Anne – An Inward Treasure Born

By: Miranda Sajdak

We’ve reached the midpoint of the first season of Anne and it’s not a surprise that this episode would be fraught with drama, in keeping with the earlier episodes. So, too, this episode is very much a new story, which is continuously refreshing and surprising, helping buoy the showrunner’s premise of bringing us a “darker” Anne Shirley (Cuthbert).

This week, we get a little more inside Anne’s head, learn some more about how Marilla is evolving in figuring out how to handle trouble at home, and also get some more insight into Jerry Baynard and Ruby Gillis, making this an interesting episode for secondary characters.

The episode begins by picking up the story around where the last episode left off. Presumably, Anne (Amybeth McNulty) has left school and refused to return. Anne, herself, seems to be going through a bit of a dissociative state, turning to her singing (to herself) and imagination to escape from the clear pain she’s suffering here. Though Green Gables is likely miles ahead of the orphan asylum and her prior employment, it’s troubling to Anne – and understandably so – that she can’t make friends there. She’s decided she won’t be returning to school, much to Marilla’s dismay.

Not knowing quite what to do, Marilla (Geraldine James) goes to Rachel Lynde (Corrine Koslo) for help and, in a surprise turn of events, Rachel actually has some good advice for once: let Anne stay home. It’s a shock to the viewer to see Rachel so poised about something, but it makes sense that she’d know what to do. Though her advice isn’t often sound or even good, it always comes from a place of practicality and she anticipates Anne will eventually change her mind. Marilla can’t handle this idea; however, and decides it better to force Anne to go to school – whether she wants to or not. She’s too underfoot at home and needs to get back to learning.

So, Anne returns to school – or claims to. Instead, she spends her days exploring the woods and areas around Green Gables, pretending that she’s actually going to school yet avoiding the insults she’s sure to receive from her classmates upon her return. She manages to learn during this time, taking a history book to study the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, so she won’t come home without a story to tell about the school day.

Unfortunately, Anne doesn’t anticipate the fact that Diana Barry (Dalila Bela) – her friend – will be checking in to make sure she’s okay. And, Diana does check in, bringing Anne’s books home for Marilla to pass along to the child. Marilla is at her wit’s end. Anne not only didn’t go to school, but lied about it. She doesn’t know what to do so she decides to bring in the local Minister, who has some advice of his own. Since Anne is so dead set on not returning to school, she may as well stay home and learn how to be a proper wife. There couldn’t possibly be worse advice for the imaginative, exploration-hungry young girl, but Marilla and Anne put it to a trial anyway, having run out of ideas.

As to Jerry’s story, it plays an important role in the debate that permeates this episode – whether Anne should go to school or stay home and train to be a wife. Anne has never thought she could be a wife, but that’s just the point – she has a choice. Jerry, meanwhile, is obligated to work and doesn’t seem to have the option of going to school, despite being around Anne’s age. So, though Anne isn’t especially good around the house (due to her imagination often distracting her from getting her chores done), she attempts to make due with what she has, which just adds more frustration to Jerry’s day as he must put up with her request to “assist” him with the outside chores while he (somewhat subtly) jealously wishes he had the opportunities she takes for granted.

Jerry (Aymeric Jett Montaz) notwithstanding, the episode moves forward with Anne at home and everything seems to be going along as well as it can for her. One night the Cuthberts get word that Ruby Gillis’ house is on fire and they need to go help put out the flames. This is a great moment for historical research and highlights one of the best elements of the series as the Cuthberts scramble to get all their buckets together and rush to the scene of the blaze. There they find the whole town arrived, with boys on the roof – including Gilbert Blythe – putting out the flames with a bucket brigade. But, there isn’t enough water and the house keeps lighting afire in different places.

Anne suddenly has an idea and rushes into the house. She knows fire feeds on oxygen and the whole house has its doors and windows open. Anne pushes past flames on all sides to make sure the doors are closed and Gilbert (Lucas Jade Zumann) is stunned to see her running through the house to close the doors, while the rest of the townspeople wait on the outside.

The one false note in the episode is Marilla and Matthew (R.H. Thomson) in this moment, both of whom wait outside for Anne to reemerge. Though Marilla puts up a bit of a fight, it does feel unrealistic that she wouldn’t try to save the girl (or, more accurately, that Matthew wouldn’t try to). Nonetheless, this is a great character-building moment for Anne as we see her imagination and intellect put to work in a truly life-or-death situation. She manages to help slow the fire and when she comes back out of the house, the other townsfolk are able to put out the flames.  We learn, too, that Anne was taught about fire by reading the fire safety handbook while she was supposed to be at school. So, perhaps those “days off” weren’t exactly wasted.

The story might easily end there, with Anne as a hero, but it doesn’t. Instead, the house must be rebuilt and so Ruby Gillis (Kyla Matthews) is housed with Anne’s family for the coming week while the men in the town unite to rebuild the Gillis home. At first, Ruby is devastated to have to spend time with the unpopular orphan girl, but she soon learns that Anne is smart, generous and giving with her time and ideas. Anne even comes up with a way for Ruby to see Gilbert that week and the two bring some baked goods over to the boys and men working on the house. Here is another challenge for Anne, as Billy Andrews (Christian Martyn) insults her on sight. Gilbert again defends her, but the pinnacle of this scene is Ruby Gillis’s interaction with Gilbert. The girl trips and falls on the way to her house and Gilbert gallantly helps her up. This cements Anne in her mind as a hero, as she came up with the idea – the baked goods – that led to Gilbert acknowledging Ruby, which is really all she’s wanted anyway. This turn helps her to like Anne, even with her overactive imagination and slightly offbeat ways.

After the confrontation at the Gillis home, Anne and Matthew have a sweet moment where we really get a sense that he sees her as a surrogate daughter, as they shadow-box around each other in the barn, having fun and just generally enjoying each others’ company. It’s a nice beat in a series of nice beats, in a much-needed episode for Anne. After she earns Ruby’s trust, Anne also manages to start the Story Club, a plot point from the original L.M. Montgomery books that often gets missed in adaptations. It’s a group of girls – so far just Anne, Diana and Ruby – who get together to come up with stories that they’ll later read aloud to each other. It’s a great plot beat that allows Anne’s imagination to serve a more cohesive purpose, while (hopefully) expanding further towards her growth into a teacher and writer.

By the end of the episode, we feel like we have full resolution, which is nice for a show that has spent a lot of time with cliffhangers. Though we still want to see what happens next, it’s great to see the episode resolved with Anne returning to school, after a conversation with Marilla about taking advantage of the opportunities life affords you. It’s a good moment for the character and seems to somewhat mirror Jerry’s struggle, as Marilla notes she didn’t have a choice of whether to go to school or not while growing up. Anne’s final decision – to return to the classroom – is met with scorn from Josie Pye (Miranda McKeon), but welcome from Gilbert, Diana and Ruby. Even Mr. Phillips, whose offscreen greeting is a nice touch to the end of the episode. After three episodes of strife for Anne, it finally seems like things may be looking up for the little red-headed former-orphan, who has now found not only a family, but also a new and growing group of friends.