Who saw John Adams, part 3?
I was awake (though admittedly only kinda half-watching) and didn’t really understand who that guy was, but the idea about his duty was that he was now 14 (I know, the kid looks about 8, but they said he was 14) and it was time for him to be a man and do something for the good of his country etc. So since he knew French he was going to be a secretary for that guy. There was also no indication JA was on his way home anytime soon – that was before he had any news of how the war was going. (I would have appreciated some dates myself, though -how long did the crossing take, how long were they in france, etc- while the show was going.
Francis Dana was John Adam’s own secretary in Paris. In that episode Francis Dana hands Adams the letter sent from Ben Franklin to the Congress suggesting that Adams be removed from his role as diplomatic minister to France at the insistence of the French foreign minister. Right after the reading, Francis reminded Adams that he was headed to St Petersburg to the court of Catherine II (as minister to Russia). He mentions that he needs a secretary who speaks French but doesn’t explicitly mention JQA. The next scene jumps to JA having a talk with his son about his duties as a man. Note that in the series, Francis Dana looks like a teen in 1780. The real Francis was only 8 years younger than the elder JA (he would be 37) while JQA was indeed 14 at the time.
