Hi, Linda!
Sorry, I didn't post on the board at all yesterday. I was exhausted from work and ended up falling asleep.
I agree somewhat, but I also think that the writers bear some responsibility as well when the write a scene with undeniable romantic subtext and claim that it was "all the actors." Francois and Holly had amazing chemistry, but they didn't choose to lie on a grass lawn gazing into each other's eyes - that was all on the writers and the director.
It's just like what happened on Heroes with Peter and Claire, and this is something that Arinna and I have also agreed on.
If you want to establish that two characters are relatives, don't have them meet in such an overtly romantic way as Heroes did with Peter and Claire, and then reveal that Peter's older brother is Claire's biological father four months later.
What were they thinking? Weren't they paying attention when those scenes were being written, filmed, and edited before airing?
It's the same with Cesare and Lucrezia. Sure, Holly and Francois can be given credit, but I suspect that if any other actors were in those roles that fans would definitely get the same impression of romantic subtext.
Heck, if you took those Cesare and Lucrezia scenes and used them for an entirely different show with entirely different characters, people would definitely think they were romantically suggestive.
I think if Jordan was surprised, he should remember that he wrote those scenes in a way that only emphasized Francois and Holly's chemistry, but those scenes would still have been viewed as romantic or suggestive no matter who was playing the roles, albeit to a possibly lesser extent. So if Jordan didn't want any romantic subtext, he could've written those scenes differently. I'm glad he didn't, and I'm glad that Francois and Holliday took what was written for them and ran with it.