natyxg

I think that Angelina and Cal are going to be mirrors of each other, each with sapphire inside. I knew Zeke was a goner the moment he got ill after helping some drug addict in the first episode. He spent too much time on the verge of death before, for them to troll about that again without killing him for real. I didn't expect him to go how he did, though, and I thought the season did him dirty. He was quite possibly the nicest character on the show, imo, and deserved better than to kill someone then fall off the wagon and be depressed about it while Mick was off setting up the repeat love triangle between her, Jared and her best friend (now Drea).

The fans campaigning for the show paid for two HUGE billboards in NYC on September 22, on the anniversary of Anne's death. I thought they were quite impressive.

I don't think they were unrequited. The other priest seemed quite affected by the kiss and David said that the priest transferred because they were afraid of what "they" might do, aka give in and have sex.

I've been finally catching up with this show, and I'm struggling. It has become too much of an X-files type show for me, and that's not a genre I like. Too many loose ends, too many things that can't be explained, too many things that they refuse to explain... I'm sick of wondering wtf is going on with Sheryl and wondering if she was always evil or something and I just forgot? I could've sworn she wasn't. No explanation for Ben's girlfriend whatever sister stuff or the demon he had been seeing at night. No explanation for Leiland killing and eating that... demon? No explanation for Lexi having a... tail? At some point it stops being "intriguing" and becomes "I don't care about any of this shit". I also feel like they're not stories that are being told in any emotional or meaningful way, or "saying" something interesting... it feels like just a meaningless mess and I care less and less about it. Can't believe I have like 11 episodes to go. 😫

My understanding is that HBO decided to pull out because it wasn't giving them the ratings they wanted (in the demographics they wanted) and they're undergoing a lot of budget cuts. BBC is willing to go forward with it, but can't afford to pay for the entire show. Another company needs to come in and put the extra funding that HBO used to put up in order for more seasons to happen.

There are some articles that said that a BBC rep said they are in talks with Sally about the future, whatever that means. Sally is doing a facebook live tomorrow with the organizer of ALBW, we'll see what she says there.

Yes, also true.

I think I read somewhere that BBC is facing some big budget cuts, too. And they barely promoted it all, it's part of the reason why I expected this. Neither BBC or HBO seemed to be backing it. So while I don't know if technically it's even possible for BBC to carry on with the show after HBO cancelled it, I don't really expect them to. This is the time when people talk about other "networks" saving shows, but I can't think of where it would fit. Acorn and Britbox are very British and it is a historical drama, but I don't know if the average viewer there would be into it. I think this is very likely the end.

I have mixed feelings, too. I thought season two was pretty bad and I feared that season 3 could be even worse, but at the same time a part of me wonders if maybe it could've gotten better again if given the chance. So yeah, mixed feelings.

😢

We got season 2 bloopers

I think they should be in the show, but in the background, never on the foreground unless the show decides to change things enough to turn them into a proper plot that's about interesting drama between people. I think the Walker Estate has a number of properties and it was run as a single one. Dividing it means making a list of the properties and deciding which ones belong to Ann and which ones belong to Sutherland, specifically, and after that they would have nothing to do with the other. Ann would have her own estate and Sutherland would have his own estate. Eventually it would all go to Sutherland's son anyway, unless Ann were to marry and have her own children, which is part of the reason why he's been against the division, because he doesn't see the point.

But this is a drama and I think that conflict through intense letter writing doesn't work. In real life Ainsworth never showed up and Anne dealt with him through letters, yet the on the show he came in person because that worked better.

At least he was there! The intense letter writing from the distance is just so silly to me. Anyway, well I thought this episode was good, but at the same time a bit disappointing. Good in the sense that I thought it was more watchable and cohesive than some other episodes of the season: at least the baddie was physically there causing trouble, and the episode was consistently about two things (the Annes and the stuff about the division), instead of all over the place. But it was a bit disappointing because I felt it wasn't memorable enough for a season finale, it went out with more of a whimper than a bam for me. Rather than providing the explosive confrontation between the Ann(e)s that might have been building inside Ann for a chunk of the season, and giving us a good follow up for it, they fight and Ann brings up Mariana, sure... but then there is ends. It's like the show wanted to show us that Ann was perceptive and not unaware of things, but in the diaries she never knew so they didn't want to invent a whole big thing about it. I don't know, I thought it was bizarre. Two episodes ago she presses to know if Anne had been in love with Eliza Raine, when that doesn't make a difference in her life, but now that this is relevant to her current life she doesn't push. Anne doesn't apologize and we don't get to hear her (Anne's) feelings about what happened, either. After backtracking in episode one regarding Anne being in love with Ann (which I think was made clear by the end of season one) and showing her looking in love but perhaps in denial (in episode one), rather than providing closure on that regard the show seems intent on at the very least sowing doubt: choosing to have Anne masturbating thinking of Mariana right when Ann is not home, letting us hear her thoughts about Ann being "queer" and small minded and whatnot, the stuff about not introducing Ann to her friends, etc. On the one hand, there is the subtext about how she does care: she seems sad with Vere about not having children to cement her own marriage which can be read as her fearing that it won't last, she misses out on seeing Mrs. Norcliff one last time because she decides to stay with Ann until the division is done, she looks at her ring while alone in bed (after masturbating), she seems a bit shy when she asks Ann if she will still lay the foundation stone with her and if she still wants to do the wills, like the cares and is afraid of Ann's answers, and to be fair her fantasy with Mariana is not tender and we can't even see her face... but the feeling I keep getting, and this happened after episode four, too, is that the show itself just wants to be vague and might not have even made up its mind about this. The question is, will it ever? Is this potentially leading somewhere if there is a third season or will they just leave the question hanging forever? After season one being what it was, that second possibility bothers me a lot. In the end they resolve to stay together and sure, it will always be hard. Real Ann(e)s had a difficult relationship. I just wish this season felt more like it was trying to tell me a coherent story, giving me a good drama built out of interpreting the diaries and taking a stance on them, instead of often feeling like just anecdotes from the diaries put together in order, or feeling like they're muddling the waters on purpose. One good thing about the season, though, was the rise of Ann Walker, even though I always remember how difficult Ann from the diaries could be and hope the show holds back a bit in that regard. But it was great to see her standing up to Sutherland repeatedly, and to Ann. A far cry from season one Ann.

Well, I found this episode to be kind of... there. I don't think that the division of the estate should've been chosen as the main conflict? I guess? of the season? Or at least the second half of the season? I mean it was always increasingly obvious that they were stretching it out so there could be some sort of climax related to it in the finale, but much like the politics, coal, canals, business stuff, it's just not interesting enough. It's made worse by the fact that Sutherland isn't even physically there. They had the same problem with Mariana and her letters. People writing letters just isn't that dramatic or interesting, no matter how intense the music we get in the background. I felt like this season suffered from not following the diaries enough at times, and following them too closely some other times. Having said that, and though I wish they had more memorable scenes like that great one at the end of 2x06, I liked that the Ann(e)s seem to be working well as a team, even finishing each other sentences at times. The bit with the school was fun, though a bit pointless if that was all they were going to do with it. I loved teacher Anne though, and Eliza W. crushing on her, though I still don't know what the point of the kids catching the Ann(e)s was. Will this come up in season three? I don't know. I wish the season felt more cohesive, like season one did. I was frustrated by the Matthew and Eugenie scene and I can't believe we've had TWO sex scenes with these two, even though we don't care about them at all because they've barely even spoken to one another. Who cares about how things will turn out for them? It's get another thing that was in the diaries that didn't need to make it to the show at all, imo, or at least it should've gotten less focus. I was also frustrated by the SUTHERLAND VOICE OVER WHILE ANNE AND ANN KISS! COME ON!!!

I agree completely. I felt like one of the things that hurt this season the most was that it seemed like they struggled with finding a story for the season, and thought "oh well, let's just follow the diaries" and ended up adding a lot of unnecessary, boring details that were just so confusing and hard to follow. They gave too much emphasis to things that are not inherently dramatic, and then didn't turn them into proper drama. It's like making a movie about a math genius that is not primarily about his rivalry with another math genius who used to be his best friend, or something like that, but instead is about literal math equations and they spend a big chunk of the movie talking really fast about math theory and solving complex math problems on screen. I think the story should have been about interpersonal conflict (with a heavy emphasis on giving the Ann(e)s a satisfying, emotional shared plot) with the more mundane, confusing business stuff and the like happening, yes, but in the background mostly.

You're welcome. Adney is Ann. That's the nickname Anne uses for her (for some unknown reason that no one has figured out yet).

My understanding is that the usual practice was that one son would be chosen to inherit the entire estate to avoid splitting it up in too many ways. In the case of the Listers, that son was Uncle James. The others got some properties here and there, but not the bulk of it. It's why Anne's dad joined the military, probably, because he was the last son and wasn't going to inherit too much. Anne's family (meaning her parents and siblings) was actually the poorest branch of the family (which Christopher Rawson mentions in season one). Women were not usually meant to inherit things because they would automatically be passed on to their husbands, and on top of that the family estate would end up belonging to some other last-name family. If Marian were to inherit Shibden, for example, and have children with Mr. Abbott, her children would be Abbotts and therefore Shibden would not longer belong to the Listers. Anne ended up inheriting Shibden because there was a big lack of male children in the family. Uncle James and Aunt Anne never married. Uncle Joseph married but I don't think he had any children, at least I don't remember them being mentioned in the diaries I read. Anne actually had four brothers and they all died young: one as an infant, one as a small child. Her brother John was expected to be Uncle James' heir, but he died of the flu at 14. Then Sam (who Anne mentions in the first season) drowned at 20 while in the military. Uncle James chose Anne as his heir because he saw that she was capable and because she convinced him that she would never marry a man. She also promised him that, like she tells Marian in episode 5, she'd appoint the Swansea Listers as her heirs. They were distant relatives, but still Listers. In regard to her own will and Ann, she left Ann the right to Shibden and its profits until her death (or until she married a man), then on Ann's death Shibden would go to the other Listers. Ann did the same: she gave Anne a lifelong right to the Walker Estate and its profits, then on Anne's death it would go to Ann's nephew. Btw, in a sad turn of events, Ann asked that her nephew keep the Walker name, but he didn't. He went by Sutherland-Walker for a while, but eventually dropped the Walker altogether. So the Walker Estate became the Sutherland Estate, which is the exact type of thing that Anne wouldn't have wanted for Shibden. At the time we're at in the show, though Anne is the mistress and in control of the estate, the profits are split in three ways (as per Uncle James' will): Aunt Anne and Jeremy (Anne's dad) are each entitled to a third of the Shibden profits, as well as a right to live at Shibden (iirc) until their deaths. It's not until 1836, when they both die, that Anne fully inherits Shibden and all of its profits. Marian, on the other hand, is Jeremy's heir in his will. Anne gives up her part of Jeremy's inheritance in favor of Marian, so Marian inherits Jeremy's personal properties, which aren't plenty, but enough to live on if managed judiciously. One of my frustration with this season's insistence to show Anne's "faults" is that I feel so much context is lost and therefore she ends up coming across as worse than she was, imo. Anyway, since we're here, might as well bring the diary entry for the Marian/Anne scene in episode five. The show was very faithful to it, though I do wish we had seen Ann consoling Anne afterwards. https://insearchofannwalker.com/monday-1st-december-1834/

I thought it was the guy who called her Gentleman Jack after the canals meeting because he had called her Captain Lister in the episode before. Regarding Hardcastle, I think the point was that even though they couldn't do anything against Rawson, karma got him to a degree because he lost his carriages. In the scene Hardcastle goes from being uncomfortable with Anne (because he knows about her and Ann), to warming up to her a bit after she told him how she tried to help bring justice to Henry.

😂😂

So this episode was half coal/politics/will stuff that I don't really care about or understand (I try to follow it, but I genuinely can’t), and half Ann(e)s stuff that I really liked. I specially loved the last scene. I have a real soft spot for vulnerable Anne and she was back in full force in that last scene. Just when she thinks she finally has a wife and things are settled, Ann terrifies her by making her feel like some man can come along and Ann might choose him because she wants to be a mother someday. Anne has such trauma around being left for men that it really triggers her. But underneath her apparent anger she’s just terrified. That moment when Ann caresses her face and Anne's lip trembles, and then she has to hold herself steady by holding onto the mantelpiece after Ann is gone, because she had been trying to keep herself strong while her legs were jelly because she was so scared/upset… *chef’s kiss” On a more superficial level, they looked so good in this episode. I SWOON!

Well, I liked this episode more than I expected. I liked that it covered a specific historical event, even though I do get lost in all the random names of people and politicians I don’t know. I know Anne probably came across as unlikeable in this episode, but I already knew all this stuff about her, and I can try to put myself in her shoes and be forgiving, given the times and her specific background. I loved the scene between Marian and Anne, for the acting, specially. I would’ve liked more Ann(e)s, though. I always want more Ann(e)s. I liked the scene with the massage and you can see that Anne feels guilty about what happened with Mariana. It's implied that Ann suspects that something happened at Lawton, but I don’t know if it will over be brought to the surface. I hope so. At the very least it would be an intense scene. That moment in the morning when Anne tucks Ann in was sweet. The newspaper announcement is a pretty well known moment that did happen in real life, and played out very close to what we see on the show. You can even see the actual newspaper in archives. And Anne and Ann did try to play it off in front of Washington when he showed it to them.

Marian invited Ann to go with them, but Ann didn't want to go because her Aunt treated her poorly the last time she went. Don't know about the second part, but my gayday pinged with him a bit. I don't know if it was on purpose or not. I mean, this was a real dude, not invented for the show. Mariana said it was "a pretty little pocket book".

Probably. In my opinion real!Mariana and real!Anne had a really bad relationship, even though they did think they were living some epic love story (specially Anne), and I hate that the show keeps simplifying everything to "she married Charles!" when it went so beyond THAT. I guess they have to do it for time purposes, but meh. There are things that show!Anne mentions in passing that I think can't truly hit home for the people who haven't read the diaries, like Scarborough and the three step business, which were huge, huge incidents for Anne and really heartbreaking to read.... and they had nothing to do with Mariana marrying Charles. Anne also had an affair with one of Mariana's sisters, and Mariana gave her an STD, and so on. They had fantastic sex, though.