The crisis? The point? For 'Bridgerton,' the word 'orgasm' wouldn't quite do

LONDON (AP) — Francesca can’t get no satisfaction in Season 4 of “Bridgerton.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said the word ‘pinnacle’ in the last year of my life,” laughs Hannah Dodd, the actor who plays her in the Netflix series returning Thursday.

That’s because the sixth Bridgerton sibling is on a personal quest to discover the secrets of female pleasure, and “pinnacle” is the word she, repeatedly, uses for the orgasm that eludes her.

Part two of the fourth season continues the fairytale love story between Benedict Bridgerton and the mysterious, masked Sophie, but also includes updates on the rest of the sprawling family's romantic adventures. Newly wed to the Earl of Kilmartin, played by Victor Alli, Francesca realized that she is ignorant about what happens in a four-poster bed and resolves to discover the secrets of sex from her married friends and family.

“I wonder if that was a bit of a workshop with, like, what word they were going to use for it?” Dodd mused during an interview.

The answer is yes.

Showrunner Jess Brownell confirms that they researched and discussed which term to use. A thesaurus helped.

“It felt like ‘orgasm’ wasn’t a word that was used in that time period,” says Brownell. The show, based on the books by Julia Quinn and produced by Shondaland, is set during Britain's Regency era, the early 19th century. “It needed to be a word that sounded right coming out of Francesca’s mouth over and over again,” Brownell adds.

“Pinnacle” was eventually deemed obscure and funny enough for the character to use.

So did that term hit the spot?

Jessica Cale, a novelist and historian of sex, says that “pinnacle” isn’t quite historically accurate — but it is “very effective.”

“One of the more common terms that comes up a lot is ‘the crisis,’ which I think is probably the funniest one,” Cale says.

The word “orgasm” was indeed around then — Oxford English Dictionary dates use of it to the late 1600's — but it was usually used as a clinical term, the first evidence of its use is in medical literature by physician George Thompson in 1671.

Euphemisms have abounded for centuries. Cale references popular erotic fiction like “Fanny Hill,” also known as “Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure,” which was published in parts during the late 1740s — well before the “Bridgerton” era. The novel by John Cleland refers to orgasms as “‘the point.’ ‘The critical period.’ ‘The die-away moment,’ and — this is the best one — ‘the critical ecstasy, the melting flow, into which nature, spent with an excess of pleasure, dissolves and dies away,’” Cale says.

Whether Francesca's storyline resolves in crisis of the literal or more figurative kind, her character's pinnacle of another sort is yet to come, as Dodd is expected to take a larger role in a future season.

FILE - Hannah Dodd arrives for the World premiere of "Bridgerton" season 4 on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

Jess Brownell poses for photographers upon arrival at the screening of television series "Bridgerton" Season 4 Part Two in London, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP).

FILE - Hannah Dodd arrives for the World premiere of "Bridgerton" season 4 on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented President Donald Trump with a mock newspaper front page during a visit to the White House on Thursday to discuss massive new housing investments in the city.

It’s a tactic designed to appeal to Trump, who is keenly aware of his media coverage and, aside from being an avid viewer of cable news, is known to voraciously consume coverage in the local New York City publications. The Republican president and Democratic mayor have maintained a cordial relationship since their first meeting last fall.

Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s communications director, said the mayor’s team created a mock front page and headlines for Trump to look at and demonstrate what kind of reaction new federal housing investments could bring. The mock New York Daily News front page says “Trump to City: Let’s Build” — a riff on the famous 1975 cover that read “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” referring to Gerald Ford’s vow to veto financial assistance to the city.

The mayor posted the photo of their meeting, featuring the front pages, to his social media page.

Mamdani’s office declined to elaborate on the mayor’s housing proposal, but Bahr said Trump was “very enthusiastic” about it. When Trump and Mamdani last met in November, the president encouraged Mamdani to return to him with an idea to build big things together in New York City, Bahr said.

Though Trump repeatedly maligned Mamdani as a “communist” as he ran for New York City mayor, the president appeared charmed by him after their one-on-one meeting at the White House in November.

At the meeting on Thursday – which was previously unannounced and lasted for about an hour – Mamdani also brought up the detainment of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier Thursday by federal immigration agents.

The agents had accessed a campus residence by claiming they were searching for a “missing person,” according to Aghayeva’s attorneys and Columbia’s president. As he met with Trump, Mamdani urged Trump to consider releasing her.

In a phone call not long after their White House meeting, Trump told the mayor that Aghayeva would be released. Mamdani also gave White House chief of staff Susie Wiles a list of four other students targeted by federal authorities and asked for the administration’s help with them.

The four students are Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi and Leqaa Kordia, who were all detained for their roles in pro-Palestinian protests. Of the four, only Kordia remains in custody, although all cases are proceeding through the courts.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference in Morningside Heights, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)