Spoilers
Now that all of Bridgerton season three is available to watch, it’s time to discuss The Big Twist that comes at the end of episode eight. No, not the thing with Penelope. The other Big Twist, the one in which John Stirling’s cousin is finally introduced.
In the books, Michael Stirling, John’s cousin and best friend, is ultimately Francesca’s love interest. They meet on the eve of John and Fran’s wedding, Michael falls head over heels for Fran, but she and John are clearly in love, so he does the honorable thing and f-cks off to India for years. When circumstances bring him back to England and find Francesca available, he and Fran have a great second-chance love story. For many people, Michael Stirling is THE stand-out Bridgerton husband, and When He Was Wicked is their #1 book, and a lot of fans were looking forward to finally meeting Michael Stirling on the show…only to get served Michaela instead.
Fans are, of course, being totally normal about gender-bending a beloved character from the books. I’m not linking to it because we don’t need those bad vibes in our lives, but everyone from showrunner Jess Brownell to executive producer Shonda Rhimes to novelist Julia Quinn—who has nothing to do with the show—are being harassed online. This is, obviously, not cool, and it’s doubly annoying coming on the heels of toxic Star Wars fans (once again) having a meltdown over the introduction of lesbian space witches to the galaxy far, far away. Bridgerton fandom, be better than this!
Queer inclusion has been built into Bridgerton from the beginning, first introduced via Benedict’s artistic mentor, Henry Granville, and again this season, Benedict engages in a threesome that includes a man, so the show is acknowledging that queer attraction exists in their version of Regency England. But, in keeping with actual social mores of the time, Bridgerton’s gays are kept in the closet, unable to acknowledge their love publicly, or live their lives out and proud as their fullest selves. However, there is a historical loophole that makes a sapphic happily ever after possible for Francesca—the so-called “Boston marriage”.
Basically, in olden times, it wasn’t unusual for women to shack up together. Not all of these arrangements were romantic, but some definitely were, including the “Ladies of Llangollen”, the partnership between aristocratic ladies Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler, which carried on through the Regency era. They were KNOWN to be in a romantic partnership, yet despite the disapproval of both their families, they did ultimately manage to avoid traditional marriage and build their life together at Plas Newydd in Wales. So while it would be scandalous of her, Francesca could conceivably enter into an open romantic relationship with a woman, even if legal marriage still isn’t on the table.
But the upset fans don’t really care about the precedent of lesbian relationships in Regency England. They’re upset they’re not getting hot dude Michael Stirling on the show, and it’s a huge f-cking bummer during Pride month, frankly. It feels too much like the real world, where the worst people say things like, “I don’t care if you’re gay, I just don’t want to see it.” But Michael Stirling will always exist in the books, no one is taking away copies of When He Was Wicked. Meanwhile, the show has a chance to explore a real historical exception in which queer women were able to build lives together, and that’s genuinely interesting. Bridgerton has kind of been a mess when it comes to history—what is this nonsense about CHOOSING who inherits a title?????—but here is a real corner of history in which queer people carved out a tiny corner for themselves. Bridgerton has a perfect set up to spotlight Boston marriages and historic queer representation (further, some of those old Scottish titles can be inherited by women, so Michaela could even become the next Countess of Kilmartin in her own right, no nonsense required).
Francesca is also a good subject for exploring a coming out narrative. In the books, her sense of isolation and not fitting in with her family is due to her introversion, which the show does a good job of showing both in the writing and Hannah Dodd’s perfectly calibrated performance as the quiet one in the boisterous Bridgerton family. But as showrunner Jess Brownell, who is herself queer, says, Fran’s sense of “feeling different” also resonates with coming out narratives, which besides adding representation to the show, also acknowledges that queer people are reading the books, too. Bridgerton’s appeal goes beyond the assumed audience of straight women, and the show has incorporated that from day one, but through Francesca, they can actually deliver a happily ever after to a queer couple.
There are plenty of decisions to nitpick in Bridgerton season three, chief among them the decision to do away with Lady Whistledown as a secret identity, but gender-bending Michael Stirling into Michaela makes more sense than many plot points introduced this season. From day one Bridgerton has positioned itself as a more inclusive kind of historical adaptation, and now they’re living up to their own ideal by dedicating one of the sibling’s love stories to real queer representation. Francesca having baby gay panic upon meeting Michaela—who is beautiful and charismatic, just like Michael—is a great meet cute. And the potential for Fran’s story to be not only a journey to a second chance at love, but also one of self-discovery is thematically ripe, and ought to make for a compelling arc in future seasons. Michael Stirling will always exist in the books, but I look forward to seeing more of Michaela on TV.
