User blog:Eikakou/Anne (CBC series) season 3, episode 1 - A Secret Which I Desired to Divine review

Hello everyone! Anne with an E is back on CBC in Canada - yesterday was the premiere episode of the third season. (Sorry, I don't know when season 3's going to air on Netflix.)

This is all a welcome distraction for me, considering here in the Great White North, there's an atmosphere of great anxiety for me. But let's not get into that, because there's a nice helping of Anne to enjoy. Yes, Prince Edward Island is stunning gorgeous as it was before, thanks to the wonderful cinematography, and oh, the period costumes! (I especially love the details on the Mi'kmaq clothing.)

(Anyone who lives in Canada and missed yesterday's airing on TV can view it on CBC Gem at this link: Season 3)

As per previous recaps and reviews, spoilers beyond this point. Let's go!

---

Our dear Anne is only a few days from turning 16! It's a big deal, and the episode focuses on connections - and for Anne, it's about looking at where people are alike rather than different. But the episode also goes into other ways people are drawn together - Anne and her friends are maturing (which creator Moira Walley-Beckett remarks how inconscionable that her cast keeps getting taller, and despite repeatedly telling them to to stop, they just won’t heed her), which brings in more overt romantic relationships, as well as Anne's desire to learn where she came from. All these things do bring about varying degrees of worrying for our friends in Avonlea.

One of most notable changes is the introduction of Ka’kwet, a young Mi'kmaq girl about Anne's age, and her father. They're introduced in the first act of the episode, at an ice hockey game that the Avonlea boys are playing. Her father makes hockey sticks by commission - one of the boys goes to get his new stick, and I think (I can't recall) might have thanked Ka'kwet's father as the boy chucks his old stick aside (um, RUDE ). Gilbert very politely makes a request for a new stick and offers coins to Ka'kwet's father, who takes some (not call); the exchange feels a bit socially awkward - I guess it's because you can sense Gilbert is hoping for a direct answer after Ka'kwet's father agrees to the commission, but he's not sure to make of the man's response that Gilbert will be getting his new stick when it's ready, with no fixed date in mind. Billy Andrews demonstrates that for any minute growth seen last season, that he's still a jerk who looks down on others who aren't like him. Unlike Gilbert's hesitant request, Billy demands a new stick as a trade for a red handkerchief that he chucks on the ground. Ka'kwet and her dad are not impressed, and she picks up the handkerchief to chuck back at Billy. I like this girl! Her dad tells her (in the Mi'kmaq language) not to antagonize white people like Billy because they will do things to hurt them, but also adds that they won't be taking on the business of the "little man with a big ego."

Anne, given it's her first time meeting the Mi'kmaq, asks to interview Ka'kwet's father and how he makes hockey sticks for the school paper. He's reluctant, but Ka'kwet senses Anne's sincerity and tells her dad that Anne's story could drum up more business. Anne gets invited to the Mi'kmaq camp, where Ka'kwet's family welcomes her (Ka'kwet's mother and siblings are adorable), and Anne and Ka'kwet have the beginnings of a very solid friendship. But the visit also stirs some strong feelings in Anne at how she doesn't know where she comes from or what the family she was born into was like. Hmmm...

Speaking of families... Bash and Mary have a new addition to theirs! They have a baby daughter named Delphine - Bash is absolutely besotted with her. Gilbert and Mary think Bash is being way too mushy with baby Delly, but everyone in the Blythe household loves her. Actually, people outside their house love her too - Marilla's been dropping by to help out, but Matthew thinks it's because she likes being around a sweet cuddly baby. Marilla may be stern and practical even now, but I love how her edges have softened. She won't admit it, but she won't deny either. Oh, and at Green Gables, Jerry is doing quite well reading in English. He's reading Frankenstein to Matthew. It's really nice how he's embraced reading and writing - he was so happy to write his first Christmas card to Anne (and she didn't care that he forgot the "e") to reading a rather lengthy novel! =D

Diana is having issues with her family though. Anne and a number of other students are in the extra class for studying to attend Queen's Academy, but Diana's parents have decided that she's going to finishing school in Paris. It's for her future, but Diana gotten a glimpse of seeing that futures that don't rely on being a finished young lady ready for a husband and she trying to fight for a chance to become academically educated like her friends. Her parents don't agree and Diana unhappily stops arguing when Mrs. Barry threatens to cancel a special event on Saturday. (It's the same event, that sadly prevents Diana from being with Anne on her birthday. The depths of despair!)

But let's delve into the budding romantic connections I mentioned. Rachel has taken up walking because the doctor says it's good for her health, which means hanging out with Miss Stacy. Miss Stacy mentions that she's content with being single - she loved her husband a lot and grieved when he died, but she's found a good place for herself emotionally now. Rachel decides that means Miss Stacy is ready for a new man in her life and promises to use her matchmaking skills to find that man for Miss Stacy... who is decidedly not thrilled with the offer, but she doesn't get to turn down Rachel, because Rachel desperately needs her corset loosened after she can't breathe from all that exercise.

Meanwhile, Miss Stacy's students are much more welcome to the idea of romance. Josie and Billy are walking home together these days, chaperoned by Billy's sister Jane, who is very unimpressed. Josie's mother encourages Josie to stake a claim on Billy, who isn't going to be going to Queen's and might take up another girl while Josie is away. This revives... the TAKE NOTICE board. A way to make an advance in advance to indicate one party's interest in another. Most of the girls are into it. Tilly Boulter even has two boys interested in her. Oooh aaahh. Poor Ruby is infatuated with Gilbert and she's convinced that everything he does is a sign he likes her. Anne tries to help, she really does - she tells Gilbert about the Take Notice board and he's interested in the idea... until she tells him that he should do it to tell Ruby he likes her. Gilbert immediately loses interest - he's not a "Take Notice" guy, he says. (I think we all know it's because he's not a Ruby Gillis guy actually.) But Ruby decides Gilbert must be holding on a more romantic way of telling her, didn't Anne see the love in his eyes? Love in his eyes? What? Anne is baffled. Maybe an intense staring contest with Gilbert will answer the question? Nope, she's more confused than ever. So's Gilbert, but mostly because he's not sure why she's having an impromptu staring contest with him.

But pretty soon, it's Saturday! Anne is sixteen! She dresses up very prettily, but she's a bit disappointed at how Matthew (who has got a jittery leg she can't see) is just reading a book (upside-down, hmm...) as usual and Marilla is brisk and telling her to set the table. But it's just a ruse, because they have a beautiful birthday cake for her! And Matthew can't resist a pretty thing for Anne, so he has a charm bracelet with a hat - to symbolize the Anne that he first met - with plenty of room to include more charms for the Annes that she'll become. It's all very sweet. But then there's a sour taste, because Anne tells them her birthday wish. She's been thinking a lot about her lineage, about her family and based on Miss Stacy's suggestion, she wants to go to the orphanage where she's came from to find out who she was. Marilla and Matthew don't know how to respond, but it's clear they're very worried.

They want some time to think about it, which they're saved from doing it with Anne around when Diana arrives very abruptly. Something's wrong at her house - Minnie May is sick again (and no, Jerry, Diana's parents are fine and this indeed has nothing to do with Anne's birthday) and they need Anne at the Barrys' house. Where all of Anne's friends are pressed at the window waiting for her to come in... for a surprise birthday tea party! (Minnie May hopes that Anne really was worried about her!) It's perfect and wonderful and full of laughter.

And it gives Matthew and Marilla plenty of time to think. When Anne gets home, they're ready to tell her. She can go, provided that is escorted (Anne already suggested Gilbert to get her to Charlottetown and Cole to get her to the ferry). Anne is thrilled, but Marilla and Matthew express their worries when she can't hear. Matthew reminds Marilla that they want Anne to be happy, but Matthew worries that Anne will find something that will hurt her spirit while Marilla is afraid that Anne will find a distant relative and will leave them. But Anne is hopeful about what the future is going to bring...

---

There's a nice bit of reintroducing all the characters and what's been going on since we last saw them at the end of season 2. What I've really loved about the series compared to other adaptations is that it takes the time to develop and show the lives of characters other than Anne. We get to see the tension in Diana's family as she's trying to get them to see her future doesn't need to follow a strict path because of her lineage. Bash and Mary and Delphine are living with Gilbert at his house and it feels like they've become a close knit family. Billy hasn't changed and seemingly, neither has Josie, though she seems to be stuck in the societal expectations - there's the call-back to how her mother ties her hair up in all bows at night and how her mother is reminding her again that everything she and Josie are doing are to ensure that Josie finds stability in a husband. Jerry reading to Matthew and Matthew helping him with words shows how Jerry is as much part of Green Gables as Anne has become.

The introduction of Ka'kwet, her family, and the Mi'kmaq people in the series was touted quite a bit before the season began, so I was curious at what sort of role they'd play. They live very remotely, away from everyone else, and despite how friendly Ka'kwet and her family is towards Anne, there's some undercurrent that there's going to be trouble. Anne's questions about family and Ka'kwet's explanation of how relationship are perceived wind up adding to Anne's thoughts about her lineage, but to the audience, it also brings up how the Mi'kmaq are struggling to hunt for food and continue their way of life as more trains bring more people to the area. And attitudes towards the Mi'kmaq aren't that great - Anne is open-minded towards them, but Billy threatens Ka'kwet's father and calls them "Redskin," and Marilla thinks they're dangerous heathens. It's only the first episode in the season, so I'm sure Ka'kwet will be returning.

I'm thinking everyone is really excited about the budding romance between Anne and Gilbert? =D  It seems that Gilbert is much more aware of his own feelings, but Anne is going through that time where this new territory. Poor Ruby though - she's so in love of her idea of Gilbert that she can't see anything except that. And she's building her whole future on the fantasy, including the fact she's only going to Queen's so she can stay near him. It's going to hurt when she sees that her expectations don't match reality, but I hope her friendship with Anne isn't destroyed because of that (or as the Business Times keeps bringing up, the supposed rumour that someone isn't going to survive the season and they keep bringing Ruby as the only possibility. *Insert irritated frowny face*).

But back to Anne - love isn't the only thing on her mind like other girls. Because as she's growing more independent, she's looking at her past as much as she's looking at her future. And her words about family do seem worrying - is it because as much as she loves Marilla and Matthew, maybe there's a part of her that still doesn't think she's a part of their family? Maybe it's because she saw them butter their bread (potato?) the same way and eat at the same time at dinner without even thinking about it that has Anne wondering, "I don't do that, would my birth family have habits that I have?" And it has Marilla and Matthew maybe wondering if Anne hasn't accepted them as her family and they can't even voice that thought because they know they'd be devastated if it were the case. But this is Anne - so even as dark as these thoughts are, I think that if Anne is there, things will be all right.

Whew, this was a really long post. I'm no so good with tldr, but if anyone made it to the end here, it'd be lovely to hear some thoughts. =D