John Stirling - Blog Posts

My thoughts on Michaela

Ok first : disclaimer, I have read the book, ok angry Michael fan ? I have read the book, I read all of them.

You can guess where my thought is going : it definitely could work.

There's just something about Francesca being startled by Michaela but quickly stuffing those feelings down. She's a married woman and she DOES love John, in some way.

And then when she need Michaela the most, she vanished. (And maybe married to have a baby with some lord for the succession ?... To think about)

Then she comes back and Francesca starts to feel things but no she can't. It's John's cousin for heaven's sake she's betraying John again, she tried to have a child with him !!!She wants children, you need a man for children.

And it's wrong she's a woman, a lady. She always followed societal rules she does NOT like women. She is different enough, she doesn't need something else.

Then there's Michaela. She always liked Francesca, from the moment she saw her.

But it's impossible, she's John's wife, her almost brother's wife.

Francesca is a good woman she likes following the rules, she wants children, she's a perfect lady. No way she is like Michaela, attracted to girls.

And getting with her isn't just betraying John, it's betraying Francesca. She's already cast away from society, she wants children and she deserves it. John would want her happy and no way is Michaela going to make this impossible.

I've also seen people being worried because John was supposed to be Francesca's first love. But he can still be, sure she has a spark for Michaela but nothing more. John and her have a connection something deep, that's going to leave a real hole in her life.

And if anything worries about sex scene you can have consensual sex even if one isn't into it (an example that strikes me is in “The day of a fallen night” which is the most interesting, on a writing level, sex scene I've read)

The only thing that really bothers me about this Michaela storyline is that it seems they’re going to use it to show that Francesca wasn’t truly in love with John… the way Violet said oh I thought love was forgetting your words and bold passion! Then she finally concluded that there are other ways to show love only for Fran to stumble over her words and have this sudden passion for Michaela? Like what was the point of my cute autistic coded couple then???

Kindred Spirits: Eloise, Theo, Francesca, and John

A lot of people compare Eloise and Theo to Anthony and Siena or Colin and Marina: where one is simply a plot device for the other. While I have my own thoughts regarding this that I won't get into, I think a more apt comparison for Eloise and Theo is Francesca and John.

We see both relationships develop, and we see a real connection between these couples despite Eloise and Francesca ending up with different people in the books. Eloise and Theo feel like "kindred spirits" due to their shared interests, and so do Francesca and John.

Theo and John also share Eloise and Francesca's love language: politics and literature, in Eloise's case, music and peace, in Francesca's case. We see this when Theo sets aside books for Eloise and when John rewrites music for Francesca. Personally, I prefer these moments to some of the grand love confessions we see in the show (which I also love, don't get me wrong). Actions speak louder than words for a reason!

Both Theo and John can also offer Eloise and Francesca the life they want: Theo offers Eloise a life outside of high society, John offers Francesca a peaceful life.