Anne with an E: Season 2/ Episode 3 ” The True Seeing Is Within” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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After slipping and being messy for so long, finally people are catching onto Nate and Mr. Dunlop – but will they stop them before they run off with $1700?

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Network
Netflix
Director(s)		Ken Girotti
Writer(s)		Kathryn Borel Jr.
Air Date		7/6/2018
Actors Introduced
Malcolm Frost	Tom McCamus

Planting Roots: Mr. Dunlop, Nate

Say what you will about Nate and him being a con artist, but Mr. Dunlop seems to seriously love Green Gables and the town. I’m talking to the point it seems he’d rather take out Nate, and add another body to his conscious, than perhaps scam these people. Why? Well, that isn’t gone into. We don’t know anything about Nate or Mr. Dunlop’s past besides the little nuggets Nate dropped.

What is perfectly clear though is that Mr. Dunlop feels like he belongs for the first time in a long time. Which could very well factor into his future plans.

Commentary

To be honest, I kind of felt bad for Mr. Dunlop. Especially as it became clear, without knowing the truth yet, Marilla and Matthew wanted to wash their hands of him and Nate. Because you could easily fathom an Anne-esque tale about his background. Him truly being an orphan who turned to crime in order to survive on the streets. For with no place feeling like home, no sense of belonging, there was no shame or regret. People were just random faces with money to be taken.

Yet, boarding at Green Gables, Anne cracked something open in him. Perhaps he figures if this little girl could find such immense joy in this simple town, so could he. For hasn’t he lived as a thief and scum of society long enough? This was a real chance to start over but the younger Nate ruined it. That poor soul hadn’t grown tired of grifting and taking advantage of the innocent. His soul, not lost to crime but in slumber had yet felt a gentle push to awaken, unlike Mr. Dunlop.

And I could go on and on but the point is, I wish we got more information about these two in the episode, especially considering…

It’s Been 13 Years: Anne, Diana, Mr. Frost, Aunt Josephine

Though the original point of Anne going to Charlottetown was to see Aunt Josephine and send off a letter, her talking about a town, a little more than a decade ago, being bamboozled sparks curiosity. The kind which has Diana and Anne seek out a local newspaper’s archives but, while Charlottetown is fancier than Green Gables, and its surrounding area, it is no city.

Luckily, the man who reported on the Gold Fever, as it was called, is still is in town. A man named Mr. Malcolm Frost. Someone who has lost himself to the bottom of his latest drink but still has his wits about him. Still not so lost in his own despair that when Diana and Anne accost him, he turns them away. In fact, he adds fuel to their, well mostly Anne’s, fire.

Leading her to piece together all that she has heard and questioned to the point of realizing both Mr. Dunlop and Nate are grifters. However, thanks to being children, and making her look bad, Mrs. Barry hears not a word Anne tries to squeak out.

Commentary

Okay, I get Mrs. Barry being upset and refusing to listen, but Anne didn’t get the chance to tell Aunt Josephine? Someone who would have shooed away Mrs. Barry trying to silence her favorite person? Also, though a minor thing, how come Aunt Josephine didn’t talk about Anne, and the rest of the girls’ stories? The ones she asked to be sent to her?

Oh, and I do hope Mr. Frost isn’t a one and done character. He lit a fire that no one, but Aunt Josephine, has really catered to. Not to downplay Matthew, Jerry, Gilbert, or Diana, but while they admire Anne’s eccentricities, imagination, and curiosity, Mr. Frost tapped into something deeper. He challenged her to not just be herself, but also trust her intuition. Which in the times she lives in? A young girl with no title or money? Who knows what him doing that one thing may lead to. And because it is so hard to not want to see Anne live in a self-actualized way, it makes it where when she meets anyone who isn’t awestruck but pushes her to be better and more herself, you want them to stick around forever and ever.

Never Underestimate Children’s Intuition: Jerry, Anne, Marilla, Mr. Barry, Matthew, Nate, Mr. Dunlop

With Anne being silenced, she finds herself unable to warn Mr. Barry as he hands all of the towns collective money to Nate. Then, to make things worse, no sooner than she is in the house and telling Marilla everything, Nate and Mr. Dunlop tie them up and beat it. Leading to Jerry, who was on his way home, confronting them and being that the boy can’t fight, never mind take a punch, one hit and he is out for the rest of the day and well into the night.

However, after Jerry gets knocked out, Mr. Dunlop seems like he may really try to play a hero. He takes out Matthews gun, that he stole, and tries to get the town’s money back. But, when he tries to fire on Nate, and the gun doesn’t do a damn thing, he gets knocked into the hole Nate did and he seemingly makes off with the money.

Leaving Matthew, after Marilla and Anne alert him to what happened, searching throughout the night for him but only getting Mr. Dunlop.

Commentary

Big question: How screwed is Mr. Barry and his family? Maybe also the Cuthberts too but since Mr. Barry was the one who was really pushing for all this, what may happen to him and his family? For, just taking note of how Anne was treated for being a weird redhead, imagine how Diana is going to be treated. She is the daughter of the man who made all of their families spend $150 on some swindle.

Not to forget, when it comes to the Cuthberts, they housed these people for months. Much less, they didn’t put any of their money in and if people at the bank talk, it may even be known they paid off their debt and had cash left over! I’m not sure how petty everyone might be, or malicious, but neither family might be that safe for quite some time.

And let’s not forget about Mr. Dunlop here. While the Barry and Cuthbert family are in trouble, it should be interesting to see how he is handled. Will there be real justice or mob justice? May Anne step in or will he just disappear and just be, as Anne said, part of a lesson? Stay tuned…

Miscellaneous Commentary

Matthew and Jerry

Though neither have gotten to play a major role thus far, I have to highlight the scene in which Jerry is crying after Nate bullied him and Matthew consoled him. Like in the first season, there is something so wonderful and gentle about Matthew you have to love and with Jerry, that scene of him crying and later on trying to be machismo and fight Nate, it shows you how well rounded the character is. A young man who is open about his feelings, able and willing to cry before others, and at the same time brave enough to play David in a David vs. Goliath scenario.

Also, while it was featured in another episode, I loved that Matthew gave Jerry the chalkboard Anne used to use. It was probably so he didn’t have to carve into the barn, but also so that maybe the next generation could be smarter than him. Which, as also seen with Marilla, though conservative in a way, both really value the idea of their kids, Anne directly and Jerry because he basically lives there, being capable of more than they were.

Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs

All we can do is our best […], regardless of what we know or don’t know. – Anne

Highlights

1. Dunlop and Nate story being over and us now witnessing the aftermath. Of which it is hard to predict what could come of the town being swindled.
2. Another person seeing value in what many don’t find to be fortunate traits of Anne. Then, on top of that, Mr. Frost encouraging Anne, as Aunt Josephine did, to take what she has and expand on it. Hold it as something sacred and never let the world suppress it or make her believe she would be better off without it.
3. Jerry and Matthews’ father/ son type relationship and seeing someone like Jerry be both this emotional kid and also have his machismo moments too. Leading me to hope he gets to do more than be in the barn or on the Cuthbert stoop.

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