Something that I find Fascinating is that the show reproduces John’s death from the book beat for beat EXCEPT for one very curious detail.
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.
It could be SUCH A PIVOTAL SCENE FOR THEM!! It would be DEVASTATING!! My bets would be on episode 2 since it tends to be the romantic lead flashback episode. And I could be wrong! But I would Love to be right on this
Michaela Stirling if you can hear me, PLEASE tell me you jumped ship with Lady Danbury to Sierra Leone. Please. Please. Please. The comedic potential of this duo is astronomical. Imagine Michaela on a rake rampage™ trying to drown the guilt and longing by getting flipped around like a pancake by every queer woman in Freetown meanwhile Lady D watches her stumble back after her fourth night out that week (it’s not even friday) and she’s genuinely asking herself what the hell is wrong with that child. Then flash forward two years later they return to London together and one single interaction between Michaela and Francesca makes Lady D goes 💡
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Wrote a Franchaela fic🙂↕️🏰
Summary:
Francesca knew that Helen kept a frequent correspondence with her daughter. She imagined writing to Michaela, telling her news of herself, of the estate, of their shared family. The last letter Francesca had received from Michaela had arrived six months ago. The first she had thrown away; after that, she could not imagine reading the ones that followed, not when she had not read the first.
But the last one had arrived on a cold, lonely day. Francesca had brought it to her room, sunk onto the bed, and held it in both hands. She had smelled it. Stared at the handwriting. Wondered whether it contained the answers she sought. Why Michaela had left. Where she was. Whom she was meeting and speaking to. But if she read it, she might have to reply, and she could not imagine replying without spilling herself in ink. I thought of you today and yesterday. I will think of you tomorrow. I wish I did not, but I cannot help it. Please, come back. I am waiting for you.
Notes:
A little Francesca character study. I wanted to write about insane fucking grip Michaela has on this woman’s psyche. This is the result:) big thank you to @peachykeentingz for beta-ing this they were the best
Nonono I don't think you all understand how endless and fascinating the possibilities are for Michaela in season 5.
Everything Is Going To Happen To Her. My girl is going to be put in So Many Situations!!!! AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
- Hannah mentioned we're going to see a "different side of Michaela through her costuming" and that the people working on it are "doing a lot of storytelling"
- archer Michaela
- horseback rider Michaela (well, officially this one is Masali's wish but I'm hoping it's a subtle spoiler too)
- the exploration of Michaela's relationship with her mother and her aunt
- her friendship with Lady Elizabeth, who is most likely queer as well!!!!!
- Michaela with malaria (or some other health condition that she tries her best to handle on her own due to her unwillingness to be perceived as vulnerable now that John is gone and so many eyes are on her, until she reaches a breaking point and things get scary for a while)
- Countess if Kilmartin Michaela!!! Infamously "chaotic" Michaela grappling with John's legacy and taking on responsibilities she never wished to have, but AS A LESBIAN WOMAN!!
- Reluctant yet dashing diamond of the season Michaela!!
- fuck it, Parliament member Michaela, if the writers are as crazy as me!!!!!! I could not care less about period-accurate sexism!!!!
- YEARNER MICHAELA!! YEARNCHAELA!!!
- ... and almost as a consequence RECKLESS RAKE MICHAELA!!!!!!!!!! Guilt-ridden Michaela who's trying oh so hard to get over her lesbian devotion to her deceased cousin's wife by sleeping around!!!!
It was as if a star had asked a passing comet, brilliant in its speed and burn, to halt its trajectory. A star, who’s only light was what it reflected from the sun. A star, dull in its posterity. What could a star offer a comet?
Isolation? Sedentary life? The echo of an empty room? No, the star could offer the comet nothing at all.
She felt monstrously stupid for even asking Michaela to stay. How embarrassing. How Michaela must have pitied her, must have told her yes she’d stay because she felt so sorry for the poor widow, the outcast of her own family, a barren waste of a woman.
Barren. She must be destined to be alone. God must have intended this. Francesca Stirling was to have no love, no child, no friend. She was to be wholly peerless.
Had Michaela laughed at how pathetic she was? Had Michaela told her friends how sad, how desperate she was, the way she clung to Michaela for companionship. So blinded by her own adoration for Michaela that she could not see Michaela’s own ambivalence towards her.
At least she hoped it was ambivalence. It could be disdain. Disgust.
Francesca felt sick.
When did it all go wrong? What signs did she miss?
She thought they had been friends. She thought that meant Michaela liked her company. She had said they were friends, hadn’t she? Or had it been Francesca to declare them friends? Maybe she had imagined the whole conversation up in her head.
And even if they were friends, Francesca was only one of many. One of many not just in England, but in Britain, on the whole continent. Michaela had friends around the world, no doubt exponentially more interesting and entertaining that she. A lonely widow who preferred melodies to conversation.
After awhile, Francesca realized it was for the best. Because she had grown to love Michaela. And Michaela deserved to live the life she wanted to live. Who was selfish Francesca to beg her to stay to fulfill her own desires? No, Francesca did not want to be her unwanted anchor.
So fine. Francesca would take breakfast alone. Francesca would play pianoforte for an audience-less room. Francesca would decline social invitations in favor of hiding in the orangery. She did not much care for friendship, anymore.
She was meant to be alone. She excelled at being alone. It was nice to be good at something.
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