"The Return of Gus Pike" is the first episode of Season 6 of Road to Avonlea and the 66th episode overall.
Summary[]
Felix is visiting Felicity when they spot Gus at a port in Halifax. Gus and Felicity reunite after a misunderstanding and encounter a mysterious woman. Believing that the woman is his mother, Gus takes the woman back to Avonlea in search for his past.
Plot[]
At the beginning of the episode, Felicity is having trouble at medical school when the professor won't give her enough time to finish an experiment. He says women don't belong in medical school. Felicity leaves in a huff and meets Felix, who has been helping her move into her apartment in Halifax.
The two of them are walking near the wharf when they see Gus Pike, whom they haven't seen since he went to sea, in the distance. They run to say hello, but when they catch up with him they see him with a pretty young lady that seems to know him very well. Felicity insists they don't say hello.
Felicity is disgusted with the young lady and says she was throwing herself at Gus. Felix wants to know why he couldn't even say hello to Gus. He says she can't expect Gus to wait around for her forever, and it's not like they were engaged or anything. Felicity says she doesn't care about Gus in the slightest. Felix asks why she's wearing Gus's ring then. Felicity takes it off and says she's going to throw it in Gus's face.
After a lot of searching around and asking people, Felicity and Felix find Gus at a house in a wealthy part of town. He's with the young lady again; she introduces herself as Charlotte Ames. Gus is surprised and pleased to see Felicity and Felix and doesn't understand why Felicity looks so furious and will only speak in monosyllables. Charlotte invites Felicity and Felix to tea, and the whole time Felicity keeps getting more and more angry. Finally she says they have to go. Charlotte says they mustn't; they haven't met a very important member of the Ames family. She goes out, and Felicity and Felix head for the door. Gus follows them and wants to know why Felicity is so upset. She won't explain. She just gives him back his ring, even though he protests, and goes off with Felix. Felicity sees Felix off on the boat to Prince Edward Island, making him promise not to tell what happened with her and Gus.
In the Ames house, we see Charlotte with another man...her husband! She and her husband are surprised at Felicity's behavior when Gus had talked to them about Felicity all the time as the girl he cared about.
That evening, Gus tracks Felicity down at the medical school and says they need to talk. She reluctantly goes outside with him. Gus says Felicity shouldn't have given the ring back to him. He finally figures out that Felicity thought he and Charlotte were engaged. He explains she's married to Captain Ames. Felicity is still mad at Gus for not writing to her. He points out she didn't write to him. Finally Felicity cools down and apologizes. The two talk and catch up.
As Gus walks Felicity back to her apartment, they run into a woman selling roses. Gus is going to buy roses for Felicity, but when the woman sees Gus's ring she says, "Ezekiel Crane!" She thinks Gus is Captain Crane and mumbles some things Felicity and Gus don't understand. Then she runs off. Gus runs after her, followed by Felicity.
They catch up with her at the end of an alley, where she hides in a rickety structure made of boxes. She's frightened and won't say anything to them. Gus says the woman can't stay there; there's a storm coming up. He asks Felicity if the woman can stay at her place. Felicity objects, but finally gives in.
In the next scene, the woman is asleep on a cot in Felicity's apartment. Gus has a blanket on the floor, and Felicity has curtained off her bed with a sheet for privacy. Gus keeps having a flashback to when he was a boy; in the flashback, Abe Pike is being cruel to his mother and dragging her away saying "You'll never see either of them again!"
In a whispered conversation with a sleepy Felicity, Gus tells her how he's got a feeling this woman can tell him something about his past. He's never known much about his past except that his mother was dead and his father, Abe Pike, wasn't anything to brag about.
In the morning, Gus talks to the woman and is kind to her. He tells her he's not Captain Crane; he's Gus Pike. The woman looks at him hard and says, "They took him from me!" Gus asks her name, and she sings a bit of the song Gus played in "The Sea Ghost," then tells him her name is Eliza.
This final coincidence is too much for Gus; he's always heard his mother's name was Eliza. He asks Felicity to stand by him and help him figure this out; he needs answers. Felicity leaves school, and the three of them travel to Avonlea and show up at Rose Cottage.
Hetty and Janet are incredibly surprised to see them. Felicity and Gus explain that Gus thinks Eliza may be his mother. Eliza still isn't saying anything that makes sense.
Gus asks Hetty if she remembers anything about his family. She says Rachel Lynde told her that Abe and Eliza Pike lived in a farm next to Pat Frewen's. Gus takes Eliza there, with Hetty and Felicity, and goes into the tumbledown house there. Gus is certain he's been in that house before, and Eliza acts like she remembers it, but doesn't say anything that makes any sense.
Gus says there's only one more place he can get information: his mother's grave. Felicity tries to dissuade him, but Gus is adamant. By night, he, Felicity, and Felix go and dig up the grave. They find nothing in the coffin but a bunch of rocks.
Now even Felicity thinks the woman may be Gus's mother. Hetty and Janet are horrified to hear that Gus desecrated the grave and urge him to desist from his search. Just then Eliza runs away. Gus notices she's built a strange shape out of teacups and utensils before leaving...it's the same shape as a rock formation up on the cliffs called the Devil's Pulpit!
Gus runs to find Eliza at the Devil's Pulpit and finds her digging up a box and grabbing something out of it. She runs, but trips, and Gus catches up with her. The thing she's holding is a picture of herself in a wedding dress with a man Gus recognizes as Abe Pike. He realizes it's true...Eliza is his mother! Then Gus finds that in the back of the picture frame there's a picture of Ezekiel Crane, signed to Eliza with his love. Gus realizes that Eliza married Abe, but loved Ezekiel. He asks her if Ezekiel is his father. Eliza doesn't answer, but reaches up to stroke Gus's cheek. Gus tries to get answers from her, but all she will say is, "Where's my little boy?" He tells her he's right here.
In the next scene Gus is saying goodbye to Felicity. He's taking his mother to Jamaica to look for Captain Crane there and try to find some answers. He asks Felicity to marry him, and Felicity says yes. They kiss, and before Gus leaves, he presses his ring into Felicity's hand. As Gus's ship sails away, Felicity puts the ring back on her finger.
Cast[]
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Main cast |
Recurring cast
Guest cast
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Quotes[]
Felix: Guess we're not going to say hello.
Felix: Why do I have to go in with you? This is going to be really embarrassing!
Felix: I don't get it.
Felicity King: Of course you don't. You're a boy. Boys don't get anything.
Felicity: I'm afraid I break out in welts from strawberries. So does Felix.
Felicity: I'm not accustomed to wearing jewelry that comes with a curse.
Gus Pike: What curse?
Felicity: You!
Captain Ames: Felicity. Wasn't that the name of the girl you were forever mooning about when we were at sea, Gus?
Gus: Gee, Felicity, how's a feller s'posed to sleep if ya keep pesterin' him?
Gus: You're a part of me, Felicity. I don't have no past. Meetin' you and your family was when my life started.
Hetty King: [to Gus] You do seem to attract trouble in inordinately large doses.
Hetty: Unthinkable. Desecrating a grave is a serious crime. I realise this is important to you, but in my opinion you have to abandon this search, you understand?
Felicity: But the coffin was empty. Doesn't that prove anything?
Janet King: [to Gus] That doesn't mean that woman in the kitchen is your mother.
Gus: But it's possible, isn't it?
Felicity: It's true, Mother. Maybe it wasn't before, but you have to admit that now there is a possibility. Isn't there, Felix?
Felix: [sarcastically] Oh, yeah, sure. Anything else you want to dig up, Gus?
Hetty: Love is something more than...merely pulling one another out of jams, you know.
Gus: Say you'll marry me, Felicity. Don't let me go without a promise this time. Say you'll be mine.
Felicity: I've always been yours, Gus. I'll be yours forever.
Behind the scenes[]
Gallery[]
| Anne of Green Gables Wiki has 13 images from The Return of Gus Pike (view gallery). |
External links[]
"The Return of Gus Pike" at the Internet Movie Database
"The Return of Gus Pike" at The Magic Lantern Road to Avonlea Guide