Gentleman Jack – I’m Not The Other Woman, She Is

By: Kelly Kearney

Anne Lister heads to Mariana Lawton’s home to finally put their decades long romance to rest. Things heat up when Mariana can’t move on in the wake of Anne’s new marriage and, to make matters worse, Charles Lawton is making life difficult with the news of an underage cousin mistress that forces Mariana to recognize all that she lost when she said goodbye to Anne. Besides the thrupple drama that’s brewing between Shibden and Lawton Hall, Anne also takes the stage at the shareholder’s meeting for the Navigation Subcommittee where the topic of the day is canals vs. railways. As always, Anne keeps her finger on the pulse of all things business and romance, in the fourth installment of the HBO series about the 1800’s landowning lesbian with a swagger and her sweet and wealthy wife.

Old Flames and Bad Handwriting

After her wretched and distraught pleas for Anne (Suranne Jones) to visit one last time, Mariana (Lydia Leonard) finally gets what she wants when her ex arrives in Cheshire with her new wife’s blessing. When Anne enters Lawton Hall, Mariana is nowhere to be found–odd, considering the woman was desperate to see her. When Mariana does make her less than grand entrance, we can tell right away that she isn’t only suffering from a jealous broken heart, but something is physically happening with her too. Those dizzy spells couldn’t possibly be related to Anne’s recent nuptials, no matter how many times she claims it is. After a few awkward pleasantries, the two women sit down for dinner, but the conversation around the table is anything but appetizing. Mariana accuses Anne of marrying Ann (Sophie Rundle) for her money because she couldn’t possibly love that “insipid” and “unstable” woman. Anne, for her part, does a decent job defending her wife, who she repeatedly says makes her happy; leaving out the quiet part that fans and Mrs. Lawton can all hear “unlike you.”

Later, when the two women take a walk through the gardens of the palatial Lawton estate, Mariana makes an attempt to be happy for Anne now that she’s settled, but it isn’t long before their past begins to rear its ugly head. When it’s mentioned how accepting Ann Walker is about her wife’s appearance (something Mariana never appreciated) the two argue over how painful that was for Anne. Mariana’s father never allowed her inside their house and his daughter never once defended Anne– the woman she claims she can’t live without. This brings up Lister’s rage over Mariana choosing to marry Charles (Rupert Vansittart) for security when “I would have conquered empires for you!” she yells. Ann Walker might not be well-traveled, educated or able to hold her own in a conversation, but she loves Anne for who she is – not in spite of it. Anne explains how Ann Walker chose her and was brave enough to ignore the whispers and stares so as to combine their lives at Shibden, something “Mary” would’ve never done. Of course, all of these jaunts down memory lane were before Anne inherited her uncle’s estate, so the two would’ve been impoverished and struggling to survive. Mariana did what most woman of her time did—held her nose and married the first interested man who offered her a comfortable life. While that was a typical move for most women, Anne Lister is anything but typical and saw that choice as a stab in the back and heart of their longstanding union.

Mariana, who barks out “I’m not the other woman, she is,” pulls out all the stops to get Anne back, but when she threatens to take her own life and tries to kiss Anne, Lister gently pushes her away making it clear she cares for her but she has made a commitment to Ann and she has no intentions of breaking her vows. Her love for Ann is both new and based on mutual respect, something that Mariana can’t make sense of when a letter arrives from the young woman and Anne allows her envious ex to read it. Judging her penmanship and girlish choice of words, Mariana allows her jealousy to creep into every passive aggressive dig she can drum up about Anne’s new wife. Determined to make Mariana see this marriage as a positive step forward – rooted in love – Anne finds herself endlessly defending her relationship while denying the money factor that comfortably cushioned her choice to marry.

The Priestleys’ Proposal

Speaking of her wife, Ann seems to be fitting in well with the Lister family. That is everyone but especially Marian (Gemma Whelan) loves her company and this prompts the woman to take it upon herself to rebuild the bridges Anne burned with Miss Walker’s family—it’s the least she could do for her sister’s companion. So, along with her father, Captain Lister (Timothy West), Marian heads out to visit Ann’s Aunt Ann (Stephanie Cole) to try to smooth over the bad vibes with praise for the woman’s niece and her ever-improving health. Marian equates these changes to Ann’s new life at Shibden and all the travels she’s accompanied Anne on. Unfortunately, Aunt Ann isn’t interested in anything Lister related, so Marian and the Captain are wasting their breaths and her time.

While her wife’s away in Cheshire and Marian is at the Walker estate, Ann gets a visit from the young James Ingham (Tom Morely), sent to Shibden by the Priestleys on a plot to save her from the gold-digging Ms. Lister. James seems sweet enough, but when he disparages Anne over rumors of her appearance, her wife jumps to her defense and kindly lets the young suitor down easy. She has never been happier than she is now living at Shibden and she doesn’t need rescuing, especially from her cousin’s busybody of a wife—who we all know was the instigator in this proposal.

Vows Broken

Back in Cheshire, after Anne is forced to remind young Martha Booth (Matilda Holt), the maidservant sent from Shibden to Lawton Hall, of her place in this world and spoiler: it’s not buried in one of Mariana’s books, it’s time for a dinner gathering of Charles’ friends. The local vicar and some political radical are in attendance and the two men get Anne’s conversational juices flowing, which Charles seems to admire and cheer on. And that’s not all! As the night goes on Anne and Mariana find a moment to sneak away from the party and in private it is revealed the real reason for Mrs. Lawton’s wretched state: her older and recently rumored unfaithful husband. Apparently, Charles has been sleeping with his underage niece now that the girl’s father and brother are gone. The relationship, which is more like non-consensual incest daddy thing, has escalated to the point where Charles is planning on moving the young girl into Lawton Hall and Mariana can barely stomach it. She isn’t the only one; Anne is furious that Charles would do this to Mariana and practically orders her ex to leave him and come to Shibden Hall if he succeeds in this thrupple fantasy. When Mariana asks Anne if this means she still loves her, Anne expresses her love for the woman and the two share an emotional kiss that leads to a night of passion and a Sunday morning sacrament at the Lawton family’s church! It looks like Charles isn’t the only unfaithful one in this mess and the look on Anne’s face says she knows it.

When Anne does finally return home and into the waiting arms of her eager wife, she professes her love and the two have a romantic embrace. Obviously, she keeps the details about what happened with Mariana to herself and makes an attempt to wash away her sins with a little sexual marital bliss. Does it work? It is hard to say but we can see her mind spinning over her confused heart, which at this point must be equally divided in two.

The following day Anne has no time for regrets because she has her hands full with the Navigation Subcommittee meeting where the shareholders, one of which Anne is, plan to cast their votes on whether or not they should fund the installation of new locks on the canal. It is an an attempt to boost trade in the region and stay competitive with the new railways, of which Anne seems to be against. As transgressive as Lister is, progress isn’t a part of her political ideology, so she takes the stage convincing the rest of the shareholders to vote in favor of the locks and not invest in the railways. It’s a win for both her and her adversary, Chrstopher Rawson—who proves the two can play nice when they’re both on the same team and facing the political discourse of men like Rawdon Briggs (Richard Hope). Mr. Briggs, whose political agenda is at odds with Lister’s, takes the wind right out of Anne’s victorious sails when he threatens to expose her lifestyle with Ann Walker (homosexuality was illegal at the time) over her vote. “Gentleman Jack” are his parting words and, with her head held high attempting to “rise above it,” we can tell the slur cuts deep and Anne can do nothing but sprint-walk her way out of the meeting and away from Brigg’s vicious attack. The town is stewing over this new arrangement at Shibden Hall and add in Mariana and an unfaithful roll in the Lawton hay to the mix and it seems Anne is up to her top hat in drama.