your fellow chaotic bi

Like, do they have to touch each other constantly? No. Are they going to? Yes, absolutely. Every single chance they can get.

It's giving HeYa. An oldie but a goodie. For the folks that are new here, HeYa is Heather Morris and Naya Rivera from Glee.

They're onscreen ship Brittana was born from their background scenes. Because the writers didn't care about their characters in beginning, they were given no instructions so they just did what they wanted. Which resulted in them unable keep their hands to themselves and ended with their ship getting married lol

The lead up to John’s death goes like this:

Francesca, Michael and John spend time together exchanging conversation —> Francesca, Michaela and John spend time together doing their puzzle and give us the cute final piece foreshadowing

John has a headache and retires for a nap. Same in both.

Michael/Michaela and Francesca spend time alone together. In the book, they go for a walk and chat. In the show, they make another puzzle offscreen.

Francesca goes to wake John up. She screams.

Now here’s the difference: in both show and movie, Michael and Michaela hear the scream and react. But. BUT! We don’t see Michaela go up to Fran and John’s room like we see in the book. There, Michael sees Francesca sobbing and knows upon seeing John’s body that he is gone. We see that grief and that immense, unbearable loss through his eyes.

In the show, we see Michaela react to the scream. We see her walk off camera, stunned and even frightened… and the episode ends. The next time we see Michaela, she’s curled up and quiet and the stillest we’ve ever seen her on the floor of the sitting room, dressed for her dearest cousin’s funeral and completely unprepared.

And I just find that so odd because on every other aspect of the scene they recreated the beats even if not the exact circumstances (puzzle vs walk, for example), so it stands out that we didn’t get that Michaela scene equivalent. From a filmmaker standpoint, it’s a good point to end the episode on. It’s not their season. It’s good drama and good character work to get right to Fran’s processing grief, which is the centerpoing to ep7.

But that’s the thing, isn’t it? We haven’t yet seen Michaela through her own lens yet, we haven’t had glimpses at her full interiority as a character. Almost all of her scenes are viewed through either Fran or John’s lens. The only time she’s Alone and Unobserved that we see is when she hears Fran’s argument with Violet. The bulk of her character work is definitely coming in season 5, which will center her as a proper lead.

So my theory is that they’re saving this scene. That we will see this in flashback during s5 as we explore Michaela’s character. This is Michaela’s greatest loss. It’s her dearest cousin. It’s looking at his body and knowing that’s not John anymore. It’s the crushing, sudden weight of losing him and her world going upside down as a result. Look, it’s material that could be right up there with Anthony’s flashbacks to his mother’s “Edmund should be here!” speech when Hyacinth was born.

I’m really hoping for flashbacks and this is one of the ones I’d like most. I want to see her confide in John, a memory of their laughter, a flashback to their time in Scotland, maybe the catalyst for Michaela’s “chaos,” so when we see the loss we know everything she feels behind it.

You make such a good point with Anthony’s flashback. Michaela’s “Edmund should be here!” is “Wake him up, Michaela! Now! Wake him up!” 😭 (I was working on this scene in my fic and gah my heart 💔)

Look. Look. In my heart of hearts, the “I have nothing!” Violet and Francesca scene (with Michaela listening) is essentially the Fran equivalent to Anthony’s “Do not ask me about family dinner” in s2. Season 4 did a lot of parallels to the previous seasons and Queen Charlotte, so I think we could get some more s2 flavored grief in here!!!

I have to give the Bridgerton show writers credit—They could have made Anthony/Benedict/Colin the most boring copy-paste versions of each other and attributed it to their sibling similarities. But instead they made Anthony the unwilling but ultimately incredible and dedicated father-figure (I love his relationship with Hyacinth 😭), Benedict a soft and earnest man just wishing to know himself and others, and Colin as a brother who admires and respects his older brothers but wishes to explore the world beyond.

All this to say, I want them to give Francesca the same sort of Bridgerton-related parallels as her brothers, but also her own independence that really makes her stand out on her own, and they already set her up for that by making her queer. It's going to be so good.

I'd pity the homophobes more for their lack of imagination and inability to empathize with a kind of love that has always persevered despite the violence and oppression, but they continue to act like homophobia is only when someone commits an actual hate crime, and not the entitlement to heterosexuality at the norm and therefore the most worthy, in their minds.

Also, I know it's unlikely, but they did show flashbacks to Simon's childhood, and just imagine one little scene of Michaela sitting on the floor with John, holding his hands and helping him calm down and breathe through a panic attack. Then to them around the age of 13, John holding Michaela's hands, "She is very pretty. I understand the feeling as no different from mine. Just... less common. Your secret is safe with me."

Cut to them on the floor after a ball in Kilmartin House. "I will do this for the remainder of the season, but John... I cannot—"

And John just takes her hands and they breathe, "You will always have a place in Kilmartin. I will make sure of it."

"Will you write it into law with Parliament?" Michaela jokes.

"No, but I will find a wife who is kind, who will love you and keep your secret, and you will always have a place with us. The Kilmartin line will always include you, Michaela."

Cut to Michaela sitting on the floor by herself in Kilmartin house in front of the fireplace in the drawing room, drinking scotch she found in John's office. Francesca returns from a ball, which Michaela had opted out of, especially since they had finally gotten to a point of friendship—she just cannot bring herself to watch Francesca dance with suitors.

"How was the ball?" as Francesca just wordlessly takes Michaela's glass of scotch.

"Can you keep a secret?" Michaela nods. "I spent most of it in the garden. Benedict spared me from a dance with a man known for being quite a clumsy dancer, so he and Sophie managed to distract my mother from trying to fill my dance card." Francesca takes a large gulp of scotch and pulls a face, "I have no idea how you drink this."

Michaela laughs lightly. "Your secret is safe with me."