"I feel like people don't take romance seriously. But there's obviously a hunger for it. Ha's respect for the genre fuels the best season of Bridgerton since its premiere. As Sophie Baek, the Cinderella-style housemaid of illegitimate birth who charms the latest eligible Bridgerton bachelor, Ha is exquisite."
"Sophie is the first Bridgerton protagonist to exist fully outside the world's upper-class Regency fantasy. While Benedict Bridgerton wallows in tortured yearning and makes disastrous grand gestures, Ha's Sophie rarely has the power or freedom to say what she feels, as she's constrained by her financial dependency on her employers, her stepmother's vindictive streak, and the threat of physical violence from entitled noblemen."
"The only way Benedict and Sophie's romance becomes convincing under these circumstances is because of Ha's capacity for making Sophie's love, desire, and resentment transparent on her face."
Yerin Ha, a 28-year-old Australian actress, has become the breakout star of Bridgerton's fourth season, playing Sophie Baek, a housemaid of illegitimate birth who becomes the season's romantic heroine. Sophie represents the first Bridgerton protagonist to exist entirely outside the upper-class Regency fantasy, constrained by financial dependency, her stepmother's cruelty, and threats of violence from noblemen. Ha's performance excels at conveying Sophie's love, desire, and resentment through facial expressions, making the romance between Sophie and Benedict Bridgerton convincing despite their vastly unequal power dynamics. Ha's respect for the romance genre, cultivated through reading during COVID and studying the Julia Quinn novel that inspired the season, informs her nuanced portrayal of a character navigating severe limitations on her agency and freedom.
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