'Bridgerton' 's Jonathan Bailey Says Season 2 Swapped Sex for "Deeper Human Understanding"

Bridgerton season 2 has been out on Netflix for roughly one week — so, naturally, we've already binged it ... twice. And while we greatly appreciated Anthony Bridgerton's (Jonathan Bailey) butt shot, shirtless bathtub scenes, and that lake moment, there was one thing we felt was missing, especially from the bonafide rake himself: the sex

Sure, throughout the whole season, the viscount and Ton newcomer Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) had plenty of sexual tension. Their lustful eye contact, heavy panting, and almost make outs had us on the very edge of our seats. But we had to wait in horny anticipation until episode seven for the ... climax (Alexa, play "How Deep is Your Love").

In a new interview with USA Today, Bailey addressed criticism that the show lacked the spicy scenes that were plentiful in season 1. "What you lose in sex scenes you gain in a deeper human understanding, which hopefully enriches the world so that the future intimacy scenes won't be the heavy feature, and (you) won't have to lean on them as much," he said. "It's right to surprise an audience and keep them on their toes a bit."

He went on to explain that the two took the moral high-ground, since Anthony was (spoiler) technically already betrothed to Kate's sister, Edwina Sharma. "It would have been wrong for Kate and Anthony to have got physical any sooner than they did. And I think the payoff is really earned."

This season's lack of steamy scenes left us feeling slightly dissatisfied. Of course, it's hard to argue with the importance of establishing emotional intimacy when you put it as eloquently as Bailey did. And perhaps it was Netflix and Shondaland's intention this whole time to set up season 3 and leave us wanting more.