User blog comment:Eikakou/Anne (2017) episode 3 - But What Is So Headstrong as Youth? review/@comment-4934571-20170404224013

Let me say one thing: This episode was '''SO. EFFING. GOOD.''' (I would even say it explicitly, but I would have to ban myself for using swear words afterwards...) Where to start? I guess I'll use my usual template, it proved to be the best way to organize my thoughts – story first, analysis later: and spoilers ahead!



In the beginning, we see Anne as she prepares for her first day at school. It is now autumn and clearly some time has passed since the unfortunate picnic. Anne helps Marilla with the breakfast – unfortunately, but not surprisingly, she breaks one of the cups. She is very excited to start school and believes she'll catch up with the others quickly. As she's walking through the woods, she practices what she's going to say to her new classmates and potential friends. She makes the infamous flower crown and puts it on her hat (in the book, she wears it when she goes to Sunday school for the first time, but it works equally well in this situation).

When she enters the school, she is overwhelmed by the ruling chaos in the classroom. Diana approaches her and promises her to show her around. The girls (Ruby Gillis, Jane Andrews, Tillie Boulter and of course Josie Pye) are gossiping about the new girl. The first ones to say hello to Anne are Moody Spurgeon (apparently not MacPherson) and Charlie Sloane who are rather boyish, but appear to be nice and friendly towards her. Then the girls come. Jane remarks she saw Anne at the picnic, but wasn't allowed to say hello. Jane's brother Billy shows up and is really mean and cruel. He is a typical bully who calls Anne a talking dog. Anne is allowed to sit with Diana (it appears that Diana was previously sitting with Ruby and Jane with her sister Prissy, but now Prissy prepares for Queen's and Jane can sit with Ruby).

Meanwhile, Mrs. Andrews (the mother of Prissy, Jane and Billy) and Mrs. Bell pay a visit to Marilla and invite her to the meeting of the Progressive Mothers Sewing Circle, a group of forward-thinking mothers who do needlepoint, drink tea and discuss education of their daughters. Since Anne is now a proper member of the community, Marilla as her mother is more than welcome in their society.

Diana shows Anne the Avonlea school – they put their milk bottles into the stream and walk around the building. There is another classroom for youngsters (taught by an old teacher) and a room in which Mr. Phillips usually takes a nap. Diana and Anne see Mr. Phillips and Prissy inside and they are touching hands. Anne wonders if they are having an intimate relationship and making babies. She recalls Mrs. Hammond saying that she (Mrs. Hammond) had to pet Mr. Hammond's mouse (a metaphor for having sexual intercourse – I have to admit I was not familiar with it and I found it hilarious). During the lesson Anne tries to help Moody when he misspells the word given to him, but she says it aloud without being called on. Diana spreads the gossip about Prissy and Mr. Phillips among the girls. During the lunch break, they want to hear more about it and Anne appears to know the most about intimate relations so she shares her knowledge from the time when she lived with the Hammonds. What starts as a shocking and exciting story, ends terribly for Anne – the girls realize she lived in very poor conditions and according to Josie, Anne is a dirty trash.

Marilla decides to go to the meeting of the Progressive Mothers club because she wants to learn something new. The ladies discuss some progressive writing sent to them from the university, the issues of feminism and higher education for women. They praise Marilla for adopting a girl which was very forward-thinking of her. Mrs. Andrews mentions she wants only the best for her daughters. Rachel is mystified and shocked by Marilla's decision and doesn't appear to approve the society – she herself brought up 10 children. Anne comes home from school and even though she seems happy, it is only her being brave in front of the Cuthberts.

In the morning, Anne is determined to have her tomorrow with no mistakes in it. On her way to school she meets Billy in the woods. Apparently, the rumour about Prissy and Mr. Phillips spread quickly the previous day and Prissy spent the night crying. Billy blames Anne and it seems like he wants to hurt her, just to protect the name of his family. Fortunately, an unknown boy shows up and his mere presence saves Anne. The boy wants to know her name and chases her all the way to school. Anne is reluctant to speak to him and only after they come to the classroom, she introduces herself. It turns out that the boy is none other than Gilbert Blythe, the most popular boy at school and definitely a cool kid (this adaptation shows his popularity among the girls as well as the boys), who has just returned from Alberta. The girls (including crying Ruby) confront Anne and forbid her to have anything with Gilbert as Ruby has liked him for 3 years.

In the store, Marilla meets Mrs. Bell and asks about the next meeting. The latter responds that the society is not the right fit for her and she should better try home-schooling for Anne. Marilla and Matthew are confused, that's why Matthew decides to visit Mrs. Lynde who is reliable in the knowing department. Of course, she knows the whole story and tells him (and he later tells Marilla) about the disgrace Anne put on Prissy and Anne's dirty history. Marilla is ashamed and worries what will happen if whole Avonlea hears about it. Matthew worries too, but it concerns Anne. She is just a child and in her tender age she oughtn't know anything about what she's been exposed to. Marilla realizes that Matthew is right and pays a visit to Mrs. Andrews who is angry at Anne. Marilla says that probably their progressive society is not progressive at all and she is happy to finally give Anne safe haven after what she's been through.

Meanwhile, Anne is asked to read a poem from the reader after Diana's rather poor recitation. Anne is excited to finally show what she's good at. Her dramatic performance makes everyone laugh – everyone apart from Diana (who is well-mannered) and Gilbert, whose interest in Anne gradually grows (he likely doesn't even understand why the others laughed, he found her very talented). He approaches her during the break, but she only mouths she is not supposed to talk to him (she sees the girls through the window). Gilbert doesn't give up easily and throws pieces of chalk at Anne during another lesson. Only after he gets closer to her across the aisle and calls her Carrots, she finally reacts and slaps him with her own slate stating she's not talking to him. Mr. Phillips writes that she has a very bad temper on the blackboard and commands her to stand in front of it as her punishment (even though Gilbert confesses it was his fault). Anne doesn't obey and runs away from the school. She comes home in tears and hugs Marilla. She says she will never come back to school.



Well, this episode is full of events, that's why the plot description is so long. We met many new characters – Anne's classmates as well as the so-called progressive mothers. I like this portrayal of Diana. She is her own person, not Anne's shy sidekick. She shows Anne around the school, introduces all the new faces and places, tells her what to do and what is the status quo at the school. She seems to be a mediator between Anne and anybody else and even after everything bad Anne managed to do in this episode, she stands by her and wants to smooth things over. However, she is the one who spreads the rumour about Prissy and unwillingly causes all the chaos which follows. Josie is indeed mean, but still more friendly than Miranda de Pencier's portrayal who seemed like she didn't have any friends. Ruby is a little bit childish, Tillie rather silly and Jane... Jane seems to be different than any other portrayal of her. Moody and Charlie try to be nice and friendly, while Billy is a typical bully, lurking around with his two sidekicks.

Gilbert looks just like Gilbert should look (definitely better casting choice than Drew Haytaoglu). He is dreamy, clever, friendly and popular. (When he showed up at school I instantly remembered the "Summer Nights" scene from Grease.) He is definitely interested in Anne, she is different than anyone else and he desires to get to know her and to talk to her. Her reluctance just motivates him to try harder which is a common human reaction – you always want something you cannot have. The cracked slate incident is different here, but I liked it anyways. This feels more natural and spontaneous. In the book and another adaptations, she always stood up, yelled "How dare you?!" and only then took his slate and slapped him. She always had some time to think about using the slate. And her reaction was always waaay too dramatic – would you really yell at a boy and break a slate onto his head during a lesson just because of a silly nickname? I've been called names and bullied during my childhood, but I always fought back during the breaks. Also, I liked her escape from school, which is another natural reaction. In the books she overreacted and showed her temper at first, but then she stayed at school as part of her punishment (no temper left?).

There is little to say about the progressive mothers, but I am curious about their names. Practically only Mrs. Andrews is the mother of Anne's classmates. There is no one in the classroom named MacPherson (Moody is just Spurgeon), Bell, Morrison or even Phelan. It would be more beneficial for the story if the members were Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Pye, Mrs. Boulter and Mrs. Gillis – the sudden ban for Marilla would be viewed as doing of all of them on behalf of their daughters.

The cinematography and music in this episode are flawless, I particularly fell in love with the music once again. Moira's writing is extraordinary and I could not be satisfied any more.

We've already discussed Prissy and her relationship with Mr. Phillips in another review. It is not okay for her to be in a relationship with her teacher, but we often forget (because of the numerous adaptations which portrayed Mr. Phillips as an older man) that Mr. Phillips is a young fellow. Matthew calls him Teddy in the book, which indicates that he was really young. His actual age was never mentioned, but the year Anne came to school could easily be his second year of being a teacher. Assuming, he went to Queen's at the age of 15, he could be 17-19 years old. Prissy is likely around 14-16 and their age gap is similar to the one Anne and Gilbert have. Mr. Phillips is not actually a creep, he is just a teacher and unfortunately, Prissy happens to be his student. Anne and Diana consider it to be scandalous and poor Anne has a very specific view of intimate relations. She knows that touching hands is a sign of being romantically involved, but she doesn't know that this is not one of the sexual activities necessary to actually conceive a child. She knows a lot about petting someone's mouse, but only metaphorically speaking. She only knows what Mrs. Hammond told her and what she heard from the bedroom (laughing and screaming). Anne (luckily) has no clear idea of what actual sexual intercourse involves and looks like, probably not even the biology behind it (does she even know what the mouse metaphor actually stands for?). We know that Anne doesn't want to talk much about her past, but this was her chance to make new friends and dramatically share her knowledge, to make herself interesting in their eyes. She is unaware of the fact that her story will make her look like a dirty trash and will only reveal the poor conditions she comes from.

<p class="MsoNormal">I particularly liked the scene after Matthew paid visit to Rachel. Marilla is worrying about their reputation, but Matthew was my hero because he said just the right thing – Anne is the one they should worry about. She is only a child and at her tender age she oughtn't know any of it. The sad thing is that she knows, but she doesn't understand what actually she knows. Nowadays, kids usually learn about sex and conceiving children from the internet, from books or at school at biology lessons. Most of them know it by the age of 13. Anne lives in another period, when women were given only blurred pieces of information just before their wedding night (usually lie back and think of England). I like that Moira included the issue in this episode and I don't care it was different in the books!

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<p class="MsoNormal">10/10