving the young girl hopeless and desperate. No one (at least no one within five decades of her age) will marry her and she has no means of supporting herself or a child. Believing she is left with no other option, Marina attempts to end her pregnancy.

Marina goes to the kitchen where she collects juniper berries, dandelion, and some other unknown herbs. She crushes them with a mortar and pestle then boils them in water and drinks the resulting tea. There are herbs known to have abortifacients or emmenagogic (something that stimulates menstruation) properties and it’s feasible that Marina may have had access to some of these herbs and known their potential. While Bridgerton is a work of fiction, as is Marina’s tea, there is some historical precedent for desperate women attempting to end unwanted pregnancies by consuming various herbs. But, as Women’s Health Magazine notes, “herbs and plants like these can have lethal effects on the fetus and the pregnant woman in real life.” According to Julie Levitt, MD, clinical instructor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Medicine, “I think the thing to remember is it may not work at all,” she explained. “Number two, it may work somewhat and damage the pregnancy or damage the placenta. Number three, it could harm the pregnant patient in terms of liver toxicity and who knows what other poisoning.“

Unfortunately, that’s not always a deterrent to women who find themselves in tragically similar (and too often much worse) situations to Marina Thompson. Marina may have even known that the tea might end her life as well as the life of her unborn child and, sadly, she still took that risk. Sometime after Marina drinks her tea, Penelope finds Marina face down and unconscious. Marina is thankfully revived and appears to make a full recovery.

To Marina’s dismay, however, the tea didn’t work as she intended and she remained pregnant. In another blow to Marina’s chances of surviving the shame of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy in Bridgerton‘s Regency era-set world, Marina learns that George has died, hence him not responding to her letters. However, George’s brother, Phillip, offers to marry Marina in his place. Marina initially rebuffs the proposal, still believing at that time she was no longer pregnant. But when she learns she’s still with child and her lover dead, it all but forces her into a marriage with a stranger.

The end of Bridgerton season 1 leaves Marina’s future somewhat in the air. Bridgerton reveals very little about her new fiancé, but there is hope yet. Without spoiling too much of Marina’s (incredibly tragic, albeit brief) story in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton books, it looks like the show has altered enough of her character to this point that any future seasons of Bridgertonmay give her some version of a happily – or at least safe and content – ever after.

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