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Anthony’s reaction to that disdain is a mixture of wounded pride and a failed attempt at indifference. In that specific scene, you see him physically tense up; he puts on his “mask” to absorb the blow of her words.
When analyzing the pivotal study confrontation in Episode 1, a precise reading of the character dynamics reveals that Anthony’s reaction to his mother’s attack is not one of explosive retaliation, but of a defensive, emotionally paralyzed silence. As Violet Bridgerton stands over him, launching a fierce verbal assault that reduces the woman he loves to “a certain soprano you support in an apartment you pay for on the other side of town,” Anthony remains effectively speechless. He absorbs the weaponized language of maternal guilt and the looming shadow of his dead father without offering a single word of defiance. This scene serves as the tragic blueprint for his character arc: because he is unable to defend Siena or confront Violet’s emotional blackmail out loud, his suppressed agony hardens into the petrified, loveless stoicism that defines his tragic isolation in Season 2. [1, 2]