Anne (Anne with an E): Season 1/ Episode 4 “An Inward Treasure Born” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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With school becoming another place of torture, Anne avoids it at all costs. However, after a heroic deed forces one of her classmates to live with her, it seems she brings another person to #TeamAnne.

Episode Focus: Who Would Ever Want To Go To School? (Anne, Marilla, Jerry, Diana, Gilbert, and Ruby [Kyla Matthews])

After how she was treated at school, Anne hasn’t been back sense. Heck, even when Marilla said she has to go, she decides to go to some empty shack to hide away during the school day. Something a lot of people don’t understand for when it comes to Jerry, Marilla, and Matthew, they didn’t have the choice of whether or not to go to school. Matthew and Jerry had to work and Marilla, well, they didn’t educate girls back then. So while Marilla may not be the most progressive woman out there, with her recognizing Anne’s intelligence, she’d hate to see her forced into a life of housekeeping. For while it may be all Marilla knows, she doesn’t want the same fate for Anne. Yet, Anne still isn’t fond of the idea.

However, after Ruby’s house catches on fire, and Anne saves it from burning down, Ruby finds herself stuck with Anne for a week. Something which seems dreadful to her since she is a bit jealous of Anne. Never mind Diana seems more fond of her than she does Ruby, but Gilbert does too. So to be forced to live with the weird kid for a week seems like a punishment. One on top of all she lost in the fire.

Luckily for her though, not only will the repairs take a week, thanks to the whole community pitching in, but Anne makes for quite a nice hosts. She even comes up with ways for them both to be entertained and even see the boys who, as always, pick with Anne, but this time she needs no Gilbert to defend her name. She calls out that bully Billy Andrews (Christian Martyn) publicly as he picks with her and teases Ruby, after she falls in front of everyone, and it leads to Gilbert coming down. Which, of course, leads to an odd moment for Anne but a sweet one for Ruby.

Thus leading to, in the end, Ruby understanding why Diana is so taken with Anne. She is weird but kind and loyal. Her imagination leaves you without a dull moment and to even those who are unkind to her, she shows them no malice. Ruby was owed no favors when Anne, a mere child, ran into her house to try to choke out the smoke. She had no reason to call out Billy, in front of the community, to defend her, yet she did. Who could ask more from a potential friend? Which, in the end, is what Anne can now call Ruby. Only 3 more girls to go.

Commentary

I wonder if, episode by episode, we are going to see Anne win over the girls, and maybe a few of the boys. For Charlie, in the first episode, seemed interested in Anne and it seems, after her display of bravery, and opening his mind that he could be more than just a butcher and such, Jerry may be falling for her too. Especially since, even if Anne may not find herself attractive, physically, it is becoming clear that whether the person is an adult or someone her age, her personality makes them moths to her flame.

I mean, don’t ask me how McNulty does it, especially with the way she talks a mile a minute, and at times seems a tad overdramatic, but her charm is undeniable. To the point where, even as she makes quick turnarounds with these characters, it is wholly believable. Be it Marilla or Ruby, she doesn’t change or adapt to them. Yet, they find themselves adapting to her.

With that said, I do wonder, with what she did during the fire, why that wasn’t treated as a more noteworthy thing? She kept a family of 4+ from losing their home. Something that almost seemed like it was done on purpose by the father, but I contribute that thought to the man’s shifty eyes when talking about it. Point is, why aren’t more people warming up to her? Hasn’t she disproved their theories about orphans yet or is the prejudice so strong that she’d have to, day by day, week to week, continuously prove herself to them? Without one action which could gain fault.

Oh, but before I forget, can I just say the scene between Matthew and Anne, in which they are fake boxing, was so cute?