User blog comment:Eikakou/Anne (2017) episode 6 - Remorse Is the Poison of Life review/@comment-4934571-20170428013127

I am really busy at school and even though I watched the episode on Monday, it took me some time to write this review. Some of you are already aware that I rarely write short comments or reviews and as English is not my mother tongue, it is really time-consuming. Remorse Is a Poison of Life is the penultimate episode of the series (or rather of Season 1 as I believe there are more seasons to come) and again, the creators handled it very well. As Eikakou already mentioned, the main theme of the story is grief – how it can affect people and change their lives. There are also other very important themes and issues featured in this episode, most notably the career. I'll expand my thoughts on these themes in the following paragraphs as the psychology in the story is (in this case) more important than the events themselves. The plot is well described in the review above, but I will sum it up as always – this time shortly.

The episode starts with Diana running through the woods to Green Gables and asking Anne to help her save Minnie May. Anne sends Matthew to Carmody to find a doctor and she tries to help Diana's little sister while the adults (Marilla, the Barrys and even Rachel) are in Charlottetown. Even though aunt Josephine and Mary Joe are present in the house, they don't know what to do. The doctor comes with Matthew several hours later and he comments that Anne managed to cure Minnie May. Only this act finally convinces Mrs. Barry to let Diana and Anne be friends again.

Meanwhile, Gilbert is still at home caring for his father. The latter's health gets worse and he eventually passes away. Many people from Avonlea attend the funeral service (including Anne, Marilla and Matthew, Rachel and Thomas, Diana and her parents as well as Ruby with hers) and after-funeral reception at the Blythe house. Anne tries to reach out to Gilbert and points out they now share a common fate – they are both orphans. Gilbert doesn't respond well to her effort and even a shepherd's pie (made by Ruby, Diana, Anne and Minnie May and brought by them to his house) cannot make him feel better.

Anne befriends Diana's aunt Josephine, who came to Avonlea for a month to recover from her best friend's death. Anne finds Josephine to be her new role model and inspiration after they discuss (and agree on) Anne's future and her career-related dilemma. Marilla is having a difficult time after John Blythe's death – in a flashback we can see both of them young and full of plans and ideas. It is revealed that John wanted to see the world and take Marilla with him. Matthew learns that a vessel (Adele Marie ?) which likely carried goods from Green Gables got lost at sea without being insured. He finds the documents and rides to the bank in Carmody to consult his financial situation.

Gilbert decides to leave Avonlea as there is nothing which would keep him there. He meets Matthew who offers to help him with farm work in the spring along with Jerry. Billy and his pals try to convince him to come back to school and to be better than Anne. Gilbert eventually beats Billy up to prevent him from hurting Anne in any way. His path leads to the cemetery where he wants to say goodbye to his father. Marilla is there as well and tells him about her history with John and her unfulfilled dreams. Anne writes many letters to Gil and wants to apologize for her weird behaviour. After hearing words of advice from aunt Josephine, she rushes to Gilbert's house – only to find it completely empty.

There is no need to repeat what I say every time, but once again – brilliant acting, music, writing and cinematography! Now let's analyze the story and its themes.

Matthew's short adventure will (likely) be expanded in the next episode and we'll see how he handles this situation. The LMM films kept Matthew alive at the end of the first film and to quote one comment from Tumblr or a discussion forum – if you have R.H. Thomson, you keep him there as long as it is humanly possible. We don't know much about renewing the series for more seasons, but Moira apparently plans to adapt the first book into 35-hours long series. There are many events in AoGG which haven't been shown yet (the Allans, dying her hair green, Lily Maid, ridgepole walking, Queen's etc.) and Matthew is present during them in the book. We'll see.

This series makes me notice some details in the story I've never seen before or I was never fully aware of. You know, Anne's mind is always distracted, she doesn't concentrate and messes things up. But not when Diana asks her to help Minnie May. It is admirable that she could keep cold head, she never hesitated nor got distracted while she's curing the little girl. (Well, she could be talking about how lovely it is to see Diana again and how it's all so romantic and adventurous, right?) She is rational, she knows exactly what to do and that she should act quickly. She sends Matthew to Carmody and he doesn't question her, but does just what she said. Anne is very confident, determined and even a bit rude – she commands aunt Josephine to stay out of way even though Josephine is an older and respectable lady.

There is also another issue connected with saving Minnie May. Diana's mother miraculously changes her mind after Anne cured her and practically saved her life. I've always had the feeling that Mrs. Barry is a hypocrite. She doesn't want to hear any explanation after the currant wine incident because she is convinced that Anne is a dirty orphan, a bad influence for her innocent daughter. She embodies the theory of labelling – once a criminal, always a criminal. There is no way she can take Anne as a polite girl from a good family who just made a mistake. No, Anne comes from bad social background, that's why she has to prove she is worthy of associating with Diana (hence the invitation in episode 1). And not only once, she needs to prove it time and time again because Mrs. Barry will never truly believe her. Suddenly, Anne saves her daughter and THAT is finally enough in Mrs. Barry's eyes to embrace Anne for who she is. And she even idealizes her ("wonderful, remarkable Anne"). Marilla's relationship with Anne is also getting better. She is genuinely happy for her when Anne is allowed to be friends with Diana and cannot even hide her happiness.

Speaking of happiness. One of the chapters in the Slovak translation of Anne of Ingleside is titled "Joy and Sorrow Walk Hand in Hand". There is a beautiful contrast between Anne having the best time of her life (she can be friends with Diana again) and Gilbert who experiences the death of his father (and his only living relative) and becomes an orphan. This brings us to the theme of grief. Many characters in this episode are (or were) affected by grief and loss of their loved ones. Each of them tries to deal with it in their own way and the deaths have (or had) various effects on their lives.

Many years ago, the Cuthberts lost their oldest son/brother Michael whose death changed everything. Matthew had to leave school to help his father around the farm. He never completed his studies and his budding romance with Jeannie ended very soon. Marilla had to refuse John Blythe's offer to travel with him around the world, even though they both loved (or at least liked) each other very much. Marilla was needed at home as their mother never fully recovered from Michael's death and she had to run the household. (As she mentions, obligation can be a prison.) Both siblings remained unmarried.

Josephine is revealed to live her whole life with her best friend Gertrude who recently passed away. Their relationship is implied to be a romantic one (the so-called Boston marriage), even though she doesn't say it explicitly. We cannot know for sure (I mean, you can be close to your best friend and live with her without having romantic feelings towards each other, but I am in no position to judge here.) and Josephine's words are vague enough for Anne to consider Gertrude to be Josephine's kindred spirits – not to take them as a lesbian couple. Josephine is sometimes grumpy, but with a heart of gold. She tries to recover from the loss, but still misses her loved one and cries. Still, she claims they had full and wonderful life together and her advice is that you should live your life with no regrets.

Marilla tries to be brave, but cannot outrun her own past. In a nice (and cute) flashback, we see that young Marilla and John were in love and had their lives planned. John asked her to travel with him around the world, but she wasn't able to go. After all those years of not being in touch with him, she still hasn't moved on. She keeps his letters (addressed to Dearest Mar) in her closet and when she rereads them after his death, she cannot stop crying. It is clear that she still loves him, even after all those years. She finds refuge in her own room after Anne's rant about her plans to be her own woman, independent, without romance being her goal – at least she won't be disappointed. Marilla is upset because Anne wants the exact opposite of what Marilla wanted when she was young – just to be with the man she loved, but not having the opportunity to choose for herself.

Poor Gilbert is the last one. After months of taking care of his beloved father, doing everything around the house and studying hard at school, he is now completely alone. He is quiet and unlike Josephine and Marilla, he doesn't show his emotions. He doesn't attend the funeral reception, but stays at the cemetery alone. When Anne tries to reach out and cheer him up, he chases her away because she doesn't understand what he's going through. He cuts off his friends and acquaintances and isolates himself. While Marilla's prison was her obligation to her mother, Gilbert is a prisoner of his own grief. The symbol of his loss is the snowflake which melts on his palm. It looks like a teardrop and substitutes all the tears lacking from Gilbert's face. The only time his emotions speak for himself is when he gets in a fight with Billy. He refuses help from Matthew and Marilla and apparently leaves Avonlea.

The last but not least is the question of career and romance. Anne and Gilbert have another thing in common. As many people have already mentioned all over the social media, both Anne and Gil don't fit in. Anne is an orphan who wasn't brought up in a world of afternoon teas and roses, she has red hair and her imagination and she's very clever. Even though Gilbert is very popular and handsome, he doesn't have any bosom friend, he has already seen the world (Alberta) and matured very quickly (taking care of his sick father). He is unlike the other boys and Marilla points that out – he resembles his father, who was rather a traveller than a farmer. Gilbert admits that he never really wanted to be a farmer (which can be quite shocking announcement in Avonlea) and he likely has some more refined vision of his future.

Anne is torn between career and romance. She believes she has time to find out what she's good at and mentions that even though she wants to be a bride, she doesn't want to be a wife. Josephine gives her a very good advice – she can get married whenever she wants to or whenever she feels ready (and she can work somewhere and still wear white, she doesn't have to be a bride to do so). Anne seems to be the only one having (or thinking about) other plans than trying to be a good wife. Diana and Ruby both have tendency to care for boys and because the key to man's heart is through his stomach, they make Gilbert a pie. They think food can make him feel better, even though it is not what he actually needs. (Only Anne realizes what he's going through.) Anne already knows that in case she decides to marry someone, she wants to be noticed for herself and her personality, not for her dinner. Ruby and Diana don't understand that and laugh at her. Their goal is to almost motherly care for their husbands and give them anything they might need.

This issue really speaks to me. I celebrate my 20th birthday exactly in a month. Some of my friends, classmates or peers are in serious relationships, some are planning their weddings or even already got married. Like Anne, I am a weirdo. I've never been on a date, I've never dated anyone. Right now I completely identify with Ruby from Green Gables Fables – or at least with what she said in the episode "To Be in Love". I am under pressure to find someone or I'll end up as an old maid. My family and even acquaintances judge me and they think that I am either frigid or the fact that I am still single is my own personal failure. Some of my close friends are similar to Ruby and Diana from this episode. They attend universities, but they only suffer through it and will marry as soon as they can. Their goal is to get married very young, settle down in their hometown / village, build a house, have a kid and that's it. They don't care about travelling, exchange programmes, student activities etc. because they want to spend 24/7 with their significant others. Diana comes from a wealthy and respectable family. Her mother wanted to send her to study in France. She has so much opportunities and thanks to her father's money, all her dreams could come true. Yet, she seems to have no other ambitions beyond being a good wife. My goal is to finish university and as it was mentioned in this episode – live my life with no regrets. And I believe that's what Anne and Gilbert want too. They want more from their lives, more than Avonlea can offer them. I'll end this personal rant with one of my favourite quotes from Doctor Who and I believe it fits this theme very well.


 * When you're a kid, they tell you it's all... grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.

My rating: 9/10

Next week – last episode of this season! (Promo picture shows Christmas tree!)