#Francesca is Autistic

[usuallydyinginside]

TLDR: Francesca Bridgerton is Autistic. Fight me.

Okay so I did not go into Season 3 of Bridgerton expecting to have any feelings about Francesca Bridgerton. We have seen her only in glimpses in the show and I have not read the books, so I knew basically nothing about her before binging the first four episodes.

But guys. GUYS. I will die for this autistic queen.

Okay, so starting with first impressions. We know that on her big day, Francesca went out of her way to avoid her nosy, loud family by having a very early, quiet breakfast by herself and then calming down via playing the piano (clearly a special interest of hers).

In her first balls, we see Francesca light up any time she talks about music (clearly her current or forever special interest) but as soon as men try to take it to a flirting place she IMMEDIATELY shuts down. It's clear that even as she states very matter-of-factly that she plans to marry this season, she also is baffled and uncomfortable any time someone tries to actually, ya know, court her.

At one of her first shindigs, she got attention and then went up to her brother and (while making almost no eye contact) told him (rather than asked him) that she needed a sec.

She then sat by herself in the side of the ballroom.

Later on, she left a ball in search of quiet and solitude to fix her sensory overload, so she went outside this time. (A thing that we know from pervious seasons is a HUGE no-no, particularly unchaperoned. But she was very respectfully near the door so maybe that's fine?) The point is that she cares very much about staying respectable so she can get this marriage thing over with and get people to stop perceiving her, yet she risks some scandal by going outside just so she can be somewhere quiet alone.

Enter: this absolute (also autistic) Prince Charming.

He says hello (so she knows he's not like trying to sneak up on her in the dark like a creep) and then just stands there. 10/10, no notes, best way to flirt I have ever seen in my life.

Seriously just look at this. I'm in love. Never before has there been a greater sign of love at first sight than in this "standing politely five feet apart in total silence in the middle of a ball and enjoying each other's company."

I need to go watch these first four episodes about a hundred more times, but I THINK this might be the first sincere smile we see from Francesca??!? I at least got the impression immediately that this is the first time she's felt genuinely comfortable and happy while not entirely alone this season.

Like, these nerds did not even exchange names. They barely exchanged a word. Yet you can see them falling head over heels in love right there in that moment. I don't even LIKE love at first sight tropes and they have my whole heart. They are the only exception.

Then, of course, you have this second absolutely iconic Scene of Silence where the entire Bridgerton family stares in neurotypical confusion a these two amazing weirdos. The way these two do not know each other but they DO know each other. The way they are both so happy and so comfortable but also still playing the whole society game the way they were told they had to?? I just don't have words right now.

LOOK AT HER SMILE, GUYSSSSSSSS.

Look how happy this tiny, silent moment is making her. How she understands immediately what he's doing and is absolutely delighted to participate too even knowing her entire family is hardcore judging them from not that far away.

And then you get this smug little look from him and it's like you can see his autistic ass thinking, "Yes. I calculated correctly. This was the correct romance option. Gold star to me." (Okay, maybe that's just how my brain works but shhhhh)

Which, of course, brings us to this absolutely hilariously awkward ND attempt at flirting. We start off with some fairly normal "whoops, I'm flustered cause you make me nervous" sort of moments, but notice how little eye contact she makes. How she only looks in his eyes very briefly and it seems like she almost has to remind herself to do so when she's doing the "polite" answers (OR later when she's genuinely interested in a topic).

So as soon as Francesca is like "oh shit, I ruined it. I forgot how to neurotypical. It's over" then she loses patience with the practiced social niceties.

I spent like 30 minutes trying to find a GIF and I should already be asleep so I'm not going to go learn how to make one BUT I needed to look up exactly what happens next cause it's basically the most autistic thing I've ever seen.

WHICH IS that in response to the second awkward silence after Francesca shares all of this, John's response is, "That is helpful. If you'll excuse me."

Then dude bro just WALKS AWAY WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD.

Like it would be awkward anyway but now Francesca thinks she misread a social cue so she's feeling sad, and meanwhile this absolute king is over here on a romantic mission no one asked him to do because he is that set on showing her he's listening and cares.

The man shows up at the ball and as soon as he had a paper we were all screaming "he wrote her a song!!!"

Again, notice the eye contact (or lack thereof). I think with period dramas and women, it's easy to just go "oh she's just shy" or "she's just being demure like she's supposed to" but like NO. This girl does not want to meet anyone's eyes.

Until she does. Because in moments where she's talking about music or enjoying quiet, it's worth it to purposefully meet his eyes and see how he's feeling too. To make sure he can see she's happy.

ANYWAY, it was so much better than him writing a song for her.

SO. MUCH. BETTER.

Because he didn't just give her any ol' music. He sought out the music they'd specifically heard in the street, and he took her exact specifications on what was "wrong" with the music, and he FIXED IT. He then put the whole thing on sheet music and handed her a copy with no further explanation than this.

Our autistic lass was so excited she basically sprinted out of that ball so she could find a piano. (Which, the fact that she does this rather than try to stay and flirt/dance with the man who just gave her this incredible gift ALSO says a lot, just saying. Daphne could never.)

So our girl finds a piano and GUYS. LOOK AT HOW HAPPY SHE IS.

I'm pretty sure this woman would accept a proposal right this second. Maybe make one herself. She is so head over heels in love with this man that it's absurd. We have watched her mask in these first four episodes, but the last two where she's interacting with John are the first times she seems genuinely happy and like the real her is shining through.

Like, does she enjoy her family? Sure. But it's obvious (and she even tells us) that she finds them overwhelming and generally to be A Lot. But these scenes? This gesture?

You can just get how seen she feels. How weird and wild and amazing it is to her that this man can see who she actually is and wants to join her there instead of making her play some part of the perfect Bridgerton who likes to be the center of attention.

(And even here - the EYE CONTACT. She glances at people when she's talking to them, but the way she looks at the sheet music is so much more intense and intimate and personal than anytime she's looking at the average person in the show. She still even in places she's most comfortable, such as sitting at the piano, makes very little eye contact and only at very specific moments.)

Anyway I'm going to sleep now but I'm sure I'll add more thoughts as they come to me. Feel free to add your own case for why Francesca is autistic and/or otherwise neurodivergent. I want to hear allllllll the thoughts.

[nataliescatorccio]

FRANCESCA BRIDGERTON & JOHN STIRLING Bridgerton: Season 3 Part II

[partywithponies]

Shoutout to iconic british kid's books that are framed like you're supposed to pick one of two siblings to side with and hate the other one, but when you read them as an adult you realise the parents are just horribly emotionally abusive and pitting the siblings against each other by making them into the golden child and the scapegoat, and they're both victims, and the parents just never get called out on this or face any consequences or learn the error of their ways at any point.

[reiverreturns]

after three seasons of her children being the most unhinged horndogs in all the ton, if violet bridgerton doesn't get some soon i may punch a hole through the wall

[mydairpercabeth]

Shout out to my autistic demiromantic queen Francesca Bridgerton

[faebobaggins]

this representation is all i ever dreamed of just look at them!!

[rel-bis]

francesca and john are such an autistic couple omg, them sitting in silence, francesca infodumping abt music, john just walking away without saying anything so he could turn what she said into sheet music ooooh i'm gonna cry 😭

[friday1221]

I love that we as a collective immediately decided to claim Frannie and John as our autistic babies

[natandwandaseries]

I usually get upset when watching a show and they stray from the book in characterization, but autistic Francesca Bridgerton is absolutely fantastic and I absolutely love her

[do-u-know-this-autisticcharacter]

Do You Know This (non-canon) Autistic Character?

Propaganda from submitter:

Henry is written off as a troublemaker but he actually has a lot of autistic traits that impact his behaviour.

1. He is an outcast and has like 1 guy who consistently speaks to him, the rest of the class find him strange and annoying. When he invites them to his birthday party, he wins his classmates over with how many cool things there's gonna be at the party, instead of them just wanting to celebrate him as a friend.

2. He hates vegetables! He also hates swimming. Those are the 2 sensory issues i've noticed so far. The reason he hates swimming is because of how the water feels on his skin, and he avoids it in school as best as he can.

3. He has a surprisingly strict routine and throws tantrums when his plans get ruined. I related to him in the birthday episode when he got upset that his parents didn't follow his orders for the party (they changed his food ideas into healthy ones without telling him, for example), because I was also the kid that cried at my birthday party when it didn't go the way I expected it to. A common event in episodes is that someone is stopping him from watching his favourite show on TV when he had planned to watch it.

4. Speaking of TV, he has such a special interest in the show "Mutant Max". He references it all the time and just *has* to watch it on TV when it airs. His other interest is toy guns, either like nerf guns or water guns. In one episode, he gets completely fixated on some toys that are found in cereal boxes.

5. He cannot get his homework in on time, which in an autistic interpretation would mean that he struggles with getting things done when he's not interested in them.

[inklore]

francesca not being able to talk or think clearly because a pretty girl talked to her is so relatable.

[hotpoopymilk]

two people who actually matched each other's freak

[weirdloverwilde]

i love francescas personality this season, i really like how different she is from all her other siblings

[glitterfairy-21225]

I will protect Michaela Stirling with my life, but I swear to god, if they fumble Francesca x John, I'm going to commit a crime. The show is a lot different from the books, as it should be, but they do not need to undermine the love Fran has for John. The literal point is that falling in love a second time does not discount the love Francesca had for John. That's beautiful. That resonates even today 20 years after the novel's release. That does not need to be changed.

I think they still could have had the 'forget my own name' thing, but with Francesca introducing herself as Francesca Bridgerton before remembering her married name. It would have been subtle without discounting the fact that Frannie literally just married the love of her life and she's thrilled.

[prismolovesfanfiction]

autistic queen francesca bridgerton

[jmmelody]

Francesca, my autistic, introverted queen.