John Adams desperately wanted to take charge of things, but he didn’t understand the power dynamics, and in all probability, he was going to create a mess. Franklin knew that, and that’s why he was trying to instill some sense in him. But Adams was adamant, and Franklin knew that his entire effort would go down the drain if he succeeded. So, let’s find out what happened in episode 6 and if Franklin was able to bring things under control.
Spoiler Alert
How did John Adams make things worse?
John Adams was adamant about making a peace treaty with the English forces, and Franklin, very obviously, was totally against it as he knew that a year’s hard work would go down the drain. The conversation that Adams had with Bancroft in the previous episode had a deep impact on him, and he was ready to surpass Franklin and have a direct conversation with the French high command. So Adams went straight to Vergennes, and he told him that he wanted the French to take a step back and let the American Congress do as it deemed fit. Vergennes was obviously angry at what he had done, as he had put his reputation at stake against his own peers and convinced the king to not only grant the Americans a generous loan but also provide French troops to help them in the war. But now all that effort amounted to nothing, as Adams was hellbent on settling for whatever they could. Vergennes tried to reason with Adams, and he told him that even if he did what the English regime asked him to, America wouldn’t get its independence. But John Adams had already made up his mind, and he left no scope for negotiations. Vergennes asked Adams to leave his court, and he told him to never show his face again. John Adams in episode 6 packed his bags and left for America, and Franklin told him that he had done the worst possible thing by saying all those things to Vergennes. Now Vergennes was in a precarious situation, as he knew what his peers were going to say to the king. He knew that there was a possibility that the odds would not favor him as they did in the past.
Was Franklin able to convince Vergennes?
Franklin, until episode 6, had no clue what Bancroft was up to, though he did assume that somebody was leaking information and was trying to sabotage his plans. Franklin confided in Bancroft a lot of times, and that was probably his biggest mistake. In the previous episode, we saw that Williams killed a man whom Franklin had sent in his stead, and when the latter got to know about it, he was in a way relieved, as he knew that it could have been him on the deathbed. The issue was brought to Vergennes’ attention, and we got to know that the man actually cared for the American polymath. He asked Lenoir to catch the so-called British spy, Mr. Williams, but Lenoir was of the opinion that they should let him be. Lenoir wanted to keep track of Williams’ movement, and he believed that if they did so, he would lead them to something big. Lenoir was not very fond of Franklin, and we got to know in episode 6 that even Vergennes didn’t like him intruding in his affairs that much.
Count Maurepas went to the king together with Vergennes, and he said that, in his opinion, France should back off from the war and not spoil its own cause for a battle that was not theirs. Vergennes told the king upfront that he would agree to whatever the first minister said was provided; this time, the king gave it to him in writing, whatever he wanted. Vergennes didn’t want to take the blame for everything and become the scapegoat like last time. Count Maurepas had every intention of throwing the foreign minister under the bus, but before he could do that, all of a sudden he probably suffered from a heart attack, and he passed away in his sleep. It was a blessing in disguise for both Vergennes and Franklin. At the end of the sixth episode, Franklin met Vergennes, and they discussed what probable options they had. Vergennes told Franklin upfront that if everything went right, he would provide another 6 million livres for the cause of the American revolution, though he made it very clear that he didn’t know if the king would agree to send his soldiers to the battle front. Franklin finally had hope, though he knew that Adams would still try to influence the Congress and make sure that he had his way.
Did Temple return home?
Temple was going through a lot of inner conflict, and he didn’t know what to do. He had the worst possible time with Jacques in his countryside mansion, and the only good thing that came out of it was that he became very close to Odette Caillot. Firstly, Temple had a hard time killing the reindeer during the hunting session, and then later, when everybody was drinking together, he gave a savage punch to Jacques as he was being very disrespectful towards Caillot. Temple and Caillot shared an intimate moment, and the next morning, when the former woke up, he found that everybody had already gone and left him behind. He went back to Paris, and he met Lafayette, who had convinced the king to send troops to Virginia and fight for the cause of American independence. Temple got irked when he got to know that Lafayette had a talk with his grandfather about him. Maybe he felt that his privacy was violated, and he lashed out at Lafayette in front of everybody. Lafayette held his composure and didn’t reply back. At the end of the sixth episode, we saw that Temple returned to his grandfather as he realized that going against his wishes was not the best thing he had done. There seems to be hope for Franklin and his endeavors, and in the subsequent episodes, we might see him inching towards victory and American independence.
