Anne With An E: Season 3, Episode 8 “Great and Sudden Change” – Recap, Review (with Spoilers)
As Anne’s primary education comes to an end, she finds herself experiencing a few more lessons – all of which deal with understanding emotions.
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As Anne’s primary education comes to an end, she finds herself experiencing a few more lessons – all of which deal with understanding emotions.
| Network | |
| CBC & Netflix | |
| Director(s) | Amanda Tapping |
| Writer(s) | Jane Maggs |
| Air Date | 11/10/2019 |
Recap
Getting Back To Who I Am: Diana, Ka’Kwet, Minnie May, Anne, Hazel, Sebastian, Gilbert, Jerry, Aunt Josephine
With the help of one of the younger children, Ka’Kwet makes her escape, and despite being a child who most of Canada sees as some kind of savage, her instincts, and luck, lead her to her mother’s arms. Which leaves you to wonder, when she mentions what happens to kids like her, how will her family react? Never mind the larger indigenous communities?
But, getting back to where you feel safe, and home isn’t just a struggle for Ka’Kwet. Diana too has a difficult journey to finding her comfort zone and getting to a place where she can be herself and not as others would want her to be. Consider that, as long as we’ve known Diana, she has tried to fend off her mother forcing her to grow up and accept the life she was forced into. However, with the school year up, the days before she is expected to Paris are wearing down. Hence the arrival of Aunt Josephine to help steer her against the tide. Which, ultimately, she does, but under the pretense of doing community work.
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You see, taking her exams is what would at least give Diana the options of going to college and possibly taking Prissy’s path. However, without doing so, she’d be trapped. So she lies to do so, and while not the most prepped, she hopes her studying throughout the year will aide her. But, with doing things under false pretenses, it doesn’t help Minnie May.
Now, as for what she has to do with all this? Well, being that Diana pursues being the perfect child, that has always caused Minnie May a load of difficulty. When she was younger, it was in the form of her taking sweets, and as she grows older, if it is not being as talented, poise, or even as palatable as Diana, she has heard it all and Minnie May is sick of it. Especially since Minnie May knows Diana hates the life she is being groomed for. Yet, Diana can’t tell her truth to her parents or even bring herself to fight for Jerry. She’d rather break his heart, and her own, than truly try to be with him.
Leaving Hazel. Sebastian’s mom arrives to Avonlea, and after spending the majority of her life in service to others, primarily white people, she doesn’t understand how things operate. For example, Marilla and Rachel cleaning up and greeting her upon arrival? Completely foreign. Also, the way Sebastian and Gilbert talk? Damn near blasphemy.
This leads to Hazel and Sebastian clashing because the idea of him acting so familiar makes her believe, one day, Gilbert may just change his mind and toss him out. An idea which makes Sebastian, who feels rather firm in his relationship with Gilbert, annoyed at least, and slightly regretful of asking his mom to help, at the most.
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Waking Up A Small Town With A Roar: Rachel, Marilla, Anne, Miss Stacy
With the destruction of the schoolhouse comes Miss Stacy believing she might be done with the town and planning her next move. As this happens, Anne gets on Rachel’s case, and with her not knowing what went down, the insult, added to the injury of how they treated her days before, leads her to action. The kind of action which reconfigures how the board works.
Now, as for how one woman manipulates 4 men to add 3 women to the board, thus giving balance? Blackmail. Rachel, who you know talks to everyone, from wife, husband, to traveler, she vows to ruin the men’s reputations if they don’t add 3 women to the board and, as of this episode, Marilla is one of the three added. As for who the rest will be? That’s anyone’s guess.
Comment Down Below
- Who do you think the other two members should be on the board?
- Considering the way Miss Stacy and Sebastian were talking, and how upset that would make Hazel, do you see the two of them dating, if not becoming friends? With them both being widows, there is a bit of understanding there.
Love Is Too Much To Be A Sudden Choice: Winifred, Gilbert, Anne, Diana, Aunt Josephine
Winifred’s father basically offers Gilbert all he could want if he married Winifred. That means a college education, at the Sorbonne, paid for, a home to live in, and perhaps the only worry to have is giving Winifred children someday. However, there is the issue of Anne. Gilbert has feelings for her, and he springs this on Anne and asks for her thoughts.
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Problem is, when Gilbert asks this, it is after exams, Anne drinking something the boys brought to celebrate, and her not being prepped to ever be asked this. So, baffled as she is, Anne is unable to answer yes since she is processing all the reasons why she wouldn’t be the best choice. Thus, Gilbert thinks she isn’t interested and preps to propose to Winifred.
Leaving Anne distraught and seeing Aunt Josephine, before she leaves Diana’s house, to seek advice. This leads to the conversation, of which the quote below contains, and Anne at least is given a roadmap to understand what love is. For, no offense to Marilla or Matthew, with both having given up a long time ago, and Matthew not even talking to his childhood sweetheart in ages, Josephine is the only person Anne can speak to.
And after all of that, Anne finds herself confronting not her love for Gilbert, but Diana. Someone who, after the exams and being confronted by Minnie May, finds herself apologizing to Anne and reconciling. Leading to, as Anne’s mind becomes clear, with one less worry minute by minute, her realizing she loves Gilbert.
Comment Down Below
- Do you think Diana will not only apologize to Jerry but maybe date him publicly?
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Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
I’ve never bought into that “You Just Know” notion. Love is a tricky thing. Sometimes it feels like an undeniable force that hits between the eyes and doesn’t let up. Other times, it’s malleable, questionable. It’s truth hidden in and amongst external obstacles and internal circumstances that’ve formed who you are, what you expect in the world, and how you can accept love. Oh, to say the least, it’s complicated. And if a mind’s abuzz with pressure and deadlines and “What if this and that,” I imagine love’s truth would be a near-impossible thing to feel. I wonder if, when all’s quiet in your mind, you’ll find your answer.
— Aunt Josephine
A morning can start off like any other, but by nightfall… things have occurred that could change a course forever.
— Diana
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Review
Highlights
Aunt Josephine
While we don’t see her often, Aunt Josephine’s appearances are always made to be impactful. Her speech alone sums up perfectly not just what Anne needs to hear, but perhaps many in the audience. Leaving you to wonder, especially since we don’t see their dynamic often, how is she like as a maternal figure to Cole? We got a little taste of it earlier this season, but Cole has been utterly absence ever since.
Ka’Kwet Made It Back Home
Though it is unfortunate we didn’t get to see and learn more about the reeducation schools, we got just enough to get the idea and do further research on our own. But, with Ka’Kwet back home comes the question of what’s next? How will she feel about Anne, Rachel, and the outsiders who made the school seem like a good idea? How will her stories affect relations between the indigenous and those who intruded on their territory and made false claims? It’s hard to say, but it is going to be a sight to see.
Anne Changing Rachel’s Heart & Mind Once More
Anne’s influence cannot be understated. Whether it is changing opinions about her person or now the idea of feminism, she is a leader in a community that once wished to treat her as a pariah. All within, what, less than 5 or so years? Can you imagine?
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But, one of her fiercest critics, besides Josie, has always been Rachel. Someone who has learned to be more liberal and accepting, as has Marilla, but has usually been one of the last to the party. However, after Anne giving her, and much of the town, a wake-up call, combined with seeing she was more so part of the problem than the solution, she finally used her communication skills for good.
Which isn’t to say she used them for evil before, but to say she didn’t really use them to further anything beyond her own agenda wouldn’t be far fetched.
Minnie May Confronting Diana
As of this episode, beyond Marilla and Matthew, we don’t see a whole lot of sibling dynamics. This makes Minnie May and Diana special since they are seen interacting, in one way or another, multiple times within a season, and you can see how one affects the other. So while Minnie May in the closet crying can seem kind of odd, considering how we know Diana, Mrs. Barry, and the expectations of that family, you can understand why, as Diana reaches the next stage of her life, Minnie May is dealing with immense pressure.
However, the true kicker here is her calling out her older sister and helping you understand how much Diana not living her truth affects Minnie May. Someone who clearly is unable to follow her sister’s example and sees her as selfish for not setting a precedent she can follow. An idea that really puts into perspective how difficult life is when someone doesn’t pave the way for you.
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This we see, to a point, in Prissy’s family, since she is trying to change things so her younger sister can assert herself, but we see how that’s going.
Diana and Anne Reconciling
Reconciliation between characters often can seem rushed or forced, but with respect to how Anne and Diana are, which is very passionate and sometimes hot-headed, them blowing up as they did and reconnecting as shown, it makes sense. After all, the reason they split was their own internalized issues more than each other.
When it comes to Anne, she may never feel good enough, and so her lashing out, especially considering how Jerry felt, makes sense. He is like a brother to her, and with her growing up in the service industry, while she is used to working in the house, not outside, they are kindred spirits. So Diana rejecting him was not too many degrees separated from rejecting Anne.
Then, when it comes to Diana, Anne’s ability to dream, to have lived a life which has had a struggle, adventure, and so much more, Diana isn’t necessarily jealous but does get a sense of being overly protected. Hence her amazement of Jerry’s home life and even Anne, for how could these people have so little yet be so happy? Yet she, with little to nothing to want, feels so stifled and miserable a lot of the time?
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It’s an issue I don’t think either may truly move past, but with it being out there, they can at least be aware enough to do adapt.
Hazel Adjusting To The World Sebastian Lives In
So far, when it comes to Anne With An E, we have seen the white people of the area change and adapt to Sebastian and his family. This makes Hazel having to adapt an interesting thing to watch for she spent her whole life in service, forced into a position of making herself smaller to make a living and survive.
With that in mind, her adjusting to Avonlea, as most Black people we’ve seen do, is going to be quite a ride. For her especially since, on top of being in a white majority area, she is now having the opportunity to raise a child who is her blood. Something she hasn’t gotten to do before in her life, and it makes you wonder how that will not only affect her but Sebastian? Especially since, similar to Elijah, he has issues with his mother which makes it so they have consistent spats.
Gilbert & Anne
There are two episodes left, and with that in mind, it makes the idea of these two finally being together exciting yet also you feel the need to prep your heart. Just because, even if three seasons in, there is always the chance Gilbert leaves with Winifred, and we have to wait yet another season. But, with that in mind, it wouldn’t be terrible for Anne to have a first boyfriend who isn’t Gilbert. Just so that, when the time is right, she has experience and is able to communicate and be in a relationship better.
Also, in terms of Gilbert, Winifred being a first for him works well since she isn’t too different from Anne. She moves about to her own rhythm, is imaginative, and definitely has a way of thinking that isn’t the norm. So while the idea of anyone acting as training wheels to prep for another is a bit cruel of a thought, you do have to start somewhere.
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