Gentelman Jack – I Can Be as a Meteor in Your Life

By: Kelly Kearney

The political unrest in Halifax as well as the marriage outing in the local papers takes a backseat to Anne Lister’s coal mine drama this week when the question of whether or not to flood the Rawson’s pit to stop him from stealing her coal is just one of many business quagmires Lister faces. With the purchase of Northcote and the dreams of a hotel and casino that goes with it, Anne’s spending hits an all-time high and she needs to both beat Christopher at his own game while finally securing her future with the Walker inheritance. Things only get worse when Miss Walker discovers her sister’s husband, as well as her cousins, have been stealing the family’s properties right out from under her late-father’s will! If that isn’t distressing enough, anonymous letters keep popping up threatening to out this saphic union in an era where lesbian realtionships would end up with both women behind bars, or worse, hanging from a noose! Things are heating up in Halifax! 

Intimidating Anne at Your Own Risk

We begin with Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) fast-walking her way to her lawyer Mr. Parker’s (Bruce Alexander) office to discuss that marriage announcement in the local paper. After getting what we can only assume is a serious talking to, the editor issued Miss Lister an apology for the fake announcement he ran twice! It’s not that Anne required the apology; she found the announcement quite humorous, but the apology would go a long way towards putting her wife’s mind at ease. Once that’s out of the way, Parker and Lister talk hotel ideas now that the purchase of Northcote has gone throug. Anne is interested in turning the property into a hotel but Mr. Parker, who continues to point out her spending, is nervous that she is biting off more then she can chew. He wonders if it isn’t wiser to sell off the property and pay off some of her debts, but Anne isn’t interested in his advice; she has a plan for that property and it all has to do with her beloved Blue party. The hotel will be staffed with people who share her political leanings and she hopes that will entice more Blue voters to move to the town and keep her party in power. Since Anne cannot vote she will do whatever it takes, even underhanded threats, to ensure her party comes out on top. Mr. Parker warns her that this is murky territory and influencing voters could be perceived as intimidation. Anne doesn’t like his tone and snaps back, “How dare anyone speak to me about intimidation.” If anyone is doing the intimidating it’s going to be the town’s lesbian coal miner coming for your pits and and maybe your wives. She will not be swayed into backing down. Mr. Parker also has some bad news about the Lister family doctor, Sunderland. The man suffered from gout but his death was expedited thanks to the trampling he took during the riots. This is just another reason for Anne to latch on to her Hotel for Tories idea. 

Back at Shibden Hall all of Anne’s loved ones are suffering from some ailment that’s taken them to bed. Aunt Anne (Gemma Jones), who is still struggling with her leg sores, isn’t pleased to hear that her favorite doctor has passed away and now she’s stuck with Dr. Jubb (Tony Turner). Like his sister, Captain Lister (Timothy West) has also taken to his bed and when he demands Anne’s presence she slams the door in Marian’s’ (Gemma Whelan) face and quickly learns her father received a letter congratulating him on the wedding announcement. He is not pleased; and blames Anne’s appearance and eccentric personality for the family’s embarrassment. His words cut deep, but Anne chokes them down and tells him to get some fresh air and exercise, and maybe he will feel better. 

Be Brave 

After dealing with her father, Anne finds a letter from Lady Harriet sent from Copenhagen and makes the absolute wrong decision to read her response out loud to a moody Ann (Sophie Rundle). That wedding announcement put a dark cloud over everyone’s head and this letter certainly doesn’t help matters. Even before she starts to read it her wife isn’t in “the mood.” She insults Anne about her breath telling her she needs to clean her teeth before she gets into their bed. The bite in her wife’s tone shocks Anne and she rattles off some excuse as being too busy dealing with men all day to notice. As she starts to read the letter, the look on Ann’s face drops. Any mention of Anne’s new wife seems to be in parenthesis as if she is Ann is an afterthought. Anne thought it was an elegant introduction but according to Ann, the tone of it makes it seem like her new wife is some pretty little trinket that sits on the shelf at Shibden and not a full-fledged life partner. She practically demands Anne trash the response and, with that, Anne heads back to her study to comprise a new letter more to her wife’s liking. 

The next morning Anne is grumpy and bemoaning about how her “bowels are all wrong again” and her wife isn’t doing much better. Their fight left them both out of sorts and, on top of the embarrassing wedding announcement, Ann Walker is a teary mess who thinks she could never be as brave and proud as her wife. Ann has never recognized her strength. Wasnt she the one who laughed in the face of Mrs. Priestley when the nosey woman caught them snogging with Anne’s hands up her petticoat? She is braver than she knows and Anne reminds her of that. 

Back to the business side of things and Anne meets with her architect about Northcote and all the expansion possibilities on the surrounding land. Twenty-eight houses, a bank, a casino and a newspaper office could all be developed on the land the hotel would sit on. It’s a sprawling piece of property and all Anne can see are money signs everywhere she looks. She might be racking up the debts now but you have to spend money to make money, and according to the architect, she could be making a fortune on this deal. There is just one problem, and it seems to always be the same problem in Anne’s life and it goes by the name of Christopher Rawson (Vincent Franklin). Rawson is the local magistrate in Halifax and Anne would have to run these plans by him to apply for a license. That’s not the only issue; when she heads over to Mr. Parker’s office to tell him she needs a loan of £4,000 to get these plans up and running her lawyer is less than enthusiastic about adding to her debt. Anne gets in his face and asks if he would question the spending habits of a man. He wouldn’t, so Mr. Parker backs off from her intimdations. 

Over at Shibden, Dr. Jubb stops in to check on Aunt Anne and gets to talking about the recent election news. Apparently, Parliament has been dissolved and a new election might be held and Christopher Rawson is thinking of running for the Blue! Anne has doubts Mr. Rawson will follow through with this idea since he isn’t much liked by the old money in Halifax. He has a tendency to rub people the wrong way, which is why Anne is fully suppoive of Henry Edwards as her candidate. She does, however, make it clear that if Christopher were to run for the Tory party, she would have no choice but to back him and find at least a thousand votes from friends and business associates to join her. 

Coal is a Dirty Buisiness 

With a Rawson run on her mind, Anne cannot seem to get away from her local nemesis. In fact, not only is he coming for her Blue party but he is also rumored to still be stealing her coal! Anne has two mineshafts, and the one she named after her wife, Walker Pit, is being plundered by the Rawsons. Anne questions whether or not the answer to his thievery is flooding one shaft to block off his access to the other, but she is new to this coal business and isn’t sure that’s the right move. Holt (George Costigan), her coal manager, isn’t the most reliable of sources and rumor has it he is deep into the drink and maybe that’s why his presence at the pits seems to be dropping off. She fears flooding the Rawsons out might flood Walker pit in the process and she needs an agile mind to talk her through the options. Holt doesnt seem to be it, so she goes to Hinscliffe (Daniel Betts) for his opinion. He is known as a local expert, even if he is a bit untrustwrty. Hinscliffe gives her his best advice: flood the pit and Walker will be fine. Luckily, Anne does her research and summons two experts to Shibden to talk her through the process. There is a lot of techcnial coal jargon here and even Marian is lost as the men tell Anne she could sink a third shaft to be flooded and block the Rawsons and anyone else with sticky fingers from stealing her coal. The entire process is complicated (for this viewer and even for Anne), but these two men seem to know what they’re talking about. They even advise her to avoid Mr. Hinscliffe because he is in the business of making himself rich, not her. Later Anne and Samuel Washington visit the site where the new pit would be sunk and are told the whole process could be up and running in a year. 

It’s not long before she runs into her wife near the pits and Ann is upset over some new information regarding her shared estate. Apparently, her sister Elizabeth (Katherine Kelly) broke the terms of their father’s will and signed property over to her husband in 1831; many properties to be exact, and even the Priestleys got a piece of the action. When Ann goes to her Aunt to ask if she knew about this, the woman says the entre family knew but never told her because she wasn’t well. Aunt Ann (Stephanie Cole) also knows her niece appointed Anne Lister as the executive of her will and assumes she stands to inherit what is left of the family fortune in the event of Ann’s untimely passing. Ann assures her aunt that while she did make Anne the executor she hasn’t signed anything over to her yet. That news surprises Aunt Ann, who assumed she had and that’s why she cut Ann from her will and left everything to Elizabeth! Captain Sutherland (Derek Riddell) is the real winner here because he has managed to steal the Walker fortune right out from under all of them. This is why the family was so protective of Ann when it came to golddiggers. 

Speaking of Captain Sutherland, he and his wife discuss the evictions in Halifax thanks to a letter they receive frm Washington. Elizabeth is shocked by the evictions and cannot believe her sister would do that. Ironic because Ann was led to believe this was all Elizabeth’s doing, but now we know the Captian is behind it all! He also questions why the timid Ann all of a sudden seems so confident and well-informed. This Miss Lister must be rubbing off on her (pun intended) and the two decide to visit Halifax and check on Ann before any property division moves forward. 

When it Raines, it Pours

After an impromptu visit with the elder Mrs. Rawson (Anneliese Orr) where Anne runs into Christopher and chokes out her support for his candidacy, we head back to Shibden for breakfast where a letter from Mariana (Lydia Leonard) awaits. With Ann still reeling from her meeting with her Aunt, Anne takes the quiet time to read the letter at table while her curious sister looks on in both interest and a bit of eye rolling. She has made it clear she is Team Walker, not that it matters to Anne, who continues on quietly reading about how Mrs. Lawton feels much better since the last time the two were together. She goes on to say she has been thinking about her choice to marry Charles and she is full of regrets and wants to be in Anne’s “good opinion” and “will not put it in your power to find fault with me again.” 

Mariana’s isnt the only letter to arrive, after breakfast Anne heads up to the bedroom to talk to Ann, who is reading her own letter from her sister announcing her plans for a visit. But that’s not all! Another letter written anonymously makes its way to Ann and it is full of reveals neither she nor her wife were ready for. The letter is a warning for Ann to escape the clutches of Anne Lister before she winds up like poor Eliza Raines. Who is Eliza? From the total emotional breadown Anne has, her wife knows this must be another past lover she never knew about. Anne is forced to tell her wife a very santized version of her past with Eliza. She claims the woman was someone she she knew from school and she wound up in an asylum after mental struggles similar but worse than Ann’s. Anne still visits her from time to time but the woman is violent and unwell. This is all too much for Ann, who brushes this off by telling her wife to burn the letter but instead, Anne hides it in her desk. 

After a brief run in with the nosey troublemaking Mr. Priestley (Peter Davison), Anne and Ann head to York to finally make the changes in their wills, Ann isn’t playing these Sutherland games anymore, but when the topic of children is brought up things go from happy to broken pretty quickly. Ann makes mention of how she always wanted to be a mother and Anne reminds her of the fact that won’t ever happen and they agreed on this before moving in together. It isnt that Ann wants to be with a man, she just always thought she would raise a child somehow without one. Anne has heard this before, and watched lovers walk out of her life for some mediocre man who could promise them a family. She is in full panic mode as the past washes over her and she starts to wonder if this union between them will work out. Will she always be waiting for some man to whisk her wife away? Angry, Anne burns the letter she hid in her desk and weeps behind the safety of her study’s door. Who is writing these letters and what does Ann Walker’s hesitancy mean for their marriage? With two episodes left there are a lot of loose ends to tie up!