, dropped a bombshell on viewers. In the season finale, Francesca Bridgerton is talking with her new husband John, the Earl of Kilmartin, at a ball when she meets his cousin, who introduces herself as. Francesca appears awestruck, and for good reason: As readers of the Julia Quinn novels—on which the Netflix series is based—know, Francesca’s story involves her eventually falling in love with a character named Michael Stirling.
Yet the controversy isn’t as simple as “fans just want faithfulness to the books.” Wrapped up in some viewers’—but not all—reactions are, whether consciously or not, overtly or not, threads of homophobia or misogynoir, as defenders of the change have pointed out.
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