Flow of Madness

This is analysis of Franky from 5x2 to 5x8. Next I will dive into the mysterious and controversial Series 6 Franky. 

This is Part 1: Welcome to Bristol, Franky. 

Franky after the community pool party with Alo, Rich, and Grace finally feels as if she has friends. She has Rich and Alo to be friends with any times she wants and Grace whenever she gets a chance to sneak away from Mini. It is obvious that Mini does not approve of Grace’s friendship with Franky and takes it out on Franky. Mini is a controlling force that keeps her friends close to her in a Scottish protective way. This puts Franky in a tough situation. No one wants to be the person who gets in the way of friends, but at the same time Grace offers her something that she has never had—female companionship.

Grace tries to bring Franky and Mini together several times including her attempt to bring Franky into the fashion show project. Mini of course reacts horribly and eventually Grace begins to rebel against Mini and offer what Franky offered her—a chance to be herself. When Mini has a break down in her episode Franky despite the mean statements and the attitude tried to get Mini to dance. To have a good time and also to remind Mini of the friendships she has. She even goes out of the way to inform Mini that Grace is here. I always took this to mean that Grace confided her frustrations about Mini to Franky. Grace loves Mini, but she also loves the freedom that comes with being friends with Franky and the potential for something more with Rich. Two people who admire individuality without limitations. Franky and Grace’s relationship is vital and extremely important to Franky. She was the one who welcomed her to Bristol and showed her what a healthy friendship means. It means accepting people for who they are and loving them no matter what. She was the second person besides her Dads who offered her love without conditions.

Franky for the remainder of Series 5 focuses on helping out characters and guiding them along with Grace to get the group together. At the same time she has feelings for Matty who is a mysterious being who makes he feel like has no control. Matty is dating Liv at the time and yet keeps looking at Franky in that Levan leery way they do. Matty confuses her and intrigues her at the same time.

There is a part of Franky that does things that are bad for her and the people around her. This stems from her self-perception and also the experiences she has had in her life. She does not know how to love and she does not know how to let herself be loved. She punishes herself by keeping people at a distance feeling tainted. In series 5 she puts that behind her with the help of Grace and the new relationships she is forming, but in Episode 8 we get a glimpse of the turmoil that still exists in Franky. As she gets close to Matty and then pushes him away. Many people feel that this may be due to her being abused, but how I interpret her reaction in the woods is someone who is afraid of intimacy. Physical and emotional…she wants it but it scares her. I think this is a theme that runs through Franky’s character from Episode 1 until Grace speaks to her in 6x10. This pull people towards her and push them away. You can see this for many of her relationships.

Series 5 ends with Franky hugging Matty with hope for the future as the group becomes fully formed. Little does she know…something is about to happen…that she is not prepared for that will bring all the demons and toxic feelings to surface.