S03.E09: A Dense and Frightful Darkness

[Camera One]

Canadian Air Date: 11/17/2019

USA Netflix Drop Date: 1/3/2020

[Camera One]

I just finished watching but I couldn't see a topic.  I hope it's okay to start one.

This episode was heartbreaking.  The story with how they took Ka'kwet back to the residential school was very sad and anger-inducing.  It was very easy to root for Anne standing up for injustice in this episode, because her life experience would have made her stand up for children being taken away from their parents.  Matthew was pretty awesome and the armed men at the school were so menacing it was scary.  I'm not sure Ka'kwet's parents could have set up camp across the field from the school without the priest summoning the police once more.

It sounded like she was already very negatively affected by her time at the school, when she lashed out at the boy and ordered him to speak English.  Anne suggested writing to the newspaper and saying when the rest of the country knew the truth, things would change.  I'm not sure that would be very effective.  I was disappointed how prejudiced Marilla was, though her response would have been more historically accurate.  Even though it's unrealistic, I hope Anne gets the town of Avonlea to rally the priest to let Ka'kwet go... that type of thing is up this show's alley.

The rest of the episode was really frustrating, especially the saga of Anne's note to Gilbert and following its journey from the table, to the floor, to under a bucket, to under a shoe, to the soil outside.  It was all so unnecessarily angsty, especially since Gilbert was close by helping to build the school.  

I understand where Bash's mother was coming from, but it was very difficult to warm to her.  I don't think I see any chemistry yet between Bash and Miss Stacey.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Camera One

[Harvey]

I see lots of negative feedback to this episode and apparently it ends on a cliffhanger? I am thinking about skipping it and just watching it next week along with the finale to not be bothered by it all. 

Edited November 18, 2019 by Harvey

[ruby24]

Gilbert never even said anything to Anne directly about how HE felt. She just kinda inferred it by the look on his face. I guess she was right but it's pretty unfair of him to expect her to be the one to let him know when he's never even verbalized it to her himself. He was far more straightforward with her in the books.

It'd be nice if he just decides not to propose and comes home because he, you know, does NOT LOVE THIS PERSON. 

And still no one brings that up. Even Anne, she refers to it as a choice between herself and his career in medicine. If he's going to do this solely for that, someone should at least acknowledge it outright.

Edited November 18, 2019 by ruby24

[Camera One]

15 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Gilbert never even said anything to Anne directly about how HE felt. She just kinda inferred it by the look on his face. I guess she was right but it's pretty unfair of him to expect her to be the one to let him know when he's never even verbalized it to her himself. He was far more straightforward with her in the books.

Agreed.  If anything, Gilbert should have sought out Anne again the next day to talk.  He put her in a very difficult situation there.  He's either beyond naive or he's very inconsiderate.  Neither is a good thing.  

16 hours ago, Harvey said:

I see lots of negative feedback to this episode and apparently it ends on a cliffhanger? I am thinking about skipping it and just watching it next week along with the finale to not be bothered by it all. 

There was a lot of good in the episode too.  Watching it together with the finale might be less frustrating if you don't want to wait a week to find out what happens.  But who knows, the finale could be a cliffhanger too!

[Kostgard]

Not sure of my final verdict on this episode - some things I liked, some things are super-soapy.

Anne's note to Gilbert was, I thought, uncharacteristically un-flowery. It was just straight, "I was confused before, now I'm not. I love you." Though I love that she still asked for her pen back in her confession of love. That is a really nice pen.

I liked Miss Stacey/Bash more than I thought I would, but that pairing is going to cause so much drama. 

I guess they are going to load a lot of the big news in the final episode of the season - they should get the Queens results (are they going to do the whole "Anne and Gilbert tie for first place" thing? And what will Diana's parents do if she got in?), there should be more Ka'kwet stuff, and there should be movement with Stacey/Bash along with the obvious Gilbert/Anne stuff. 

This show has issues, but I still find it very charming. I hope it doesn't fall to Netflix's "three seasons and done" curse. Maybe because it has a co-producer that's also funding it, it can avoid that fate.

[ruby24]

I wonder if they will go all the way the Miss Stacy/Bash thing, or just have them try it out and then give up because of all the obstacles. I know they've introduced LGBT and feminist issues on this show and had the characters all come around to accepting it (although it's really just Anne and Diana who actually know about the two gay characters), and also basically had them all come around to accepting Bash too. But interracial romance/marriage in the 1890s? It was just SO rare (not non-existent of course, but rare- and even when it did happen, was certainly not publicly approved of in any way). 

I think they're going to go with the storyline, but having all the characters in the town (aside from Anne, who will always embrace anything) come around to accepting them as a couple will be highly unrealistic. 

Or maybe I'm just basing this opinion on my knowledge of American history and assuming Canada was the same. Maybe it wasn't? Maybe it was more like Britain? Racism existed everywhere of course, but interracial marriage was not illegal there like it was in America. Perhaps I'm mistaking Canada's history on this subject.

Edited November 20, 2019 by ruby24

[Kostgard]

2 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

I wonder if they will go all the way the Miss Stacy/Bash thing, or just have them try it out and then give up because of all the obstacles. I know they've introduced LGBT and feminist issues on this show and had the characters all come around to accepting it (although it's really just Anne and Diana who actually know about the two gay characters), and also basically had them all come around to accepting Bash too. But interracial romance/marriage in the 1890s? It was just SO rare (not non-existent of course, but rare- and even when it did happen, was certainly not publicly approved of in any way). 

I think they're going to go with the storyline, but having all the characters in the town (aside from Anne, who will always embrace anything) come around to accepting them as a couple will be highly unrealistic. 

Yes, I suspect if they go that way, Miss Stacy will lose her teaching job (realistically, she would. And it wouldn't change the story much since this is Anne's last year in school in Avonlea and should be moving on to Queens).

[ruby24]

3 minutes ago, Kostgard said:

Yes, I suspect if they go that way, Miss Stacy will lose her teaching job (realistically, she would. And it wouldn't change the story much since this is Anne's last year in school in Avonlea and should be moving on to Queens).

Yeah. Actually, I'd like for someone to tell me Canada's history on the subject of interracial marriage now, because it might be that it was closer to how it was in the UK than in America. 

We're so close to each other that I forget sometimes we do have different histories. Racism existed everywhere, but the particular issues stemming from slavery and then Jim Crow had singular consequences and effects in the U.S. that were not exactly the same in other places. If interracial marriage was never actually illegal in Canada, then that does put the storyline in a slightly different light.

[Camera One]

3 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Yeah. Actually, I'd like for someone to tell me Canada's history on the subject of interracial marriage now, because it might be that it was closer to how it was in the UK than in America. 

Inter-racial marriage wasn't illegal in Canada.  I'm sure the racist communities back then would have reacted very negatively, though.  Mixed marriages between Caucasians and indigenous women would have been more common in Western Canada.  

I think this show is already so unrealistic (eg. Marilla and Mrs. Lynde taking care of Bash's baby, and the celebration with Mary at Easter) that I wouldn't be surprised if the subset of characters in Avonlea that we see end up supporting Miss Stacey with Bash.

[Ola]

But what the sea shell meant?! Does anybody know for sure? Did Anne get it from Gilbert?

[Harvey]

On 11/19/2019 at 1:38 AM, Camera One said:

There was a lot of good in the episode too.  Watching it together with the finale might be less frustrating if you don't want to wait a week to find out what happens.  But who knows, the finale could be a cliffhanger too!

In the end, I decided to watch this episode today, a few hours before the finale starts. That seems like the ideal middle road. I'm about to dive in!

[Camera One]

I thought the sea shell was just a way for Gilbert to remember Anne by.  I don't recall any special significance from a previous episode, but I could have forgotten. 

The engagement feels very premature, considering Gilbert hasn't received his exam results yet, and there is no guarantee he would get into Sorbonne.  The main problem with this whole storyline is it changes Gilbert into a person who would consider achieving his goals not through his own efforts, but through personal connections.  

This series in generally has really downplayed Anne's academic ambitions.  We haven't seen her working hard at studying, struggling with geometry and striving for excellence.  For a series that is supposed to be about female empowerment, it over-emphasizes girls being more obsessed with their future mate rather than their own ambitions.  

I find it interesting that in the books, Anne is ahead of her time because of what she achieves, mostly in terms of academics and ambitions beyond simply getting married.  In this series, Anne is ahead of her time because of her fiery speeches and her forward attitudes about equality and rights.  This makes the two variants quite different.  While a new series is great for inspiring a new generation to read the books, I wonder if viewers of "Anne with an E" might be disappointed in the Anne from the book and find her lacking.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Camera One

[Harvey]

I just finished it. It was really not bad, all the  complaining made me think something horrible was going to happen. The exploration of Bash's mother is super interesting.

[kkamiiiii]

Love this show but it was so triggering with Ka'Kwet and Bast situations. Every time they show it. It's triggering and it pisses me off. 

[paramitch]

I hated everything about the note. It felt so contrived and so sitcommy. It's the kind of thing that would never, ever happen. I would never believe that Anne -- instead of going directly to talk to Gilbert -- would leave him a note openly proclaiming her love for him! Much less that she'd leave one that could be opened and read by anyone.

And then all the stuff with the note becoming lost. Just, no. Again, so contrived.

On 11/24/2019 at 1:40 PM, Camera One said:

This series in generally has really downplayed Anne's academic ambitions.  We haven't seen her working hard at studying, struggling with geometry and striving for excellence.  For a series that is supposed to be about female empowerment, it over-emphasizes girls being more obsessed with their future mate rather than their own ambitions.  

I find it interesting that in the books, Anne is ahead of her time because of what she achieves, mostly in terms of academics and ambitions beyond simply getting married.  In this series, Anne is ahead of her time because of her fiery speeches and her forward attitudes about equality and rights.  This makes the two variants quite different.  While a new series is great for inspiring a new generation to read the books, I wonder if viewers of "Anne with an E" might be disappointed in the Anne from the book and find her lacking.

This is a really good point, and I agree that it's the biggest difference between show-Anne and book-Anne. The Anne of this show, while charming, is so focused on championing everyone and everything that's different, that we don't really see her drive and dedication to learn and find independence.

I miss her poetry and love of fiction. I also kind of miss Anne's hastiness, her judgmental side, and her temper. I feel like Anne here is ultimately a bit one-note -- she's sweet, she's brave, she's smart, she's basically perfect.

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by paramitch