Addressing Bridgerton's BIGGEST Controversy
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2024
- So we’ve had a little breathing room since the end of Season 3 but it doesn’t seem that the heat has died down in terms of complaints about it. Well that’s good news for me, because it gives me plenty to talk about and offer unsolicited opinions on the recent story decisions that have proved so divisive. So strap yourselves in kids, because we’re doing into arguably the most controversial topic in the Bridgerton fandom to date: the Michael/Michaela gender-bend. Enjoy
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I think the genderswap is fine, but the implication that Francesca doesn't really love John and that their whole quiet love thing isn't real is actually bullshit. Michaella should have been the one to react to Francesca, not the other way around. I hate that they made this story about how a quiet love is still as real as the fiery nonsense her siblings had, only to backtrack at the last second cause only dramatic love is real love. They had Violet finally admit she was wrong, only to have the show say, no she wasn't wrong, there is only one kind of love.
Im fairly certain Michaela reacted. Did you notice she looked away before addressing the crew probably to compose herself and she made sure to ask Fran her name and not Eloise...to make sure she knew who she was so not to flirt. Also undermining her love for John, who mind you, she fought the queen for, is also nearsighted. Her love for John is not mitigated at any point here.
I agree.
The whole point of francesca trying to prove not all love stories are like Violet’s got thrown away in ten seconds with Francesca’s reaction to Michaela. It should have been the other way around.
Why build up that dynamic and story of you never wanted to follow through with it?
I'm sure that they'll reinforce that their love is real, but that whatever she feels for michaela is stronger
Confused as to why everyone who purports to be a fan of this show about spicy romance is suddenly so offended by the idea that enjoying sitting next to another person in silence is actually not a particularly good foundation for real love, esp with the hindsight of knowing that Fran is gay, thus her eagerness to quickly marry off to the first man she meets who is quiet and considerate is just a massive cope and not a "quiet love" at all.
@@WalkingTravisty there are some who are not into this show because of the steamy scenes but for the emotional aspects of it which is why Polin is such a big ship. We followed them since season 1 and saw how their friendship blossomed into love.
For me, I don’t like the contradiction of writing that there can be different types of love and connection and not all of them have to be spicy.
And after Francesca stood up to her mom about it even before meeting John, it makes no sense for her to just hyperventilate after meeting Francesca once.
But can understand her being uncomfortable with the men’s comments is because she doesn’t view men that way.
Maybe if she did not pursue John first, I would just say, yeah she may be ace or gay.
I just feel the writing contradicted itself a bit in what they thought true love was. Not every relationship has to be like Violet’s and I like that the story was subverting that with Francesca and John and wish they did not wipe it away in ten seconds with her first interaction with Michaela.
I'm scared they are going to make a cheating plot, that's all. Michaela should be the one stuttering, she should be the one mesmerized by Francesca. I'm so TIRED of cheating plots in EVERY TV Show.
It's great for drama. Several change on s2 to more focus on LW at end than our Protagonist, making them did that again on s3.
Left out our Polin and Fran love story like side characters. I mean our Birdgerton moments only got a bit for 8 eps.
They will that and more, maybe. This adaptation have big room for drama fans.
Not just cheating, worse! the fact she doesn’t seem to be in love with john bothers me. It made me feel bad for John, she’s not supposed to fall for someone else while he was still alive, it’s awful 😞
It’s almost as if they are trying to normalize it…🤔
out of all the problematic male leads from the bridgerton book series, they chose to gender-bend the one dude who's a huge fan favourite and matters the most the their storyline. in the show, fran quite literally went against THE QUEEN to marry john. their story in the show as well as the book was beautiful and comforting to them but in the end, the showrunners cheapened it by showing us she is now suddenly fawning over his cousin.
*book spoilers*
john & fran shared a beautiful couple of years of marriage before his passing. michael fell for fran the first time he met her but did nothing about it & it stays that way for many years AFTER john's passing. fran loses her baby after he passes away which leaves her devastated. after years of john's passing, fran decides to re-enter the marriage market for the sole purpose of becoming a mother. so michael's gender does play a significant role in fran's story. in the show with michaela, it will boil down to fran potentially emotionally (and/or physically) cheating on john. it completely erased the most important parts of her book- fertility issues, loss of a loved one, grief, finding two true loves, etc.
if they want michaela to work, they shouldn't have made fran fall for her first.
I totally agree! The Bridgertons were totally smitten with Michael and not to mention, the fans! Their love story was my favourite out of the 8 books and I was so excited to finally see it soon. Idk if it’s going to happen but here’s to hoping.
John and Fran's 'quiet love' was so beautifully done but I'm also a sucker for love at first sight and long-term pining.
Totally agree
All of this. Michaela existing as a character means when John dies, either Fran will lose the baby, or, if the baby lives, Michaela and Fran will be a hidden queer couple raising a kid, and if the showrunner wants to change more stuff and turn it into her own personal 1800s fanfic from wattpad, then the queen will legalize gay marriage and bring about revolution or something. 😂
I don't think they should have introduced Michaela at all this season if they were only going to give her a few seconds of screen time. I think they either should have 1) let John and Fran have their season and let the audience really feel like we fully got to experience their romantic arc before bringing Michaela in to complicate things and provide drama or; 2) they should have introduced Michaela earlier in the season and had Michaela fall for Fran first while Fran only really has eyes for John. That way we fully get to sit in the tragedy that Michaela is experiencing of knowing that you will never get to have what you truly want while also letting us see what their friendship/relationship looks like and why we as an audience should want them to be together and be excited for their future relationship.
The way they did it now just cheapens all three's relationship with the others by turning it into some Desperate Housewives cheater/affair scandal drama instead of actual romance.
@@stellapuellae2354 her book was my favourite too
For a romance show, there was a lack of romance this season.
Except Anthony wanting his baby to know their Indian heritage firsthand.
god, yeah, loved that so much
Kanthony really saved this season's romance
Agreed. Polin did not feel romantic at all.
@@cjwilliamsvi
They didn’t have time to 🤷🏻♀️
They had them fall in love in what- two episodes?
Season two had practically the whole season to fall in love and eventually get together
***BOOK 6 SPOILERS*** My problem with the gender-bending of Michael has nothing to do with Francesca being bisexual, or pan, my problems iw with the changes it will have on her story; like her infertility, and Michael inheriting everything from John, and them marrying and finally having kids... none of that will happen, and that was a big part of what made the book special. Sure, they can still be together, but it will be a widow and her spinster cousin-by-marriage living together in "companionship". And sure, she can have kids with John before he passes away, but it will kinda remove the whole plot of her infertility, that will bother me, but if they can still make a compelling love story with those changes, I'll be okay with it. What really got to me was Francesca's reaction to Michaela... she should have no reaction but friendly towards John's cousin at this point, Michaella should have been the one with that reaction. One of the biggest points of her book is that you can have two great loves in your life, both are great, and both are equally important, even when they are both so very different.. and you can love them both as deeply because that is who you needed for the person you were. Francesca's reaction to Michaela in the show diminishes her connection/love to John, and that pisses me off.
I came to similar thoughts to you, she has to have a baby really late on, I think after John's demise, who happens to be a boy, so he is the hair xx
Didn't Francesca miscarried after John's death with heavy implication that its because of the stress and grief? Then by the end of the book, she and Michael did have a child. How was she dealing with infertility then?
@@mimisunshinelove i think you need to read the book to understand
@@mimisunshinelove I think it took her a long time to get pregnant with John's child and then later with Michael. I could be mistaken.
Yeah, but at least in the show (I haven't read the books, either), to me, it didn't really seem like Francesca WAS really interested in HAVING kids at all . . . Or at least, having SO many as her mother . . . In the show, at least, she seemed to just want a "quiet" life, away from her noisy brothers & sisters . . . So maybe they're thinking of changing the infertility plot line, too, & make her just not WANT kids to begin with . . . Which would also be interesting to see . . . Not all love stories HAVE to end with marriage & kids to be this "great" love story, ya know?? Maybe they could have one of the other siblings suffer from infertility . . . Like Gregory or Hyacinth, for example . . . Gregory would be interesting, I think, 'cause men can suffer from infertility, too; it's not just women, ya know?? 😉
This was literally my biggest hated moment of the entire season. I love quiet love, I love how simple it was and how it’s real for a lot of us. this made me hate the entire season the way they handled it.
Absolutely agree
The gender swap of Michael screams "oops, we need a gay!", rather than being a change which would organically fit the story for Francesca. That's what people take issue with... gender and race swaps can be fine if it feels organic + fits to the story. Watching Bridgerton is just feeling like a tick box exercise to me which takes me out of it.
For me that felt more with Benedict's story because I feel like he's bi cos everyone asked if he would be💀 which that felt more inorganic than anything else thisd season
@@ennenoire bi people exist. Queer people exist. It’s very strange that as soon as someone is queer everyone feels like it’s “checking boxes” but nobody questions how strange it would be to have zero queer people in such a large main cast.
The showrunner saying she’s been pitching a genderbent story for Fran since s1 is such a lie none of the people in the writers room were even thinking about her then lmaooo
THIS! Plus I really liked how Francesca was this autistic coded character and at the last minute the writers did a big reveal like, “Jk, she’s gay. We made her shy and withdrawn and hyper focused because she likes the ladies. You thought she and this guy she fell in love with were on the same page? Haha no. She’s gay.”
It would have worked better for Eloise. She’s already cynical about that role, of wife. That could easily lead to an awakening for her.
How is the showrunner not facing more critic that she literally inserted herself into a already existing character. How is this now okay? It‘s super unprofessional and sooo cringe!
So incredibly unprofessional.
I have a friend who is a pretty diehard fan, and she’s afraid of being accused of bigotry if she openly voices criticism of the showrunner. As a non-diehard, I will openly say it: Showrunners and those who do adaptations need to be professional and keep themselves separate from their work. Turning existing characters into self-inserts is unprofessional, disrespectful, and juvenile. In the case of a character that already represented another group that is so often left out that the opposite is a legit fetish (infertile characters are rare, and pregnancy is an actual fetish), it’s actually crass to turn that character into someone representing a group that has significantly more representation these days.
They got big compliment from clothes and interior(building) aspect.
As long theres people obssesed with them, we can't dream they will accept critics. Except yea they want to gain bigger profit from us.
This my trust issues.
Yep, kinda like fan fic rather than adaptation in my eyes.
This is going on everywhere in Hollywood these days. People take a property that they (not love or have any real passion for, just something they enjoy casually (and it’s usually something somewhat superficial that they enjoy, like the setting)) and twist it so that it suits themselves better.
I don't mind a gay romance. Benedict or Eloise would have been better choices for that. My main problem is that adaptations should be exactly that, adaptations from the source material. The showrunners were able to make changes in the first two seasons that were still respectful of the book readers. I think this season was not as good as it could be because the focus should have been on Polin. I really liked them for 2 seasons already, I wanted way, way more. I feel like they cared more about Benedict's threesome because there was bi angle. Nobody is shocked by a gay or bi angle, we are shocked by BAD writing. Put any of your themes and agendas and wrap it in good writing and people will buy into it 100%. Sacrifice beloved characters and plot to the same things and people will stop watching. To me the damage is done, I wanted my Polin and only got a bit of it, I do not think I will watch next season.
You said this beautifully! It’s criminal how polin got sidelined on their OWN season. Everything that’s followed this season just shows overall how there has been a steep decline in quality and the writing across the season is horrendous. Couple that with the forced diversity that makes no sense for Francesca, which actually should have gone to Eloise ( who is the better choice for the queer storyline ) this season is a mess and I would not surprised if most didn’t even tune in season 4 and I really hope it does cancelled because the way they trashed all over my favorites characters my heart just breaks a bit.
I do mind when it changes the source material to something unrecognisable. Though, undoubtedly, not as well written it's as if they're changing Mr Darcy's gender.
Write an original story and do with the characters, as you will. BUT, LEAVE EXISTING CHARACTERS AS THEY WERE WRITTEN!
@@voulafisentzidis8830 Yes, I wonder if they know their audience? Who reads Regency romance 🤔
Benedict is bisexual I believe, she’s involved with both the blonde chick and the other guy I think they intended that TO be a relationship
@@lil_doggo_of_doom I disagree. Benedict, in the novels, is artistic and a gentle soul. He's not debauched.
It makes me so sad that the showrunner has decided to make Frans story all about herself. Not only that, but there will be nothing left of When he was Wicked except the character names. The drastic shifts this season with the change in showrunner is so obvious, the pacing/writing even down to the details give me no confidence in her abilities to helm future seasons
Yes, people who do adaptations should check their ego at the door. I'm not holding my breath however, I will simply stop watching.
I don’t understand how Shonda Rhimes could forgo CVD, someone who made original stories while still keeping the characters intact, but Jess Brownell gets to throwaway so much of these characters and their arcs. Both Francesca AND Benedict’s arc suffered this season to pander to queer storylines. And now, I mean they’ve just lost so much of their previous appeal. Benedict was borderline pathetic this season, not chasing his dreams but also not really satisfied with his new identity and Francesca was used to set up a very harmful stereotype about queer people and infidelity. I identify with her shyness and quiet love arc so much, just for them to out of nowhere say that’s signs of queerness. Like I’m sorry but no, sometimes people are just shy, not because they’re waiting for someone to ignite them and because they’re harboring some secret, and any good writer would respect that. Yet, people are being undermined for not choosing to be as passionate or PDA. I’m gonna miss John
it's like that southpark episode... "make it more gay"
It sounds a LOT like the showrunner is trying to make this series her personal fantasy without giving a damn about how it’s making the characters people related to unrelatable to anyone else but herself anymore.
And when I thought that finally there will be an actual representation of quite, calm and wholesome relationships, and received an "actually...it's not love" in the end, it was disappointing. Love can be different, people might need different types of love, it's not always only about steam and intense emotions on the border between pain and joy and lovestrucks. A new refreshing trope with great potential turned into banality, and an ever more banal political agenda. Boring.
exactly!
The showrunner is turning this show into her own personal Wattpad fanfic. It’s gross that she is using someone else’s characters and stories to insert her own crap.
I thought this season felt way cheaper than the other two, and even those were already a bit ridiculous. But this one felt over dramatized and the costumes over glamorized. Then I saw where Shonda says she brought her over from Grey's and I was like "ah don't go the Grey route of extreme tragedy no matter how unlikely and random wokeness to drive the story.
I have watched Grey's up to season 13 or something so I decided to check what specifically in grey's she was involved with, to see how good or bad she is. Also that I could find she only was production staff in grey's, so Idk how involved she was with the storyline.
This is just one example :v :
S5 E13: Stairway to heaven: In this episode a death row inmate smashes his recently operated skull against the bed frame in hopes to die at the hospital while a doctor looks the other way. This doctor is dating her boss, whose mom is visiting, and she cries to the mom and says she is "dark and twisty" so she feels bad for the guy. The mom addresses her son on the trauma of his father's death, he tells the patient that he will make sure he survives so they can end him properly in jail. At the end she goes to watch his execution. They were both allowed to continue practicing medicine.
Another doctor tries to convince the main surgeon in the case to kill the inmate so she can donate his organs to a sick kid. She was allowed to continue practicing medicine.
Meanwhile, another doctor has been seeing her dead fiancé, yet she doesn't assume that she's going through a medical problem, despite being a doctor. FYI fiancé was her patient who she had inappropriate relationships with and then she killed trying to commit fraud for an organ donation, she was allowed to continue practicing medicine.
On another plot line, another doctor is having relations with her boss in the hospital, and she fractures his private member.
As a pan viewer, it honestly felt reaally unnecessary. And i found it very interesting that the director decided to change Francesca's sexuality because she identified with the character. I can't help but wonder if it was the right thing to do? With Benedict, this kind of relationship works, but i feel that this makes Francesca's story more complicated, especially for a season of 6-8 episodes.
The problem I have with the director, "Identity with the character" is that alot of people identified with Franseca because of her infertility.
Also, I'm afraid she's going to end up as a self insert character because, let's be real, if she really saw herself in Franseca, why did she have to change the story.
I'm bi and from what I've seen most of sapphic fans identify with show Eloise and I feel like she should've been the one to get the queer storyline. I actually thought they were setting up Michaela for her since Eloise is going with them to Scotland until I went online and read that the director's fav is Francesca.
@@LeNimph OH! good point, maybe they will, and show Francesca as the one pinning away for Michaela when she is interested in Eloise!
Sometimes showrunners and storytellers don’t know how to separate themselves from characters they like, and end up creating self-inserts. It never works.
Silence pickme, the only reason I’m watching this show is to get to the WLW love story
I personally am not a fan of the genderswap or the way it was setup. As you've described the setup is a mess which diminished Fran's love of John and introverted romances. It makes her love story with Michaela more emotional cheating than finding a new love after your soulmate died and its an unnecessary change that feels more pandering to LGBTQ than bettering the story. Michaela falling first would have been better but within the context of Bridgerton the gender switch is still weird.
Michaela cannot fill the same imposter syndrome role that Michael did. Unless Bridgerton wants to nuke the stakes they set up that women cannot inherit titles Michaela cannot replace John so that plot must be rewritten to fit. Secondly Michaela cannot give Fran a child. Fran wanted to be a mother the whole get pregnant give birth raise kids package, it's that desire that causes her to try and find a husband despite believing she will never meet someone she will love again. She sleeps with Michael to get pregnant and she keeps coming back to him (because she enjoys it) because despite it feeling like a betrayal of John she's working towards her goal. When she keeps failing to get pregnant with Michael she despairs because she cant have the excuse of marrying him because he knocked her up and has to confront her feelings. Again this plot is dropped
I agree so much on your take. And what really i hate is people easily calls you homophobic when pointing out your valid concern about the whole story not because of a certain gender.
I think the whole point is to stop clinging to tradition, aka the books. Who cares if the original plot can’t happen? The author just rehashes the same story over and over. People had no problem with huge changes to Anthony’s story, ig because it’s hetero.
@@jenm1People watching Bridgerton are watching it FOR the tradition! Without the traditions that were implemented back in those times, the romance in Bridgerton would be as dull and boring as any other modern romance drama, which is why people who adore historical dramas watch them instead of modern dramas, where 80% of characters is somehow LGBTQ+. And without the books, there would be NO Anthony or Daphne or Francesca.
@@jenm1Nobody gets into regency romances because they’re interested in something new. Fans of these books want to see the stories they love on screen. If the point is to stop clinging to traditions, make an original show inspired by these regency romances that doesn’t piggyback off an existing work with a preexisting fanbase. DO NOT piss off the people who made the thing succeed in the first place.
As a sapphic woman I can confidently say that this didn’t even feel like it was a change meant to pander to us so much as a change meant to pander to the show runner herself. While LGBT representation in mainstream media is instrumentally important in our campaign for equality and visibility, the Michael/Michaela swap truly does nothing for us. Maybe the directives over at Shondaland were hoping for something different, but the sloppy handling of the entire thing just threw that all down the drain. We don’t want poorly written gender swaps- we want good, authentic, original queer characters. Francesca is just a self-insert for the show runner and there’s nothing to look up to about that.
Her battled this season were for nothing. She loves John completely in the book and the grief she goes through is intense. It’s something she shares with her mother except she never had children to occupy her.
My main issue with the intro of Michaela she says openly that whatever ‘sordid’ tales John has said the truth is much worse… erm women back then could not act badly and retain their position. This Michaela cannot be a rake. She would have been sent away or discarded by the family. Look at Cressida!! I can’t even. This was 100% a narcissistic take over simply because the showrunner fancied Francesca or something. She really has destroyed the story. Benedict’s story could easily be adapted into a gay story because he marries someone in a lower class than him, he could instead move to the country to be with his male lover instead.
I feel this is a massive disappointment for John and I feel sorry for the actress playing Michaela. No disrespect to her she is gorgeous! She deserves so much better
Take two years to give us 8 half baked, not fully fleshed out episodes 🙄 I’m so done. (This is Netflix and other companies as a whole.)
It would have been so much better to make Eloise gay. That would have been a much better arch for her this season. She's mad about Colin and Penelope because she's jealous but doesn't realize it, which makes her confused. She talks to Bennidict on the swing and figures out that she feels for women.
Besides, gender swaping Eloise's husband would be easier since he was a widower with kids. That means if he was a she, she would be in charge of the estate for her young son. And eventually move into a dowerhouse. Eloise could be her "roomate"
Eloise doesn't want kids because she's traumatized from Hyacinth's birth, so that is a non-issue.
Edit:Okay, the more I think about this, the more it would have made sense. The plotline this season with Penelope could also have had a good lesson on rejection, since romance shows rarely do, and it's something alot of us can relate too. You wouldn't even have to have Eloise confess anything to Pen, she just has to accept that the person she's into isn't always into her, again rarely explored in Romance.
Also, it could have made Bennidict's plotline more important. As happy as I was to see bi representation, it really just felt like a pointless side plot in order to get some spicy threesome sex scenes. Instead, it could have been him and Eloise having some character growth and sibling bonding time together learning to accept other parts of themselves.
Also, Eloise has a habit of belittling women with more feminine interests and being unsympathetic towards women in difficult situations, like Cressida and Pen. If her love interest is someone who was forced to marry and have kids and maybe was a little more feminine she would learn a new respect for women who do what they have to do and don't come from great supportive families who let them stay single. Also, if her love inteest is a woman who genuinely loves kids, she could also learn new respect for mothers as she tends to belittle Daphne and other mothers.
Maybe at the end she could start a shelter or a program to help people like Pen or Cressida instead of ragging on them for "choosing" getting married.
That‘s so good! If only the showrunners would have half your talent.. now we got this weird change.
Exactly I figured that if any of the bridgerton (other than Benedict) was to be gay it would be Eloise 100%. It would prevent poor Marina being kicked while she’s down and it would work incredibly well for Eloise’s character. While I adore Francesca her being bi or pan doesn’t work well for her story. Her story is almost entirely based around her desperately wanting kids it’s why she re-enters the marriage Mary after johns death. It’s really a shame in an attempt to gain brownie points they’ve completely removed the main driving force behind Francesca’s story when they could have utilised a character that it would actually fit. Like they could easily have had Eloise realise she’s gay and she could’ve ended up with Cressida or another girl perhaps one that is very into socialising and it can introduce Eloise to the idea people can do joy the social scene without being bad it could even set up some character moments with the other siblings noticing Eloise’s sudden interest in going to social events and thinking that she’s finally looking for a suitor while Benedict knows the truth and tries to help hide it from the siblings. Hell it could even work to further Eloise’s friendship with Penelope.
Yeah I had the same idea, Eloise is a much better fit for this storyline.
No it really wouldn't. Eloise is the only female character out of all Bridgerton clan who doesn't want to get married, feminist, wants to have a career or travel the world, or something like that.
Making her lesbian would be saying: oh yeah, she just doesn't understand this whole patriarchy thing because she's lesbian. If she was into men, she would have known that she has to give up all her thoughts and opinions and desires, her entire personality and belief system and get married, have babies and be happy. But she doesn't. Because she's gay."
Doesn't it sound icky? It really does.
@endlesslymissrable Her plotline in the books is that she's penpals with a widower then marries him, pops out babies and does what society expects.
They already have Pen mad at the patriarchy, Eloise could be mad at it too while still being gay. And if it's handled right, it won't be "she would just settle down if she wasn't gay" it would be her discovering a new part of herself that she didn't know before while continuing to fight for female rights and maybe have a career.
I have no problem with them gender swaping a character so they can portray some same-sex romance on screen. I'm just really upset because in the case of Francesca, it came from nowhere. There was absolutely NO SET-UP whatsover. If they did this for Eloise or Benedict, it would make more sense.
I for one I’m glad it’s not Eloise. That would have been too stereotypical
ypu don't need a set-up to be gay
The issue for me isn't that it's a surprising reveal, but that it goes against Francesca's own words and pushy actions, and undermines a love story arc that was beloved just within the show itself. Their approach was designed to be some kind of lame TV cliffhanger tactic to maintain interest in next season, but it's dubious at best and it effectively shifts sympathy from Francesca to John. He's her unwitting beard which is sad enough, but knowing his book fate makes it worse. I'm not a book purist (they're terrible), but I understand the disappointment of both viewers & readers for what they did to Fran and John. Based on the show runner's statements and the Shondaland track record, my expectations are low.
Not that I'll be watching after this travesty, but leave Eloise and Benedict out of this. Their books were some of my favourite and they don't need this gender swap nonsense.
@@jayak8217 but you are okay with the race swap of literally half of the characters ? Y’all do know it’s in the regency era around the peak of slavery right?(Dw I’m not tryna antagonize you) I mean no shade but book fans gotta understand the meaning of an adaptation. Like haven’t you noticed the other changes? Most book adaptations always have some spins to it. The whole point is to get a new audience not to a 100% cater to the book readers. Literally every adaptation does this, but what I wonder most is legit the inconsistency of the audience’s wants, you can’t pick an choose what changes you want. It’s either you follow the book to the T (like y’all want) or you modify (which can be whatever, from race swap to gender swap to whatever, which is entirely up to the show runners). The main thing is not changing the core of the story too much but apart from that, it sounds like a y’all problem. The fact that there are black people in nobility in a regency era show is already unrealistic as shit, gender swaps don’t seem far fetched.
Changing Francesca's story made zero sense out of all the remaining siblings. I could have seen this with Eloise or Benedict, but ruining this particular story just makes no sense no matter what the new show runner seems to think. Losing out on Michael's story of dealing with his imposter syndrome and being a reformed rake is not something that can be done with Michaela. Also, there is no way for Francesca and Michaela to have an open relationship within society during the regency era. Living in the outskirts of Scotland in secret seems like a poor way to have a happy ending. They're trying to shoehorn a modern life into regency times which isn't going to work out well, at least not for the characters. Francesca may be accepted into her family, but that's about all we can hope for with a happy ending. I was kind of hoping that we would be seeing a love story from someone who might be neurodivergent compared to the love stories we've seen so far. I'm also not too keen on Francesca's love story with John not being a love story at all and being more like a rest stop until her real love story begins. In the book Francesca was devastated when she lost John and it took her a long time to move one from that. I've learned to look at the books and tv show as two different entities, but there are times when I think they should keep certain aspects of the books. Each season has taken liberties, some which I didn't care for, (I'm looking at you season 2!). This time I can't figure out why they're taking this book and throwing it in a bonfire. I'm still going to watch, but I'm really going to miss the great storylines they're throwing away.
Why can’t they just not genderswap and still make some of the bridgerton siblings bi/pan? Or why can’t they create completely new GAY characters? Or why can’t they make characters gay where it works (like Cressida who neither in the books nor in the show showed any real and actual romantic/sexual attraction towards men)
My season 3 part 2 prediction was Cressida getting upset after being rejected by Eloise, that would have been so dynamic for her character development, and would have made the blackmail villian arc so good.
Bc the new show runner wanted the story that she identified with most and that was clearly one of the most popular…selfish reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the show
They already did create original show-only gay characters (Bromley and Reynolds in Queen Charlotte) and people absolutely loved it! They could have incorporated a similar approach in the main storyline (if they want to keep Mondriches for no apparent reason they can introduce other people as well, or have Benedict return to his artsy friends and explore their "unorthodox" relationships - even have Benny join some of them, bi or otherwise - and expand on the plots that were a tiny part of season 2). They could have included non-cis, non-hetero people and relations in a more meaningful and original way, but they went for a lazy genderswap, and picked the very storyline in the series that absolutely depends on the love interest being male for the plot to stay what it was.
I agree that crescenta should have been the gay character. I would have really liked to see her be happy. since she's not a main character I have no issues with them changing her
Maybe the point is to do it to characters you care about so you can learn empathy
Replace the show runner and get some good writers on board to fix this mess
So this is a personal decision of the lesbian showrunner who wants to see herself in a show because she related to a character in a book. When your priority isn't for your characters to have well rounded arcs it will show, and it will read as pathetic pandering.Bridgerton is not as epic of a masterpiece as Game of Thrones, even the books aren't, the fans are waiting for every opportunity to tear it apart for every inconsistency and mistake because Bridgerton has always stood on shaky ground, from the rape scene and the Great experiment being explained 3years after asking the audience to suspend disbelief at the colour blind casting. If you are going to change things to accomodate modern sensibilities over and over again it is going to read like you have spite for the source material and the historical period, and no amount of purple eyeshadow, red lipstick and acrylic nails plastered onto a parody of the regency era will distract from the fact that you purposefully sabotage your characters .
Yeah. Yes. What you said! Spite for the source material. I hope that line gets repeated over and over again. That is it. This showrunner in particular has spite for the Francesca story. I think that is why she allowed the Michaela character to appear at the wedding and Francesca to do her swoon thing. The point was to destroy the premise of authentic love between Francesca and John. As for the multi color casting. I didn't need the explanation of the great experiment to justify the presence of a diverse cast. I just thought, "Oh, that's different." I didn't read the books. But even for me as a Black person living in America the casting is getting little "extra." It's too much.Nonwhite people would still enjoy the story with or without a multi colored cast. And yes to your final point: " no amount of purple eyeshadow, red lipstick and acrylic nails plastered onto a parody of the regency era will distract from the fact that you purposefully sabotage your characters." That is what I see as well.
"Personal decision of the lesbian show runner who wants to see herself in a show because she related to a character in the book." FAN INSERT.
@@chazarcola7639 Inserts herself and then proceeds to blow up the entire storyline and gaslights us by insisting Michaela/Michael are the same thing and the story hasn't changed. But of course it has in a huge way!
Unfortunately this is happening in Hollywood a lot now, instead of people having the guts to come up with something of their own they would rather change other people’s work. It makes almost all shows boring and uninteresting.
@@Me4003 I forsee a time in the very near future where authors will be able to create their films and bypass "hollywood." Similarly, in addition to game authors might be able to create a program where people can purchase it and be able to create their own stories, but the author would retain the rights. The days of the hollywood central studio are gone or at least their days are waning. Roughly 10% of published books are adapted to movies. But we all see what happens when a book gets "adapted" or God forbid "readapted." Adaptions in theory are okay. It's just when people start changing key characters fundamentally so that they no longer represent the original concept. I have been wanting to sell a novel I wrote. I remember the publisher said if it happens, I need to accept that it will be changed. Honestly, my writing is deeply personal. I would be furious if someone changed one of my characters, especially to fit some ideological checklist. Let's hope another "creative" comes up with yet a "fresh" take on Bridgerton. In the meantime it is amazing to see how absolutely beloved this tv series is in the rest of the world. The French ate up Season 3 and Shonda Rhimes walks on water.
Haven’t read Francesca’s book but my only problem is how they undermined her and John’s relationship at the end. She could have one lovestory with him and another once he’s passed. Having Michaela be introduced is enough of a hint to readers (just like the talk of the upcoming masquerade ball).
Same!
And John was such a sweetheart! He doesn’t deserve someone who was never attracted to him all along/someone who felt butterflies upon meeting someone else (whether that someone else is Michael or Michaela) and was disappointed upon kissing him. I adored Francesca this whole season, and her reaction to being introduced to Michaela soured her whole character for me.
I am not sure Shonda Rhimes and her team who created the spinoff Queen Charlotte can fix this narrative blunder in the Francesca story caused by Jess Brownell, the current showrunner. Both she and the original showrunner Chris Van Dusen have openly said they want a queer Bridgerton storyline. Fans like what they like and there is a reason why the Francesca Book "When He was Wicked" has been a cult favorite in the Bridgerton fandom for over 20 years. The showrunners could have gone about this the nice way and just allow the Francesca and John story to play itself out and not de-legitimize and sabotage their storyline. They probably would have to tweak the children issue and not have John die without leaving at least an heir. I still think this would cause a problem for the Francesca and Michaela storyline. But there you go.
The proponents of the gender swap insist there is no difference and that nothing changes. But of course there is a huge difference. But the bigger issue is why is it necessary to sabotage the Francesca and John story arc in order to introduce Michaela? It is Francesca who is visibly affected by the meeting, not Michaela. We have Violet moaning and groaning in angst about love matches or lack thereof. We see Francesca underwhelmed by her wedding kiss. In the book Michael is the one who feels cupid's bow toward Francesca, but he keeps his feelings to himself out of love and respect for John. The showrunners spend 8 episodes making the case for Francesca and John that we all buy into and love and then take a wrecking ball to wipe it all away. How does undermining the Francesca John love story bolster the case for the great love and passion between Francesca and Michaela? The book suggests Francesca loves both of her husbands passionately, although differently. The showrunners don't like that message, evidently. That's a huge change for a storyline that people love so much. This is an act of violence on the part of the showrunners like deliberately spoiling the fantasies of a child by telling the child that Santa Claus doesn't exist and watching the child cry and then ridicule the child for being broken-hearted by something you said that you knew would traumatize the child.
Masali Baduzi is a Black actress of African descent cast as Michaela. Historically and even today there are stereotypes of the Black woman on the cinematic screen. (1) She carries a masculine energy. (2) She is usually cast as a Jezebel or straight up prostitute or just basically a woman of loose morals and ill repute. (3) She is often cast as an asexual or otherwise romantically undesired/overlooked best friend or super competent professional. (3) She is the ultimate mama/mammy figure. (4) She is queer/lesbian. These are the stereotypes or perception of the Black woman on screen and the collective imagination. Michael is a libertine and a rake. Society might tisk tisk about the man's rogue behavior, but there are no dire consequences for him. It is different for a woman. That's one of the many real double standards between men and women that persist until today. In a Michaela Francesca pairing are we going to be entertained by the Black woman presented as shameless Jezebel as she is all too often portrayed? In the Queen Charlotte spinoff, Charlotte came from a high respectable family, but she still caught grief for being "too dark." So how is Michaela supposed to operate as a dark complexioned woman behaving promiscuously? I always used to tell my children. All children misbehave, but the teachers will punish you because you are the only black children and so it's easy to single you out. Okay so the showrunners figure this all out. What is left? We have a black actress playing the role of lesbian, a very common role for a dark skinned black women. How is this new, different, diverse and inclusive? It's not.
Bridgerton fans should not have to apologize for their reactions. This is personal. Stories are very powerful. By fundamentally upending a cherished story, pretending they haven't changed anything and then gaslighting the fans who clearly see and understand the act of sabotage on the part of the cherished storyline, the show runners have shown their hand. If the showrunners had not included those Francesca reactions and left the Francesca and John story alone, the fans might have eventually come around and accepted a Francesca Michaela and set aside their dreams and fantasies of Henry Cavill as Michael. Season 3 Episode 8 was a drive by shooting and the lights suddenly go off. We don't know what the showrunners are going to do in 2 years. The storyline is being rushed to emergency care. The perpetrators are at large. This is my draft eulogy.
The new showrunner destroyed Francesca's story
I will admit that the books can be a little backwards but hearing that it tackled female infertility was actually interesting and unique and also something that is rarely done in mainstream media. I was actually excited to see that and both her and John are so adorable and lovey around each other. Violet and the show keeps insisting that Fran being with John is wrong because he doesn't bring her out of her shell but we as the viewers can clearly see that's not true, Francesa becomes much more open and bubbly once she's with John both around her family and society in general, plus she's not afraid of following regulations in regards to him (running to him in the streets, ending conversations and leaving the ball early to play the music piece he gave her and declaring her love for him in front of the Queen despite knowing that's not what's wanted of her). Not only that but her and John share mutual respect and adoration for each other. They find comfort and peace in each other plus have similar life goals. They're the most realistic couple yet.
Then suddenly she's attracted to his cousin which is completely out of left field AND disrespectful to her new husband (switch the genders and you'll see how). Now John's death feels like a hurdle to overcome in order for Fran to be with her true love.
If it was Benedict or Eloise being queer it would make more sense since we see him exploring his sexuality this season and El has a major dislike towards gentlemen and following society's expectations.
It is amazing how so many watchers and reactors see the same thing and are saying the same thing. Everything you said is being said by thousands of people. We're not haters or "phobes." We care about storytelling and the showrunners are deliberately sabotaging things. I won't say for no reason. There is a reason. A very cynical one. Let's hope money talks.
@@gems3604 I don’t know anything about the books but I liked season 3 up until that last moment of the “disappointed kiss“ and introducing the cousin in which Fran is completely smitten with. It was completely out of character for her and felt like a waste of time developing her story just to do a 180 like that. It bothered me and now reading other comments, I see I am not alone .
I hope they listen to the fans and don’t pull another Game of Thrones disaster
@@gardendancing1012 I am glad more people are speaking up and putting to rest that we're all haters. We all see the hit job on Francesca and John and playing with out emotions. It's not even about the gender swap. Yeah that Game of Thrones last season sabotage was unreal. And it's because they deviated from the source material.
Queerness doesn’t come in neat little packages for us to digest
Love the saltiness that creeps out from time to time in this video. I think it captures the real reasons the non creeps are so upset about the gender swap. As a fan of the book, I'm totally flabbergasted by the change and how there will be next to nothing of the original storyline for Francesca. I'm not as confident that they can bring it back.
They turned the Colin Penelope story line to a giant meh. They take a wrecking ball to the Francesca John love story. What is there to trust?
What do you mean by “non-creeps”? Is that meant to be a homophobic remark or am I misreading?
@@xhappyponyxwasmyoldname1395 Non creeps means people who aren't jerks that get upset by things like same sex relationships. So the opposite of homophobia. If you read my comment I think that's fairly clear since I'm giving an alternate reason for people to be upset. I'm just sick of everyone assuming that, if I am not thrilled with the change, it is because I am homophobic - just as you evidently did.
I think the showrunners messed up because When He Was Wicked is by far the most popular book in the series so it was super dumb of them to change the one book that people are the most passionate about. Just the fact Francesca had an immediate reaction to Michaela had people raging when book Francesca didn't even think about Michael till long after John had died. Also book Francesca did love John!! They had a very loving and passionate marriage, she started to have feelings for Michael two years after he died when Michael finally returned from India and he had contracted malaria and she developed feelings for him while taking care of him. It was Michael who fell instantly in love with Francesca and said it was torture seeing the woman of your dreams with someone else and also felt guilty to have feelings for his cousin's wife whom he saw more of a brother so kept his distance. When John died out of guilt Michael went to India as he inherited the title Kilmartin after his death and thought taking Francesca would be too much. Both of the characters overcame so much, so many internal feelings to be together. Changing the gender completely changes the story as Michaela can't inherit the Kilmartin title and will never feel the guilt Michael felt.
One thing I don't like is how people keep saying it should have been Eloise instead. It's not even that I don't see it, it's just that it seems like it's such a stereotype. Of course people think it "makes more sense" for it to be the feminist, less traditionally feminine character.
Exactly, and they think they’re not being homophobic. It’s laughable
It's not about stereotypes, it's about whether or not a gender swap could fit established story without changing the actual story overmuch. Eloise is all about her female friendships, shows no interest in men, is very open minded and upset that women don't get the same options as men, etc., but even despite all that, her story with Philip is mostly about fixing his 2 wild kids and healing him from the guilt of his wife's demise so they could have easily made him Philippa, a widow with 2 kids, and Eloise could be her 'companion' and the actual story wouldn't change overmuch, but in fact be much more interesting than the original.
Fran's story is all about the fact that Michael IS a man and a rake and in love w/ Fran while she has friendzoned him as is madly in love w/ John. The whole story is Michael's angst over usurping John and erasing him by taking over his title/lands and even his clothes and he struggles with not wanting to completely erasing him by taking his wife too. Plus she struggles with infertility and all she wants is a baby. You see...HER story just isn't conducive to this swap. Eloise's IS able to accommodate it without too much disruption to what happens in her story.
I didn't even CLOCK the lesbian thing when I watched it. I learned about it from the internet after. I thought the kiss at the wedding was awkward for her because everyone was watching and she's shy/introverted. And then the scene where she meets Michaela and acts all weird I was like "What's her problem? Is she mad John is springing this cousin on her without consulting her first? Because she did the same thing to him with Eloise!" Yeah. It all went right over my head.
Same!! I usually give all my attention when watching a show, so I can pick up on the details, but this whole storyline went right over my head!! I wouldn’t know about this if it weren’t for the fandom being pissed and this being discussed.
I think if you knew the name Michael Stirling then you’d have known for sure. I read the book and still had to play it first before I signed and rolled my eyes.
@@theliterarytarot Totally. At that point it's more of an Easter egg for book fans then. Wasn't obvious for everyone else. Unless I'm just an idiot!
I wanted to see them explore the miscarriage and infertility for Francesca. IMO they cannot do that adequately with Micheala. It makes me sad to think they are going in the direction that Francesca doesn’t love John.
I have absolutely no interest in watching Bridgerton anymore due to the number of quality issues stemming from characterisation, plots, cinematography, costumes, makeup and language used. Each season seemed to be a step away from being centred on the leads. But I am finding it more *entertaining* hearing reviews and memes of S3 than of watching the actual show!
For me it's 2 big things.
1) The kiss indicating Fran doesn't love John. Fran was head over heels for him and it took her YEARS to grieve and be in a position ready to try find what she wanted (a baby. the husband was just what she needed for the time period). Also, her love for John and his death allowed her to connect with her mother in a way none of her siblings ever could. This change could make Fran and Michaela less sympathetic - especially as John dies. But her deep love for John also ties into point 2...
2) Fran has infertility issues. She wants a baby and that's her initial reason for going back into society. It is so rare to see a FMC go through fertility issues in a story. Seeing it represented felt so important as well.
With the changes they've made, if the show continues in this vein.... I don't see the book characters anywhere. In Name Only.
Season 2 changed Antony/Kate/Edwina from the book so much that it was hard to like some of these characters...
It was hard to like Colin in S3 because he didn't really have any screen time or character development.
Disappointed.
(Eloise should have been changed. Her story always seemed like one of the weakest to me). all just my opinions.
They'll make Michaela a previously marrried woman who already had a male child who will be John's heir 🙄
Well, that might explain why she is wearing black.
I hate hate hate it. A lot of other great comments describing perfectly the problem which is mostly that Michael and Francesca’s story had VALUE AS IT WAS
Im so happy you brought up the talking point of how much John gets screwed over here. That was my main problem with it! As an avid reader of the books im sad we're not gonna get When he was wicked but ill be even more pissed if they keep Sir Phillip with love the same
Yeah they are completely fucking up their entire love story. First thing you see from Michaels point of view is how much in love she was with John.
When he died and Michael inherited the title along with everything else including his actual clothes he kept beating himself up about the idea of him taking Johns wife too because he felt like he wished for johns death.
He leaves for years to fight his feelings for her. And yes he was also a huge rake in the story and would tell her about all the women he slept with as a way to hide his feelings for her.
Her being unable to have kids is also the only reason why she wanted to get remarried. Making Michael a woman shits on not only her marriage to John but also her marriage to Michael.
Making Benedict’s love interest Sophie into a man because that story would actually work. Being the illegitimate male child of an Earl would actually add more tension to the relationship with the stepmother.
I agree, I think the themes of Benedict’s story work much better with a gender swap. There’s already tension around them wanting to be together but society disapproves, one wants to be together secretly / on the side and the other doesn’t want to live like that, they end up living happily but outside society, etc etc. I hadn’t even thought of the illegitimacy angle but that totally works as well. They’ve also already set the stage for a bi Ben.
In the book series, Francesca and John’s story was THE most compelling. Love, heartache, infertility, loss. Theirs was not a happily ever after story, and I appreciated that. If the writers needed to fill their LGBTQ quota, they should have done it with another character. Benedict or Eloise. 🤔
Too many story lines going on at the same time.
Where was the slow build up between Colin and Pen. I felt things were very rushed. I never got the feeling that they were very much in love. Worst season for me so far.
I agree on this take.
I was with you until you suggested changing Benedict’s story. Sophie was written as a woman, and that’s important to her story. An illegitimate male child wouldn’t face nearly the amount of challenges an illegitimate female child would.
@@adelaideemiliem2772 I can see your point however I don’t think you’ve considered the entire way the rewrite would effect the male version of Sophie. If Sophie was swapped with a male counterpart he wouldn’t just be dealing with the fact that he was a illegitimate offspring, he would also be dealing with being an either straight out gay or by illegitimate offspring of an Earl.
Not sure if you have ever had any gay or bi friends or relatives, but I have and all of them knew from an early age that they were different. Given the time period and the type of stigma placed on people with those orientations, yeah it would not only work but also be a contributing factor to the abuse by the stepmom.
The historical romance genre is my absolute favorite, perfect for escaping to a whole new world. It's not often that we get adaptations of the newer ones. If Bridgerton had boosted an all white cast I wouldn't have taken issue with it becasue it is what the story time period depicts. I don't mind the difference races and the changes are cohesive and we didn't lose much of the original storylines. The simple fact is with gender swaps we will lose out on seeing the stories of the books come to life on screen as much will need to change if they will still follow the rules that same sex relationships out in the open weren't possible back then and women couldn't inherit land and titles. There is not much you can change without creating something new and utterly seperate from the books, which would be ashame. Show runners sometime need to understand that not everything can be inclusive and modernized without losing what once made it unique. Shows will no longer feel like an escape from the real world if we are constantly bombarded with race, gender and sexual orientation issues. Can shows just be shows without the political and modern issues always rearing their heads? Am not gonna make a big fuss though, lets just see where the writers are heading with this, who knows it might be good or a complete disaster, we just have to wait and see, afterall all good things must inevitably come to an end let's hope Bridgerton ends well.
Except it's not a whole new world. We're seeing Regency period romances set in the 21st century as none of the mores of the 19th century are followed.
What a really generous statement Ms Snarky and Sarcastic. Truly. I like what you said about people needing escape and just allowing stories to be told without burdening them with contemporary issues. You're right. We don't know what the showrunners are actually going to do. They have their work cut out for them.
I agree with you except 'in the hope that it will end well'. For me it has ended badly as I'll no longer bother with the series, preferring to re-read the stories I've enjoyed, as written.
If Shondaland/Netflix aren't interested in creating a visual account of the novels, they should start writing their own stories.
@@voulafisentzidis8830 Creatives are very often visionaries. Sometimes it takes a while before the rest "catch on." But I feel like something big is happening. Lines are being drawn and people are revealing who they are and what they stand for. Shonda Rhimes did something amazing and wonderful when she introduced Bridgerton. But in very short order it took a sharp turn. Maybe it is for the best that it will be two years before the next season. A lot can happen in that time. There is whispering that there has been a 3 month delay in their production shooting schedule. I hope someone on that team is reading the comments from all the platforms in every country. Let's see what their next move is.
@@gems3604 I disagree. The BBC has been filming classic novels since it began and succeeded to a much higher level - by respecting the authors and periods in which the stories are set.
In my view, all Shondaland has done is taken a series of popular novels, and butchered them. My only exception is that I believe (despite the stilettos) the first series improved on the novel. Even the modern music arranged to that period provided a terrific soundtrack.
It's gone downhill since then so I, for one, am done.
Thank you for explaining every issue I had with how they handled Francesca to a T
However, I disagree that signing a petition to change Michaela back to a Michael is a bad thing - the person who created it even stated it’s not to garner hate towards the actresses involved and it doesn’t tolerate hate, but it is to solve everything you brought up. Such a small change right now might not seem that major, but in the grand scheme it will cause a domino effect that will effect the entire arc. Changing Michaela back to Michael fixes a lot of the endearing character arcs both Francesca and Michael have, and all the foreseen problems you laid out in the video. I don’t agree with the hate either but wanting them to change Michael back to Michael isn’t a ridiculous thing to want.
Yes! It was the throwing away all of the work of convincing Violet that love stories don't have to be difficult to be valid :/ suddenly you don't like John? when he spent all this time getting to know her personally, hanging out with their family. After shy Fran spoke up to the Queen!!! the quick swap at the end makes me think Cressida's LW story was right about Bridgertons mistaking love and lust...
I’m ND, bi and ace spec (lmao, so many things) and I identified with Francesca’s quiet romance and Francesca generally more than I have with anything else in Bridgerton. Someone please tell the show runner you can ID with something without it needing to directly reflect your experiences. I don’t know how the gender swapping will work- I haven’t read the book- but I most disliked the way it undermined the story they’d already told about love and I think it’s equally as important to tell a story about baby loss and difficulty getting pregnant.
The only way I think they can salvage it is if they show Francesca putting her reaction to Michaela out of her mind and growing into a slow burn attraction to John, not looking at anyone else while he’s alive and still being desperate for kids. Then she can fall in love with Michaela and mourn not being able to have kids and then maybe adopt an orphan or something. But I’m just mad they’re just going to sidestep past Eloise’s yearning energy with Pen (yes I know they’re friends) and her chemistry with Cressida to make FRANCESCA the queer one. I don’t need Fran to have a lesbian story and it looks like that’s where it’s going. I really don’t know what the show runner is thinking, it could be interesting but it’s more like AU fanfic than an adaptation.
Honestly my problem with Francesca's changes are that I do not trust the show anymore, each season they're changing things from the books to make nonsense drama and do not develop their characters in a good way, Kate and Anthony were horrible people in their season and in the books they're just traumatized, scared and love deeply eachother and their families. As for Penelope and Colin, that's supposed to be a tell about a guy who realizes he had his match by his side all along and falls even deeper when he finds out about her career, he admired her and was there to praise and be proud of her, Penelope never would deny being helped by Colin, because in the books they understood that being strong together is better than fighting alone just cause she's strong and she can do that, in the show they did a horrible girlboss situatiom with woman fighting woman (something that the books don't do) and now we have Francesca! Her story is about love, hope, grief, learning to move on, be strong and giving life another chance to be happy, but now they changed everything to be a story about a woman who didn't knew she was gay until she falls in love, if I knew the show had a great way to make the same storys with the development and essence of the books, I wouldn't be bothered by the changes, but they don't do that, they change everything and make fanfics with the book characters instead of adaptations, soo I'm not watching again, cause I know they'll disappoint me again creating a new story that has nothing to do with the books, like what type of massage are they saying? The only type of live is the one that cause pain first and caos and them becomes great? No thanks that's terrible writing in my opinion
As a gay man you spoke my mind. 🎉🎉
All of your points are so true but what has continously bothered me throughout this season (and season 1) is that they throw away the secondary love interest for the main character once they decide who they will be with. The prince of prussia looking to marry in season 1?? After Daphne said no, gone. Lord Debling, after Colin swooped in, he escaped to who knows where. And either of these suitors could have been paired up with other women, like Cressida. Who both were interested in her!! Why qoupd the writers throw that story arc and opportunity away twice??
the prince married Edwina offscreen
It’s that it’s inconsistent not only in world, but in SEASON. The show runner can’t keep the threads together. Setting up such a lovely celebration of quiet love then undercutting it in the end is so illustrative of someone who simply does not understand narrative
I really dislike this change with Francesca’s story. While I wished they didn’t add the subplots to Polin’s story, I enjoyed Francesca/John’s story. But when Michaela was introduced, it just killed the show for me. In the book, Francesca’s marriage with John was a love match. Her story was a slow burn starting with Michael’s love for her while she was married to his cousin. They didn’t need to show her attraction to the cousin right after her marriage to John. Please stick with the basic plot line. Don’t know how I feel about this show anymore.
I'm so disappointed, so angry and frustrated that the show runner has chosen to insert her own ideas to a character that doesn't even truly match with her. Its all about how she thinks it was necessary. I haven't read the book yet but only reading a few pages of it, i can realize why Michael was a fan favorite. I had been eagerly awaiting for his casting but this season just shattered my heart.
I haven't felt this much frustration since the princess Diaries book when coincidentally named character Michael got replaced with a different love interest in the second film. I just hate this.
😂 so writer. Jess wrote her self in storyline as Francesca everyone favorite book poor john
Ye im a little sad that the story got changed but that’s not what I’m mostly sad about im just sad about how last minute at the end the script was like nevermind to her and John’s love 😭 and that it wasn’t Makayla that fell first unsteady of Fran 😭
That is the crux of the problem. We can all differ on the Francesca Makayla story. Undermining the quiet love story of Francesca and John is a bait and switch and changes Francesca's motivations. That's huge.
I agree with you for the most part. Those were mostly my thoughts about how they handled Fran's story.
As one of the "cringe" people that signed both petitions, I regret absolutely nothing. I signed it to have it in writing that I, and many others, have objections to how the writers and Showrunners handled this season. I was well aware that nothing might come out of it. I wasn't one of the people that harrased people in their personal social media. So I have nothing to be ashamed about. I'd rather be heard than silenced and take shitty writing over my favorite adaptations.
As an (amateur) writer, if my readers/viewers took such issue with how I handled a book or adaptation, I would greatly appreciate them taking it upon themselves to sign petitions or making this much noise, even if it means replacing me. It would mean I’m not fit for that genre or that I need to take multiple steps back and rethink my plot points/character arcs. It’s an ego thing. It’s not *my* show, it’s for the viewers, for the readers.
Edit: I have a horrible way with words, it seems.
Oh that's too funny! I haven't seen the petition yet. I'm glad I am not the only one who sees the gross mishandling of this story and crying foul. Elsewhere in the comment board someone said the showrunners have spite and contempt for the source material. I will add they really don't care about the fan base. I guess they have already made their money so they don't care.
I completely disagree with the commentator’s opinion on the petition being cringe when they and lots of reviewers are allowed and expect their views to be heard. The petition does not harm anyone so let fans express their disappointment - it is exactly the same thing in a different format. It is equal to - and not cringe - as just not spending any money on Shondaland shows. Also a petition saved Sandition when it was being cancelled and GOT is not a comparison as there have never been any sequel series. GOT can only green light prequels as no one is interested in continuing the original story and that is the power of the fan base when they are in unison on their feedback to production.
Why take the original material that we all loved and swap the sex of the characters? I don’t appreciate it. It was not written like that. Now they all are LGBT? It doesn’t make sense at all.
Cringe
The major changes from Michael to Michaela makes no sense and I’m saying that as a bisexual person.
I was a book fan even before the show came out. Michael Stirling was by far my favorite Bridgerton love interest. He was every green flag you’d want a man. Him and Sophie Beckett were my top picks. A lot of readers love Michael so it’s very disappointing to see a Michaela especially the way they’re going to write it it appears. I get that representation is all that matters now, but Francesca’s story doesn’t seem to make sense to change. For one thing they show Francesca having an almost instant crush on “Michaela” at first sight which is so wrong, almost as if they’re hinting she’s gonna crush during her marriage to John or cancel their marriage or have an affair with or without John’s consent which is wrong. Like there would be emotional affairs or a potentially physical one. Michael loved Francesca at first sight while she was friendly towards him. A lot of her story is going to be changed to accommodate this.
She has a beautiful life with John and then he was gone. She had fertility issues. She entered the marriage mart because she wanted to be a mother not because she wanted to fall in love again.
What was established in the book was that she both loved John and Michael intensely but both loves were different. Michael had to reconcile with the idea that he has guilt for “stealing” John’s life from inheriting his title to falling for and marrying his widow. They can’t do with Michaela. She couldn’t inherit his title and they can’t get married. It’s still Regency England. So they could only live together as companions: the widow and her cousin in law.
Francesca loved John deeply and she didn’t feel for Michael and in any way until she healed from John years later. It’s like they’re kicking her romance with John to the curb even after they’re building it up.
They have plenty of other characters to work with that would make more sense if they really insist on going off book with a queer romance. As much as Sophie is my second favorite love interest and favorite girl, I feel like with their already intense exploration of Benedict’s sexuality (that if you ask me really distracted from Polin) they could easily make Sophie male as it is established Benedict is bisexual. I mean Cressida and Eloise were fine and I think they could be built up to a nice queer romance if they take the time to really develop them. Even changing Philip to female would be fine. Philip in the books is a widower with kids. Eloise never wanted kids. She could live with the widowed female Philip no problem and learn to respect femininity and motherhood as it does seem like she looks down upon women who desire to be mothers and traditionally feminine.
It bothered me the most that she looks like she falls for Michaela right away and that takes away from the whole point of the original plot like you said. I loved that book because of the complexity of Michael falling for her right away even though she’s with John and is so in love with him, and she never noticed Michael like that until she did and then she fell super hard and I LOVE that trope. Like you mentioned, there has been SO love triangles and this one is actually compelling unless they botch it. I can’t handle a love triangle every single season
At the end of the show it is Francesca who is completely besotted with Michaela as if she never really loved
John and their marriage was a mistake. It changes all the dynamics between the protagonists. In the book (and what we saw in the 3rd season till the end), Francesca is in love with John because they are very similar and understand each other. It is a quiet but deep love. In the original story it is Michael who is completely besotted with her from their first encounter. Francesca never considers him as a love interest until John dies (and even for a long time after it happens). Beside that, Michael also struggles with grief and with guilt, when he inherits the estate, he feels that he doesn't deserve it and he's stealing John's title, social position and wife. It complicates their feelings for each other. How the show will include this side of the story as Michaela being a woman can't inherit the title and estate (the whole Featherington plotline revolves around this)? I don't know where the show wants to go with this gender change, but not towards the original story for sure. The showrunner defended (poorly) her decision that despite the gender change, they will stick to the major plotlines of their story, but I can't see how it would be possible. (https:www.glamour.com/story/bridgerton-season-3-finale-who-is-michaela-stirling) I don't care about the gender of Francesca's love interest, but I care about the dynamics between the characters and the issues they struggle with. Francesca's book is a favorite to many women who struggle with miscarriage, infertility and grief. They can relate to it that after all the loss it is possible to find love again and have a family with someone else. And seeing this mess of a third season, I don't have any hope that the show will handle Francesca's season very well. At least with this showrunner. They ruined an already good story (in my opinion Francesca's story is the best in the books) for the sake of a forced inclusion. I simply don't understand why they had to force the inclusion in Francesca's story. They should bring back Chris Van Dusen, the first and second season was far better than the third.
When i first watched it, I had a knee jerk reaction to the implications of the swap from Michael to Michaela. When He Was Wicked is my favorite book of the series, so realizing I'm not going to get the same story really upset my expectations. I think part of the disappointment comes from the fact that the show seemed to have a respect for the book fans in adapting the books in past seasons. Now, it seems as if you're made to forcefully like any and all changes made simply because it is an adaptation and not the source material. I'm open to where the story goes in the future. However, I need time to shift my expectations.
I agree with you! In the book Francisca did love John, and it was Michael secretly in love with her. Her feelings for Michael did not happening to years after John's death. Even if they changed Michael to Mikala, they should still stay with that story line. How they fixed that I am not sure because of how they ended season 3. However, they have time to work on it because season 4 will be Benedict's season.😊👍
I agree, my major problem is not that they switch the genders but that in the books Mykel is the one who has feelings for Francesca in the beginning and Francesca doesn’t notice him as anything more than a friend while John is alive. She is completely in love and devoted to John Now, Michael brings out a completely different and more bold side of her, which I think is good. It shows how different relationships can bring out different sides of ourselves and both can be who we truly are but I do want them to make Francesca love John because that is true to the books. But I’m all good with Mykel becoming Michayla I actually like it.
Other than that I feel like they can change the books a bit. She does get pregnant by John once but that results in a miscarriage. She could potentially struggle with infertility with John and have that pregnancy succeed. Maybe they change it to she gets pregnant with John multiple times and has multiple miscarriages and the last one works.
I also kind of wanted Violet to be a queer Bridgerton storyline…wasn’t a fan of Lady D’s brother even though I like him. I wish it was her sister or something like that.
That would work. If Francesca and John keep having miscarriages and maybe it kind errodes their relationship little by little and she starts getting really close to Michaela as a friend, and finally she gets pregnant and she's about the have the baby but he dies right before his son is born, kind of like Edmund dies right before Hyacinth is born, it would bring a great amount of guilt from Michaela if she feels she is taking John's son and the love of John's life and she just takes off out of guilt, and maybe some guilt for Francesca who also started to have some feelings towards Michaela, she would feel so guilty she would want to deny she had any feelings at all towards Michaela, because even if they decide that Francesca wasn't romantically in love with John, she should still care for him, love him and want to give him the most she can because he's an amazing guy.
@@snoopygonewilder This is a perfect spin that would fully work for Francesca's story. I would like this to be her season arc, but we probably won't get it
@@snoopygonewilder yes and maybe Michaela and Francesca can bond over childlessness. M could want children but know she wouldn’t have them because she doesn’t want to marry.
I was upset enough about the gender bending, but the way they ALSO destroyed the main thing about the Michael-John-Francesca dynamic was icing on the cake of disaster. Such a terrible idea.
To be fair I haven’t seen any comments that are homophobic or racist. I might just not be seeing them because they’re only a small amount. But I feel the feedback regarding this change is very valid, but clearly being disregarded because it’s so easy to just call everyone homophobic and racist and not actually listen to the fans. The show runner has self inserted herself into the story with no regard for the quality of the story she’s telling. Simple.
So first, great video by the way :) I almost groaned/cried when I saw that Fran looked "unhappy" with the kiss at the wedding. As you said it kind if invalidates the quiet love story that until that point I thought had been portrayed pretty well. And I agree the easier fix and I think better would be to have Michela being the one stumbling over her words rather than Fran. It also would have been nice if we had seen Fran and John discuss having children where Fran admits she wants a child, just not the large number her family had.
Also if they were going to gender swap anyone I think Sophie would have been a good and better choice since we've seen Benedict with Paul and to avoid having that storyline and character growth go nowhere. And yes life is harder as a woman (especially in that time period), but given the Cinderella nature of Ben's story, I think you could make the swap still work. Anyway, let us see where the show runners will go from here in season 4. Fingers crossed.
They're going to have to write a book called When She was Wicked as new fans who're going to read the books are going to think Michaela is a women in the book when they watch the show for the first time and I think they haven't thought about that
I've been thinking about this too. Are they planning on rewriting a new book or just have a different tv netflix book cover with the original text offered in the book? It would be false advertising.
So for the books Fran's fertility issues were in the book but also the 2nd epilogues. Each book got a second epilogue after the books were published, I'm not sure if their apart of the newly published books but their all in "Bridgerton Happily Ever after". Now there is a way they can incorporate the fertility issues in the show with Michela but first I want to go over the importance of this arc in the books. In Fran's second epilogue every Bridgerton is married at that point, and they all have kids except Francesca. Its made worse realizing that all of Fran's siblings within the first year of marriage either had a baby or were expecting one but when Fran was with John it took 2 years for her to get pregnant and she ended up with a miscarriage. The big struggle for Fran in the 2nd epilogue is dealing with these fears and doubts and self-hate but its not until she finally talks about it with someone that she makes real progress! And that is the beauty of this story, in the Regency era women didn't talk about miscarriages or fertility, they never opened up about problems like this, heck even today some women are afraid or embarrassed to talk about it. That what fans love about this arc and why we were looking forward to it being in the show, its a powerful and important message about opening up and talking about your fears and problems and women supporting women.
Now yes they can still salvage it but first let be tell you what I thought they were going to do if they stuck with Micheal. For season 3 John and Fran meet but they don't get married till season 4 where we meet Micheal and flesh him out before he meets Fran and he falls in love but keeps it to himself and let them get married. Season 5 John dies, and Fran has a miscarriage, then season 6 is Fran's season, this way we've fleshed John out so his death has weight and develop Micheal & Fran's relationship before it gets romantic.
Now though most likely they'll have to have Fran have a miscarriage next season and go through these fertility doubts, because I can't think of what else they would do with her for that season. Season 5 they kill John and Fran either gives birth to a son after the death or he was already born between seasons 4 & 5. That's the only way I can see them puling it off.
But another issue is the fertility arc would've been great for after they completed Fran's story (they just would've had to have all the siblings but Gregory married and with kids for it to work) because its obvious that the show struggles to give its main characters things to do after their season (Anthony) or even before their season (Benidect) for Fran they already had something planned out. Also even if they do the fertility arc and miscarriage like I described it losses a bit of its impact since Francesca wouldn't have been trying for as long and hard in the show as in the books. Also the big thing is the showrunners haven't given us an inkling if they'll keep the miscarriage or fertility issues, which is just making fans mad and losing their faith in the show. If they are planning on doing they'd better make a statement
I agree completely that the writers have backed themselves into a corner with the too-early introduction of Michaela. If they have Fran and Michaela pining for each other at the beginning of season 4 it makes John a pathetic plot device, someone Fran needed to get her introduced to her real love, Michaela and that is not compelling tv it’s just sad. I do not have a problem with there being and LGBTQIA character in Bridgerton, with 8 siblings love lives to write about there is absolutely room to have all different kinds of love but, I think it would have been better left to Eloise instead of Francesca and NOT because she isn’t interested in marriage as of yet. Although that certainly is excellent groundwork. No, the reason I think it’s better to have done this storyline with Eloise is because in the books she ends up falling in love with Sir Philip Crane, Marina Thomason’s husband. In the books, Marina is a BRIDGERTON cousin and not related to the Featheringtons, which makes her no one in the world to Eloise or her family. Not to mention the fact that the reason Marina is even married to Sir Philip in the first place is because she was discovered by Lady Whistledown as trying to entrap Colin Bridgerton, Eloise’s beloved brother into marriage under the false pretense of tricking him into believing a child she is pregnant by another man is, in fact, Colin’s. A desperate action to be pitied but horrific nonetheless should she have been successful in running off to Gretna Green with him. And if everyone recalls, in the show it was Daphne who visited Marina and tried to help her make amends with everyone and sort out her life once the whole plot was discovered, Eloise had nothing to do with her. I’ve always been wondering how in the world the show would explain why Eloise would suddenly care to write to Philip after Marina dies? It makes absolutely no sense that she would start a relationship and marry Marina’s husband and adopt her children. This brings me to my original point, if the writers follow any logic it leaves Eloise open to pursue any love interest they come up with for her. Let Francesca’s story be about quiet love and maybe Eloise was never interested in marriage because she’s not actually attracted to men!
Including the entire fabricated Marina Thompson plotline in season 1 and 2 made no sense to me if they want to go the way Eloise book goes. I mean, we can assume that they won't, so why bother, I guess?
I hated Marina Thompson in the show. I really hated her sideplot and when I rewatched the previous seasons, I skipped all of her scenes. In season 2, when Colin visits her, she's visibly depressed, so hinting at her fate in Eloise's book?!?! I still don't know, as you've mentioned, how they would wrap up the book plot. As you said, Eloise wouldn't have any reason at all to express her condolences to Phillip after Marina passes (if she does at all, in the show). Yet then if they don't go anywhere with this plot, if Eloise doesn't end up with Phillip, then I'm wondering why they added Marina at all? Gosh, I really hated her plotline.
Spoilers for Francesca’s book.
What you came up with was their book. Exactly like it. Which made me question if Jess, the new show runner actually loved her book.
Michaela is not the problem, it is ignoring what made both of the love stories great in the first place.
Michael/Michaela fell hard for Francesca first. It took Francesca time for her to fall for Michael/Michaela.
I also love how we saw the love Michael/michaela had for John before meeting Francesca. They had their nice bond and familial love and he/she felt guilty for even falling for Francesca and later inheriting the estate because like you said, he/she felt like was stealing from or betraying John.
Francesca felt guilty for reciprocating Michael’s/Michaela’s feelings for the same reasons. She hated betraying John.
This aspect of the story was good from the get go and why it is a favorite of many Bridgerton fans.
It is not Michaela that is the problem, it is reversing the roles of the story.
And I do feel it does retcon some of the rules of the showverse too which fans never enjoy. Don’t change everything (meaning the rules, the spirit of the story, etc) in the show.
I have to be honest. I don't want queer characters unless they were originally intended to be queer. The queer romance in Queen Charlotte was perfect. I'm African American, i know the importance of representation, but I don't need poc in Bridgerton in order to watch or love the show bc i didn't need them when I fell in love with the books. I love the original characters of the books as they are. I learned to love the race changes bc it really doesn't effect anything too much BUT sex and sexuality changes are very problematic to certain plotlines. Why adapt a story if you change the characters beyond recognition?! Fran and Michael are fan favorites. They're MY favorite characters and I want to see them on screen NOT some alternative version of them. Why aren't more ppl being honest?
I agree. Just erasing that lovely “quiet love” plot is awful. I don’t mind a gay Fran but it was so easy not to make everyone there but John look like a horrible person and to not make their season arc redundant.
What I don’t like is that as fans we were told that the writers would follow the books (to a certain extent). A a reader of the books you want to see what you read to come to life on the big screen. I think it does a disservice to the original story to switch gears and make Michael into Michaela.
Yes! I agree with your Francesca and John’s relationship review sooo much! The low key relationship was so sweet and to add the infatuation with his cousin kind of breaks the pure personality of Francesca we have in the books. Also trying to mess with genders for Francesca and Benedict at the same time looks and feels forced and not a natural change.
Rather read the books then watch the film.
This actually is really well done, like the issue with making Michael Michaela. It invalided so much. And considering what we got with season 3? I’m not hopeful
I think you are right. I don't think you should make it a queer relationship when people love the original male female relationship from the books. If you want a queer relationship then make an original one for the series.
Same as u, the fack that they throw away everything fran has been fighting for this season is just not right.
Fire Jess Brownell as writer and show runner. Let Shondaland develop a gay love series, put Brownell in charge of it, and put Chris van Dusen as Bridgeton’s chief writer and show runner.
Why would they change the showrunner?
@@kresspqressie7722they would change show runner if they listened to any of the reviews or social media feedback. I have not seen a single positive review of season 3 on UA-cam rather than their usual echo chamber of media critics. The fans are what keeps a show successful and I feel that they used their PR strategy to get peak viewership for S3 but they won’t be able to replicate that as they have lost a huge part of the fandom.
@@kresspqressie7722and if it isn’t obvious the criticism for S3 is much broader than the gender swap but every single aspect of the show. The change in style is incredibly obvious to S1-2 and perhaps Jess Brownell would do better when she can create a spinoff of her own making like how everyone got behind QC as opposed to trying to fit into the Bridgerton mode.
this… this video is literally the main reason i hated the ending for frannie. there is already so much content from the books to make a compelling season. you don’t need to change michael gender to make a more dramatic story. you don’t reverse everything you’ve set up in the season so far and then make frannie just fall for her NEW husbands cousin.
The issue with making Michael into Michaela, is that a woman wont have the same backstory as a man does. Michael fell in in love with Francesca and was just wasting his time with other women because he couldn't have her and then he becomes the Earl... so how are we doing this? I think the writers thought that like with blind casting, gender swapping would be fine. It could be uhhh if it wasn't based on material. The writers want it both ways, blind casting 'oh there is some racism in this world...', people are gay 'oh being gay is super dangerous'. If this was an original character with an original romance, yes!
Ruined one of the major themes in the book, infertility. Gender change of Michael therefore is a real problem.
This just changes everything. I don’t think the book will be recognizable in Fran’s season at all… and that’s sad. If they wanted to tell a completely different story, why use an already existing one? It’s fine to change parts of a books story for tv but you should also keep the important stuff in… otherwise it’s just a famous name used for your own story…
I'm not queer so I can't say how those who are dealing with those sort of feelings as they are discovering themselves in a mostly heteronormative society would look like, or feel, but the fact that "she was always the odd and quiet one, so that must mean she is gay" play here really bothered me.. So far the show has done to elevate to source material in my opinion, so I wasn't all that mad about the changes they made in the show, so even though I won't get to see the story I would have wanted to, I'm interested to see what they would come up with, it's just that Bridgerton is set at a very particular kind of backdrop.. it's one thing to try and present a more ethnically equal alternate history, which is a doozy all on its own, why do they feel the need to tackle every other social injustice regardless of the timestamp represented? Can it really be called Jane Austin -esk when Eloise riles the women to demand a vote a century and a half earlier and (Spoilers) the Bridgertons are going to tackle same sex marriage while at the same time forbidden a gentleman character to have an honest job and forcing someone to marry because they went to 2nd base?! You can't have it both ways Bridgestone.. you just can't.
I don't understand why we are making a show set in Regency England when we end up pushing todays agendas and societal norms onto it. Just make a show set in today's age then. And I don't understand why people desperately need at least one of the Bridgertons to be gay? Bridgerton wasn't a queer story to begin with, the books were written for women who wanted to read about manly men engaging in romantic love stories with beautiful women, set in the somehow prude society of Regency England with its strict courting rules, but make it spicy. These women are also the target audience for the show.
Imagine if the showrunners from the Shadow Hunter series would have made Alec and Magnus straight. The outrage, the outrage. And rightly so. I want my originally straight characters to remain straight and my originally queer characters to remain queer. And if there are no queer characters, well then maybe it's not a queer story to begin with.
I'm not against queer stories, but staying as faithful as possible to the source material is more important to me than pandering to certain groups.
*Spoilers book 8 incoming*
All that being said: if people really really desperately need a queer representation in a show set in the 1800's... There would have been a natural and not original-story-breaking way for the showrunners to do that. In book 8, which is about Gregory, there appears Lord Halesby, who is supposed to marry Lucy, Gregory's love interest. Lord Halesby is gay and this marriage is supposed to be a marriage in name only, to keep up appearances in society and stop the rumours about Lord Halesby. Why not adding him now, in season 3, make him quite young, like 20 years old, and give him an interesting and intriguing sideplot on how he struggles in the society as a gay man, how he falls in love with a friend, how they try to hide their romance, how they are exposed and his father then forces him to marry Lucy (entering: book 8). This story could go on through all seasons, we could keep Lord Halesby as a supporting recurring side character (and finally kick out that boring Mondrich's plot!!!!). Yes, he only appears in book 8, but he is a canonical character in the book universe, also he's portrayed in a favourable light, Lucy actually really likes him and thinks he's a good man. This could have been woven into the show without forcing straight characters to be queer, just for the sake of it.
All in all I only have to say that I wonder why they want to adapt a book series when they change so much and practically rewrite it completely. Do they really like the source material?
THANK YOU for pointing this out! I enjoy the Shadowhunter books and if they had turned Alec and Magnus ( a gay couple I LOVE SO MUCH ) into a straight, I would have been PISSED too and so would fans of the books and the show ! There would be so much outrage and entirely justified as well. Funny how, now we're upset that a straight couple that is SO beloved in the fandom is being butchered and we're the homophobics? its the double standards that disgust me. Like the implication we're not allowed to enjoy and be upset about a couple in a fictional story as much as the next person is just disgusting.
Jess doing this because she "saw herself in francesca" does not make her look good AT ALL, she's basically writing a self-insert fanfiction about herself and honestly, you can't do this shit in a tv shows and movies. Maybe she needs to re-consider another career or write her own GODDAMN original story and stopping trashing the books people enjoy. The bridgerton books are not perfect but they are a beloved series and we're allowed to be upset about changes that are tarnishing and erasing storylines just so serve someone's narcissistic personal agenda.
The books were never quite historically accurate either. I personally see Bridgerton as more of a fantasy rather than a period piece, and I find it enjoyable for what it is-escapism, not realism. It's a show about beauty and glamour set in a fantasy world inspired by Regency-era London for a modern audience. Personally, I don't mind stepping into a world that is beautiful and free from racism or homophobia.
@@Lara45706 I think an issue us it’s so over-the-top idealism that it actually goes too far, like with how racism was so magically cured by just having a black queen. A black president did nothing to lessen racism. But a black queen cured the world and made colonization in India go away and all harm fix itself. You can have fantasy elements, but sanitizing history to the point of erasing all harm is invalidating.
@@Lara45706obviously the books are not entirely accurate, yet it is also obvious in the books that the stories are set in a very specific time period and that they are bound to its rules. Daphne and Simon have to get married because they are seen kissing.
Racism wouldn't be an issue at all in this series if not for the showrunners making up the "Great experiment". Race is not a topic at all in the books. I mean, when I'm watching a K-Drama, or C-Drama, no matter in which time period it is set, I don't hear anyone complain that everyone on screen is East Asian. Making a show set in Regency England, even if the plot is fiction, shouldn't be scolded for an all white cast. Making a show set in today's England should be scolded for an all white cast.
Regarding the homophobia... Wanting an originally straight couple to remain straight is not homophobic. I absolutely enjoy queer stories. I only started watching the show Spartacus because I saw several fan edits on UA-cam about Agron and Nasir, a gay couple. I've never cared about the show before, but these fan edits excited me so much, this gay couple was the only reason why I started watching. Same for Shameless, btw.
And the inclusion of queer stories is absolutely fine, yet it should fit into the overall story and world it is set in. And if I'm adapting an already existing story, and this story doesn't happen to be queer, then, well, we don't have a queer story.
I'm not going to adapt an originally queer story and make it straight. That would be as ridiculous.
@@mimismsx yes, I actually find it kinda pathetic to turn an established book character, that Jess didn't even invent, into an self-insert. She should write her original stories maybe, if she's in desperate needs of self-inserts.
My problem isn't with micheala, its with how john and francessca's story was trying to have a message and show they are in love just to throw that all away with the kiss and micheala.
I did like John! That's the kind of person I would like to find tbh, someone stable, intelligent, and caring. The mistelling of the mud story was endearing. it's so much more realistic than going from hating to loving someone. But, even so, my fave is still Kate and Anthony
The funny thing is, I knew this was coming at some point. With this series, it's been shown to be inclusive in many ways. Simon is African-American in the show, Kate/Edwina are now of Indian heritage, Queen Charlotte is partly African-American (whether historically accurate or not), Brimsley and Reynolds were in a relationship in the QC Series, and there are some Asian background characters as well. So it only makes sense to have a WLW relationship along Benedict's revealed Bisexuality. Yes I do see the issues with Michael turned Michaela and it won't properly follow "When He Was Wicked" 's storyline, but it raises a whole bunch of other problems to explore as well, which is all part of the fun to watch at well! Also, some fans also think that with such a series, they wouldn't be able to sit through 8 hetrosexual relationships, despite that being the original story.
Its netflix forcing the story on the Fandom
Thats why its annoying
As if no show should be without same-sex relationship it reached a level that it feels fake and forced
This is netflix policy and thats why its annoying
I did not like the change at all. I have read the books and I like the stories as they are. Too many changes for me means that producers think they can do better than the writer. I know that adaptations are needed. However radical changes spoil the stories. I stick to the books.
I think the gender swap will not work with the storyline as per the book. Unless we pretend that LGBT and women have all the same rights and social acceptance as straight people, but it is already settled that they don't, so that will be an added element instead of what the story (which seems to be most ppl's favourite) is about.
The writing on the show is the weakest thing about it.
This was so unnecessary I’m not excited for the next season if we are just changing the main characters storylines.
The main problem with this season is, there are too many storylines. In the first two seasons, main focus was on the main couple, with a few subplots among other families.
But in season 3, first of all there was two 'main' couples (Colin/Penelope and Francesca/John). This meant that screen time was divided between them. Additionally, the sub-plots got more screen time than in previous seasons. If we didn't already know who the main storyline was, it would be very difficult to pinpoint.
But there was also a lot more passion between season 1 and 2 couples. I get that this was not supposed to be in the Francesca/John storyline. But Colin/Penelope was more about Lady Whistledown than their love and passion. The scenes that did show them, ahem, "passionately", despite being the most exposed in the series so far, felt the least passionate and the most timid. This is *not* the fault of the actors - they did great with what they were given. It is the writing that seems to lack real emotion and desire - it is replaced with nudity. Even Kate and Anthony's scenes seemed a bit off...
I felt sad about it. I'm all for the gender swap, but the implication that their quiet love is actually not authentic is a hard pill to swallow after feeling that their relaxed, non-dramatic foray into love represented my own. Apparently, their love is not real love and it's not EPIC? Well, I guess I should be holding out for something a little more loud and hormone-driven...as Violet would suggest.
OMG! How did I miss this! 🤣The Michael/Michaela thing went whoosh.... right over my head! Doesn't work for me. I've always thought Eloise might be the one questioning her gender.
I would agree with your take 100%. The showrunner/writers have had a history of trying to have their cake and eat it too and have written themselves into a lesser version of the story. I felt like they did this to Anthony and Kate's season. How do you make the two leads of a romance THE MOST unlikable characters for 50% of the season? Yeah sure everyone eventually forgave them but they literally had the character continue to make THE WORST (and truly stupidest) choices and it wasn't fun as a viewer because you DON'T want to root for THAT. And I fear it will be the same for next season.
Also, I'm heartbroken because honestly I truly loved the message of validating a "quiet love" - such a good message for so many young folks who feel weird if they aren't possessed by a passion or something. Francesca + John was a beautiful representation of an autistic love match but by having Francesca apparently doubt those feelings at the end of the season when they finally kiss, as you mentioned, erases the whole moral of her story for that season. And to use queer representation to erase or invalidate (very rare) autistic representation feels extremely icky. And bridgerton/netflix also has a history of leaving their cast out for the wolves so I feel for the actor play Michaela. It's disgusting - both the fans and the orgs.
If this was a different show, I think honoring her autism while also making her queer is absolutely doable. In fact, I would LOVE to see it and I think many would. HOWEVER, I have no faith in bridgerton writers to do it any sort of justice or realism. (There handling of the queer character in season 1 left me SHOCKED to find out the showrunner was gay. Like, how?!) What will likely happen in the next season is Francesca's more autistics characteristics will magically melt away. The only problem, that's not how autism works. Perhaps during this 2 year production time they will bring on some actual autistic and queer writers to help craft an authentic story but this is netflix and they don't spend money to make money if they don't have to.
Also - I'm sorry but for this ENTIRE series they've been building up for Benedict to be the gay one and HIS partner isn't being gender bent? Like, yes, men need more Bi representation, but once again, I don't think that's how the show will go. They are going to drop the ball and it'll just look like he had to find the "right girl" and that "all guys go through a bisexual phase at university".
Silly me. I thought her stuttering when meeting Michaela was because of her shy nature. Not having read the books, I had no inclination that she was “in love” or whatever was implied 🤷🏾♀️
Before watching the video I'm gonna say that if the showrunners had chosen Eloise for a same-sex couple, I would've had ZERO issues and would've loved watching her season. It would've made sense for her character, as her original couple in the books actually doesn't, imo. But Francesca being gay makes no sense at all.
I can see it now. The title Bridgeton with a sticker 'fanfiction'.
The problem I have with it is that it feels like it comes out of nowhere. There is no indication all season that Fran doesn't love John and for the show to have the audacity to claim she doesn't is ridiculous. In addition, there are other Bridgertons where this genderbending would make more sense such as with Eloise or Benedict. Characters that have had more screen time as opposed to Fran who has only been in focus for one season. And coming out of nowhere and claiming she's bisexual or gay when the entire season has been supporting the theory that she's asexual and wants more to love than just sex seems a bit cowardly. It makes the show seem like that if they can't sexualize it, it's not actually love.
Especially when one of the few redeeming qualities about this bad season was John and Francesca's romance and the show trying something a little different to the themes of love they've displayed before. And I feel like this change is again saying that because John and Fran didn't have a relationship based on chemistry or sexual attraction, it can't be real love and that is again, very cowardly, out of character for Fran, disappointing backtracking and used on the wrong character.
I haven’t read the books, but when they introduced Micaela, I thought for sure that her and Eloise would get together. Eloise is disdainful of marriage anyway, and I can imagine her being very happy with a life-long “companionship” with another woman, especially another woman with such a strong, out-spoken personality, like herself. It would also be funny and exciting to see Eloise getting used to the idea of loving a woman and how she can have romance but not conform to the usual mold, similar to Benedict’s arc in season 3.
Michael into Michaela is forced and beyond unnecessary
If you seriously believe that you’re a homophobe.
Francesca and John are not a love story - that's the main problem. This show obviously doesn't understand who it's audience are. The audience is invested in the romance and the love stories. Francesca and John not being a love story means we as the audience wasted a big chunk of the season watching what is essentially the setup for future drama.
I also think a lot of people's dissatisfaction with Benedict stems from the same reason. The audience doesn't want to spend long spans of time watching Benedict go from tryst to tryst. It's boring. I understand they are trying to lay the groundwork for character growth but they are allotting way too much time which could be spent on the actual romances of the seasons showing us everyone and their mother's unromantic and completely unconnected plotlines.
I'm not even a book fan so all my criticisms are based solely on the show's own divergence from it's own premise that was promised to us starting from season 1. Plus I'm queer so part of me wants to just shut up and be grateful for any representation we get but it's just all done so badly . . .
I agree, the gender swap is not a big deal to me, the execution is baffling, why not have Michaela be the one falling in love from first sight and not Francisca, that at least would not take away from her relationship with John.
On the other hand, I always though genderbending Eloise's love interest would have worked perfectly, yes it's somewhat of a trope for the feminist character, but there are so many ways to do it, because that relationship starts in writing you can either have two women falling in love over letters or the other woman pretending to be "Philip" and when it's revealed you can do lots of angst! books fans unanimously hate Philip and I think will not bat an eye at it, Also El is against marriage so it would be normal for her just living with a "friend" as a they pretend to be spinsters and female Philip like her counterpart can already have children if they felt that is a requirement, I feel like that's a great story to tell and far more organic to fit in with original.
Yeah, I don’t care about the gender-swap. I care that to make it happen the writers chose to discredit the genuine love between Francesca & John. They had the most beautiful love story of the season & within seconds they just spit on it. Had they introduced Michaela in a similar way to how Michael is introduced in the books, basically for Michael it was love at first sight & Francesca only falls in love after she has properly grieved the losses of her husband & unborn child, then at least they could play to the same beats of the book. How they handle Francesca’s desire to be a mother would be dependent on if they choose to keep John alive a bit longer. I don’t want to see John in love with Francesca while she moons over his cousin then, he dies. That is so depressing. 😢