It’s official. The “frazzled English women aesthetic” is back and better than ever. Grab your skinny scarves, mismatched prints, disheveled tote bags and unkempt hair and head to Peacock — Bridget Jones has returned to screens for the fourth installment of the classic romcom series, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”

For over 20 years now, Renée Zellweger has played the part of the rough around the edges, yet extremely loveable, Bridget Jones. From a mid 20s London singleton to a married woman with two children, Jones is a relatable character for women who find themselves moving through these phases of life. 

In the newest installment of the series, Jones is rejoined by her “core four” friendship group — Shazzer (Sally Phillips), Jude (Shirley Henderson) and Tom (James Callis) — as well as the playboy turned babysitter, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). With her friends by her side, she embarks on a new era of life — navigating grief and loss. 

The opening scene of the film finds Bridget and her two children in their charming, colorful, extremely cluttered London home, just the place one would expect the frazzled and clumsy Jones to live. Immediately, it is clear that something is missing from the picture. Jones’ husband, Mark Darcy, who has been a cornerstone of the last three installments of the series, is nowhere to be found. We quickly learn that Mark, a successful human rights lawyer, had been tragically killed in an active war zone while on assignment in Sudan. 

As the self-proclaimed biggest Bridget Jones fan ever, and someone who has remained on “Team Mark” since the first film of the series, I was devastated to learn that Colin Firth would not be rejoining the classic cast of characters. But upon finishing the film, I can recognize that his departure was just what the series needed to bring Jones into herself. 

Jones has always been a character overly concerned with her weight, her cigarette and alcohol consumption, her overall physical appearance and how others perceive her. Especially in the first two installments of the series, the heavy focus on Jones’ insecurities and insistence on finding a boyfriend held viewers back from getting to know who she truly was outside of her relationships. This fourth film — watching Jones navigate the weight of losing a partner, being a single parent, returning to the workforce and, of course, falling in love again — was extremely refreshing. 

This version of Jones offered the opportunity for the character, often more concerned about others than with herself, to prioritize aspects of her life outside of her romantic relationships. She made the effort to be a better, more present mom to her young children, to return to her high-profile news production job and to find more time for friendship. I found myself most engaged with the parts of the film focused on Jones’ progression from a shell-of-herself widower to a working mom able to juggle the difficulties that come with guiding young children through the loss of their father. Where the film lost me, though, was in the romantic subplots. 

Since all Bridget Jones movies to date have followed the “love triangle” trope, it made sense that this fourth film would continue this narrative, but I feel that this at times took away from the more hard-hitting, emotional explorations of grief and self-discovery. Specifically, Jones’ brief relationship with the park employee 20 years her younger, Roxster (Leo Woodall), while important for the comedic aspects of the film, was strange. It was definitely interesting to see an age-gap relationship where the woman is the senior partner represented in the media, but I still feel that this whirlwind relationship detracted from Jones’ blossoming into a woman finally comfortable in her independence.

While Jones was thankfully able to realize she had no business attempting to be in a serious relationship with a man closer in age to her children than herself, the film still ends with her beginning a new relationship, this time with her children’s science teacher, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Throughout the film, Mr. Wallaker acted as a role model for Jones’ children, helping them understand that while their father may be gone, his energy remains all around them. He was able to help Jones find comfort in the fact that her children, while naturally devastated by the loss of their father, were ultimately going to be OK. His role as this sort of “grief guide,” in my opinion, should not have then translated into a romantic relationship with Jones. The most powerful way to end a film about regaining your sense of self in the wake of loss would have been to end up truly OK with being single in the end. 

I cannot hate Jones for finding love again, though. She certainly deserves to be happy after all of the chaos she has endured in her middle years of life. The film ultimately did a good job at balancing romance with the real life struggles of loss and was surprisingly moving for a series that has previously been centered around more lighthearted, fun themes, even bringing me to tears at a couple of moments. Seeing all of the series’ classic characters back on the screen to support Jones through her transition felt like the perfect way to bring the series to a full circle ending.