Fans Noticed This Super Romantic Detail In The Bridgerton Season 3 Finale
Did you catch it?
Spoilers ahead for Bridgerton Season 3, Part 2. The highly-anticipated Bridgerton finale was, in a word, overwhelming. Polin’s season ended in a flurry of blackmail, butterflies, and weddings. In fact, there was *so* much going on, it was easy to miss one of the episode’s most romantic moments between the newly-wed Francesca Kilmartin and her husband’s cousin Michaela Stirling.
For fans of Julia Quinn’s novels, the brief introduction between Francesca (played by Hannah Dodd) and Michaela (played by Masali Baduza) foretold more romance to come. In the books, Francesca’s husband, John (played in the show by Victor Alli), passes away, and she later falls in love with her late husband’s cousin, Michael Stirling. The show changed Michael to Michaela, making way for a queer love story that has fans counting down the days until Francesca’s season.
Francesca and Michaela’s introduction was a big moment — so much so that you might have missed the detail that made it the ultimate meet-cute. When Francesca met Michaela, she was visibly stunned and struggled to regain her composure... she even seemed to forget her own name. “Uh, I am... Francesca Bridgerton. Kilmartin,” she told Michaela, finally recalling her married name.
Fans pointed out that her not-so-subtle crush was actually a callback to earlier in the season, when Francesca shared a bonding moment with her mom, Violet Bridgerton. Reminder: Throughout the third season, Violet wasn’t exactly loving Francesca and John’s romance, not seeing the passion between them, despite Francesca insisting that she liked the slow and steady approach.
Violet eventually came around to the match and opened up to Francesca about her own love story with Edmund Bridgerton, Violet’s late husband: “You know when I first met your father... I could barely speak my own name. I was so taken by him.”
“This cute parallel between Violet and Francesca,” one Bridgerton fan wrote, pointing out the similarities. In a different post, another fan commented, “And the way Violet said that the first time she saw Edmund she couldn’t even say her own name.”
It’s looking like Benedict’s turn as lead is likely next, but maybe Francesca and Michaela will be the stars of Season 5?
