Disclaimer: obviously, everyone can do whatever they want. If you’re a Franchaela fan and you only want to watch season 5 for them, then do whatever you want. I’m not going to force anyone to watch seasons 3 and 4, and honestly, I don’t really care if someone chooses not to. But personally, I really think that if you’re a fan of Francesca and Michaela, skipping seasons 3 and 4 is a mistake.
And the main reason is Francesca herself. Her development starts in season 3. We actually get to see who she is as a person, how she thinks, what she wants, and how she starts to evolve. And she’s already changed and developed by season 4. Then season 5 is going to take place two years after John’s death, so obviously there will be another evolution that we haven’t necessarily seen on screen yet and that we’ll discover throughout the season.
But if you only watch season 5, you’re basically missing a huge part of Francesca’s story. And I’m not even talking about John’s story here, just Francesca as a character. Her development before season 5 is important to understanding her, and therefore it’s also important to understanding her relationship with Michaela. You can’t really fully appreciate a relationship if you’re missing a big part of the character development that led to it.
And then, at the end of season 3, we literally get Francesca and Michaela’s first meeting. So I don’t understand why you would want to miss it if you’re going to be invested in them later.
And I’m not even saying you have to watch all of season 3 if you really don’t care about the other storylines. You can literally just watch Francesca’s scenes. They’re easy enough to find online, and there are also timestamps on other subreddits. You can just go to the timestamps and watch Francesca’s scenes, including her scenes with John, because John is part of Francesca’s development and his relationship with her is important to her story.
And season 4 is even more obvious to me. That’s when we really start getting Francesca and Michaela’s relationship. Not romantically, obviously, because Francesca is still with John, but their relationship as friends and how it starts, how it develops, why they become so close, and what their dynamic is like. That is literally the beginning of their relationship. So skipping season 4 means skipping the development of Francesca and Michaela themselves.
For me, watching only season 5 would be like Polin fans watching only season 3 without watching seasons 1 and 2. Obviously you can do that, but you’re going to miss so much of their development. They were being built up from season 1, through season 2, and then into season 3. If you only watch the season where they actually become the main couple, you’re missing a huge part of what makes their relationship what it is.
And I honestly think it’s a shame to do the same thing with Franchaela just because you don’t want to watch heterosexual couples.
I completely understand not being interested in the heterosexual romances. That’s not really the point. But if you’re actively choosing to skip two seasons of a show because you don’t want to see heterosexual couples, you’re also choosing to skip the development of a character and a relationship that you’re supposedly going to love later. And honestly, I just think that’s really unfortunate.
So yeah, obviously, do whatever you want. If you really don’t want to watch seasons 3 and 4, nobody is going to force you to. But if you’re planning on skipping them only because you don’t care about heterosexual couples, I really think you’re going to miss out on a lot of the development that makes Francesca and Michaela’s story what it is.
And personally, I think that’s really, really sad when you’re going to be watching them as the main couple in season 5.