#instead of dying suddenly of a fall while attempting to kill phryne bcos he hates women and kill his brother for a flimsy inheritance plot

[andromedasummer]

been very slowly going through the phryne fisher novels (on blood and circuses rn) and its reminded me of one of the episodes in season 2 of the tv adaptation (i think? maybe season 3) where the plot revolved around university students at a Melbourne college abd the murder of a professor, and one of the main characters who is briefly posited as a murder suspect is an autistic woman working as a student helper to the professor (its not like. explicitly said bcos the show is set in the 1930s) and its somehow... one of the more accurate and sensitive depictions of an autistic person ive seen in tv media? shes shown to be stand-offish and awkward and uncomfortable in social situations and the character that torments her about this is very clearly The Bad Person And Asshole. When questioning her about the murder Phryne actively finda a way to talk to her in a way shes comfortable with (both nose to nose against a wall, some distance from one another, not making eye contact, speaking quietly because this entire situation has pretty much sent her into a meltdown ). when they realize shes at risk of being harmed phryne has her stay at her home. shes shown to be incredibly passionate about her area of study in the university (a bit of it plays into the savant stereotype which is one of the few issues prevalent in media about autistic people like the good doctor, etc, but uts not presented as like "oh shes autistic BUT shes really smart about this thing and basically a superhero so its okay") shes shown to have specific dietary requirements shes adamant about (jam sandwiches only.) and the other characters are like "oh! weird. actually, thats not my business. let me grab you one." and she develops a really lovely friendship with phryne that ties into the whole plot and motive for the murder (another professor killing the murdered professor so he can prevent information which disprove his biological and sociological research which is based entirely on eugenics and psuedoscience, which the murder victim found disgusting and didnt want taught when his assistants existence literally disproved that bullshit) and i don't know how to finish this i guess i wasnt expecting a genuine attempt at properly representing autistic people in this show about murders in the 1930s