User blog:Eikakou/Anne (CBC series) season 2, episode 3 - The True Seeing is Within review

Here we are again!

(Once again, LilyLacreag has covered a lot of great points in her wonderful review, so I'm hoping to keep this shorter. Not that I'm good at that.

SPOILERS maybe. I think any way. You know how this goes.

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First thing, there's very little of Gilbert this episode. Instead, it ties up the gold scam storyline. Thank goodness. Not because it was badly written, but I honestly did not want to see the Avonlea folk getting done in by two evil people.

That being said, Anne is off on an adventure to Charlottetown with the Barrys and to see Aunt Josephine, since Mr. Barry has decided to take out their family's life savings to for the gold testing for any landowner in Avonlea who wanted in, in exchange for a bit of their claim if there was gold. Mrs. Barry is clearly upset with how that Mr. Barry is making all the financial decisions without talking to her, that he's even talking about business and money to Anne, when he never talks about it with his wife. Mr. Barry isn't interested in listening to anyone, least of all Aunt Josephine (who is going to help Anne get her letter to Gilbert), who is wary of the whole thing. She heard about a similar case of a gold rush that went to nothing in another town, which sets off both Anne and Diana enough that they're going to find out more about what happened in that town.

While Mrs. Barry tries to channel her frustrations in something she can control (interior decorating), Anne and Diana find themselves in a pub (I had no idea that pub was short for public house, the more you learn) and meet the journalist who discovered that the gold rush years ago was a complete scam that cheated the entire town and destroyed it. It forces Anne to trust the instincts that she was ignoring around Nate for various reasons - the excitement of finding gold, the wish to be taken seriously by someone she thought was more intelligent, not wanting to seem stupid and wanting to be accepted - and she and Diana piece everything together. But Mrs. Barry is too upset by her husband and how his decisions may take away the future she was hoping for her daughters and their family (so being found at the pub is enough for her to threaten to end Diana and Anne's friendship again, permanently), and Mr. Barry isn't listening to anyone anyway. Nobody believes them.

In Avonlea, Marilla and Matthew have made the decision that the boarders need to move out. And Jerry reveals Matthew how he's felt uncomfortable with the boarders that he blames himself for losing the money from the horse sale, money that would have stopped the boarders from being brought in. Matthew reassures him that it isn't Jerry's fault at all - I love how Matthew's kindness and sense of needing to protect children extends to Jerry, the way he calls Jerry "son" to remind him that he's part of the family at Green Gables as well. As for Dunlop (or "Jonesy" as his real name seems to be), he's taking it badly that the Cuthberts want him out, because he's actually come to love Avonlea and wants to live there. Nate (who on his own time is still going out of his way to scare Jerry with alcohol and nasty stereotypes and slurs about Francophones and Catholics) tells him that he's an idiot for thinking Avonlea has accepted him, but Dunlop is sticking with it. It doesn't work out though - Anne returns feeling not so trusting of the boarders and this powerful moment happens. When she tells Marilla, Marilla tells Anne that she believes her.

She believes her. Marilla, who didn't believe Anne about the amethyst brooch, remembers and assures Anne that she believes her. When the Barrys didn't listen, Marilla did.

Except, the boarders hear it too, tie them up, and everyone is in a mad rush to find them as con artists escape. Jerry tries to stop them, gets knocked out, Dunlop and Nate fight, and Nate gets away with the money while Dunlop is caught. No, there is no happily ending here - Nate gets away with the money, but at least the con is over.

OR IS IT? It is. But Gilbert has just gotten the letter from Anne and now he's all, there's gold in Avonlea? You know what, you should go back, kid! Bash knows there's something back there! Listen to your older wiser friend!

I really enjoyed this episode because 1. the awful scam is over (once again, not because it is was badly written or anything, it's just I honestly did not want the scam to drag over the season while somehow the entire town stays clueless) and 2. Diana was awesome this episode. I love how this series remembers to develop all its characters and that Diana is not just Anne's bosom friend and sidekick, but someone who contributes to the story and is an equal partner in the investigation in Charlottetown. Also, I'm still very stuck on how the most powerful moments for me is how Matthew and Marilla believe Jerry and Anne respectively. It's so incredibly relevant, especially in today's world, when the stories of people who have experienced violent abuse are not believed, that while neither of them has concrete proof about why the boarders are bad people, the Cuthberts see and listen to Anne and Jerry, take what they're saying seriously instead of dismissing them.

Eikakou (talk) 03:03, October 23, 2018 (UTC)