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I am a fan of the Bridgerton books. I loved the stories with their lush historical backdrops and the romance that would make me sigh. As someone who was a wallflower and didn’t feel seen, I related this season to Penelope a lot and was happy to see her story come to life. What I didn’t expect was the story with Francesca to throw a curve ball.

I’ve seen some mixed opinions on the big reveal. For those non book readers you may not know what I’m talking about so a SPOILER WARNING is in order.

I can’t help but have my share of disappointment as well. For the record I’m not homophobic or biphobic. In fact I have been dealing with a question of my own sexuality and have believed I may be bi myself. I also have had some love for gay stories such as that of Heartstopper, and Red, White and Royal Blue. So I support LGBTQ+ and have no issue with any gay or queer stories. My only disappointment comes because I had a particular love for Michael and Francesca.

The angst was what made When He Was Wicked one of my favourite books in the Bridgerton series. I don’t doubt they would be able to do that with Francesca and Michaela but I loved Michael Stirling’s charisma and the way he was able to bring Francesca out of her shell.

And I think the writers fumbled in this reveal.

We see Benedict explore his sexuality this season and I was not surprised. I didn’t mind this as we see hints of it in the first season and the fact that the writers gave us an idea of where his story would go. However for Francesca, there wasn’t anything to hint at what was to come.

The fact the writers spring this on us now totally surprised me that I actually had my mouth open in shock. I didn’t think anything about Francesca having a desire for girls as well. There weren’t even any lingering glances at any girls. So I felt like I was thrown for a loop.

Look, I know it may be too early to tell and maybe I’m speaking too soon and I’ll be surprised (yet again) where the writers take the story. My only disappointment is that Michael Stirling seems to exist only in the book, and the writers fumbled Francesca’s story with this reveal that seemed to come out of left field.

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I just binged all of Normal People. The agony! The heartbreak! The longing! It was such a beautifully messy and perfect masterpiece.

Now I have a tv show hangover. Any recommendations for more shows after watching Normal people?

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Jenna, I'm not gonna lie to you. I have felt things these past few weeks that I didn't know I could feel anymore. But I have realized in these past few days...you can't just turn back time. Why not?

13 Going on 30 (2004) dir. Gary Winick

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"By you, I am forever undone."

I did something (⌒▽⌒)

This is my first drawing with naked characters, I still need to study more anatomy and background too but I really wanted to try something... different (¬‿¬)

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Just thinking about Cardan going like "you wanna see my tail? 😃" while Jude holds a crossbow over his head. He's such a funny little man.

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I am so sad to see my Drew Crew gone. I loved this show and the fandom. It was so welcoming and filled with a non toxic space for people to gush, cry, laugh, and worry over. I’ll miss this fandom 😭

I could not ask for a better ending. I blame the CW for taking it away too soon and I don’t blame the writers for anything they might otherwise be criticized about.

We got everything we asked for:

the Drew Crew wrapping up their time in Horseshoe bay by helping save the town one last time.

The Drew Crew working all together

Ace Hardy confirmation

And of of course, our Nace endgame

While I do feel the tiniest bit disappointed we didn’t get to see Nace together together that much, I will take what I can get from the finale. Not only do they resolve the curse, but we got them holding hands and being all coupley. I love how Nace went from being a crackship in the beginning to a beautiful romance that everyone collectively loved. So as we all say goodbye to this show, I can only say how much I appreciate the fandom and who knows, maybe the Drewds can reunite to do a rewatch? so really it’s not over.

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I don’t see a lot of people talking about it but I think we fooled each other with those bts pics of the crib in The Claw. We all thought it could possibly be a Nace baby but now I’m pretty sure it’ll be Jean and Carson’s baby

(Though imagine parallels to that scene where Nancy hands the baby to Ace?)

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ej says to val "i'm only doing this right now because you're leaving early" when he calls his dad. he says "i need some moral support."

so you're telling me he had to make the call prematurely because he didn't feel there was a single other person who could morally support him through this? not his cousin who he's had these kind of conversations with before, not his ex girlfriend who was shown to be a source of strength and support for him, not a single one of his friends from school would be willing or able?

he had to squeeze such an important call in before she left because she was the only one really on his side.

tl;dr ej deserves so much better.

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The Nancy Drew fandom has been a wonderful place and one of the least problematic fandoms I've seen in a while. I hope that in this last stretch of episodes that we can all keep it that way. I know we all can’t believe it’s almost over. 

This last episode has let me see the Nancy Drew fandom in a way that shows all the cheer and heartbreak that we all have with the looming last few episodes. I just know that we all have had our own journeys with the show.  

To be brief, my journey started out with a skeptical eye toward Nancy Drew. I didn’t know whether I would like the change from the books as the show took on a more mystery/thriller vibe. But for some reason I had my eye on Nancy and Ace together but didn’t think the writers would actually think to put them together. Little did I know that a lot of other people had the same thought and believed they were a crackpot ship in the beginning. 

I didn’t watch more when Nancy Drew was airing it’s first season. Instead, I left the show for a few years and came back to it when to my astonishment, I saw that Nancy and Ace were a ‘thing’ and the writers saw it too. I was so excited and promptly got back into Nancy Drew but I didn’t just see Nace as my reason to love the show, but also because of the whole crew as well. 

Though the fandom with Nace was so refreshing to me. I saw a ship that didn’t have any warring ship wars or negativity. I thought this would be such a wholesome and healthy fandom and for the most part it has been. 

Sure, there are people who have some opinions here and there that maybe we don’t agree with and that’s okay. As long as we can talk about them without being negative about it all. Which is why I hope that my own opinion won’t receive any hate, I love this fandom and don’t want to see it tainted. 

The thing is, I, like everyone else am a little disappointed about Nace probably only breaking the curse in the last episode. I know that it sucks and we don’t get to see them much together at all but, then I remembered that it could be worse. 

I was a part of the 100 fandom. For those who don’t know, the fandom was pretty toxic with shipping wars and others going a little too far in wanting to get what they wanted. I didn’t participate but at the centre of it all was the ship: Bellarke. All you need to know is for so many seasons (7 to be exact), the ship was dangled in front of us with little hints here and there, only for nothing to come of it. I won’t get more into it but the bottom line is this: the writers and show runner did not respect it’s audience. They did not reward the audience for the dedication we had to the show. For Nancy Drew, I see the respect and the appreciation from the show runner and the writers. So for this fandom, I have faith in the writers to let the love story come to fruition.

Of course, as I said, I am disappointed we probably won’t see a lot of Nace until the end. However, with the 100 fandom, I saw what it was like not to have it at all. So I could appreciate the Nancy drew writers more for actually showing their love for the fandom. 

One thing that we also should keep in mind is that the show was also probably only just canceled while they were writing the storylines and the writers probably had to scramble to wrap up the story. For this, I could see why we may get a rushed last episode. Though at least we will get endgame Nace.

I know that we all have the negative thoughts about it (I do too), but I want to try to look on the bright side. At least the writers are showing their appreciation for the fandom. And that what was supposed to be a crackpot ship in the beginning will actually come to life in the final episode. 

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Ok, thinking about a few scenarios/theories about the rest of the season.

4x07 really seemed to set the stage for Ace and Nancy not being able to “get over” each other. And while I’ve seen a lot of people assume Ace will come to his senses and change his mind about trying to break the curse, I think that lacks the dramatic WTF-ery the Drew Crew writers are known for.

So in asking myself WWTDCWDTHU? (What would the drew crew writers do to hurt us?), below are some (very rough) theories I’ve come up with:

Ace fully realizes there is no getting over Nancy. But he’s also still unwilling to risk Nancy’s life to break the curse. They can’t go back. They can’t go forward. And every interaction they have in this weird stasis they are in just reopens the wound (see: breakups 1-4). And wouldn’t you know it? There is this handy plot about a Black Door and selective memory rewriting. And doesn’t that just conveniently provide an option for “going back” where no other option exists? If he doesn’t remember that Nancy has feelings for him, Nancy can move forward and he can go on believing they are just friends and that his crush is one sided. I imagine him writing a letter to Nancy to explain what he’s doing and why. Which she would find in some horribly dramatic moment where she’d have to race to save/stop him.

I could also see the flip side of this happening. While I think its more likely that Ace would be the one to take the black door route, it could also be Nancy making that call and Ace racing to save/stop her. Especially if he’s just changed his mind about breaking the curse and she’s about to lose all memories of loving him.

A third possibility is that they make this decision together. Where they both attempt to go to the black door together. And while that is super romantic (imagine the conversations!!), its also a bit flawed. One of them needs to remember they have a death curse. Otherwise they risk falling in love with each other all over again and triggering a curse they didn’t even know/remember existed.

The other track I’m considering is that either Nancy or Ace is the one to shoot Tristan with a crossbow and his death (Could he be dying? And as soon as 4x09??) contributes heavily to one of the options above. Like where the guilt of his death and heartache of the curse combine to be too much for one of them.

If any of these things happen, I feel like the obvious solution (drinking tainted sludge water = memories returned ) would have to no longer be an option so that there would be more at stake if anyones memories were successfully rewritten.

And if thats the case, how would the person remember? Lets say its Ace. And Nancy wants/needs to make him remember but no sludge water option exists. How do you fix that? Maybe a memory weave? Or something sort of like it? Nancy is seen in the trailer blowing some red dust into the camera. What if she gets Ace to remember by walking him through her own memories of them? Actual memories, hallucination memories, etc. I mean, would I die? Yes, I think I would.

Anyway, I don’t know how deeply I believe any of these options…its more that I believe the two big stories of this season (the curse, the black door) are meant to converge at some point rather than be fully separate threads and I’m trying to make sense of how that happens.

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do u even know the restraint it takes to not post portwell rants every time i think of them and how they deserved better

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After that episode, I’m starting to think that they won’t break the curse until at least 4x12 or 13. We haven’t even had Ace’s LI introduced yet and Nancy/Tristan are just starting.

If that’s the case, I’ll be disappointed that we don’t get to see more of Nace in their post curse era.

For now, I think it’s funny that a lot of people wanted jealous Ace and yet it caused us all pain to see our guy going through it. We probably should be careful what we wish for.

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That Morgue scene with Nace 😭

I totally just thought of this. It’s symbolic for a death of a relationship and moving on. Though of course, it’s not a total death. We’ll hopefully get the curse broken soon. Until then, this Nace drought will feel endless.

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when did you first know you had feelings for me?

Nancy Drew 4.03 - The Danger of the Hopeful Sigil

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I’M STILL THINKING ABOUT THAT EPISODE! ALL THE EMOTIONS! 😁❤️😭

I was smiling so hard, squealing, and then crying/smiling bc of ALL THE NACE!

Can’t believe we got a whole meal!

With Ace saying he crushed on her since high school

Ace and Nancy talking about their feelings and planning a trip.

Nancy and Ace working together to try everything to break the curse.

Nancy telling Ace the moment when she first started having feelings for him

Nancy saying how she was jealous of Amanda

THAT NACE CEREMONY! (Did that not remind anyone else of a wedding ceremony?)

THAT NACE REAL FIRST KISS!

BUT NANCY ALMOST DYING WHEN THEY FAILED!

Did I miss anything?